The 73rd annual Hunger Games

Chapter 17

Athena POV:

I wake with a pounding in my head. I roll over in bed and grimace as nausea overcomes me. I check the clock on the table next to me. 7:30am. We don't go into the arena till 11:00pm so I've got all morning. Still, I know Masill will come knocking on my door if I'm not up yet. I pull the covers off my body and get out of bed. I stumble to the bathroom and turn on the shower. My hair is still in the braids but they're super messy. I take it out then strip before getting into the shower. The cold water feels amazing on my pounding head. After I wash my hair and body I turn off the water and step out of the shower. I wrap a towel under my arms and walk into the bedroom. I pull out black tights and a grey t-shirt and lay them on my bed. A rapid knocking alerts attention to my door.

"Yes Masill, I'm up," I roll my eyes.

"Ah, wonderful!" I hear her walk away. I take off the towel and dress in the clothes I layed out. Afterwards, I brush my hair and teeth. The clock tells me it's 8:15 now. I decide to go see what's left for breakfast. When I get to the table, Brutus and Enobaria are not there.

"Where's our mentors?" I ask Masill, who is pouring more tea into her cup.

"They're a little... out of it. So I let them sleep in," She shrugs it off.

"What about you?" I continue.

"Oh I'm fine! A little alcohol has nothing on me!" She smiles.

"How'd you sleep?" Wade asks. I hadn't noticed him sitting across from Masill.

"Uh, pretty good. Until I woke up. Now my head hurts," I reply truthfully. He chuckles. I grab a plate of food and sit down at the table across from Wade. I feel kinda awkward. What do I say now? Pretend it never happened? I don't know.I keep catching him sneaking glances at me, which makes me more uncomfortable. I eat quickly so I can get excused from the table. It's 9:23am now and I'm just counting down the seconds until we enter the arena. I can't be with Wade because in less than two hours I'm going to be in that arena. I walk back to my room and lay on my bed looking up at the grey ceiling. I'm excited, yes. But I'm also kinda scared. Wade is good. Really good. I know that from training. He can hit anything with his sword. Felix is pretty good too. Although I could take him. I turn over on my side and stare at the city below my window. The people who run around wearing bright coloured clothing. I turn back to the ceiling. Before I know it I've dozed off and I'm woken by Enobaria yelling at me.

"Why are you ignoring me? We need to go in like five minutes!" She yells.

"Sorry, I'm coming," I shout back. Rubbing my eyes, I hop off the bed and take one last quick look around the room. My eyes fall upon a silver heart necklace sitting on the nightstand. I grab it and walk out the door. I see Wade, Enobaria, Brutus, and Masill waiting in the living room.

"Good god girl! You keep us waiting," Masill scoffs. I roll my eyes and follow the others to the elevators. We take the elevators up to the top of the building where the hovercraft will be waiting. Once we reach the top we all get off and I turn to say goodbye. Enobaria holds her arms out for me and I let her hug me.

"Go for the knives first, then kill," She says as I let go. I nod my head then turn to Brutus. I give his hand a shake then turn towards the helicopter.

"See you on the other side," Smirks Wade. I walk over to the hovercraft and walk onto it. The hovercraft is cold and dark.

"Hey," A high pitched voice says.

"Lito," I give a malicious grin. He takes me to a room and shows me an outfit. It consists of black cargo pants, a hunter green short sleeve shirt, and a very dark navy blue rain jacket, and lace up street boots. I dress quickly and Lito facens the necklace to my neck. I tuck it into my shirt and zip up my jacket. We wait in silence until a woman's voice tells me to get into my tube. I step into the glass tube and it seals behind me. My heart rate speeds up as the panel under my feet slides up, pushing me upwards. I break the surface and look around. The glaze from the sun blinds me momentarily, but once my eyes adjust I see where we are. A large plain with bushes darting up from the ground. Lose rocks scatter about the land. The grass is a plale dead green. There's a broken down stone structure to my left and a forest to my right. The ground is very hilly.