1
Renwick's POV
The faint yellow light of dawn pours through my window, spilling over my body as I lay splayed across the rumpled gray covers of my bed.
I can distinctly feel the dark hollows under my eyes, the result of a restless night spent obsessing over the Reaping. The dread has invaded my thoughts, eating away at my happiness, a thin veil already stretched far beyond its limits.
Just beyond the dusty glass panes of my bedroom window stands the Justice Building and its weather-worn marble columns. The place that took father from me before I was born.
A familiar pit forms in my stomach at the thought of the life I could have had if the Capitol hadn't ripped it away from me. Worse still, is the horrifying realization that my life could so easily be shattered a second time by a slip of paper in a glass bowl.
Five slips for me, five for Talia, and three for Caspian.
"Ren!"
A familiar voice pulls me from my dark thoughts. I lift my head off the pillow and squint out of the dusty window. Talia is perched on the roof, her amber eyes glowing next to her jet black hair.
Seeing her reminds me what happiness is— and of all that I could lose in an instant.
I heave myself out of bed slowly, my exhausted body fighting every movement. Opening the window, my grief bursts out.
"I can't do this again, Talia."
Her eyes fill with pity and understanding.
"I just can't—I can't have my life wrecked like that again."
"Ren, I understand. I really feel like we need to get away for just a little while."
"We can't—"
"I know we can't escape the Games, but distancing ourselves from this madness may help." She interjects.
Right then, my resolve snaps.
"Talia! I didn't get any sleep last night because of this Reaping and you think that I can just forget it all and go running off into the woods? What good could that possibly do for anyone right now?" I shout in her face.
Caspian appears at my door, rubbing his eyes.
"Ren?" Caspian croaks from the doorway. "What's going on?"
His eyes flicker when he sees Talia.
"You two were sneaking out!" he gasps.
"Get out, Caspian!" I growl. "Why is everything going to shit?"
"I was just leaving." Talia hisses. "Bye, Caspian."
She turns to me, eyes glinting.
"Have fun losing your mind over the Reaping, Renwick."
Renwick. She called be my full name. She only does that when she's really upset.
I watch her climb down the tree, and I find myself lost for words. I feel absolutely miserable.
"What happened Ren?" Caspian asks, startling me.
"We had an argument. Don't worry about it, just go back to sleep, Cas."
"I'm twelve years old, Ren. You don't have to baby me. You can tell me what happened." he says, moving over to sit on the end of my bed.
Sighing, I give in to his urging gaze.
"I snapped at her and now she's really upset. There's the possibility that I'll never to be able to talk to her again and… well, I feel like total shit."
"Well… I know how you feel." Caspian says, his voice shaking. "I had a really hard time sleeping last night because of the Reaping."
"I haven't slept at all." I reply, realizing that voicing my fears would not ease Caspian's nerves.
However, making a hollow promise to him about his safety wouldn't help either.
"So, what do you think that new mentor? … I think his name is Conan." Caspian asks, changing the subject.
"He won the Games, so I guess he knows what he's doing."
I turn my head away, looking at the quickly rising sun.
When I turn my head back, Caspian has dozed off, his body still in a sitting position. I decide to let him sleep off the stress of the Reaping today and I make my way onto the roof.
I follow in Talia's footsteps, grabbing onto the low hanging branches of the tree and swinging onto the trunk. The tree wavers under my weight, threatening to throw me onto the concrete below.
"Come on!" I hiss as I make my way further down, letting go and landing hard on the balls of my feet.
Wincing, I swallow back a string of profanity.
"Renny… you're up early." My mom says quietly from the front porch. I can see the bags under her eyes. "You could walk a little further and use the door next time, honey."
"I guess so, but the tree is much more exciting." I say, defending my exiting fashion.
As I walk, I get closer and closer to the Justice Building and I can see the massive television monitors and the stage lights. I gulp down the nasty feeling of terror as I turn on my heels away from the sickening scene. I walk down my favorite path near the active electric fence separating District Six from the vast and sinister woods.
Here it is relatively peaceful. The occasional Mockingjay flies overhead repeating a tune that it copied. Picking up a stone, I roll it around in my hand, flinging it roughly into a nearby tree.
I hear a sharp cry of pain.
Right away I realize what I'd done. I'd just flung the stone into Talia's tree.
"RENWICK KELLAN IVORY!" she screams from the tree.
The sound rattles me to my core.
"If you so desperately wanted to kill me, why not volunteer me for the Games! It would have been a little more painful!"
Leaping down from the tree, she runs toward me. Her face is twisted with rage. Her hands make contact with my chest, knocking the wind out of me. The next thing I know I'm on the ground.
As I look up, dazed, I see her eyebrow is bleeding where the rock hit her. I struggle to stand up from the dirt as she continues to scream at me.
"You! You disgusting coward! Why not just feed me to the Capitol's mutations?"
I open my mouth in an attempt to stop the attack, but she throws a punch at my face. Her fist slams into my eye socket, knocking me flat onto my back.
Dazed and in severe pain, I struggle to stand up.
"Talia, listen to me dammit!" I croak, "Just listen. I was trying to calm myself down and I totally forgot that this is your spot. You know I would never hurt you on purpose."
She takes a deep breath and steps toward me, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Oh god, Ren. I'm so sorry."
I reach out for her hand, but she puts them to her face as she starts to sob.
"Talia!" I call as she turns and runs down the road.
I watch, dumfounded, as she disappears into the distance. With one hand over my throbbing eye, I massage the pain in my back.
Unsure of what to do next, I hear the bell in the distance. The sound fills me with dread.
I know that I have to get home now. I start running despite the pain.
As soon as I set foot on the doorstep, my frazzled mother is ushering me into the house.
"Renwick, where the hell have you been? We have less than—oh my god." she stops abruptly, her eyes fixed on my eye.
"What happened to you, Renwick?"
"Um— it's a—uh— long story."
I slip past her and up the stairs before she say anything else.
Running into my room, I rip off my grey shirt. As I do so, I catch sight of my face in the mirror. My eye is bloodshot and a deep purple bruise is forming.
My mom bursts through the door right then with makeup in her hand. Before I can say anything, she starts talking.
"I don't care about the story right now. I just care about making you look presentable. Come here."
She dabs liquid makeup around my eye with a sponge, her eyes filled with worry.
"Alright, that'll have to do. It's not great, but its better than it was."
With that, she pushes me toward the dress shirt and linen pants on my bed.
"Get ready. Now."
I slide on the shirt and pants, stopping in front of the mirror again before I leave the room. My hair is disheveled and covered in dirt.
I make a feeble attempt at fixing it before rushing out of the room.
I run into Caspian on the stairs. He is dressed in an outfit almost exactly like mine, his red-brown hair slicked back neatly with a sparing of hair gel.
The second bell sounds in the distance.
The fear in Caspian's eyes is evident. Swallowing my own fear, I reach out and put my hand on his shoulder.
"It'll be ok Cas."