Albany Rosewood- District 2 Victor

Chapter 13

Maylee and Cael head off to bed, leaving me with my own thoughts. Some of those tributes looked like huge threats! Jett and Jasper from District 1 are definitely going to be a problem. Even though they will be allied with Maylee and Cael, I have seen so many tributes turn on each other.
  And then there is Laguna from District 4. A number of District 4 tributes are very talented and lethal, and since she volunteered, the odds of her having previous training are pretty high.
  Zeke from District 7 also seemed potentially dangerous. He was very muscular and he definitely didn't look scared. However, the he seems so protective of his district partner, Jessa, and that could be a weakness for him. He would probably go to great lengths to protect her.
  The last tribute that struck me as immediately threatening was Brody from District 10. He had bulging muscles and a malicious face. He doesn't look like he would hesitate to kill.
Any of the other tributes could also be dangerous, or they could have a hidden talent. I've learned the hard way that in the Games, you can't ever underestimate anyone. Even little Farah from District 9 could pose a threat. I'll have to remind Maylee and Cael to watch everybody very closely during training.
  Ugh, all of this worrying is giving me a headache. I rub my temples and stand up to go to bed. I walk into my suite and go to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Once I'm finished, I walk back into the bedroom and change into a lilac silk nightgown and collapse under the fluffy comforter. This bed is soooooo comfortable, and I wish I could stay in here forever and not have to face the day tomorrow.
  Unfortunately, I have no such luck. The next morning, I wake to Viyla knocking insistently on my door.
  "Albany!!! Get up! Maylee and Cael leave for their first day of training in an hour!!" I groan and mumble something in response to her, and I can hear her walk away from the door. With another groan, I throw the covers off of me and swing my legs out of bed. I slouch over to the wardrobe and search through the clothes. I yawn as I pull out my outfit for the day. Today, I choose a pair of pale pink leggings, a black tank top, a cozy gray, knitted cardigan, and a pair of brown leather boots that come to just below my knees.
After I get dressed, I head into the bathroom to fix my hair, which looks like a tangled bird's nest. Pieces of it are sticking up in random places and there is a huge knot in the back. I sigh and pick up a hairbrush. After 10 minutes of yanking the brush through my hair, I have gotten out the tangles and it is laying down a bit more. Then, I search through the countless hair products that are in a cabinet by the sink until I find one labeled 'frizz-remover'. I pour some of the liquid into my hands and then run them through my hair. Like magic, it becomes silky and smooth. I make sure to remember what this bottle looks like so I can use it again.
With one last look in the mirror, I head out of my room. Viyla is waiting at the table, alone.
"Viyla," I say. "Why did I need to get out of bed right now if Maylee and Cael aren't even up?"
"Well, darling, I wanted to have a word with you before they came out here." Uh oh. This can't be good. "You see, Albany, you haven't exactly been supportive of this whole thing since you were chosen to be a mentor. And I don't want Maylee and Cael to think that you aren't supportive of them, so you really need to change your attitude."
"I know," I say guiltily. "I feel really badly about how I've been acting, so I've made a resolution to change it. I'm going to be supportive and proud of them. I promise.
Viyla's face brightens and she grins at me. "Oh, well in that case I should probably go and wake them up, too! Wouldn't want them to miss their first day of training!" I smile and shake my head. As conceited and silly as Viyla is, she really does have the tributes' best interests at heart.
  A few minutes later, Maylee and Cael walk in. Maylee is wearing charcoal leggings with a tight-fitting burgundy tank top that has a large 2 on her back. Her blonde hair is swept up into a sleek ponytail and she is grinning. Cael is wearing a similar outfit to Maylee's, but his pants are a lot looser, closet to cargo pants.
"I'm so excited to go into training!" Maylee exclaims. "I'll have access to so many weapons, and I can see firsthand what the other tributes can do!!!" She displays the kind of excitement usually reserved for parties, not a televised fight to the death. Nevertheless, I remember the promise that I made to myself.
"I'm glad you're excited! Eat a good breakfast and then get out there and wow them with your skills. Make them afraid," I say.
"Maylee and I are going to ask Jett and Jasper if they want to be allies first thing, and then train with them to assess their strengths," Cael adds.
"Good idea," I say with a smile. I hope he isn't still mad about our little... disagreement last night.
  Maylee and Cael eat quickly, scarfing down strawberries, apple slices, oatmeal, and toast. By the time they're finished, all I've eaten is a bowl of blueberries.
  "Let's go, Albany!! We don't have all day, do we?" Maylee asks impatiently. I stand up, as does Viyla, and we leave for the Training Center.
I vaguely remember the way to get there from last time, but I was in a haze of misery most of the time. It's a good thing that Viyla is here to guide us.
We arrive at a huge, square, gray building with massive double doors.
"This is where we leave you," I say. "Good luck today, and I'll see you when you get back. Don't forget, show off all of your skills, but none of your weaknesses. And do some of the survival exercises, too."
  Maylee and Cael nod, and Cael walks into the building. Maylee, however, lingers behind.
  "I just wanted to thank you for being so supportive. I know this is hard for you," she says. And then, she engulfs me in a hug. I hug her back, tightly, until she finally lets go. I give her a little wave, and off she goes. I bite my lip. I hope she scares the other tributes, if they're scared they won't come after her. And I hope Jett and Jasper will ally with them.
  "What do we do now?" I ask Viyla.
"Just follow me, darling! We have to go back to the suite so we can watch them train. They have cameras all over the Training Center so you can watch them from the suite," Viyla says.
We walk back down to the suite quickly, I don't want to miss a second of their training. We rush inside and Viyla sets up the live feed. I sit down on the couch and Viyla sits next to me. We fix our eyes on the screen as it brightens and the training begins.
The Training Center is a huge room with equipment scattered all throughout the room. Bows and arrows, targets, rubber dummies, swords, knives, fire staring stations, obstacle courses, and poisonous plant identification stations are all over the room.
  All of the tributes are standing in a loose circle around a young woman named Atala. She is talking to them about the compulsory exercises that they will have to do, and how they shouldn't just disregard the survival skills. She rattles off some statistics about how many tributes have died from various natural causes, and then she releases them.
Maylee and Cael immediately head over to the weapons, with Jett and Jasper straight behind them.
Jett smiles at Maylee and says, "Hi! I'm Jett, and this is Jasper," she gestures to Jasper. "We want to know if you'd be allies with us. Obviously, we wouldn't kill each other unless it's down to just the four of us. And we would always talk to each other about letting other tributes into our alliance."
Maylee and Cael exchange a glance, and Jasper says, "Trust me, Jett and I aren't people you want going against you." He smirks at Cael.
  "Of course we'll be your allies," says Maylee.
  "Wonderful!" exclaims Jett. "Let's start training." I breathe a sigh of relief; they're allies, and that's two less people trying to kill Maylee.
  Cael picks up a huge, serrated sword and looks at it approvingly. An instructor wearing body armor walks up to Cael and they start fighting. Cael slashes and hacks at the instructor, who just blocks his shots.
  Jett and Maylee head over to the archery section. They both pick up silver bows and arrows and begin to shoot at the targets. It makes me happy to see that Maylee is just a tiny bit better than Jett, hitting the dead center of the target when Jett hits a few inches to the side.
  Jasper heads to the throwing knives section and picks up a few wicked-looking knives. He hurls them at the target, where they are imbedded in the dead center of the target. He grins wickedly and continues to throw.
I pick up the glass remote and move the camera's view around to a different part of the room. I turn it to the fire starting station where three tributes are watching the instructor explain how to start a fire with only two sticks. The tributes that are watching are Jessa from District 7, Dexter from District 9, and Mesa from District 3. Jessa is watching the instructor closely, her brow furrowed in concentration. Dexter is gazing around the room with a bored expression and showing no interest in the instructor. Mesa's eyes are darting around the room nervously and she is very twitchy.
  I turn the camera's view to the obstacle course, where Loch from District 12 is making his way though the course. Five other tributes are waiting in line. Zana from District 6 is at the front of the line. Loch slowly picks his way across the course, but his foot gets tangled in the net and he is left hanging by one foot, six feet above the ground. He wriggles and thrashes around, finally collapsing in a heap on the mat. Loch gingerly gets up and limps off the course. It looks like he hurt his ankle.
Once he has gotten out of the way, Zana jumps up and grabs the first of the obstacles, the monkey bars. She swings across it effortlessly and moves along to the net. She climbs across it without even slowing down. Then, she jumps from platform to platform, some of them up to 5 feet apart, effortlessly. Then, Zana scales a 20 foot rock wall and climbs back down the other side. About 5 feet above the ground, she jumps down and lands lithely on her feet. The other tributes stare in awe at her. She walks away without so much as a second glance. Zana could be a huge threat in the arena, and I'll need Maylee and Cael about her.
  I turn the camera back over to the throwing knives, where Ren from District 11 is at the target next to Jasper. Jasper is watching him with mild interest. Ren, who still has a sour expression, is holding a knife and aiming at the target. Ren throws it and it lands just outside the center of the target. He scowls at and then throws another one. This time, it lands in the center of the target. Jasper exchanges an approving glance with Cael, who has joined him at the knife throwing station. They both turn away from Ren and join Jett and Maylee at the archery section. I watch them, and Jasper is much better at archery than Cael. Cael is hitting one of the outer rings while Jasper is hitting the bullseye every time. That must be making them mad.
  With all of the Careers playing nicely together, I pan the camera back around the room to observe the other tributes. I look around until I spot Laguna, the volunteer from District 4. She is holding a spear and is aiming at a target. She throws the spear, and it lands in the dead center of the target. I raise my eyebrows. It's really hard to throw a spear that accurately because of its weight and length. Maybe it was just beginner's luck, though. She picks up another and throws it again. Nope. It wasn't beginner's luck. She hits the bullseye once again. Farah from District 9 is watching in awe. Laguna turns and sees her. I look on in surprise as she begins to coach tiny Farah in how to throw a spear. Laguna is another one to watch out for, but if she wants to protect Farah in the arena, that could be a big weakness for her.
  I look around the room and zoom in on the poisonous plant identification center. Lia and Nolan from District 5 are staring intently at the screen and trying to tap the poisonous plants. The screen keeps flashing red as they select the wrong one again and again. Lia's gray eyes are glossy with tears as she gets more and more frustrated. Nolan says something unintelligible to her and she nods and sniffles, her tears gone. They will definitely be looking out for each other in the arena, but neither one of them look like much of a threat. Nolan is tall and skinny, and Lia looks scared. I think that if a leaf fell near her in the arena she would scream.
  Next I look back at the archery section. Jasper and Cael have vacated it and Colton from District 6, Sail from District 4, and Marx from District 3 have taken their place. Marx is holding a bow and looking puzzled. He is staring at it like he can't quite fathom how to use it. Colton is pulling back an arrow. He releases it and it goes flying into wall behind the target. I glance into the corner of the screen, where I can see Maylee and Jett laughing at him. Colton scowls and throws the bow down. He stomps off to a different station. Sail picks up the bow and stumbles because of the weight. He hoists it up and pulls an arrow back. As he is pulling it back, he stumbles back again and accidentally fires it right over to where Cael, Maylee, Jasper, and Jett are standing. The arrow grazes Cael's leg, cutting into his pant leg and making a shallow gash on his calf. I gasp. Cael is not going to take this well. I see Sail's eyes widen and he tries to scurry backwards, away from Cael, but he trips over the bow and falls. Cael's face contorts with fury and he stomps over to Sail while Jett, Maylee, and Jasper look on with interested expressions.
  Cael stomps over to Sail and starts to bellow at him while Sail whimpers and tries to scamper away.
  "You little punk!" Cael shouts. "You think you can pull a stunt like that and get away with it? Are you trying to hurt me? Are you trying to make your pathetic chances any better in that arena? Because, even before you just did that, you already had NO chance of winning! And now, you just made me your enemy, punk. And I won't forget. I'm coming for you in that arena.  Watch your back, freak." Cael yanks Sail up off of the ground and slams him into a wall. A Peacekeeper sprints over and pulls them apart. Cael stomps back over to the other Careers while Sail lays on the floor, shaken. Sail is dead already. Cael will target him and kill him the second that timer hits zero.
  I watch the tributes for the rest of the day. I pan the camera around the Training Center, looking at Maylee and Jett, Jasper and Cael, and all of the others. I also keep a close watch on Laguna, Zeke, Ren, and Zana. After several more hours, I hear the door opening. Cael and Maylee have come back, and we have a lot of strategizing to do.