CHAPTER ONE
“So, it seems like we’re going to be in this together.” Cato says, turning to me, his bright eyes boring into mine.
I really had no idea what to say; every time he turned those eyes on me I felt frozen, far too self conscious. I didn’t want to mess up in front of him and make him think badly of me.
“Um, yeah. Allies though, right?” I asked, rubbing my arm but unable to force myself from his gaze.
“Right.”
How was I supposed to tell him how I feel, when, if we end up being the final two in these games, one of us will have to kill the other?
He turned away from me, looking at his hands. Why couldn’t I carry on a conversation? He obviously was trying to, but my tongue felt heavy and useless. I hope he didn’t feel as awkward as I did.
We sat in silence until we were told to go to bed for the night. Our mentor had failed to make an appearance. She would probably turn up tomorrow.
I headed into my room, not too surprised by the size of it, but was amazed at all the buttons it contained. However, I was exhausted and after rummaging through tons of new clothes, found a plain nightgown and changed, then slipped under the silk sheets. I closed my eyes, and almost instantly fell into a dreamless sleep.
I awoke the next morning to a dark room. The sun obviously hadn’t risen yet, however, I no longer felt like sleeping. I stepped into the bathroom, and though I shouldn’t have, was again astonished by the amount of buttons in the large, clean, white room. For the sink alone there must have been at least thirty small silver buttons. For what, I’m not sure, most were not labeled. I stripped and stepped into the shower.
As with the sink, there were tons of buttons. These were clearly labeled with waterproof stickers carefully placed underneath each one. The red buttons on the top row regulated water temperature, the green ones on the left regulated pressure. The blue ones on the right provided a huge arrangement of shampoos and lotions, and yada yada yada, I really don’t have the patience to explain everything to you.
After a while, I stepped out of the warm water and wrapped myself in a towel, and stepped over to a metal plate on the wall. Placing my right hand onto the cool metal, I felt a current of electricity run through every nerve of my body, my dark brown hair was instantly dry and fell around my shoulders in a smooth and shiny waves.
This is too cool. You don’t know how long it usually takes me to comb the knots out of my hair, or how much it hurts afterwards; this was simple, easy, and efficient. Why didn’t all the districts have this too? Oh well, I don’t need to dwell on that, it’s not my problem anyways.
I changed into new clothes that were laying out for me on my nightstand. They weren’t at all fancy, and I was completely fine with that. I pulled on the dark blue tank top and the denim shorts, and walked out of my room and into the empty dining car.
Sitting down at the table, I looked down at my hands, picking at my long nails, a habit I always did when I got nervous. Cato soon came in, followed by our district mentor, Enobaria. Cato sat across from me, while Enobaria sat at the head of the long wooden table.
Looking over our district mentor, I began to wonder why the people I knew never wanted to talk about the past Victor. She seemed normal enough. That is, until she gave us a smile, her sharpened, fang-like teeth glinting with the gold plating she had at the bottom of each of her nightmarish ivories.
I scooted a bit farther back in my chair, though; Enobaria didn’t seem to notice my discomfort at all, and if she did, she obviously didn’t care.
“So, are you two planning on being allies, or what?” barks Enobaria gruffly, her gaze sweeping carelessly over Cato and myself.
“Um, yeah, I think so.” Cato says, glancing my way, but as soon as he catches my gaze, his eyes quickly flit away. “We were planning on it.”
“Alright then, I guess we won’t have to keep your talents secret from each other then. First off, why are you two worth my time? Why should I even help you?” She sneered at us, flashing off her teeth once again, and the hair on the back of my neck prickled in discomfort.
“I guess I’m good with throwing knives, I’ve been working at it since I could toddle.” I say quietly.
“I guess I’m good at throwing knives!” Enobaria mimics me in a high pitched girly voice, and it made my blood boil. I do not talk like that. Before I could stop myself, I grabbed the blade of the slender knife by my empty plate, and with a flick of my wrist sent it straight at Enobaria’s head. At the last second however, our mentor ducked, and the knife lodged itself up to the hilt in the thick wall right where the center of Enobaria’s head had been just milliseconds before.
Surprisingly, instead of lashing out at me, she smiled approvingly. “You do have skills.” She said, turning around and easily yanking the knife out of the wall. God she was strong.
“You know, I think you might not be a waste of my time… Clove, right?” She asks, flashing me another of her deadly smiles.
I nodded my head, “Um, yeah…” I said, and she turned to Cato.
“Now, what exactly can you do? And please don’t tell me that you’re ‘strong’.” She said, seeming to get bored with me, because she didn’t glance my way again.
Cato sat quietly for a moment, and I thought he wasn’t going to say anything at all. However, after a few moments he opened his mouth.
“I can wield a sword pretty well.” He said, looking Enobaria right in the eye. How he was not petrified of her? I know that I was. I’m just glad I wasn’t going into the games against her. Every aspect of our mentor screamed danger, and made my stomach knot in panic.
“I guess that that will have to do.” Says Enobaria; almost in a growl. God, this woman was insane.
