Everglow ➳ F. ODAIR

Chapter Ten

After two days of training, it all comes down to this moment. The private scoring session. This is the very thing that Ebony knows she has to prove herself in. Not only to her family, her friends back in District One, and the trainers in the Academy but to herself. Despite being only fourteen and from a career district, there is a lot of pressure on her to succeed.

Slate sits next to her on the edge of his seat. As he waits for the gamemakers to call his name, his leg anxiously bounces up and down. The male tributes always go first in order of districts, therefore he is the first one to go. She thinks this might be the first time she's ever seen him nervous since being around him.

Shifting her attention, Ebony glances over at him for a moment before looking behind her to the other tributes. This might be the first time she has seen all of the tributes in one place and stuck in one spot. It gives the young girl the chance to truly gauge the threat of all of the tributes she will face later in the arena.

Ignoring the careers from Districts Two and Four, she notices the older girl from District Eight. Despite the frail appearance she holds, Ebony knows that it's only a front. She has seen how brutal and agile the girl from District Eight can be. Even talking to her during training was enough to know that Woveena Gallows is a force to be reckoned with.

Looking over, Ebony sees the familiar face of Samuel. He's staring ahead at the wall in front of him. Feeling the young girl's gaze, Sam slightly turns his head in her direction, before giving her a small smile. As he turns back to face the wall, Ebony's nerves begin to feel like they're on fire.

If there is one thing that sticks out about all of the tributes is how vastly different they are and appear. The Districts that are closer to the Capital look fit and well fed while Districts like Ten, Eleven, and Twelve look malnourished. Well, not just look, they are malnourished. Especially District Twelve's young tributes Dusk and Phoenix.

Yet, even then, the District Twelve girl has a lot of fight in her. She is damn near feral if you get close enough to her. The girl from District Six learned the hard way, when she accidentally bumped into the scrawny girl. Peacekeepers had to run in and pull the two away from each other, before a bloodbath could occur.

"Slate Argyros." Her partner's name is announced over the intercom, pulling Ebony out of her thoughts. The older boy stands up and starts towards the door, not even glancing back at her or the other tributes. The door shuts with a loud thud.

Ebony lets out a shaky breath, anxious at the thought of her going into that room. When five minutes are up, then it's her turn. What feels like an eternity, Ebony stares into the void, until she is startled back into reality.

"Ebony Desai."

Shakingly standing to her feet, the young girl walks toward and enters the dreaded room. Her eyes almost immediately shift to the gamemaster and sponsors sitting up on the balcony, watching her every move.

"Ebony Desai, District One." She announces herself as confidently as she can. Stepping over to the weapon station, her attention quickly settles on the whip. As she holds it in her hands, members of the audience raise their eyebrows in interest.

Turning her attention ahead to the dummies across from her, Ebony takes a deep breath, before readying herself and the whip in her hand. It is nothing like the whip Kyanite trained her with the night before, but it will still do the job.

The girl from District One aims for the head of the dummy, before throwing the whip forward. Instead of wrapping around the mannequin's neck, the whip wraps around the body and cuts it in half. That is the last thing Ebony expected to happen in the scoring session, but at least she showed she is a threat of some kind.

The girl anxiously looks up towards the gamemaster and sponsors for their reaction. Instead of laughter, Ebony is met with shocked and impressed looks toward her. They aren't laughing at her. Weirdly enough, this reaction makes Ebony want to try again. If anything, to make it appear that she meant to go for the torso and not the head.

Using this newfound determination, Ebony shoots the whip back and forward towards the dummy on the right. This time, thankfully, the whip wraps around the neck and snaps the its head off. The gamemaker and sponsors lean forward, as Ebony steps back to look at them. They appear to be more impressed the second time around.

Before Ebony goes to hit the mannequin with the whip, her eyes catch on towards the daggers laying in the display. Without hesitation, she goes for the blades to chuck them into the last standing mannequin. She throws three of the daggers into the mannequin. One hits the head, while the last two hit the mannequin's chest.

The girl from District One looks up toward the dazzled gamemakers and sponsors. If she hasn't impressed them before with the whip, she impressed them now with her dagger throwing skills.

"Thank you." is all the Gamemaker says to Ebony. That is her signal for her to leave the room so that they can make their decision on her score. This alone makes the young girl a little less confident from the high of confidence she had before.