Stay with me, always.

Chapter 22. Holograms

I didn't want to go to the control room with my Father, but I had no choice. Mother insisted that I accompany him since we seemed and I quote: "distant". I wanted to tell her that once I became President, I was going to put a lot more distance between him and me, preferably six feet underground. But not now, I can wait. The control room is where the Game Makers have their fun, controlling all aspects of the arena with the tap of a button. I watched as they cued lightning to strike near the tree Soarynn and Leo had decided to sleep in for the night, coming a little too close for comfort in my opinion.

Maybe-Aslen stepped away from the controls to say hello to me and Father, "Well what a lovely surprise," he said with a smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure of having both Snows in the control room at this hour?" He asked, and thank goodness someone was asking the important questions around here because I should be in bed. Not watching Soarynn and Leo trying to sleep thirty feet high in a tree in the middle of a storm. "I wanted Coriolanus to experience the Games the proper way," my Father said with a proud smile. Enjoy talking while you can, old man, I thought as I slapped on my best smile, "Yes, nothing like seeing what goes on behind the scenes," I agreed. It really was fascinating, it was just more fascinating in the morning when I had a good night's sleep. Maybe-Aslen nodded, "It certainly has been an interesting few days," he said looking at the screens, "but we're just getting started," he said, giving me a smile.

This wasn't your normal Capitol smile, this was the smile we saw on Cleo as she skipped toward Marshall, on her way to kill him. This was the smile of a murderer. I shifted on my feet nervously, "Well hopefully you don't have to pull out all the stops," I said. Normally, I would have told Maybe-Aslen to flood the arena and take all the Tributes down with him. But Soarynn was still in there, and as long as she had a chance, I had to try to keep her alive. He nodded, "I'm sure you'll find our next surprises very...out of body," he said, giving my Father a knowing look. What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I decided that talking to Maybe-Aslen after ten minutes was substantial enough, so I made my way to the other side of the room,  far away from Mr. Cryptic Messages. I watched as a Game Maker dragged an emblem of the Capitol Seal onto the projected arena's sky and began playing the anthem, showing all the fallen Tributes.

Soarynn and Leo were well concealed in their tree, both sharing a sleeping bag. Leo was fast asleep while Soarynn watched the fallen Tributes flash across the sky. From District Two was Finn, Arabell from District Six, Marshall from District Seven, Onyx from District Eight, and Freya and Byron from District Eleven. All in all, not a bad second day for the Games, but with Maybe-Aslen's attitude, the Games were just getting started. The screen then cut to the Careers, armed to the teeth with weapons as they walked through the woods, looking for Zeren. They walked for quite a while, they even walked by Soarynn and Leo's tree, not even glancing up to see Soarynn clenching her spear, ready to fight if need be. But it was clear she wasn't on their radar, Beckett was dead set on Zeren, probably seeing him as the closest thing to competition in the arena.

The rain had slowed down substantially since they started their walk, but it was clear that the Game Makers planned on keeping the Tributes drenched until the last cannon went off. "What if he went to the Cornucopia?" Briella asked, shining her lantern around the forest, looking for any signs of Tributes. "He wouldn't do that," Callix said, holding his own lantern. Oh great, so now they have lanterns, I thought. All Soarynn and Leo had were glowsticks, what a joke, "And why not?" Ember asked, she was holding a spear in one hand, and rope in the other. Were they planning on tying him up and then slowly torturing him to death? I wouldn't put it past them. "Because we have lots of nasty traps waiting for him," Cleo said with an evil smile on her face, she had her own lantern and it cast an evil glow onto her face.
Little did they know that Zeren had in fact made his way back to the Cornucopia, I guess he figured it was either him or Jessup they would be going after next, especially after seeing that Onyx was dead. He slowly but surely made his way towards the Cornucopia, careful of where he was stepping. We didn't need a repeat of Marshall's mistake.