The Hunger Games - Through the Fire and Flames - Book 1

Chapter 4

I sat in a chair watching as several people talked about what to do with my image. It was clear that this was a big deal. I listened closely and was shocked when I heard them speak of lighting me on fire. The dark skinned man walked back over to me and sat in the chair to face me.

"You are going to light me on fire I heard you talking." I said to him.

He steepled his fingers as he looked at me with interest. "You don't trust me" He spoke to me. Normally this would be a question one would ask another but he said it as if it was fact.

"I'm sorry if that offends you but I don't exactly know you sir. Trust is gained not given." I said plainly

He sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. The entire time his eyes were on me. "Your mother is a good friend of mine. She hasn't changed much, still as beautiful and youthful like the bud of a rose." He paused as he went into a thought. His eyes glanced up at me several times before he finally spoke. "I know exactly what I am going to do with you." He rose to his feet and snapped his fingers. "I want her hair lighter, paler like her fathers. No make up, hair in a crown of braids and I need the suits from the 74th Hunger Games. Tailor them to fit this child and her brother right away." He snapped his fingers impatiently before he walked away.

Suddenly I was enclosed by several people who were touching my hair, waxing me and plucking my eyes brows.

"Is all this necessary?" I asked as I winced from a strip ripping away my leg hair.

"Yes it is." Cinna spoke. I guess I didn't realize that he had appeared beside me. "You will be like that of a diamond once I am done with you. Every one is going to want to sponsor you."

I sighed as I listened to his words. I closed my eyes as I waited for them to be finished. Why am I here, I thought to my self. Then my mind went back to Lia's name being pulled from the rest. Honestly I just thought it was a survival game not a debutane of sorts. What is with all the perfecting and primping.

"Did my mother have to go through this?" I asked him as he brought me to my feet and people began undressing me before bounding on me with a black suit of some foreign material. My fashion sense was just as good as my mothers and that was saying alot.

Cinna didn't answer right away which bothered me a bit. Did everyone seem snobby and distant or was it the fact he was stuck with Distrcit 12. As if he read my mind, or expression - I'm practically an open book - he began speaking.

"When I met your mother she was just as you are, a bit unsure about what me and my team were all about.-" He began as he began putting some last minute hems and touches on the collar of the black outfit I was wearing. "-She was in disbelief when I revealed to her that I had specifically chosen to work for the District 12 tributes. I could read on her face that she didn't like all the things she went through but she accepted it with open arms because she knew it was what she had to do. You can trust me just as your mother and father did Aloe" he finished.

I nodded my head. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

He stepped back and looked at me before his serious face turned up a smile. Slowly he walked a circle around me before he stopped in front of me again. "You don't ever have to worry about offending me." He walked forward and took my hand. "Your chariot awaits." with a small spin he towed me gently out of the room and down the elevator to a room that seemed to be at the bottom of the capitol building.

Before I could blink a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around me and then two more sets. I blinked several times nervously before I realized it was my mother, father and brother embracing me.

"Are you okay?" My brother asked me.

I nodded my head. My father looked at both me and my brother with a serious look upon his face. After this moment you will be known by everyone and wanted by many. My job.... our job-" He corrected as he looked to my mother. "-is to make sure you get sponsors. In order to do that we need to make a lasting impression."

My mother cut in. "How about a loving sibling approach." She said more-so to my father then us.

I watched as my father thought it over before he nodded. "That is perfect. More so, no one knows you can fight this will be your approach. Appear weak and vulnerable with your brother towering above you to protect you."

My father adjusted us so I seemed to be cowering into my brothers chest with his strong arms wrapped protectly around me. My face adjusted to hold a frightened look that I would change during the second round in the courtyard. During the second lap I would turn my gaze up to look into his eyes with my big baby blues, my brother would looked down down into my eyes with a loved look on his face.

Soon we were moved onto the chariots as District 1 headed out and then soon Districts 2-11. A small lurch grabbed my attention and my eyes widened. I didn't need to pretend to be afraid, I already was. I wasn't one to adjust all to well to large crowds so as we exited the room that kept us privacy my eyes flickered to the crowed. It took several minutes to really come to and see that I appeared to be on fire.

My eyes were filled with shock as I looked up at my brother who gave me a reassuring relaxed look. I wasn't burning, there is one fear behind me. A weird sound came from the crowed and it seemed like they were booing us then I realized they were awwing.

I frowned, my eyes big as I turned into my brothers chest. He brought his arms around me one cradling my head and the other around my waist. I chanced a look at his face and saw he staring firmly into the crowed with a - I'll do anything to protect her - look.

Just as quickly as it started it was over and I was relieved. My mother and father met us as we stepped down.

"That went better than I expected." My father said in a toneless voice.

I felt the uneasy tension radiating off my my father. He never acted like this. He said we did better than he expected so why wasn't he smiling. Then I realized that he couldn't be happy for his only children entering the Games. Aparently from my dads eyes the better things went for the events before the Games the more likely we would stay alive. That is what my dad wanted, he wanted us to have a chance like him and my mother did. He wanted us to survive.