PROLOGUE, PART ONE: WHERE MY HEART IS
Andromida Nyx Ledè, age 19
Victor of the 71st Annual Hunger Games
"Andri! Will you come here already!?"
I groan softly, wondering if there's any way I could pretend not to have heard my sister's yell. Probably not.
"Coming!"
Putting down my copy of The Lord of the Rings and gently tipping my cat out of my lap, I get to my feet and bound downstairs. Veraline is standing in the living room, tapping her foot.
"Hey, Vera," I say. "What's up?"
"You're mentoring?"
I wince. I should have known this was coming. "Yes."
"Why?"
"Perseus asked me to mentor with him. What was I supposed to do, say no?"
"Yes!"
I roll my eyes. "Come on, Vera. It won't be so bad."
Veraline glares at me. "Just please tell me you're not leaving the kids with me."
"I'm not," I say indignantly. "Why would I do that?"
"Thank goodness. Because I can barely babysit those two little terrors for half-an-hour without causing a catastrophe."
"They're not little terrors."
Veraline raises one eyebrow skeptically. I stick my tongue out at her.
"Real mature, Andromida."
"Oh, whatever. Are you hungry?"
Vera blinks. "Huh?"
"I'm hungry," I say. "You want some of those leftover sausage rolls?"
"No, you go ahead."
I walk into the kitchen and pull a couple of sausage rolls out of the fridge. I debate putting them in the oven for several minutes before deciding to just eat them cold.
"I don't want you to leave again."
The sound of Vera's voice startles me, and I turn around to stare at her. "What?"
"You've only been back about a year, and I don't want you to leave again."
"Oh, is that what this is about?" I say, sitting down on the couch beside Veraline. "You know I won't be gone that long, right?"
"I know."
"And have you ever heard of a thing called a telephone?"
A smile starts to tug at the corners of her mouth. "All right, fine. Point taken."
"Good. Now are you sure you don't want a sausage roll?"
"Completely. Wanna watch some TV?"
I take a bite of a roll. "Definitely."
Veraline turns on the television, where Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith are enthusiastically discussing the upcoming Hunger Games. I roll my eyes. "Do people in the Capitol ever think about anything besides the Hunger Games?"
"Fashion, maybe," Vera says.
We exchange grins, and then turn back to the TV.
"And now, for some other news, please welcome the lovely Carleen Lowri!" Caesar says happily.
I raise one eyebrow. The name Lowri sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it.
A pretty woman in her mid-twenties comes onstage, her silvery-purple hair glinting like polished metal. Her onyx eyes are glittering as if she's keeping a secret and could not possibly be more thrilled about it.
"Hello, Caesar," she purrs, a smile dancing across her face. "I must say it's nice to be back."
"And it's nice to have you back!" Caesar says. "Now, on to the reason you're here. It seems your company, Lowri Labs, has recently had a breakthrough. Am I right?"
Oh. That's where I heard that name before. Lowri Labs. As far as I know, they're some kind of genetics lab. I wonder why the head of the company on this show, though.
"We have indeed, Caesar, and trust me when I say, it's going to be amazing."
"How much, exactly, can you reveal?"
"Not a lot, but I can say that this project has been going on for years, and we're all very excited that we're finally seeing results."
"Will this discovery be affecting the Hunger Games?"
Carleen flashes a very white, almost predatory smile. "Not this year, no. But in later years...quite possibly."
"Really? How fascinating!"
"It really is."
By this point, I'm starting to get a weird feeling in my stomach. Anything that could possibly be in the Hunger Games can't be good. At least it doesn't seem like anything'll be changing this year.
Veraline picks up the remote and turns off the TV. "What do you think that was about?"
"I dunno. But I have a sinking feeling," I pat my stomach, "right here."
"Me too."
Silence falls. And then, Vera says, "What do you think they discovered."
"I don't know that either. But I think Lowri Labs is a genetics lab, so..."
My sister's face goes rather pale. I know what she's thinking, because I'm thinking it too.
Mutts.
I have a terrible feeling this has something to do with mutts. Although I don't see how they could possibly get any worse after my Games.
But, then again, Capitolians have always had a talent for turning bad into worse.
Suddenly, there's a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," I say, getting up. "Who is it?"
"Your unwilling babysitter."
I almost laugh. "Coming, Esmeralda."
When I open the door, both Esmeralda and Jerrick are standing there, each one holding a baby. "Hey, guys. Did you have fun this morning?"
"No," Jerrick says.
"I was talking to the babies."
"You're a real jerk."
"No more than you."
I take Calliope from Jerrick, and then yell, "Veraline, could you come here and help me out?"
Vera comes out of the living room. "What?"
"Could you take Alistair?"
She rolls her eyes but holds out her arms. Esmeralda looks profoundly relieved once she is no longer holding the baby.
"Come on," I say. "Let's take them upstairs. And please, please, please try not to trip over something and wake them up this time, OK?"
Veraline makes a face at me, but walks more carefully nonetheless.
A few minutes later, the twins are safely sleeping their cribs, and Esmeralda and Jerrick have raided the fridge for snacks. Jerrick is eating an entire dill pickle and Esmeralda has what looks like a bunch of grapes on a skewer stick.
"You two are very weird."
"You should talk," Esmeralda says.
"Yeah, well."
Jerrick and Veraline laugh.
I roll my eyes, but I'm smiling. "Any food left in there, or have you two cleaned it out?"
"There is, in fact, still food," Jerrick says.
"Oh, good."
"Why is it," says Vera, "that every time someone comes over here to drop something off, they end up staying for hours?"
"It's part of being a Victor," Esmeralda says. "Or, you know, living in the same house as a Victor."
Veraline huffs. "I hate you."
"Yup."
I sigh, smiling and shaking my head.
They say that home is where the heart is.
Well, my heart is here, in the giant house where people come and go like I'm running a bed-and-breakfast.
And I love it.
A/N So that's the first prologue! I still need a couple more tributes, so please submit!
Also, I would like to give a shout-out to twistedservice, who inspired part of my last SYOT and is half the reason I'm writing SYOTs in the first place. So, yeah, thank you!
