The Hunger Games

3

The anthem ended. Alec and Maia were taken into custody. They weren't arrested or anything like that, but a group of Peacekeepers marched surrounding them, to the Justice Building. It made Alec wonder if a tribute had ever tried to escape; he had never seen such a thing, but everything was possible after being reaped.

Once they were inside, they were each led into separate rooms where they were left alone. Alec's mind was so busy trying to stay calm and not burst into tears that he didn't notice it was the most expensive room in his district. Thick, beige carpets and a velvet couch, as well as a fancy glass table.

Alec went to the couch and placed his hand on it. It was so soft. His mother had once had a dress with a collar made of velvet, so he remembered touching its softness as a kid. It felt expensive and unnecessary. Alec didn't understand how the Clave could spend so much on these stupid things, when there were people dying in the districts.

The door opened. Isabelle and Alec's mother came to say good-bye. They only allowed a few minutes for each person. Alec picked Isabelle up, hugging her tightly in silence. It was in that moment that he was wordlessly reassured that he had done the right thing.

After about two minutes of saying nothing, Alec let go of Isabelle and looked at the two of them. He began telling them what to do.

Isabelle couldn't sign up for any tesserae. They could make ends meet if they sold milk and cheese from the goat they had in the small garden behind the house. His mother could keep her small apothecary business going for people in the Institute. Jace would get her the herbs she would need as well as game, probably without asking for compensation because he and Alec had made a pact about a year or two ago.

He didn't bother trying to get Isabelle to learn how to hunt. She was more talented with medicine and healing, rather than killing. Alec knew she would be more useful to their mother by selling milk from the goat. Once he was done with that, he stood up and went to his mother.

"You can't disappear again." He stated. "You cannot leave and have Isabelle on her own. I won't be there to keep you alive anymore. It doesn't matter what happens, what you see on the screen doesn't matter. You simply have to promise me, though, that you'll fight through it."

His mother pulled him into a hug, a tight one. "I was ill after your father's death, but I am better now and I have the medicine I didn't have at that time."

"Then take it. And take care of Isabelle, Mom."

"I'll be all right, Alec," Isabelle suddenly exclaimed, with a brave face, "But you have to take care, too. You're so brave and intelligent. Maybe you can win."

Alec couldn't win. He knew that. Alec might be tall, but he was rather thin because of his malnutrition. He had no chance of winning against boys doubling his weight, girls who knew all too many ways on how to kill someone with one knife. Tributes from the richer districts who had been training for this their whole lives. There would also be people like Alec, though, those who were there to be killed.

"Maybe." Alec muttered, incapable of telling his little sister he would be dead in a few weeks; despite knowing that, Alec also knew he would not go down without a fight, because it was simply not in his nature not to do so. "Then we'd be as rich as Magnus Bane."

"I don't care if we're rich. I just want you to come home. You will try, won't you? Really, really try?"

"Really, really try." Alec promised. Now he knew he would have to try, for Isabelle.

The Peacekeeper at the door came back to get Isabelle and Alec's mother. Alec felt a rush of panic and he hugged them both, repeating the same words all over, "I love you, I love you, I love you, never forget that."