promises • cato the hunger games

Three

When I say the train is beautiful, I'm making a serious understatement. Even Cato looks impressed. It's all crystal chandeliers and posh sliding glass doors, the works.

Violetta leads us through to a big room in which is a long table filled with food. I stare at it. I've never seen so much luxurious food before. Actually, I don't think I've seen so much food before.

"Are we allowed to eat that?" I ask her nervously.

"Of course! What d'you think it's there for? Decoration?" She laughs. "D'you think we'd starve you?"

I don't bother to point out that they've happily let most of us starve for years, and just sit down and start piling a plate with everything I can reach. I don't even know what most of it is, I've never seen it before, or heard of it.

"I'll go and find Brutus and Enobaria," Violetta says, and walks off in her click-clack heels.

The food is delicious, but just a short distraction. I start to cry again. It all floods back.

"Hey, what's wrong, Penelope?" asks Cato, sitting opposite me.

What's wrong? What does he think is wrong?

"Penny," I correct. "And pretty much everything."

"How?" he says, a bit gentler this time.

"Well, for a start, my baby sister's been taken away from me and dumped in some orphanage, and I'll never get her back," I spit at him.

"Where are your parents?"

"Dead," I say, bursting into a fresh flood of tears.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly. He clearly doesn't know what to say.

But I try to calm down. It's not his fault I was reaped. He's just trying to be nice, at least I think he is. "Don't be - it's not your fault."

"And you could get her back."

"Oh yeah, I'll win easy," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Come on, I may as well already be dead."

"Don't talk like that, you could win if you put your mind to it and tried."

I just laugh at him.

"You're just saying that. You know you'll win," I say. It's true, he looks lethal.

He looks pleased at this, but he tries to hide it. "I might not. You could win," he says, though we both know he's lying. "And it's not all bad. Aren't you exited to see the Capitol? And be on TV?"

I stare at him. "See the Capitol? The people who've destroyed my life? Oh, and have my brutal murder showcased on live national TV? Oh yeah yeah, can't wait."

His face hardens. "There's no need to be mean, I was just trying to be nice," he says.

I sigh. "I know you were. I'm sorry. You just don't understand."

"How don't I understand?" Cato asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Because you're a career and you've been brainwashed into thinking that the Capitol and the Games are good. You're really privileged - you come from a rich family and you've been to a posh school. You've had a really easy life so far without a care in the world. You've been kept inside a little happy carefree bubble. You don't know what the real world is like, or what the Capitol actually does to all of us. Just like all of the other careers, you can't see what the Capitol turns you into. "

I know I shouldn't have said it. It's probably not a good idea to make enemies with someone like Cato, but honestly, I think there's little point in worrying about that when I'm going to die anyway.

He stands up. I think maybe he's going to hit me or something - he looks like he's got a temper like a hot flame. I'm not wrong.

He bangs his fist off the table. "How dare you?! My life isn't perfect either. D'you think it's all plain sailing being sent to a training academy? It's tough as hell. Tougher. They train you so hard, it's tougher than being in the military. The break you down and try to build you back up again into this killer fighting machine. I might have a rich family, but they don't care about me, not really. They put me in that school the first chance they got, and I've hardly heard from them since.

It's like that for most of the kids in my school. And I don't think the games are that much of a good thing, but I've been trained for them so I may as well do the one thing I'm good at. Don't you get it? Killing's the only thing I'm good at. D'you think I'm proud of that?"

He stops ranting for moment, breathing hard. "I thought maybe if I win, my parents will care about me a bit more. I'd make them proud. Show them I am worth something."

Oops. I feel awful. I shouldn't have judged him like that, or any of the careers. But at the same time, I still don't like any of them.

"Cato, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to speak to you like that. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I was just mad. I didn't mean what I said. Of course you haven't had an easy life." I sigh.

But he's had a much easier life than me.

"I think an easy life is an impossibility living here."

He sighs too. "Forget it. Forget I told you all that. Sorry I bit your head off. Let's just start again, okay?"

"Okay then. Hi, I'm Penny."

He laughs. "Cato," he says, shaking my hand.

The door slides open, and in walk two lethal looking people, who I suppose must be our 'mentors.' They're both tall and muscular.

"Sit," snarls the man, Brutus, I think he's called. Yep, that figures. I take a seat next to Cato. "God knows why we've been landed with you this year," he says, glaring at me.

"Well, I didn't ask to be reaped, believe me," I retort.

"Whatever, I'm just gonna tell it to you like it is. You're already dead. There's no point pretending otherwise."

"What? That's it? You're not going to help me or anything? Give me any advice at least?"

"Here's some advice then - don't bother trying. It'll be a complete waste of time and effort," cuts in Enobaria. Her teeth are shaped like fangs, I think so she could rip people's throats out in the arena. Lovely.

I sigh and just stand up, grab my plate and leave. I really can't be bothered. I wasn't planning on trying anyway. I know there's no chance I can win, I'm not daft.

But it would have been nice to have a bit of false hope all the same.

I wander around the train for a bit, and finish my plate of food. A turn a sharp corridor and bump straight into Violetta.

Great.

I mumble sorry, and take off again in the other direction.

"Penelope? Where you going?"

Well, duh. As far away from you as I can get.

"Nowhere."

"Well, I'll show you to your room then," she says, tottering down the corridor. I follow her. At least now I can lock myself away from all the crazy people on this train.

"Ah, here we are," she says, sliding the door open.

"Thank you," I say, and mercifully, she leaves. I don't have the energy to look around, I just throw myself down on the big fluffy bed and fall asleep.