Kai From Four

Training

The tips of my fingers touched rough concrete and smooth tile. I gripped the edge of the swimming pool and pulled myself out of the water, pushing tips of dark hair out of my goggled eyes by running a hand through my hair. I exhaled, the sound echoing off the walls of the building. The Capitol sure had large swimming pools. I pulled the goggles off my eyes and rested them on my head.

"Need a hand?"

Startled, I fell back in the pool without goggles. Artemis' laughter rang in my ears as I resurfaced, probably flushing, and wiped my eyes. I shook off the brief annoyance and laughed with her. She looked a lot better than yesterday night—sleep had done wonders.

"What are you doing up so early?" I asked, laying my arms over the edge of the pool and remaining mostly in the water. "Training starts at ten. It's, like, seven right now." Right? I've only been swimming for a bit.

"It's actually almost nine," Artemis responded matter-of-factly, pointing at the clock on the far end of the wall. "I came to call you for breakfast, if you want it."

I blinked. "Oh. I've had it already. I'll be back in time for training, though."

She hummed in acknowledgment and left.

I took a shower in one of the luxurious stalls near the pool and dried myself before returning to my room, where I found my training uniform. It was black with a silver number four on a patch on the right side of my chest and a thick silver stripe running down my short sleeves and the sides of my trousers.

I met Artemis at the dining room, where she'd just finished breakfast.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yup." Artemis nodded and smiled. "Let's show them what we've got."

The ride down was silent. I looked at my bracelets and wondered if my parents would have been proud of me or terrified for being sent here. I still didn't know what to feel about the whole situation.

Ding!

But for now, I had to focus completely on training to get every advantage I could.

The elevator doors opened and Artemis and I stepped out.

We weren't the first tributes to have arrived, but there were only a few before us. They were definitely Careers, most of them walking around like they owned the place and felt right at home.

I looked at Artemis and saw that she was sizing up our competition. I took the chance to look around at the various training stations. A swimming pool caught my eye. What's this?

The trainer gathered everyone in the center and gave a short speech about how we needed to remember that survival skills were very important and not ignore those stations here. Then she let everyone go, and some Careers went straight to the strength section. She watched them with a resigned expression.

That must happen every year.

Artemis turned to me. "So, what shall we do first?"

I pointed at the most familiar-looking station to both of us. "That swimming pool looks interesting."

Especially since there are cannons all around it.

She nodded, looking excited. "Let's go."

The instructor by the pool saw us approach and explained the concept of the station. She didn't look surprised that we were from District Four. "You'll swim through the pool blindfolded. You won't be able to see a thing." She passed out blackout goggles to both of us. "You'll have to rely on your other senses to get through. The cannons will fire randomly." She motioned to the cannons, where I could see tips of blunt javelins poking out. "As you can see, you won't be seriously injured, but I can't say they won't hurt. Your objective is to swim to the other side and back." She smiled knowingly at our expressions. "So, who wants to go first?"