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Chapter 6

"And now, the girl you've all been waiting for!" Caesar Flickerman calls from the gigantic interview stage. "The daughter of the most famous victors in history! Please welcome... TIGERLILY EVERDEEN!!" Cheers erupt from the crowd. I walk on to the stage confidently, with a big smile on my face. I wave to the crowd and the cameras, and the crowd goes insane. Caesar laughs and holds his hands up for silence as I sit down in the comfy velvet chair.

"Now, Tigerlily," Caesar says. "We all know your parents, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen-" loud cheers from the stands. "-but what about you?"

"What about me?" I ask, and the crowd laughs.

"Anything, really. We'd all like to hear, don't we?" whoops and cheers came again.

"Well, first off, I do hunt like my mother. And I can camouflage well like my father (except an ally of mine taught me to do so). But I don't want people to know me as 'the Mockingjay's daughter' or whatever people call me. I want to be known as Tigerlily. Just Tigerlily."

"Well, 'just Tigerlily', let's talk a bit about what you did to present your chosen skill. How did you achieve a perfect score?"

"Luck," I say. Laughs from the crowd. "What I did to present my skill, though, is I basically lit an arrow on fire and shot it at the gamemaker's force field. And before you ask Caesar, yes, I am wearing the flames today."

"Well show us, then! We'd all like to see!!!" Crazy applause. I stand up from my chair and nervously fidget with the button. When the audience quiets down, I press it. Heat weaves through my body as fire engulfs me. The other dress burns away, to reveal a gold sort of suit that was still flaming. I feel something in my hand, and find a gold bow and arrow in my hand. The arrow is on fire. I ready my arrow and angle it right at the cameras, but I make sure it isn't going to hit them. I let it fly and watch as it goes right past the cameras, the fire blows out, and the unharmed arrow falls into the crowd. Screams and cheers come from the crowd as people rush to catch my arrow as some sort of souvenir. Caesar laughs and says, "that's all the time we have folks!" 

* * * 

I lay on my bed and think about the events of the day. The black dress had almost grown back over the golden suit again and is hanging on the doorknob of my closet. A little later, I hear the door creak open. I turn around and am about to say, "leave, Jack," when I notice there isn't just one figure, but three. Three familiar faces. Lila, Caroline, and Eve walk towards my bed and take a seat on it. I sit up, ready for something, anything.

"Why are you guys here?" I ask.

"We wanted to discuss strategy," Caroline says, "And making our ally list smaller."

"Okay," I say, grabbing the ally list from my bedside table. "So far it's all of you, and Mandolyn. Should we get more?"

"Candace Muncio from District Two," Eve says quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I got Candace on our team."

"That's amazing, Eve!" Lila exclaims, pulling Eve into a hug.

"Wow. Okay, so we've got half of the Careers on our side already. That's new. We need to be careful of Ryker Evensong and Seth Brinna. We'll be the strong girl team, yeah?" Caroline says, taking out a pen and circling our names. I smile, knowing that we'll be the team to beat. Another knock on the door startles us. It swings open and two more people step into the room, followed by Haymitch.

"We heard we're a team now, "Candace Muncio says, taking an empty seat on my bed.

"How did you-" I start to say.

"You guys aren't very good at being quiet. I heard everything and called Mandolyn and Candace. I thought they should have the right to know your plans too," Haymitch says, and leaves without saying goodbye. We offer Mandolyn a seat, but she says she prefers to stay standing.

"Let's talk strategy," Candace says seriously, turning the light on as Mandolyn closes the door. "Who do we need to watch out for?"

"The remaining Careers," I say, taking Caroline's pen. I grab a fresh piece of paper and write at the top, 'People to watch out for.' I write 'Seth Brinna' and 'Ryker Evensong' under the title.

"Ryker's not a threat," Mandolyn says. "He's not strong enough, and will probably get killed straight away." I cross Rykers' name out.

"Seth is dangerous," Candace says. "He'll probably become Allies with-"

"-Dracon," Caroline finishes. Candace nods.

"Seth and Dracon are our biggest competitors so far," I confirm, writing 'Dracon Hema' under Seth. "Who else?"

"Jack," Eve says. I'm about to write his name, but I hesitate.

"You ok?" asks Lila. I can always rely on Lila for courage I had forgotten about.

"Yeah, it's just... it seems weird to have his name under our enemies list, when he should be right here making plans with us."

"That's his loss," says Caroline fiercely. "If he wants to die by not being allies with us, that's on him. If you won't write his name, then I will." I reluctantly hand over the pen and paper to Caroline, and she writes 'Jack Odair' under Dracon. 

"Zunti, too," I say. "Jack and her are probably allies." Caroline writes 'Zunti Trinto'.

"Anyone else?" She asks. Everyone shakes their heads. "The Last Hunger Games has officially begun!"