I steal a glance down the back of the train but can't see much as a stern looking attendant walks forward to glare at me. I stare, instead, out the window. The sky is blue, painted with fluffy clouds. The yellow grass grows greener, and greener, and then neon. As we enter the capitol, we see it has been rebuilt, but not back to it's famous "glow." People are rushing everywhere outside of the train. I take a peak down the front of the isle and people are standing up as Katniss herself walks toward the stage with Effie at her heels.
"Oh we are going to be late!" she squeels. I can hear through the open door up ahead as people begin to stream out. The reaping has been set up just like it used to, except with capitol kids being showcased in fluffy green feathers and pink boas. I watch as Katniss's expression changes from being emotionless, to being almost as flustered as Effie.
"Keep up," my mom whispers. We quickly flow off the train which zooms away when the attendants depart. We walk to where we are supposed to sit, dangerously close to the capitol children. That's when I notice a young girl escaping. I quietly sneak away through the crowd to follow her. She enters behind the large stage and backs against the wall.
"What are you doing?" she hisses as I come into her view.
"I should ask you the same," I reply. Her cold glare leaves me almost breathless. Her short blond hair is polished with neon-green and bright-pink streaks. She had assorted feathers placed where feathers should not go. That's when I notice her eyes. They are bright orange. I stare at her, and she notices.
With a loud grunt, she grabs my arms and places me against the wall and says, "I'm not going to the Hunger Games, not now. Not ever. My name is in there 60 times. That is the most. I know I will be picked because I am one of the oldest out of the Capitol children, so there are few children eligible for the part. My name is Quinta Larzian. When they call my name, you go up for me. You understand?"
"No, I am not a capitol child," I say, putting the pieces together in my head.
"You will be," she says with an evil glare matching her sinister smile. She grabs a bag which she must have somehow hidden. Inside where ugly, grey clothes. They look like mine. Quinta pulls off her feathers and sticks them on me. After a while of me struggling under her grip and mumbling under the tape over my mouth, she is done.
"Off we go," she says ripping off the tape. I recoil in pain. She rushes off. I see my mother looking frantic. A man helping with security tells her any kids on the loose have been taken to a place where they can calm down, yet still watch the Reaping. I hear him talking to her through exasperated breaths.
I run back to her, but another official stops me in my tracks. "You can't be here," he says with a whip. I yelp in pain and he pushes me with the rest of the children. If I try to scream, it will be no more than a whisper to my mom, now too far away. Then, the crowd is silenced. I start sweating and shaking. Children around me try to look away, as they have the same expression plastered on their own faces. My eyes avert to the stage.
Even though she has bad luck in the Reaping, there is still a chance, I tell myself. Katniss begins her speech with Emery and Gradon behind her. Peeta stands tall at her side. I can tell Graydon is looking for me. His eyes dance around the crowd, but then his face takes on a look of doubt. He glances at the ground, and I can tell his eyes are welled with tears.
"For many years, we have been silenced. We have been killed. We have been extinguished. Now, there is a new era," Katniss bellows. The crowd doesn't cheer. They don't clap, or roar in amazement. They all take three fingers, press them to their lips, and reach them forward. After her speech, she leaves Effie to do the honors.
"Ladies first!" She chirps. I swear, in the small second, my heart stops beating. My eyelids seize to blink. My mouth was sealing shut. She reaches her hand in, as if in slow-motion, and grips a name in her fingertips. She pulls it up and studies it before time moves again. My heart not only starts beating, it pounds. My eyes blink nervously and my mouth opens in awe.
"Quinta Larzian."
