Finnick and Annie

Meeting Mags

The journey to the Capitol wasn't very long; we got on the train in the evening and arrived the next morning. The train was ridiculously glamorous, there were crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, the chairs and tables were all made out of expensive, fancy materials. There was a train cart that was full of nothing but food. Anything I wanted to eat, I could find there. Under normal circumstances I would have probably enjoyed that much luxury, but not then. I couldn't care less about the Capitol food and the fancy cushions. Gertie did nothing but rant about how lucky we were and how expensive everything was. I also missed the beach. Everything here was fancy and probably extremely un-waterproof. I missed my mother, and my father, and Annie.

"Enough of that, Gertie." I turned around to see where the voice had come from, and I saw a woman, maybe seventy years old. She was not very tall; her skin was pale and wrinkled. Her hair was white, and she was dressed in simple, black clothes. She reminded me of my grandmother, who'd passed away a couple years ago. I knew her as Mags. She was a victor; she won the eighth Hunger Games, which made her the second victor from District Four. There were a decent number of victors in District Four, and they took turns mentoring the tributes each year.

"Hello, Finnick. Serena," she nodded courteously.

"Hi," I said shyly. She looked at me and smiled.

"I'm Mags," she said. Her voice was nice; it soothed me. "I'm going to be your mentor this year, Finnick... Serena, you will be working with Shay." I nodded. I was glad Mags was my mentor. Shay was a bit too crazy.

"We have plenty of time to talk about the games, though. I bet you're both tired and would like some time alone. Your rooms are down that hallway; you'll find everything you need in there. I'll have dinner taken to you and we can all talk tomorrow." Mags, showed us to our rooms. She showed Serena first, and then she took me to my room, just a few feet down the corridor.

"Thank you, Mags," I said, and then went inside my room. It was impressive, but I didn't care about its magnificence. By selling all the stuff in this room, we could probably feed my entire town for a year.

I showered and changed into comfortable silk pajamas. I'd never actually felt the material before and it was smooth on my skin, like cool water. I curled up in my bed and stared at the wall blankly, thinking of my family, until I fell asleep.

The exhaustion from the previous day made it very easy for me to fall asleep. I rested very well. Maybe it was the bed; I never sat on anything as comfortable.

A tall man in a red outfit woke me up me the next morning. I asked him what time it was but he only showed me his watch, and then I realized that he was an avox. Avoxes were traitors or criminals, whose tongues were cut off and were forced to work for the Capitol.

"Thank you," I whispered. I found the food car, where Mags was already sitting at the table.

"Good morning, Finnick," she said as she spread butter on a piece of toast.

"Good morning," I whispered, but there was really nothing good about it.