The Mentor. (Cato Hadley)

Chapter Six.

The Prep Team for the 75th Hunger Games - the Second Quarter Quell - is a whole new class of colorful Capitol characters. Newly hired, yet insanely talented, and ready to showcase their designs on the newly most compelling after Hunger Games yet. Each Victor has their own set of fans, people placing massive bets in order to help their favorite win.

I don't get attached. Growing up in the Districts, you learn very quickly not to get attached. Why? The same reason I don't have friends, because when I was twelve years old.. my best friend had her name pulled during the Reaping. Obviously, someone was supposed to volunteer for her, and they backed down. So District Two had their first twelve-year-old Victor. And quite obviously, she was killed. I haven't had friends ever since, besides the other Victors.

"Well, I see you're having a great time," my skin is red from the waxing, raw from the constant poking and prodding. Plutarch Heavensbee enters the darkened room that the Prep Team has just been whisked out of, a broadened smirk upon his face. In his hand he holds a compact disc, tapping the pastel case with his fingers.

"Aren't we being recorded in here?" I nearly spit the words out like venom, warning the new Head Gamemaker about the wandering eyes of the Capitol overlords.

"Well, Ms. Rivers, President Snow knows I am one of your regular customers," I know what he was getting at. He had made an arrangement with President Snow, one that had gotten him some alone time with me. Although, I'm sure President Snow thought that it would be under different circumstances.

"So what message do you have for me this time?" I was getting quite sick of these little visits from Plutarch Heavensbee. None of it helped in my curiosity, it just left me with more questions and no answers.

Plutarch hands me the disc, his eyes directly trained on mine. "You are powerful, Marblyn, you just don't know how powerful quite yet."

I slam my fist onto the stainless steel exam table, my anger taking over every cell in my body. "So explain to me, tell me what makes me powerful and for the love of all things Panem tell me where Cato is!"

His smirk increases, clueing me into the fact that my antics are only fueling his fire. "Ms. Rivers, are you aware of the history of your mother's family?"

"How much history could there be?" My mother never spoke of her family, she tried to hide the traces of Capitol accent. And she very well could, from those who hadn't spent as much time in the Capitol as I have. I've never mentioned it to my siblings, I've never said a word about my suspicions - and I won't confirm anything to this man.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if dear Chrystallina hid her past.. Your mother is from here, Marblyn, she's Capitol." I guess I didn't have to confirm my own theories to Heavensbee, because he's throwing the information right to me.

"How do you know this?" I show no emotion, I show no sense that I know what he's speaking of. "There are no integrating of the Districts, there's no integrating into the Capitol."

"There is no integrating of the Districts today," he corrects quickly, settling into a chair about five feet from the exam table. "Back in the day, the freedom of the Capitol could be bought. If a member of the Districts had the money, the sense, they could escape it all. They could escape the starvation, the stigma, the Hunger Games."

I scoff, continuing to go along with what I presume was his game. "Why isn't that possible anymore, I'm sure my father could've bought our freedom." My father is one of the richest men in District Two, definitely capable of freeing us from the tragedies of The Hunger Games.

"Well, your mother sealed your fate. Your father was to become a Peacekeeper, he did so well in training he got to have a stint in the Capitol. Where he in turn, met your mother. Your maternal great-grandfather, your mother's grandfather, bought the freedom of his family - from District Two." I don't ask questions, I just stare. "Your grandfather, Strabo, bought the freedom of himself, his wife, and their two children - Sejanus and Diana."

"Why does this matter to me?" Finally, I question Plutarch Heavensbee's information, wondering what exactly he was getting at. "What does it have to do with anything?"

"We haven't even gotten to the good part yet, Ms. Rivers. This part," he taps the disc, his smile brightening. "You may think Katniss Everdeen is the face of the rebellion, but you are just as important."

"So my grandfather bought the freedom of his family from District Two, just for my mother to go back?" I raise my eyebrow, questioning the Gamemaker. The puzzle pieces seem to be fitting together, but this man is still a Capitol citizen - working for the Hunger Games.

"Your great-uncle was one of the first mentors in the Games, being forced to mentor the District Two male of the tenth Hunger Games. He knew him, they had gone to school together back in the District. You see, Mentors weren't always a thing, not until the tenth Hunger Games, anyway. The very best Capitol academy students were the only ones able to mentor, that was before there were an abundance of Victors like we have now."

"Well, your pool of Victors are about to be liquidated," I scoff, continuing to stare into his eyes. "Which brings me back to the question of what exactly you are speaking about."

"Your Great-Uncle Sejanus was a mentor in the tenth Hunger Games, right beside our very own Coriolanus Snow." I mask my surprise, now seeing my own importance. "The circumstances of Sejanus' death are mysterious, but we can relate them back to Snow. You'll find more of that about later. Your grandmother went on to marry, and have your mother - who fell in love with the Peacekeeper from District Two. She gave up everything, a rich, happy lifestyle in the Capitol - to be in the District. This has everything you need to know," he taps the disc once more, his face returning to a smirk. "May the odds be ever in your favor."

A/N: I guesssss y'all know Marblyn's history now, I'm so excited to get into this part of the plot