Dependence - Book Two (Wattys 2013 Finalist)

Tribute Pairings - Part One

Piper Papillon’s POV:

‘’ Hello everyone! I welcome you all warmly here today for the selection of the pairings for this year’s Quarter Quell! The tributes have just finished their feast, so now it’s time to get things underway.’’ I smile and walk across the stage to the two objects hidden beneath fancy red blankets.

I pull off the first blanket, revealing a small glass bowl with twenty four names scrawled onto pieces of paper. It is actually a Reaping bowl, however it looks odd considering how empty it is.

The crowd is silent as they watch me do this as most have no idea what we intend to do. I now move onto the much bigger object and pull the red blanket covering it off. A large spinning wheel is revealed. There are separate segments on it, each with a tributes name written onto it. It looks like a wheel of fortune.

‘’ OK everyone, here is how this is going to work. I am going to pluck a name from the Reaping bowl, and the person that is picked is going to come up and join me on stage. They will then approach the wheel and spin it. The name that the wheel stops on will be paired with the person that spun the wheel. As we go on, names will be removed from the wheel and the segments will be slightly bigger until everyone has a partner. When you have your partner, you take your seat here on stage with your partner. Are we clear? OK then, let’s begin!’’

I stick my name into the Reaping bowl and pull out the first lucky name.

‘’ Alistair Balentine!’’

Alistair Balentine’s POV:

‘’ Crap.’’ I mutter to myself.

‘’ Good luck.’’ Whispers Arianna with a smile, however I can tell that it is forced and her tone of voice indicates how nervous she is.

I approach the stage where Piper is smiling broadly at me and make my way over to the wheel. I glance at the small arrow on the top of the wheel that is currently pointing to Brutis Glaze and take a deep breath.

‘’ Good luck Alistair. Simply spin the wheel.’’ Smiles Piper.

I take a grip on the wheel, close my eyes for a moment and then spin it with all my strength. I then step back to watch it go. It is like a spectrum, each rung of the wheel – with a tribute’s name on it – is a different colour, however the wheel appears white as all the colours spin so quickly around.

We watch it for about ten seconds until it slowly begins to stop. The arrow clicks every time it hits the small handles of each rung. I watch as it hovers over each name momentarily before it moves on to the next.

Min Yan.

Lilly Cullen.

Belle Cyrus.

Acacia Frost.

It then comes to the name I want it to land on as it is almost about to stop. Arianna Winslow. The arrow stops in her section, however it continues to move slightly, bending a bit it threatens to move into the next section – Osmo Overton.

Please no. Please no. Don’t let it move. Let it be Arianna. I beg silently to a God I don’t believe in.

The arrow bends dangerously close to the point where it would click into Osmo’s section, however it stops and clicks to a halt in Arianna’s instead. A wide grin spreads across my face, and I laugh aloud. Then Piper begins to applaud and she instructs Arianna to come up and join me on stage.

‘’ We have our first pair! The District Twelve escapists Arianna Winslow and Alistair Balentine! Please go take your seats over there.’’ She smiles and then approaches the Reaping bowl once again.