Child's Play: The Forty-Third Hunger Games

Chapter 4

Shui Steiner- 17

There had been plenty of sibling pairs in Two over the years. Here, they were always excited about it. We had a tendency to be overly aggressive and underly cautious. It always weirded me out how brothers and sisters begged for a chance to go into an Arena where only one could win. I actually loved Ember. I didn't want to watch her die or have her do the same thing to me.

In a strange turn of events for Two, it wasn't my choice. I wasn't going to volunteer, but it didn't matter. Usually I was a quiet, reserved sort of person, unlike Ember. It was a single episode of loud-mouthedness that got me into all this.

I was never a fighter. I was more of an egghead. I should have known not to talk about the things Slate and I were talking about. We were discussing how draconian the Capitol was when it came to the Hunger Games. I was saying even Machiavelli said it was best to be feared and loved, but Slate said he would have approved wholeheartedly of the Games. Of course a Peacekeeper happened to overhear us. Slate got beaten to a pulp and dragged off to jail. I, being Crag Steiner's son, had to be treated more delicately. The Peacekeeper said there was more than one way to silence someone, so here I was.

Ember was composed as she volunteered. I was composed when I got Reaped. When Ember realized Mason Storm wasn't going to volunteer, she lost it.

"Hey! What are you doing? Coward! Get up here, you piece of garbage! Yellow rat!" she yelled at Mason, who reddened with rage and the inability to tell her what was really going on. She kept haranguing him right up until we were announced. She was always the same. She was bombastic, ferocious, pugnacious, aggressive, and near-suicidally fervent. She'd rather get herself killed fighting just so she could brag about it in the afterlife than live a normal, happy life in one of the richest Districts in Panem. Me, I just wanted to be a teacher.

Ember Steiner- 17

I felt like a tiger when I fought. My body moved so fast it seemed to blur. I felt the pressure in my chest as air burst from my lungs in a shout as I hit my sparring partner with a barrage of blows. Shui was less than impressed.

"Why would you want to volunteer?" he asked. I stopped sparring and caught my breath.

"Fighting's a hobby, like yours," I said.

"You're going to die. Why would you want to do that?" Shui asked.

"I'm not good at anything else," I said. He always had to kill the mood.

"You're smarter than me when you want to be. You just doubt yourself. You could be a million things, but you chose to be a Career," he said.

"It's my choice. I understand why you don't want to go into the Arena, but this is what I want," I said.

"All right. I'm sorry," Shui said.

"It's nothing. You still want to go to the Victor's dinner, though, right?" I asked. Shui smiled for one.

"I'd never pass up free food."

"Dad! What happened? He didn't volunteer!" I asked as soon as Dad came in the room. He waved his hand.

"This isn't goodbye, but we don't have much time. I don't know what happened, but it's not important. I'll tell you what I told your brother. Losing Shui is going to hurt more than anything you can think of. It's not like a wound. It'll eat you away from the inside and it won't go away. You won't understand until it happens, but when it does, it will be like someone stole all the life from inside you," he said.

"Daddy?" I tried to stop him, but he went on.

"You can't grieve. Turn your anger into gunpowder and use it. Grieve after the Games. You can't save your brother. You need to know when you have to let go. I'm already losing one of you. I can't lose you both. Every kill will hurt, even though you think it won't. Don't look at them as people. They're work. Until the Games are done, you can't let that hurt you. Get it done and then feel the pain," he said. I'd wanted to say something and stop him, but I couldn't make myself talk. I'd never seen him so intense. He looked like he was in the Games again. I didn't know what to do. I was as speechless as Shui. I'd been waiting for years for my chance to fight to the death. Dying didn't scare me at all. But seeing Shui die... that was another story.

Crag had an Asian girlfriend, so Shui and Ember look Asian. It's not as pronounced in Ember. She has gray eyes, an hourglass figure, and tanned skin. The Asian part shows more in her bone structure and hair.