CH15.
The boys felt numb but walked onto the stage. They looked down at their feet and struggled to hold in their tears. They knew who they would be competing with in this game. They asked for volunteers but no one wanted to. The boys looked at each other and mumbled to themselves.
“And now it’s time for the girls!” Sakutria shouted. She walked over to another box and pulled out a piece of paper and read the names off it.
“Lily Anders, Sarah Nickel, Jane Dean, Olivia Anders and Sylvia Mummers” she read out. All five girls walked up to the stage. The boys felt a tug at their hearts when a twelve year old girl went onto the stage with a necklace with an S in diamonds on it. Jane looked as if she was fourteen. She kept glancing at Nikolas who was weeping. She blew a kiss to him and he blew one back. Sarah seemed to be fifteen and started crying when she saw her mum and dad crying. Maria, Katrina and Angel ran forward.
“We would like to volunteer!” Angel declared to Sakutria. There was a moment of stunned silence. The boys realized that this obviously never happened to this Area before.
“Who would you like to replace?” Sakutria asked with a smile. Angel glared at her.
“I would like to replace Sylvia Mummers” Angel said to the lady. That wiped the smile off her face. Evidently, Sakutria liked to watch the murder of the twelve year old girls.
“I would like to replace Sarah Nickel.” Katrina said before Sakutria even opened her mouth.
“And I would like to replace Jane Dean” Maria said, looking straight at Nikolas. He mouthed thank you to her and she smiled sadly.
“Well would you look at that! That’s the spirit of the games. Family fighting side by side” mocked Sakutria. Lily’s hand formed a fist. Olivia lurched forward and if it wasn’t for Lily, she would’ve hurt Sakutria badly.
“Let’s cheer for our competitors!” Sakutria said mockingly. The Area actually mocked cheered back at Sakutria who glared at them all before roughly shoving Lily, Olivia, Katrina, Maria, Angel, Zayn, Harry, Louis, Liam and Niall into the Court of Justice. She told them to follow her to the blessing room.
“May the gods be with you” Sakutria said before she left. A minister entered the room.
“Anders? You were chosen?” said the minister shocked. The girls nodded.
“Who will look after the village?” He said quietly.
“We’ve sorted that out minister” Maria whispered back.
“So you’re not planning on coming back aren’t you?” asked the Minister. The girls shook their heads. The boys felt a tug at their hearts. They were determined to keep them alive.
“Then may I suggest a prayer of revival for you girls and a prayer of the gods to the boys?” the minister said. The girls nodded and went down on one knee and bowed their head as if in prayer.
“The girls will go first” said the Minister. He got out a golden bowl and placed holy water and a drop of silver liquid. He placed it into two different cups and squeezed a single black berry into each glass.
“Drink my children.” He said handing each of them a cup. The girls drank slowly while the minister spoke a prayer and placed a halo sign on their foreheads with silver liquid. The girls stopped and gave back their cups and stood up, head still bowed.
“May the Capitol have mercy on you my children and revive you. I hope the Capitol will have a heart and revive you and place you in the other world” he said to them. The girls bowed down to the minister and walked back to the boys. They walked forward, shakily.
“Now for you boys, you do not belong in this world but I want to send you a prayer before you leave. I will give you the prayer of the gods and hope they will smile in your favour.” He said to them. The boys followed the girls’ movement and went onto one knee and bowed their head. The minister did the same thing but placed a single red leaf into their drinks and placed golden liquid instead of silver. The minister handed them the drink. The boys slowly drank their drink. At first it gave a soft tingle on their throats but then it turned to a sort of cooling fire. The minister mumbled a prayer before taking the cups back.
“You may go my children. Just remember, there are more forces in the world than what we believe” the minister said. The girls nodded and walked out as well as the boys. The followed the girls to the train. It was very elegant. Stainless steel with hints of diamond chandeliers, the floor was made up from a thick fur.
“Welcome to your area of the train.” said Sakutria. “While you are here, girls are on the left, boys are on the right. You will eat in the middle area of the train. I have to back to work. If you need help at all, go to the middle room and press the green button and just state what you want.”
She left just as quickly as she had come. The girls walked into the middle room and got out a piece of fruit each. They slowly began to eat their piece of fruit and looked at them.
“We were blessed with the revival blessing” Angel murmured.
“It gives us a chance but remember it doesn’t necessarily mean we will be revived.” Maria said but the hope in her eyes betrayed her.
Olivia smiled sadly at Maria. She knew how much she loved to live but she wanted Andrew. But she knows he will never come back.
“Sit and eat boys. You’ll probably want food soon once your appetite returns” said Katrina to the boys. The each got a plate of food and joined the girls. They ate in silence for a couple of minutes while the train started to move.
“You boys will be taking to people called the Skylarks. They are pretty much in charge of your beauty stuff really. You will be taken to them and will beautify you. What they will do will hurt a bit but you must resist yelling or anything like that. Afterwards, you will be dressed in some outfit and be taken to the interview room where you will be asked to be interviewed separately. In this interview, be different” Maria said to them.
“Niall, you should be bubbly and happy. Try to wow the audience with over amount of happiness ok? Even if you feel like crying like a baby, do put on the happy face” Angel said.
“Zayn, be mysterious. Be the guy that’s elusive and hardly speak unless it’s a simple answer. Be sly about it” Lily told him.
“Louis. Be loud and different; act a little bit hilarious type crazy ok? Just don’t start talking about your life back in the Other World ok?” Katrina said sharply. He nodded.
“Harry; be flirtatious. It suits you and as much as I hate to admit it; it will make nearly every Capitol female citizen fall for you I hope” Olivia said; refusing to look at Harry while he grinned and winked at her.
“Liam…Be mature but also spontaneous. Look as if you’re ready for the games” Maria told him.
The boys nodded; absorbing this information.
“And what about you girls?” Niall asked Angel who grinned at him.
“Leave it up to us” Angel said before her sisters and herself left the room; leaving the boys in a room full of food.
