Percy’s POV
So….
It’s been nearly three days. Me and Katniss have been going quietly from station to station. There wasn’t much to do, since we had to lay low. But we do pick up some valuable skills like starting fires, knife throwing (even if I already excel at it. Just saying..) and shelter making. And I think I do remember Haymitch telling us to lay low for a while but I suppose we just can’t do it right. I mean, I actually excelled in hand-to-hand combat! How come I never knew I had the strength? And the both of us breeze by the edible plant section without even blinking an eye ( I saw Cato looking murderously at us…). But being the good boy I am, I constantly remind ourselves that we are not to go anywhere near archery or the knives (even if I was tempted…I mean, just look at the knives! I could get a very decent kill with those!).
The Gamemakers appeared pretty early on the first day. Twenty or so men and women, dressed in deep purple robes. They just sit on an elevated stands that surrounds the gymnasium. Sometimes they wander around, watching us, jotting some notes here and there. But most frequently, most frequently….they just sit down and eat at the endless banquet that have been laid down for them, ignoring us, which was find by me. But they do seem to take quite an interest with this year’s tributes from District 12. Katniss’ nudged me a few times, always telling me that the Gamemakers are keeping an eye on us. Seriously? Whatever…they consult with the trainers during our meals as well. We see them all gathered together when we come back. Like I’d care…
Anyhow, I’ve noticed that breakfast and dinner are served on our floor, but at lunch the twenty-four of us eat in a dining room off the gymnasium. Food is arranged on carts around the room and you serve yourself, which is super cool. But it wasn’t really cool when the Career tributes gather around one table. They are so rowdy and noisy, as if they wanted to prove their superiority, that they aren’t scared of one another and that we are beneath their dignity. Well, I’ll show them. Most of the other tributes sit alone, like lost sheep. No one says a word to us. Katniss and I eat together (uh…awkward much?), and since Haymitch has been dogging us about it, we try to keep up a friendly conversation during the meals. It wasn’t that hard….I guess.
Since I’m the more talkative one, I usually try to find a fun topic. Which is close to impossible since everything around us seems to remind us that we’re about to get slaughtered. Well, at least, it does to me. I just got bored with our routine and partly because I miss her so badly, I started to tell Katniss all of me and Addy’s childhood stories. She seems to genuinely like them. Well, I think so.
“ One day, we decided to play a prank on Mrs. Woodlum,” I tell her.
“ All of you?”
“ Yep. So, this guy, Chuck found a nest of mice. We put the mice in glass bottles and hid the bottles all around the orphanage. We already warned the girls about the mice so they managed to shut up and not scream. You should’ve heard her scream her head off.” We both laugh. It was pretty nice, not to have to pretend to laugh. That’s a lot of ‘to’.
“ Okay, I’m out of stories. What about you?” I ask her. “ And tell me an entertaining one, will you? I’m bored.”
She made a face at me. “ Fine. Did I ever tell you about the time I was chased by a bear?”
“ Uh, no. But it does sound fascinating,” I say.
She tries to ‘entertain’ me with her story about the day she had foolishly challenged a black bear for a beehive.
I made a face. “ Not entertaining at all, Katniss.” Her jaw drops open. “ I mean, you have to do better than that.” She starts to protest but my eye catches a slight movement.
“ I think we have a shadow,” I murmur to her. She turns her head towards the shadow. “ Her name’s Rue.”
Nothing in her expression could be read.
“ What can we do about it?” she asks, sounding a little bit harsh.
I shrug. “ She reminds me of Prim and Addy.” She glares at me.
The little girl, Rue is from District 11, I heard. And she is definitely one shadow that is pretty damn hard to lose. I mean, she would , like ,slip up and join us at every single station we went. I must say, even if she is small, she has some pretty amazing surviving skill. She’s clever with plants, climbs swiftly, and has good aim. Heck, she can hit the target every single time with a slingshot. But yeah, when you look at it from another point of view, her chances of surviving a fight with even Katniss is like nil. Nada. Though I am still very amazed by her abilities. Enough said.
So, on the third day of training, they start to call us out of lunch for our ‘eagerly’ awaited private sessions with the Gamemakers. District by district, the boys first (haven’t they ever heard of the phrase ‘Ladies first’?) then the girls. Being from District 12, well, you must really suck at numbers if you can’t even guess when is our turn. Since we didn’t know where to go (or what to do) to pass the time, we just linger in the dining room. I could feel myself going drowsy while waiting, probably nodding a few times because Katniss would jab me in the ribs occasionally, hissing things like “ wake up!” or “ don’t go to sleep!”
I only regain my consciousness when they call Rue. Only now did I actually feel nervous. I mean, finally, there are some butterflies in my stomach. Great….just what I need.
“ Percy Jackson!”
“ Well, there goes my name,” I say to Katniss. “ I guess this is where you should wish me luck, you know? Maybe I’d be lucky enough to scrape an eight or even a ten!”
“ Oh, shut up,” she say, rolling her eyes.
I grin. “ Shoot straight, kid.”
“ You too.”
Good enough, I guess. Better that than none.
“ Well, here goes nothing,” I mutter to myself, before going into the Training Room, where the Gamemakers are waiting.
“ Hey there,” I wave at them. A few raised their eyebrows, while others wave back at me. “ So, now I am going to demonstrate to you guys how,” my eyes ran along the racks of knives, axes and whatnot, “ I can become a dangerous killer.”
A few of the Gamemaker snickers.
“ Now, hold your horses, guys. You haven’t seen me throw these baby yet.” Yet another round of snickers. “ Okay…I’ll just show you my skills.”
I pick up several knives and went to one of the target boards. I took a deep breath and aimed at the bull’s eye. All of the knives hit the bull’s eye. I heard several of them clap in appreciation. But I know it wasn’t enough. I’ve seen the girl from Two, Clove or something throw these. It was much more with precision. I mean, she even threw some with her eyes closed.
“ Can I get someone to be my partner?” I ask them, knowing my particular skill could earn me at least an eight.
The Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane nodded and a young man in black and red uniform steps out on to the platform.
“ I want to try out these,” I gesture towards the racks of swords. The young man nods. We each take a sword. The one I picked was a little bit heavy. It didn’t feel right.
We start to duel. He went in for a strike but I manage parry his attack. It went on and on until he finally managed to disarm me.
“ Hang on for a bit. This one isn’t right for me,” I say to him. I hurry back to the rack, knowing that I don’t have much time. I quickly test every one of the sword until I finally found the one – almost – suitable for me. “ Okay. One more time.”
Again, this time he attack and I manage to parry it, yet again. He slashes and whirls and twist his weapon in deadly arcs, but I too manage to do the same. In the end, I finally manage to get under his guard and disarm him.
He smiles at me, nods before leaving the platform.
“ Very well, Mr. Jackson. You may go now,” Seneca Crane says. A few of the Gamemakers nods and whispers to each other.
Well, I guess maybe that eight is indeed in my hands.
That’s good.
I guess.
