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Summary: Chapters 9 & 10

Chapter 9

Haymitch is led through a manor, which Plutarch reveals to be his family home. They enter the library and Plutarch offers Haymitch a drink, which he refuses, but Haymitch soon notices a bottle of nepenthe, which he recognizes from Lenore Dove’s name poem—all Covey are named after a poem or ballad and a color. Plutarch is impressed that Haymitch knows the poem, “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, and he lies and says that everyone in Twelve knows it.

Read a full summary of “The Raven.”

Plutarch brings Haymitch into the conservatory where Snow is waiting. Haymitch reflects that Snow looks unwell and, as if on cue, Snow begins to vomit blood. They bring Snow to the library, and Snow requests milk to make the sickness stop. Plutarch sends Haymitch to get some but Haymitch, in an act of defiance, drinks the pitcher of milk in the library fridge and claims that it is empty. Plutarch, realizing what Haymitch has done, covers for him and fetches milk from a different fridge. 

Snow implies that his sickness is a result of poison, not disease, which he used to kill the parade master responsible for the disastrous opening ceremony. He then asks to examine the flint striker and notices it says “For H. I love you like all-fire. L.D.” on the back. Snow displays an intimate understanding of Covey ways as he tries to guess what color the “D” stands for, and Haymitch is stunned. The president tells Haymitch it is a good thing he got reaped because Lenore Dove does not really love him.

Read more about Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Snow tells Haymitch he has to die in the games as punishment for his actions but, at the very least, his family will be allowed to live. The manner of Haymitch’s death will be orchestrated based on his behavior going forward: good behavior will be rewarded with a quick death, and bad behavior will be punished with “the slowest, most agonizing death ever to befall a tribute.” Finally, Snow calls for a concealed person to enter the room and tells Haymitch he has a belated birthday gift for him. Haymitch looks and sees Louella standing in the doorway. 

Chapter 10

The girl in the doorway looks just like Louella, but Haymitch knows instinctively that it is not her—she does not have Louella’s “essence.” It occurs to Haymitch then that the footage of the crash never aired, and that Snow killed the parade master. This means all the Capitol has to do is tell the people who saw the crash in person that Louella recovered. Haymitch realizes it’s now up to him and Fake Louella to cover up her death. Plutarch takes Haymitch and “Louella” back to the tribute apartments, and Plutarch guesses the little girl is likely the child of a traitor who has been drugged and programmed to look like Louella so she will die in the Games. 

Haymitch and “Louella” enter the apartment, and everyone is horrified. They decide to call her Lou Lou and eventually realize she is actually from District 11, as she starts to cry when she sees the crescent-shaped bread rolls from her district. Mags also realizes she has a device pumping a drug into her and that it could kill her to remove it. Wiress and Mags strategize with Haymitch, Maysilee, and Wyatt, then the three tributes head to bed. 

Haymitch wakes to a noise outside his door and notices the power in the apartment is out. He finds Beetee in one of the common spaces with a potato battery; he tells him that Wiress cut the building’s power and they have ten minutes before someone notices. He asks if Haymitch was serious about destroying the arena. When Haymitch replies that he is, Beetee enlists him in a plan to flood it.

Previous section Chapters 7 & 8 Next section Chapters 11 & 12

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