Chapter 1

No POV

The Head Gamemaker, Abraham Springle, watches the recap of the reapings for the 127th Hunger Games in his red velvet chair in his massive office. He strokes his foot-long beard and turns off the TV, or, rather, the projection on his beige wall. Slowly, an evil grin creeps onto his face. "Another year of entertainment begins," he murmurs to himself, and with that grin lasting, Abraham walks out of the office, down the hall, and to the President's office (which is even more giant than his own), knocks on the door, and begins a long chat with the President about this year's crop of tributes.

President Duke has a list of the tributes, their ages, and small notes about them. He would go on to keep this list, use it for the arena, even to give to the Gamemakers to see how to torture the children as much as possible. He believes that seeing people's reactions when they are reaped says a lot about a person. After all, a true victor wouldn't sob their eyes out if they were reaped. They would consider it an honor to represent their district, to take part in their country's tradition. Right?

These Games didn't seem like they were any different than normal. It was easy to tell the strong ones from the weak ones. After the little discussion between Abraham and President Duke, they both take a catapult ride to the Betting Building, a place where, of course, people made bets for the Hunger Games victor. Even though the reapings had just ended less than an hour ago, the main lobby was already packed with hundreds of Capitol residents ready to support a tribute. Of course, it was illegal for the Head Gamemaker to place bets, because he could control the arena, but the President could, and as one might expect, he decided to support the muscular 18-year old volunteer from District 2. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that he was the favorite to win. That was how the Hunger Games was supposed to work, wasn't it?

All of the Capitol citizens fell asleep in their designer, king-sized beds that night in a good mood. The festivities had only begun – the tributes were on the trains, soon to arrive in the Capitol. That was where the real fun would begin – the Tribute Parade, the training scores, the interviews – and, of course, the best part of all – the Games themselves. It was going to be another exciting year.

At about 2:00 a.m., an Avox girl named Angelina crept into President Duke's office. She was annoyed because the President had woken her up and ordered her to get the coffee that he had left in his office before. Was her really that lazy, that he couldn't get up and walk down the hall? It was his fault anyway, for leaving it in there. As Angelina picks up the coffee, she sees a piece of paper on President Duke's desk and decides to read it after making sure no one was watching her. It was the President's notes on the reaping. Since Angelina was an Avox and she didn't get the privilege of watching the recap, she decided to read it.

Tributes of the 127th Hunger Games

District 1: Jamal Gold (17) and Amethyst Diamond (also 17). Both good-looking volunteers, could be threats.

District 2: Dallas Woods (18) and Alicia Swords (17). Dallas looks like a potential victor, and Alicia looks as if she would definitely give him a run for his money. Lots of people will bet on both of them.

District 3: Hunter Albert (14) and Jade Scorpion (16). Worthless, as usual. District 3 hasn't had a victor in 35 years, after all, and that's the way it should be. Both will probably be killed in the bloodbath.

District 4: Jaymes Current (18) and Arielle Scales (13). These two are total opposites – Jaymes looks strong enough to do very well, and Arielle looks scared to death. I expect she won't be allowed into the Career alliance.

District 5: Bennett Switch (16) and Poppy Light (15). Eh. Boring. They both look like they would be useless with weapons, but they are skinny and look like they would be fast, at least.

District 6: Aidan Sprint (17) and McKayla Carr (15). Aidan could end up being a threat – he looks strong and he's one of the few tributes that don't break down crying when they're reaped. The girl is nothing special.

District 7: Graham Axel (16) and Hazel Almond (16). The girl is an emotional wreck and it looks like the boy volunteered to go in to protect her. It looks like they're dating. That's a definite alliance there.

District 8: Phoenix Thread (14) and Raven Silk (16). The boy looks positively worthless but at least the girl is not crying – the crying is getting old.

District 9: Hayden Fields (13) and Willow Farmer (14). They are two young, small tributes. Looks like District 9 will keep their 38-year losing streak going.

District 10: Austin Stocker (16) and Celeste Rodriguez (15). The boy looks decently strong but the girl looks insane. The Peacekeepers have to drag her into the Justice Building because she's screaming.

District 11: Denver Roots (18) and Lilac Rosen (12). They are another pair of opposites. Denver is big and someone to watch out for, but the girl can't be more than 4 feet, 8 inches tall.

District 12: Leo Green (17) and Stella Canary (15). The boy is average, completely emotionless while Stella, the girl, is trying not to cry. At least she's holding it together somewhat.

People to bet on: Jamal, Dallas, Alicia, Jaymes, Aidan, Denver

Angelina realizes, like she does every year, that 23 of these people are going to die within the next month. She vows to herself not to watch the parade or the scores or the interviews, and definitely not the Games. She knows that she will get too attached to a tribute or two and that when they die, it will be unbearable to watch. She won't let that happen again, like it has happened too many times in her life. She makes a promise to herself to stay strong, even though she hates the Games, hates the Capitol for doing this, because she knows full well that it's wrong.

Angelina hears footsteps. She quickly puts the paper down, grabs the coffee, and walks out of the office to deliver it. She dreads the next couple weeks.