Baptism Of Fire
Chapter One
Shouting.
That's the first thing I hear on the morning of the Reaping for the 75th annual Hunger Games.
Shouting.
As daylight breaks through the gaps in the curtains of our house in the Victor's Village, I can see that the sounds of fear are coming from the mouth of my sleeping sister, Prim. Of course. She must be having a nightmare about the events of this very day, one year ago, when I volunteered to take her place after she was chosen in the Reaping to compete in the 74th Hunger Games. I can't imagine it was easy for her to take it all in and keep a brave face at such a young age. I shake her gently as she lies next to me; she must have come to my room in the middle of the night, afraid. As she wakes up I can see the fear in her eyes slowly fade as she realises she's still safe at home.
I need to get out of the house, to clear my head. This year will be a Quarter Quell, a special edition of the Hunger Games that only occurs once every 25 years. The Gamemakers always add a sick twist to the Quarter Quell the keep the Capitol viewers satisfied, but ultimately makes it greatly difficult for anyone living in the Districts to watch. With this in mind, it's a safe bet that President Snow will be using this as an excuse to punish me, or even all of District 12, for my actions with the berries at the end of last year's Games
This year, I will be a mentor whoever is picked to be in the Games this year. Peeta and I will have to try and coach at least two unfortunate young citizens of District 12 to kill or be killed in the arena. I need to escape to the woods to calm my nerves, but I know that President Snow will be looking for any way to punish me for making the Capitol look stupid, and if I'm caught it won't take much for him to have me executed. I can't put my family through that after everything, so I tend to stay clear of the woods these days.
As I walk through the district, I hear the bell in the square ring out that it is already 11 a.m., meaning that I have slept in greatly and that the Reaping will begin in only an hour – most probably my mother wanted me well-rested as I will have to take my place on the stage in front of the whole district with Haymitch and Peeta today. Already families are assembling in the square, at the front of the empty stage, wanting to make sure they are close enough to hear clearly who has been chosen. I turn and leave, deciding I should really be ready by now too.
By the time I've bathed and dressed in a Capitol-made blinding orange dress Cinna sent me in the week – still in the 'Girl On Fire' theme, it seems - my mother has braided my hair and helped with my make-up, it's time to head out to the square. I arrive a couple of minutes late, but no-one seems to really mind. Effie Trinket, wearing a lilac wig and matching lipstick along with an expression that screams disappointment at the fact she wasn't given a more interesting district than 12 for the second year in a row stands and makes her way to the centre of the stage, where the reaping balls – one filled with the name of every boy and the other of every girl aged 12-18 in the district and begins to talk.
'Greetings to the people of District 12, and welcome to the Reaping for the 75th Annual Hunger Games, the 3rd Quarter Quell…'
This is where I begin to zone out, because if there's one thing I've learned from my time with Effie it's that she knows how to drone on. I only begin to listen again, after what must have been about ten minutes, when three of Effie's words catch my attention.
'This year's twist,' she begins, and I can sense the tension in the crowd as District 12 braces themselves for the worst, that this year maybe the entire family of the tribute chosen must compete, or maybe there must be one tribute from every family. After a short pause, Effie resumes, 'is that there will only be tributes from District 12, with the other twenty-two tributes being chosen from anywhere on the planet at random.'
The crowd falls deafly silent at this revelation. 'There will only be tributes from District 12', in what way is that fair? I can almost hear President Snow ordering Effie to bring us the news, the joy in his tone. This is surely my fault, there's no two ways about it. But what I don't understand is that, apparently, this year's Games will be universal, involving 'twenty-two tributes from anywhere on the planet'. This, to my mind, defeats the purpose of the Hunger Games, the games that were put in place to remind residents of Panem, and only Panem, that they could be crushed by the Capitol at any time. Have the Capitol become so powerful that they can take over the entire planet? Surely not. Surely?