𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 || Narnia x The Hunger Games Crossover

Chapter Five

More than half of the other tributes had already arrived by the time Caspian and Lucy stepped into the massive training center. They took turns pinning the number 8 onto each other's backs, and the last few districts filtered in as a tall, athletic woman opened training with a lecture on the rules.

Lucy's eyes wandered to the other tributes, gathered in a wide, scattered circle as if it were the first school assembly of the year, the woman's voice humming in her ears as the inside of her skin tingled at their proximity.

These kids could have been her classmates, a blond boy with his thumbs in his pockets, a girl no older than twelve in a frilly green dress she'd clearly chosen for herself, older kids spaced awkwardly apart and avoiding eye contact.

Only one group stood with relaxed shoulders, and she shifted imperceptibly closer to Caspian as Peter crossed his broad arms and Susan snickered to her district partner, dark curls cascading over bare shoulders and low-cut top, even taller and more imposing here on level concrete than they had seemed in their chariots.

The career tributes.

Just lay low, she reminded herself before the panic could set in, breathing out and averting her eyes as Susan glanced in their direction.

"The Gamemakers will be watching from the loft," said the tall woman, wrapping up her speech just as Lucy tuned back in.

She quickly played it back in her head. No fighting, lunch served in the cafeteria. Easy enough.

"Alright then, get to it."

And just like that, the woman turned away and set twenty four kids free over the massive gymnasium for the rest of the day, each wall lined with various work stations from axe-throwing to knot-tying, metal glinting in every direction.

Colorful Gamemakers milled about the shielded balcony a story's height above them, notebooks in hand while tributes dispersed across the room, keeping well away from each other. All except for the careers, who made straight for the sparring rings in the middle of the floor as Peter lifted a sword from the rack and balanced it on two fingers before flipping it into his hand with a silver flash so quick even Lucy couldn't see how he did it.

Show off.

He didn't need to train. He'd been training all his life.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Caspian watching, too.

"Remember what Polly said," she breathed. Save some surprises for the real Games.

Caspian glanced at her, then back at Peter, and heaved a sigh. "Well, good luck." He shot her an ironic smile before striking out in the direction of a spear-throwing station instead.

"You too," she muttered.

Not that he needed it.

She wandered slowly around the room, taking in the different stations until one in particular caught her eye: traps. That would be useful in the arena, especially as she hadn't the first clue how to hunt. Maybe she could even trap a career while she was at it.

The teacher greeted her and walked her through the basics, sat her down on the fake forest floor with all kinds of different natural materials she might find, and showed her how to make a simple cage trap for small animals. Lucy followed along carefully, trying her best to store the information away.

"Good!" praised the teacher when she'd completed her first cage successfully. "Let's try the next one."

Lucy worked until the teacher got up to help another tribute, and kept going on her own, now attempting a type that required string. As a substitute, she was braiding long grass.