The New Games: A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 22: Hope

Chapter 22

I walk out of the train car and go over to the dining car, grab a muffin and eat it on my way to find Ariel. As an avox walks past I grab her arm and stop her.

"Sorry, have you seen Ariel lately?" I ask her.

"Yes, I have." she responds moving her arm away from my hand.

"Where?" I ask.

She motions behind her. "A couple cars down, you should find her easily."

"Thank you." I say.

The avox walks away and I walk through a few cars before I see Ariel.

"Ariel!" I say.

"Is there something you need, Kamela?" she asks.

"Yes, actually." I say "Can we, uh, talk please."

"Of course." she says. "Why don't you come with me."

She starts walking and I follow her. We end up in a train car with two couches, three chairs and a coffee table in the middle, food and drink are quickly provided by avoxes.

Ariel sits down. "So, what did you want to talk about?" she asks, taking a sip of tea.

"I have so many questions, I just--"

She cuts me off. "I'm sorry about this but, the problem with questions is that I...we can't answer every question you have, well I guess we could." she shakes her head. "Anyways what I'm trying to say is that we have secrets to keep, and we can only tell you so much. I am terribly sorry if I can't give you the answer you were looking for."

"It's fine, I understand." I say. "I had a feeling you couldn't answer everything."

"I'll try my best." she says "Go ahead, ask away."

"Is....is he okay?" I ask.

"Who?" Ariel responds.

"Talon, is he okay? Do you know if he got picked?"

"I know that Talon is fine right now, he's probably just worried about you."

"Okay," I say looking up at her, then down at my hands. "Do you know if he got picked?"

"I'm sorry Kamela, but I can't tell you who is or isn't going into the arena, it's illegal. We could all face consequences if I told you."

"Okay, I understand. I'm just so scared." I say

"Kamela, I know you will be scared, but you are strong, I know you are. You will be fine." She says.

"Thanks." I say.

"We'll talk more later." She says getting up. "Oh." she says turning back toward me. "I'm hoping that he didn't get chosen, to be honest, you are the only person that I know who's going into the arena. They don't tell escorts these things."

"Why?" I ask.

"You probably have an idea why." she says walking out the door.

"Yeah," I say looking down. "I do."

Ariel's special. She's different than I expected. There's no way she's from the Capitol. At least I don't think she's on their side. Same with Cronin. This might just be nosy, but I need to know what's going on. There's one thing that hasn't changed since the Capitol took control again. We still have one thing. Hope.