Chapter 13
1773 Words
Kazuo Braun POV
Two children were looking at me. They wanted me to tell them how to kill (blood everywhere) and how to live (Hunter was in two pieces). The train rocked underneath me and the ground swayed. I took a flask from my pocket and drank a sip of Panacia. I felt it flow through me as it took the worst of my fear away. Across the car, Olivine was listening rapty to Estrella.
"Are you going to help me or what?" Luxen asked. He wasn't rude, just looked like he had somewhere else to be.
"What do you want me to tell you?" I asked. He didn't have the slightest idea what he was getting into.
"Everything," he said.
"I don't know everything," I said. His brow furrowed like an executive after a bad report.
"I'll do it myself," he said, and he walked away.
Pray Jager POV
I knew Cierra wasn't supposed to be this year's volunteer. I'd had high hopes for Helen. The volunteer was almost never younger than eighteen, excluding myself. Whoever Cierra Daline was, she better not disappoint me.
"Thanks for being my mentor. What should I know first?" she asked. It was a welcome change from the know-it-alls and punks I was used to... and used to be. I decided to give her my very best.
"Kill." I extended one slender claw. "Kill." Another one followed it. "Kill." Three bared claws, sparkling in the light and waiting for blood. Cierra's eyes widened.
"Okay. I can do that. How long should I stay with my allies?" she asked.
"Until they turn their backs," I said. "There are no friends in the Games, honey." I wasn't sure she really understood, but then her face hardened. She was learning.
Acee Hal POV
Soleil could cut the crap. I'd seen his type a million times. Each thought they were so mysterious and so far ahead of all the other Tributes. Sometimes they were, sometimes they weren't. I'd give him a fair effort, but I didn't like him. Elyssa... she just seemed underwhelming.
"Neither of you look like much, but I don't want to spend my entire life mentoring, so I'll help you shape up. You," I pointed to Soleil. "You're gonna need allies. Make yourself desirable with a weapon. And you," I turned to Elyssa. "I hear you're a prodigy."
"That's what they tell me," she said, and she perked up.
"You better prove them right," I said.
Shelle McDan POV
Jonah was at home with a wicked cold, so that left me with Elver. He waited for me to speak first, and I noted his respect.
"No one wins the Games on their own. You have do what they want and be the person they like," I said. I looked him over and examined his physique. "You'll be the classic Career: big, vicious, brutal. Play the part and take the rewards."
"I don't want to be typical. I came here to be myself," Elver protested. I almost laughed.
"Be yourself? More like be dead," I said. "This isn't optional." Elver folded his arms.
"How can you call it living if you're not your own person?" he asked. That did it.
"How do I call it living? I'm breathing. I'm not a bloody corpse lying in a grave. How do an of us call it living? This isn't paradise, boy," I said. I gripped the edge of the table and my eyes blazed as I stared Elver down. "We all hate it. We all wanted to be 'original'. We all told ourselves we were going to be different. We all became what they wanted and we all cry at night for the humanity we used to have. Except Pray. But we're not entirely sure she's human."
Elver stared at me like he'd unleashed a caged tiger. I could see he wasn't convinced, and I knew I was in for an ordeal. I only hoped he proved me wrong.
Sky Levings POV
I never felt older and more epic than when I got a new mentee. Elena was crying before I came in, and when she saw me it was like Gabriel himself had entered. It was so charged I didn't want to break the spell by speaking.
"You must be Miss Levings," she said at last, in an awed whisper.
"That's my mother. It's just Sky," I said. I hoped she didn't revere her fellow Tributes as much as she did me.
"You won the Games," she said.
"Yup, that's why I'm here. So, how can I help you win yours?" I asked. She folded her hands together in her lap.
"I don't want to be a bother," she said. Oh, boy. She was almost as bad as the pushy ones.
"That's why I'm here. That's literally my job," I said. I waited for questions that didn't come. I was the girl who volunteered and blew up half the Arena. So who did they send me to train? A mouse.
Toby Cash POV
Did I have a daughter? The girl with the multicolored hair and the sparkling eyes was smiling at me. She took my hand and led me through the train. I saw the door to my room and she followed my eyes. She opened the door and we went inside. She started picking things up and pulling at the bed. I looked at all the colors on the wall and watched them dance.
Those are really pretty. Did you make all that?
The girl was looking at me. I picked a brush up from the table and handed it to her. I wanted her to know the colors too.
I couldn't. I'd mess it up.
I nudged her hand against the wall.
All right. But you can't laugh.
She drew a swirling line and added two blue dots over it. It looked so perfect with all the other colors that I smiled.
Sequoia Wilson POV
Tributes always think they're the worst ones I've ever gotten. They think all those other children came in running and never flinched. They get so embarrassed when they cry. They all did it. So did I. Good heavens, I'd be more concerned if they didn't. Some of my bravest Tributes totally lost it the first day. The ones that have a chance get over it and start learning, but I never judged them based on our first meeting. River was a quivering mess, but tomorrow was another day.
Tillo Peters POV
A jokester and a baby doll. Wonderful. I didn't count them out, though. Anyone could do anything. They just needed some advice.
"All right, you two. What do you want to do more than anything else in the world?" I asked.
"I guess to make people happy," Lanolin said.
"I want to be an artist," Alice said.
"Great. Now throw that out the window," I said. They both stared wide-eyed at me. "If you want to live, you have room for one thing: survival. No dreams, no morals, no pity, no mercy. Don't let anything get in your way." Lanolin looked like he couldn't believe I'd said something like that, and Alice looked scared enough to cry. Tough luck.
Chimera Ilium POV
What a nice young man Tariq was. All he talked about was his little brother. Not a word for his own safety.
"It doesn't matter. Whatever it takes to see Elijah again," he said.
"I'm sure that will help you in the Games," I said. I noticed Tariq was sitting next to Lanie. Usually my Tributes sit on opposite ends of the bench, but those two were right together.
"I need some allies. Can you help me?" he asked.
"Oh, good idea! You're just so friendly. Make sure you don't let them walk all over you," I said. "How about you?" I asked Lanie.
"I'm going to lie low," she said. I didn't always get Tributes with such solid plans. Perhaps this would be my lucky year.
Cornflower Fields POV
It was one of the bad days. I wanted to hide in bed and not speak to anyone, but I had to talk to my mentees. They looked at me when I came in, and of course I didn't look back at them. I looked at the table and saw the cloth was yellow. I hated yellow and I scrunched away from it when I sat. That made three of us at the table. Three wasn't a good number. It was yellow and rotten and it snapped at me. I glanced at their mouths so I wouldn't have to look at their eyes. They all looked the same anyway.
"You don't have to stick around," Bambi said. I was probably holding them back anyway. "Nice job winning though."
"Thanks have a nice day have a nice day," I said in case he didn't hear the first one.
"Maybe we should look by ourselves," I heard Eve say as I left.
Peppermint Wilson POV
"I was thinking I'd dazzle them with sleight-of-hand," Olivier said. I stared out the window so I wouldn't have to look at him.
"That won't work," I said. Olivier smiled wryly.
"Tough crowd. Just gonna leave me to die?" he asked. I turned and he quailed before I even spoke.
"Go ahead and die. Die like all the rest of them. They all die. They all bleed out and there's nothing I can do but watch. They all leave me and some of them... some of them leave me twice," I spat. Olivier wilted in front of me as I felt my sharp, blistering rage turn in on me and eat me away.
Demi Bottle POV
"I've done some research," I said, and I dumped a pile of papers on the table. No more brainless, vapid Demi Bottle, unable to help her Tributes and watching them die every year. I came prepared.
"First, Callie. You're not overly large, so it's better for you to attack from afar. I suggest you learn to use a bow, and remember to visit the arrow-making station. Krunk, you're larger, and I see you've worked with a pickax before. The others will likely guess that and will probably be scared if you use something an axe or something similar. Both of you make sure to make use of the track," I said.
"Wow, you really thought this all out," Krunk said. I gathered my papers and sat tall.
"I'm tired of second place. This time, we're going to win."
Peppermint's been going through some hard times. She'll continue to develop in a hopefully realistic fashion, so she won't always be like this.
- Writer
