fantasy | johanna mason

chapter three

At this time during the year, Rowan makes a habit of spending as much time as she can with her friends from school, my father and myself. I think it's because she's scared of being reaped for the Games, dying and regretting not spending enough time with her loved ones. I also haven't done her much of a favour by winning the Games, because now the Capitol might pick her on purpose so they can see how a victor's sibling does in the Hunger Games. This has happened before, most notably to gorgeous siblings Cashmere and Gloss from One, who won in consecutive years.

Even if she is reaped, I probably won't be her mentor. Her mentor will likely be Johanna, who was my mentor when there was no other female District 7 victor.

I knock on the door. Johanna isn't my favourite person, but I just want to ask her for a favour.

Johanna's eyebrows raise when she sees me. "Didn't think you would willingly come over here."

"I'm only here to ask a favour," I explain.

"A favour," she repeats. "For what?"

"That if my sister is chosen for the Games, you'll promise to take care of her. To help her win, like you did for me."

"You think the redhead's gonna get reaped?" she asks. Before I can reply, she says, "you have good insight, I guess. The sadistic-ass Capitol might want to see a victor's sibling in the arena again."

"That doesn't give me an answer," I say.

Johanna sighs. "Fine, if she's reaped and no one volunteers, I'll take care of the redhead."

I give Johanna a hint of a smile. "Thanks," I say, then start walking away.

"Elowen?" Johanna says. I turn around. "Try to... I don't know, clear your thoughts or something."

"Yeah, will do."

-

Rowan packed dinner to eat with her school friends in the woods, so it's just my father and I at dinner. My father, Linden Elijah North, is a man scarred from overwork and loss. In his lifetime, he has seen my uncle Danner die in the Hunger Games when Danner was eighteen, watched both his parents take their final breaths, grieved for my aunt Ellery when she died from sickness just months before I was born, had countless friends die from accidents in the woods, watched my mother die from heart failure when I was around five, worked nearly to death in the woods, and watched his oldest daughter become a Hunger Games victor.

"Are you okay, dad?" I ask, placing a steaming bowl of soup and bread in front of him.

"Hm?" he asks, snapping out of his trance. "Sorry, El. Did you say something?"

"I asked if you were okay," I say.

Dad sighs. "I know you wouldn't believe me at all if I said I'm okay. Honestly, I'm thinking about the Games. Danner," -he chokes on the name- "you, and Rowan's first reaping since your win is this week."

"Dad, may I ask you about Danner?" I ask tentatively. I don't know much at all about Danner, only that he was dad's brother and that he died during the Games at eighteen.

Dad bites into a piece of bread. "Thank you for this, by the way," he says, referring to the meal. I nod in reply. "But Danner. Yes, I've never really talked about him, have I?"

"I think that's mostly because of the way he died."

"Yes. It was horrible, of course," he says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Danner was the best older brother anyone could ever want. He was so loving, so understanding. Though my parents wouldn't admit it, Danner was their favourite child. He was quite handsome, as well. His hair was reddish, kind of like Rowan's but browner. I looked up to Danner as a child, for advice or for comfort. I wanted to be just like him. Three months after he turned eighteen and started working cutting down trees, he was reaped for the Games. Everyone in town was devastated. By that time, I was nearly thirteen and Ellery ten. Danner had quite good odds, actually, between his skills with an axe, his age, his size and his good looks which attracted sponsors." Dad pauses here, rubbing his forehead. "He almost made it, Elowen. He was killed on the sixteenth day by the boy from District Two, Chasin, who became victor that year. He mostly hid out in the trees, kind of like what you did in your Games, until the pool of tributes became too small and the Gamemakers forced him to fight. He killed three people with an axe. The boy from Eight. The girl from Five. The little boy from Ten..."

"Okay, dad. That's enough."

"I'm sorry, Elowen. It's also just that when you were reaped, it gave me so many flashbacks."

"I know, dad. It's okay. We'll be okay."

"I hope so."