Chapter 1

The brush had barely touched the white canvas in front of me when she knocked on my door. Sighing I put down the brush and unlocked the latch. "Clove dear come on you have to get ready for the reaping." My mother said. "It is just 6 in the morning ma, the reaping only starts at 2." I say with the intent to shut the door on her face. Her thin hand stops the door from shutting and she pulls me out.

"Listen I know that you don't want to start getting ready and want to paint for sometime but you know your aunt. You know how she will be if you don't come now." She says. I slump down in defeat and let her take me into her room. Father is not here he has gone to get Helios ready.

Tarri my younger sister comes in with a platter of devices. This takes place every year whether we are old enough to participate in the reaping or not. My sister is still 2 years too young to participate but me this is my third time.

My mother first sends both of us to go have a bath; where I scrub myself so hard that my skin starts stinging, even that won't be enough for aunt Enobaria. I come out with only a towel wrapped around myself and trudge down back to my mother's room.

Suddenly I crash into someone as I round one of the blind corners of our house in the victor's village. "oh my god I am so sorry. Are you … um..." comes a voice. For a minute I am in shock as I lay on the floor but then I realize that the voice was masculine. I look up and see Cato. "um hi….. um" I say as I realize that I am wearing only a towel.

"Um sorry I should go… Um…" he says glancing anywhere but at me. "It's okay I'm leaving anyways. So um bye." I say as I get up and look out the window in embarrassment. "Uhh… oh yea bye." He says and turns around and walks away. I take a breath of relief and wrapping the towel properly around me I walk into my mother's room.

"so… I saw Cato here today." Indigo said. I look at her and smile remembering our encounter. Indigo is my older sister this will be her 4th reaping. My brother Helios is having his first reaping today. He is my only brother and Indigo and Tarri are my only sisters.

"I know." I say as I help her tie a ribbon in her hair "I met him in the most unexpected place. What was he doing here by the ways?" she adjusts her dress and says "oh he had come to meet father for something related to the games." I smile as I too do some finishing touches on my outfit.

Almost all of my family has taken part in the games and has become a victor. My grandparents, my father, even my cousins. My aunt is the last sane female victor district 2 has had so she will be the mentor for the girls. There have been other male victors than my father and right now the mentor for the boys is Aris the districts mayor's godson.

The alarm goes off and Indigo and I head out of the house to go to the square where the reaping will take place. We enter and take our places in our lines; I can see Helios in the boy's lines and give him a smile which he returns to my surprise with a sneer. But before I can think too much on that Froline Ripple our escort stands at the podium and says "Happy Hunger Games and May the odds be ever in your favor." Frowning I turn towards Froline who starts to give her usual speech on the hunger games.

Finally the time has come for her to pull out a name from the glass bowl placed in front of her. She pulls out a card and reads the name "Indigo Hemmingsworth" I freeze, its Indigo I should be happy but….? Indigo steps up on stage and smiles. No one volunteers, in our district it is a privilege to take part in the games so generally volunteers are killed. Indigo is lethal with her weapons that is why no one dare to volunteer. I would have -I am not that bad with handling a knife maybe even better than indigo but I wouldn't I just love her too much. Even if the roles were reversed and she volunteered for me I would let her take my place rather than harm her. I wouldn't do it for anyone else not Tarri and definitely not Helios.

Froline surprised that no one has volunteered yet pulls out a chit from the other glass bowl. "Helios Hemmingsworth" she shouts out this time I turn with such speed that my neck jerks and pulls. I had heard the advice aunt had given him and was surprised he was following it. I pull out a knife and throw without thinking. The blade hits him right in the chest and a pool of blood flows out. I am too slow I turn and see that Indigo is already on the ground, dead!

The realization of what I've done hits me hard but still putting on a brave face I shout out "I volunteer!" Froline still is frozen in shock; she has no clue of what just happened. "I volunteer as tribute in place of Indigo." I say and this time I head up to the stage. I sit down and cradle Indigo's head in my lap, slowly kissing her forehead and closing her eyes. I gently place her head back on the ground and stand up. All I can think about is her blood that is now pooling around her rapidly.

Froline finally says "and will anyone volunteer for boy tribute or should I draw a name?" the silence is immense no one wants to volunteer; they are all scared of me now. "I volunteer as tribute." I look up to search from who the noise came and to my shock it is Cato. He walks up to the stage and introduces himself. Froline asks us to shake hands and steps back. I turn to face him and shake his hand and that is when I notice I have blood all over me. He doesn't make an attempt to wipe the blood off his hands.

We are pushed into the justice building by the peacekeepers. I am shoved into a room and locked up. The door opens and my family enter. My mother doesn't even look at me and my father just says "all the best and take care of yourself." Both of them turn and walk out of the room. I am all alone in the room with Tarri I look guiltily at her and find her in tears. "how could you? Now both Helios and Indigo are dead and you might be too. I am all alone. You think mother will be all right after this? You do remember how she was when Christopher didn't return from the games. Now with all 3 of you dead you know what it is going to do to her? To me? You don't care at all. Oh I wish you just die in the games!" saying so she stormed out of the room.

I stared after her and was overwhelmed with such heartbreaking emotion that I fell to my knees and started sobbing. No what was I doing I had to be brave and now was definitely not the time to be crying. I wiped my eyes and drank some water from one of the glasses kept there. There was a knock on the door and Clay our house avox comes in with a bag and looks at me. I can't move I'm just in too much pain. She looks at me with sympathy and starts undressing me. She quickly puts on another dress on me and cleans the blood off me. There is another knock on my door and this time it's the peacekeepers. Clay turns to leave but I grasp her hand frightened. She turns and smiles sadly at me. The tight squeeze she gives my hand says all she is incapable to say. She lets go and walks out.

They stuffed me and Cato into a car along with Froline, aunt Enobaria and Aris. The ride to the station was a silent one. Once the car stopped at the station I stepped out smiling and waving, blowing kisses once in a while till I entered the train. It was after all what all tributes were supposed to do. I knew the layout of the train by heart from the many visits and stepped into the dining parlor.

"So you 2 are the new tributes huh?" Aris says. I nod as Cato says "yes we are and can I say that I am really inspired by the way you won your victory." Aris smiles and says "why thank you why don't we go to my room and talk some more." Together Aris and Cato head out. Froline too asks rest and goes up her room to relax.

"Clove I am proud of you. You will make the families name shine darling." aunt Enobaria says. I stare at her; how could she change sides so quickly? Just yesterday night she was giving Helios all kinds of tricks to kill Indigo and me and now. "Thank you Enobaria." I say instead of any of the hurtful thing I can say as I know she will be my savior in the arena. She seems a little taken aback that I didn't call her aunt as I usually do. Her eyes become stone hard and she says coldly "I will too head for my chambers. You of course know your way around the train and will not need any help. But just in case you can call any of the avoxes here to help you out." She turns and just heads out.

I find myself too tired to move and collapse into a sofa. The train starts moving with a jerk. I stare out of the window for I don't know how long till I fall asleep right there.

I'm running through a maze….. I can hear his evil laugh following me. The shadows are filled with saliva and hidden monsters. I turn and he is there…..Helios… so is Indigo. He stabs her and again I'm too late to save her. "no indigo …" I say. Helios turns and sneers at me. "I will get you for what you did to me bitch. Ill haunt you till you die maybe not really but by the time I'm done with you you'll just be an empty shell." I freeze and inhale so sharply. Helios just laughs and hits me hard in the face.

"Clove? Clove- are you all right?" a voice says bringing me back to consciousness, out of that nightmare. I get up gasping for breath and find Cato's face inches away from mine. "Argh….. Oh my god Cato you scared me." I say. "Shhh….. Keep quiet, you will wake everyone up." He says grinning.

I look around and find myself in a bedroom. "What am I doing here? Didn't I fall asleep on the sofa in the parlor?" I ask bewildered. "Oh yea I came back after Aris had fallen asleep and saw you. You looked as though you were in a very uncomfortable position so I carried you to your room" he said. My eyebrows rise at his last statement and I saw incredulously "you carried me to my room!" he blushes and says "yea you were sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you so I carried you."

I am wonderstruck at this and highly embarrassed. "Thank you?" he smiles and says "well I shall see you later and it's not your fault that your siblings are dead." Before I have time to react he turns and walks out of the compartment.