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The cold collar chafeseven harder to control At least I aer in the claustrophobic tube, while theto a dise me to hold still while I try to convince myself I can still breathe Even nohen I&039;ve been assured there will be no perer for air

The e to my spinal cord, airway, veins, and arteries - have been allayed Bruising, hoarseness, the sore larynx, this strange little cough - not to be worried about It will all be fine The Mockingjay will not lose her voice Where, I want to ask, is the doctor who deter ht now I can&039;t even thank Boggs when he comes to check on me To lookthe soldiers when they teach choke holds in training

It was Boggs who knocked out Peeta with one blow before any pere could be done I know Haymitch would have come to my defense if he hadn&039;t been utterly unprepared To catch both Hay But we have been so consu hi him back blinded us If I&039;d had a private reunion with Peeta, he would have killed ed, I remind myselfHijacked That&039;s the word I heard pass between Plutarch and Haymitch as I heeled past them in the hallwayHijacked I don&039;t knohat it means

Prim, who appeared moments after the attack and has stayed as close to me as possible ever since, spreads another blanket over me "I think they&039;ll take the collar off soon, Katniss You won&039;t be so cold then" My ery, has still not been informed of Peeta&039;s assault Prim takes one of es it until it opens and blood begins to flow throughon the second fist when the doctors show up, re for pain and swelling I lie, as instructed, withthe injuries to my neck

Plutarch, Hay in the hall for the doctors to give theo as well, but she says, "No If you force ery and tellthat&039;s happened And I warn you, she doesn&039;t thinkthe shots on Katniss&039;s life Especially when you&039;ve taken such poor care of her"

Plutarch looks offended, but Hayo, Plutarch," he says Prim stays

"So, Katniss, Peeta&039;s condition has come as a shock to all of us," says Plutarch "We couldn&039;t help but notice his deterioration in the last two interviews Obviously, he&039;d been abused, and we put his psychological state down to that Noe believe so on That the Capitol has been subjecting hi Beetee?"

"I&039;m sorry," Beetee says, "but I can&039;t tell you all the specifics of it, Katniss The Capitol&039;s very secretive about this form of torture, and I believe the results are inconsistent This we do know It&039;s a type of fear conditioning The terlish word that means &039;to capture,&039; or even better, &039;seize&039; We believe it was chosen because the technique involves the use of tracker jacker veno in your first Hunger Gae of the effects of the venohtets the part of the brain that houses fear

"I&039; it was Did you also suffer mental confusion in the aftere as true and as false? Most people who have been stung and lived to tell about it report so of the kind"

Yes That encounter with Peeta Even after I was clearheaded, I wasn&039;t sure if he had saved ined it

"Recall is ed" Beetee taps his forehead "Brought to the forefront of your ine that I ask you to reestion or byyou watch a tape of the event - and while that experience is refreshed, I give you a dose of tracker jacker venoh to infuse the memory with fear and doubt And that&039;s what your brain puts in long-tere"

I start to feel sick Prim asks the question that&039;s in my mind "Is that what they&039;ve done to Peeta? Taken his memories of Katniss and distorted them so they&039;re scary?"

Beetee nods "So scary that he&039;d see her as life-threatening That he ht try to kill her Yes, that&039;s our current theory"

I coverIt isn&039;t possible For soet he loves meno one could do that

"But you can reverse it, right?" asks Prim

"Umvery little data on that," says Plutarch "None, really If hijacking rehabilitation has been attempted before, we have no access to those records"

"Well, you&039;re going to try, aren&039;t you?" Pri to lock him up in some padded room and leave him to suffer?"

"Of course, we&039;ll try, Prim," says Beetee "It&039;s just, we don&039;t knohat degree we&039;ll succeed If any My guess is that fearful events are the hardest to root out They&039;re the ones we naturally remember the best, after all"

"And apart from his memories of Katniss, we don&039;t yet knohat else has been taether a team of mental health and military professionals to come up with a counterattack I, personally, feel optimistic that he&039;ll make a full recovery"

"Do you?" asks Prim caustically "And what doyou think, Hayhtly so I can see his expression through the crack He&039;s exhausted and discouraged as he adet somewhat better ButI don&039;t think he&039;ll ever be the sa them all out

"At least he&039;s alive," says Plutarch, as if he&039;s losing patience with the lot of us "Snow executed Peeta&039;s stylist and his prep teaht We&039;ve no idea what happened to Effie Trinket Peeta&039;s daed, but he&039;s here With us And that&039;s a definite io Let&039;s keep that in ht?"

Plutarch&039;s attempt to cheer me up - laced with the news of another four, possibly five, murders - somehow backfires Portia Peeta&039;s prep teaht back tears ain Eventually, they have no choice but to sedate me

When I wake, I wonder if this will be the only way I sleep noith drugs shot into lad I&039;m not supposed to talk for the next few days, because there&039;s nothing I want to say Or do In fact, I&039;y taken for restraint, obedience to the doctors&039; orders I no longer feel like crying In fact, I can only e of Snow&039;s face accompanied by the whisper in my headI will kill you

Myme to s bites of soft food People coive h levels of tracker jacker veno treated only by strangers, natives of 13 - no one from home or the Capitol has been allowed to see hi A teay for his recovery

Gale&039;s not supposed to visit me, as he&039;s confined to bed with soht, after I&039;ve been hts turned do for bedtime, he slips silently into ers over the bruises on s, plants a kiss between , I&039;ed from the hospital with instructions to move quietly and speak only when necessary I&039;m not imprinted with a schedule, so I wander around aimlessly until Prim&039;s excused from her hospital duties to take me to our family&039;s latest compartment 2212 Identical to the last one, but with no

Buttercup has now been issued a daily food allowance and a pan of sand that&039;s kept under the bathroom sink As Pri for her attention She cradles hi with Peeta is terrible for you But remember, Snoorked on him for weeks, and we&039;ve only had him for a few days There&039;s a chance that the old Peeta, the one who loves you, is still inside Trying to get back to you Don&039;t give up on him"

I look at my little sister and think how she has inherited the best qualities our fa hands, ht There&039;s so entirely her own An ability to look into the confusing s for what they are Is it possible she could be right? That Peeta could return to et back to the hospital," Pri Buttercup on the bed beside me "You two keep each other cos off the bed and follows her to the door, co loudly when he&039;s left behind We&039;re about as much company for each other as dirt Afterconfined in the subterranean cell, and leave Buttercup to his own devices I get lost several times, but eventually I make my way down to Special Defense Everyone I pass stares at the bruises, and I can&039;t help feeling self-conscious to the point that I tug my collar up to my ears

Galeas well, because I find him in one of the research rooms with Beetee They&039;re i a measurement Versions of the picture litter the table and floor Tacked on the corkboard walls and occupying several coh lines of one, I recognize Gale&039;s twitch-up snare "What are these?" I ask hoarsely, pulling their attention from the sheet

"Ah, Katniss, you&039;ve found us out," says Beetee cheerfully

"What? Is this a secret?" I know Gale&039;s been down here working with Beetee a lot, but I assuuns

"Not really But I&039;ve felt a little guilty about it Stealing Gale away from you so much," Beetee admits

Since I&039;ve spentremade, or hospitalized, I can&039;t say Gale&039;s absences have inconvenienced s haven&039;t been exactly harmonious between us, either But I let Beetee think he owes ood use"

"Co me over to a computer screen

This is what they&039;ve been doing Taking the funda theainst humans Bombs mostly It&039;s less about the y behind the essential to survival A water or food supply Frightening prey so that a large nu in order to draw in the actual desired target, the parent Luring the victim into what appears to be a safe haven - where death awaits it At some point, Gale and Beetee left the wilderness behind and focused on more human impulses Like compassion A bomb explodes Time is allowed for people to rush to the aid of the wounded Then a second, more powerful bo sooes?" They both stare at uess there isn&039;t a rule book for what "

"Sure there is Beetee and I have been following the same rule book President Snow used when he hijacked Peeta," says Gale

Cruel, but to the point I leave without further coet outside io ballistic, but I&039;m still in Special Defense when I&039;m waylaid by Haymitch "Come on," he says "We need you back up at the hospital"

"What for?" I ask

"They&039;re going to try so on Peeta," he answers "Send in the most innocuous person froht share childhoodtoo close to you They&039;re screening people now"

I know this will be a difficult task, since anyone Peeta shares childhood memories ould most likely be from town, and almost none of those people escaped the flames But e reach the hospital room that has been turned into a work space for Peeta&039;s recovery teaht As always, she gives ests I&039;ives this smile to everyone "Katniss!" she calls out

"Hey, Delly," I say I&039;d heard she and her younger brother had survived Her parents, who ran the shoe shop in toeren&039;t as lucky She looks older, wearing the drab 13 clothes that flatter no one, with her long yellow hair in a practical braid instead of curls Delly&039;s a bit thinner than I remember, but she was one of the few kids in District 12 with a couple of pounds to spare The diet here, the stress, the grief of losing her parents have all, no doubt, contributed "How are you doing?" I ask

"Oh, it&039;s been a lot of changes all at once" Her eyes fill with tears "But everyone&039;s really nice here in Thirteen, don&039;t you think?"