The Beasts of Us [A Hunger Games Fanfic]

LIGHTS IX. Caspar.

"There's a garden," Joy hissed.

Caspar pressed a button. The outline of the leaf in front of him flashed red and the shape changed; now it was rounder, with five tendrils that looked to have burrs on them. Irritated, he gave the machine a gentle kick. Misty dug her claws into his shoulder.

"You got that wrong," said Stunner, in case he hadn't noticed. Caspar bit back a sarcastic retort. The pair from One had been bickering almost constantly for the last few days and he'd noticed that the only effect sarcasm had on tall, blonde, delicate-featured Stunner was to bring a smug smile to his face. Sapphire didn't seem to have learned this yet.

Can't you just go away and let me do this in peace? He almost blurted it out, but he could imagine the look on Head Instructor Lewin's face and it didn't bear thinking about. This wasn't pressure, after all. This was just Careers being Careers and keeping a close eye on the opposition. Pressure would be when it was eat leaves or starve.

"It was a difficult one," Lin said soothingly. He had one arm draped around Joy's shoulders, weighing the skinny thing from Eight down, and the other scratching the head of his daemon. "What was that about the garden?"

Caspar was trying to focus on the machine - he'd got the last three in a row wrong, and it didn't look good - but he heard Joy's reply: "On the top floor. The thirteenth."

"An open garden?" That was Nineve, quiet, considered, sceptical. Her spider-daemon would be poised behind her ear. Just the sight of him there made Caspar's skin crawl.

"There's something around it. It shimmers. I don't think you could throw anything off it."

"Or anyone!" Lin joked.

The screen went red again and only years of discipline stopped Caspar from swearing violently and storming away. Misty muttered something that he couldn't quite hear but he felt the gist of it, calming and reproachful all at once. The next silhouette had curling tendrils and what looked like berries where they joined the stem. Memory sparked; his fingers chattered over the controls until he found the right answer and, to his relief, the screen went green.

Don't get carried away, boy, said Instructor Kraggs' voice. You've got a long way to go yet.

But he was ready. He knew he was.

Buoyed by this success, he floated through the rest of the test while Misty paid attention to what was going on around them. By the time he finished, grinning, the conversation had moved on to the upcoming assessments. "There's no time limit," Stunner was saying. "I might have a go at everything, so whatever the rest of you try, they'll have already seen me do it better!"

Nineve frowned a little. "Scores aren't everything."

"Not if I do it first," Sapphire snarled.

Caspar stepped aside to allow Lin to replace him at the machine. As he did so he caught a shiver of movement behind one of the pillars. Tousled hair, thick shoulders...it took him a moment, but he eventually placed the tribute as the boy from Seven, waiting to test himself at recognising plants. Well, he would have to wait. Lin was leaning on the keyboard, tapping lazily with one hand while the other was tucked around his daemon. She was muttering to him.

"What should we do after this?" Caspar asked. "Camouflage?" They didn't teach camouflage in any depth in the Center and this would be their last chance to give it a try. Secretly, he was quite keen to do so, especially after his terrible showing on the plants test.

Stunner giggled. "The baby wants to learn to paint!"

Caspar's ears started to burn, but Heather cut across his retort, fair as she ever was. "Caspar has earned his place here same as you, Stunner."