A Matter of Luck (The 25th Hunger Games)

Chapter XI

            Etch

 

            I stare at Charatina who stands near Guinness. I hope there won’t be any fights because the only weapon my sister has is a paintbrush. Not very deadly if you ask me. Charatina looks at me which makes me step back for a second. She doesn’t seem very happy. Maybe what Phox said didn’t make her happy. It’s not his fault but it has to be someone’s so I guess it’s ours.

            “Do you think I could talk to both of you?” She asks us.

            I don’t even take this as a yes or no question, I go to Guinness and we follow her to the archery stand. She takes a bow and few arrows and shoots. We both stay in silent. I’m scared to make a sound, distract her, make her mad and then get murdered so I stay as still as I can. Phox looks at the target with a big smile as he comes closer to us. He points at her and laughs slightly.

            “She says she’s not good but she is good, you see her, she’s good!” He says. “Look Tina, everyone else is looking.” He adds as he points around.

            Guinness, Charatina and I turn around and catch few tributes looking at her. He is right. Both tributes from Two and Eleven, Fawn and Titus. They quickly look away but Phox points them out loudly.

            “Yeah, pretend you weren’t looking, we saw you!” He starts.

            Charatina steps towards him and tells him to slow down a little bit. He looks down at his feet and apologizes for his behaviour. They start having a conversation about how she has told him before that they don’t need the wrong ears or eyes to catch everything they do. Meanwhile, Guinness and I are still awkwardly standing next to each other, waiting to know when we can be dismissed. She notices us when she looks aside and realizes that we are still standing. She gently pulls Phox to us and make a circle.

            “We wanted to know if you’d like to make an alliance.” Charatina quietly tells us.

            I’m out of words. I feel happy too but the weird fact to know that they would want to team up with us is beyond me. Maybe I heard her wrong. Maybe she said she would like to break a balance or create some science. No, neither of these make sense. I heard her right?

            “With us?” Guinness asks.

            “No, with the two dummies on the table.” Charatina sarcastically says.

            Phox laughs slightly and hits his forehead. “Tina that’s silly! We don’t want the dummies we want them!” He tells her before leaning close to us. “It was my idea.” He whispers loudly.

            Charatina takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of her nose. I’m actually glad Phox came in because I know Guinness doesn’t take sarcasm very well. Coming back to the serious business, I think that, now that the opportunity is here, it came way too easily. Maybe it’s a trap. Could it be? Guinness bites the inside of her cheek and looks around until our eyes meet. I know she might have the same thoughts so I let her take the decision and simply raise my eyebrows. After all, Charatina probably admired the way Guinness was so friendly to Phox so I have nothing to say. Charatina is interested in Guinness more than me.

            “It would be great, yeah.” Guinness replies with a bit of a forced smile.

            Phox bites his bottom lip and smile brightly at her. It looks like he is forcing himself back from hugging her. The muscles on his arms flex while he raises his shoulders. Charatina simply nods, puts down her bow and rubs her hands on her pants.