When Cato was twelve, he got sent to a training camp, which was basically training, but instead of going to the training center and then going home, you would live there. He would be there until he was eighteen, and then he would volunteer to join the Games. However, your name is still in the Reaping Bowl, and if you get called you still have to go, unless someone volunteers.
I was only eleven that time. Father only gave me one restriction: I cannot join the Hunger Games. He told everyone that my name would be put in, to be fair, but he told me my name wasn't going to go into the Bowl. I am allowed to volunteer; however, if I do, he promised me he would make the arena a living hell for me.
Since I was only eleven, I wasn't old enough to join the training camp. They said I was skilled enough to join, but I was still too young. So Father sent me to District 4, where their training camp is for kids ages eleven to seventeen. Which meant that the next time I would see Cato I would be seventeen. That was in six years.
The night before we left for the training camps, I heard a small knock on the door. I knew it was Cato and that's why I pretended to sleep. I'm not that good at goodbyes. Nevertheless, he entered my room and sat down beside my bed.
"Olivia…"
I suddenly remembered that night in the hospital, when he woke me up to pick me up. I remembered how happy I was that it was him on my bedside and I realized how now, I'm so devastated that it's him, because I knew we were going to say our goodbyes. How could things change so quickly? I started to tear up again at the thought of losing him.
"Olivia, I know you're awake. At least talk to me. Go up to the roof in 5 minutes," he whispered. "Please."
When he left, I got out of bed, grabbed my hoodie and running shoes, and climbed out the window to the roof. When I got there, he was already sitting there, staring at the stars.
I walked up to him and laid down, staring at the stars.
"I'm sorry I have to leave you. If I could, I would stay. You know that right?" He suddenly says.
"Yeah, I would too. If only we were the same age. I can't believe the next time I'd be able to see you would be in 6 years."
"I know. I can't believe your dad is sending you to District 4. Why can't he just let you wait a year and then go to the training camp here?"
"Because he's a horrible, horrible person, Cato. And I'm not just talking about the things he does to me."
"Yeah." He says, and then lays down beside me, and then holds my hand. After a while I sit up, because my tears started to make a pool, drowning my eyes. When I sat up though, all of it started to roll down my cheeks, and I tried to wipe them away. Cato saw though, and he sat up and hugged me until I calmed down.
It took a long while though, because with each passing moment I was enveloped in his hug, I kept thinking about how it might be our last, or how the next time we would hug would be in six years, or some other horrible thought about losing Cato. He was my best friend, and I would miss him so much.
When I first arrived in District 4, I had absolutely nowhere to go. Cynthia, my old escort, was back. She looked a little bit older, and thinner. He icy-blue teeth were gone and she now had pearl-white teeth, and her hair was long, straight and black, with the tips as red as blood. She wasn't wearing a lot of makeup, which surprised me. She actually looked normal, compared to how she looked before.
"My, my, my. You have grown so much!" Cynthia says, while looking me up and down. "I see we still have to work on your posture." She winks, and I stand up straight.
"That's better. Now, today is a going to be a big day! You'll be meeting with a prep team, and they'll remake you to Beauty Base Zero.Got it? Then after that, we'll work on your etiquette, and then training! Doesn't that sound fun?" She says, and then frowns, adding. "Oh my, you're not talking again?"
"No, I am. I was waiting for you to finish." I say. She smiles and say, "Oh, wow! Who taught you your manners?"
"Father send I had to go to etiquette school three times a week after training, so I did."
"That's marvelous! It worked. You just need to remember to stand up straight." She says, and pats me on the back, making my back straight.
"Right…" I say. "So, where's the prep team?"
"Third floor! I'll bring you there. And while we're walking, you can tell me what you've been up to! So what have you been doing?"
"Mostly training. It's really fun."
"Ah, yes. You have gotten quite muscular lately," She says. "But, the good kind! You look darling."
"Thank you," I say. Suddenly, she stops and says, "Okay, we're here!" And before she leaves she turns to me and says, "Remember, be polite. And don't get mad at your prep team!"
At first, I don't get what she means by that, but when I meet my prep team, I understand. I fully understand. My prep team has to be the most annoying prep team you can ever get. Seriously. These people are delusional. I almost forget all my etiquette training and want to use all my weapons training on them. That's how annoying they are.
When I first step into the room, they all scream at me. They say they haven't seen me in "forever" and that they remember when I was a little girl. The whole time they were prepping me, they kept talking. And talking. And talking. It was horrible, and I was so thankful when they all screamed at me when I was done.
"You look gorgeous!"
"You look stunning!"
"You look like your mother!"
I froze at the last comment. She covered her mouth and apologized, but I said it was okay. That's the best compliment I've ever gotten.
"Okay, we're done! Time for your etiquette training with Cynthia." One of them said.
When they leave the room, Cynthia comes in and smiles at me. "How was it?" She says.
"Good. They weren't that annoying," I lied. "They were kinda sweet."
"Well, seeing as you didn't talk bad about them behind their backs," she winks. "I guess you have some manners. But let's get started, shall we?"
After etiquette training, which was about two hours long, she said it was time for training.
"Now, since you have enough manners, we'll only be having class twice a week. Got it? We're supposed to have three, but you can use the extra time to do something productive. Like train. On the days when we don't have etiquette training, I'll be your teacher. We'll learn the basic stuff like Math, Science, and History. If you want to learn about something more though, you just have to tell me." She says, and then we leave the room and head upstairs, to the training center.
"This is your training room. The camp here in District 4 is very different from the one in 2. In 2, you live in the camp. In 4, you go home and live with a Victor. Since 4 doesn't have as many Victors as 2 does, some houses will have a lot of trainees, while others will have very little. Some might even have just one. Usually, they let the most adept at killing live alone with the Victor, so he or she will learn more things. Got it?"
"I think so. Why isn't 2's training camp like this?"
"Well, because they want to make sure the trainees are disciplined, and they want to make sure their values are being reinforced even after training."
"Oh, yeah." Just then, the head trainer opened the door to the training room and told me to step in. I said bye to Cynthia and she reminded me to be showered and dressed by 7, for dinner. It was now 4:30, and I was happy to see that I was early for training.
"So, Olivia. Training is usually at 5, but since you're here already, why not get started? Are you okay with that?"
"Yeah. Wait, what's your name?"
"My name is Crash, and this is my sister, Shore." He said and pointed at a girl who looked exactly like him. "Now, most of the trainers aren't here yet, but let's get started. What are your specialties?"
"Well, I'd rather show you." I said, and started walking towards the knives. I picked the best ones I could find out of the pile of twelve and walked towards the dummies. I had eight knives, and there were seven dummies. I had one extra, but I wasn't planning on using it.
"When you're ready." I hear Crash say and when I tell him go the dummies start moving around. I looked confused but when I threw a knife in one's heart, it stopped moving. "The goal is to stop the dummies from moving. With each kill, the dummies will move faster."
I took note of this and decided it would be easier to kill them at the same time. So, I held four knives in one hand and put the remaining three inside the sleeve of my jacket. I transferred two knives into my other hand, all in less than a minute.
I got a good grip on my first two knives, and then threw at two different dummies, killing both of them. Before Crash could make them speed up, I gripped my other two and threw my knives at another pair of dummies.
There were two dummies left and I swore at myself for not putting three knives in each hand, that way I would have already been done. I heard the machine behind me roar and the dummies sped up, but I could still throw. I gripped one knife in right hand and the other one in my left, leaving one in my jacket pocket. I threw them at the same time and one knife landed in the heart of the dummy and the other landed in the head.
"Impressive. No one's ever thought of throwing them at the same time. Anything else?"
I nod, and walk over to the spear section.
"Now, the goal is to kill the farthest dummy, way in the back," he points to a green colored dummy, in the back of the room.
"That's it?" I say, and then regret it immediately because I think it made me sound obnoxious.
Thankfully Crash doesn't think so, because he lets out a laugh and says, "Of course not. There are going to be dummies moving around in front of your target, but you can't hit them."
"Why not?"
"Well, because they're supposed to be the civilians."
"What's wrong with killing civilians?" I say, then regret it again. I forgot that I'm now in District 4 and they're more sensitive about death.
"Your District 2 is showing." Crash says, then winks.
"Shut up," I say playfully. "Oh, sorry. In District 2 we're very informal with the way we talk to our trainers."
"It's fine. Just don't talk that way to me during training. Got it?"
"Aren't we training?" I ask.
"Yeah, but no one's here." He says, and then tells me to throw. I grab four spears and test my throw on a practice dummy before beginning, because this spear is heavier. When I get the feel of it, I tell Crash that I'm ready to begin. He starts the machine and I see dummies moving around, but I see a couple of dummies the same color as my target.
"Why are there green dummies? Am I supposed to hit them?" I ask.
"No, they're there to distract you." He says, and then tells me to continue. I count the seconds that the "civilians" take to cross in front of my target, and when I count fifteen in my head, there is a small clearing where my spear can make it.
I count fifteen again, and when I hit thirteen, I throw, since if I throw at fifteen it will be too late. My spear makes it way through all the dummies and lands itself into the green dummy's heart, and red liquid spills out.
"Sweet, where'd you get the fake blood?" I say, smiling.
"Who told you it was fake?" Crash, says grinning. "You're very good at using weapons, and you're good at using your brains too. That's great. Anything else?"
"District 2 teaches you a lot of things, but I'm most comfortable with knives and spears. Technically anything you can throw. Though my best friend is great with swords and machetes, so he taught me how to use them. I'm pretty good." I say, and then I start to feel bad for a little while because I thought of Cato.
I'm guessing Crash sensed this because he says, "Well, he's in District 2 now, isn't he? You can't think about it while you're here. I'm saying this as your trainer and as your friend. It will only make you weaker physically and emotionally. Got it?"
"Got it." I say, and then he smiles and says, "Now, show me how good you are with that sword."
After I slice a couple of dummies in half, the rest of the trainees come in. Some of them are my age, but most are older and more muscular. We all introduce ourselves, and I'm glad that we don't have to say our last names, because if we did, I'm sure everyone would recognize me and treat me differently. I don't want to be treated differently; I want to be treated normally.
I'm also glad that I've been out of the media's eyes for a while, so you wouldn't recognize me, since I guess a lot of people have forgotten how my mother looks like.
During practice, we are assigned to a trainer, group and a station, and I'm assigned to Dawn, an archery trainer. Back home, I didn't really pay attention to it, since our head trainer said it was okay for me to concentrate on knives and spears.
Here though, I find that I am very good at it and in just two hours, Dawn says I'm almost as good as her. I take that as a compliment since she's probably been training since she could walk.
When we finish with our stations, Crash calls us back for a meeting. He says this was a test to see if we were good enough to be part, and sends home all of the eleven year-olds and half of the twelve year-olds. He says they'll be training at the training center, and they can try out next year.
Great, I think. I'm new here and I'm the youngest. I bet no one would want to hangout with the twelve year-old new girl from District 2. I head over to my room and take a nice cold shower. It's really hot here in District 4, but I kind of like it. After I shower, I dry myself of and slip into my sweatpants, t-shirt and running shoes. Before I leave my room, I look at myself in the mirror.
I'm not like most eleven year-olds. I'm shorter than most, but I have more muscle. I'm also not like most of the kids from District 4. Most of them are darker than me, but still white. They all like using tridents, but I prefer using knives and spears. Thinking about tridents, I make a mental note of trying one out tomorrow.
Anyways, they're all really nice and friendly, and I doubt I'm like that. Also, they have consciences, and I doubt I have that. In District 2, we all think the same.
Kill or be killed, I think, remembering what our head trainer said on the first day or training. I was six then, and I was scared of what training would be like, since the first time I met Cato, he was in the hospital because of an open fracture that his trainer gave him. He told me that it was his own ignorance to be blamed, but I still got scared. I'm not anymore, though. I got used to it. Just like how I got used to not seeing my real parents.
Mom. That's someone who I never see and can't really blame it on anyone. At least I can blame Father for leaving me alone, but I can't blame Mom. She didn't want to die, and I bet she didn't want to leave me alone with Father.
I think of what little memories I have with Mom. She died when I was two, and it's amazing how Father put up with me for four years, and then finally decided that he couldn't do it anymore.
I remember how Mom used to sing me to sleep. I remember how she took me to District 4 one time, and we played in the beach the whole day. That's all I remember, and I can't even see her face in any of those memories. I can only hear her voice.
The only reason why I know how Mom looks like is because of all the pictures people show me. She had long, blonde hair and green eyes. She had a thin nose and freckles. She had lips as pink as the morning dawn and straight, white teeth. She also had a body frame so fragile it looks like I can snap her in half, and I'm only eleven.
I can't believe Cato thinks I look like her. I say, and then scold myself for thinking about him. Crash's right. I can't think about Cato anymore. I doubt he's thinking of me, anyways, I think. He's crazy though; I don't look like her. I have blonde hair, but my roots are dark since Father's are too.
My eyes are weird, though. They change color, which I always thought was a little bizarre. Cato says when I'm happy, they turn green, like Mom's. He also says that they turn blue, like Father's when I think negative. And when I'm thinking, or I feel in between positive and negative, they turn amethyst, with specks of green and blue in them.
I think the only thing I got from Mom was my nose, lips and teeth. I don't have a build like anyone. I'm not tall like my parents, but I'm guessing it's because I'm still eleven. I'm not as fragile as Mom, but not as thick as Father. I'm in the middle, because of all my muscle.
I'm not the muscular like the older kids, though. People say they get surprised when they see me throw because I don't look as strong as the older kids, who can't even throw.
I think that's a good thing though, because I can sneak up on my enemies. Cato said it was a good thing. Damn, I gotta stop that, I think, and then head off to dinner before I can think of another memory with Cato.
"There she is!" I hear someone shout as I enter the dining hall. I ignore it, assuming they're referring to someone else. I walk over to the food table, and the lady at the counter gives me a container, a banana, bread, and a juice box. I turn around, and see a boy waving at me, telling me to go to their table. I look around, thinking he's motioning to someone else.
"Over here!" He says, and continues smiling. I walk over to him and just stand there, looking at him and his friends. "You're pretty good. I saw you go into training early and practice with Crash. I'm Sebastian, and this is Harbor, Finn, Wave and Tide, they're twins by the way, and Shelly."
They all look a lot older than me, probably about twelve or thirteen. Sebastian looks the oldest though, probably about fourteen. Then again, it could be just because he's really tall.
"Well…?" Shelly says, smiling.
"What?" I say.
"This is usually the part where you tell us your name." Sebastian says, laughing. I almost freeze, remembering Cato, because that's one of the first words he ever said to me, but I stop myself. I have to be strong.
"Oh, right. I'm Olivia."
"See, I told you!" Finn says, then adds, "We weren't really listening during the introduction part, but I caught your name. Hard to not pay attention to someone who hit the green dummy on the first try."
"Damn!" They all say, then hand him over their juice boxes. I'm about to leave because I think they only invited me over to settle their bet when Finn scoots over and tells me he'll split the winnings with me, "because your name is Olivia and therefore I won the bet." according to him.
Midway through our dinner, Shelly, who's on my left says, "Finn! Can I have a juice box? I was close! I thought her name was Olive."
"No." Finn says, then sticks a piece of his bread in his mouth, smiling.
"C'mon! I'll give you a kiss." She says, taunting him. Sebastian motions for me to sit beside him, and I happily take his offer. "They've been together for two years." He whispers, and then I turn to him and say, "They've been together since they were eleven?"
"What? No! Finn's seventeen, and Shelly's sixteen. They both don't look like it, right?"
"Yeah. I thought you were the oldest." I say, then realize he might take it as an insult so I quickly add, "Because you're so tall."
"Nah," He laughs. "I'm twelve. Finn's the oldest, then Shelly. Wave and Tide are fourteen, and Harbor's thirteen. Finn doesn't look old because he doesn't like having lots of muscle seen, but trust me, he's really strong."
"So this is his last year?"
"Yup. And Shelly's devastated. I bet she wishes they'd be in the same house, so they could spend more time with each other."
"Yeah, I bet so too."
"So, how come you're the only eleven year-old who didn't get wiped out?" Wave asks, then Tide nudges him and says, "Are you blind? Did you not see her throws?"
"Oh, right. You have to teach me that by the way." Wave says, but Tide nudges him again and says, "No, teach me first. Ladies first, right?" Just then, Shelly pulls away from Finn's kiss and says, "Yeah, ladies first! So teach me, then Tide! I'm more of a lady than she is." She says, then playfully nudges Tide.
Tide turns to her right, where Shelly is, and pinches her. Just before Shelly could retaliate, Harbor, who was sitting on the left side of Sebastian and the right side Finn, gets up and sits in between them. Since Harbor's muscular and has his back turned to Shelly so there's little space for them to fight, they stop. Wave, who's on my right, high fives him.
When we finish dinner we are instructed to go to our rooms and get some rest, and that's what I try to do. Only I can't because I have a horrible nightmare about Cato.
It starts out with Cato and me on the roof, like on the night when we said our goodbyes. As he's reaching over to hug me, a huge earthquake erupts and soon Cato and me are separated by a huge crack in the ground. He tries to jump over to me, but I tell him not to because I know the crack is too big. I'm right, and he falls into the deep crack, which is pitch-black.
I try to call out his name, but nothing comes out of my mouth. I hear him call me for help, like he's hurt, but not from the fall, hurt by something that is inside the crack. I jump in to help him, but when I jump, I end up on the roof again. I hear him call me one more time, and then I hear him shout out in pain.
I start to see the crack close and I try to jump in one more time to save him, but I just end up on the roof again. When I look down, I see the ground has closed and Cato is back on flat ground, chained to two walls which are beside him, and down there with him is Father. He looks different, but it is definitely Father. He is taller, has more muscle than usual and when he stares into my eyes, they are pitch-black, like the now-closed crack where Cato was.
I see Cato try to remove his hands and feet from the chains, but this hurts him even more. When I look closer, he has a big scratch on his back and I see that Father has a whip in his hand.
I climb back into my room and grab my knives, and run down the stairs. When I get downstairs, I run out the door and see Cato still trying to escape, but every time he does, blood spills out of the chains. I'm guessing the chains have something to make him bleed every time he moves, except I don't know what. I shout at him to stop moving but he doesn't listen so I run towards him but fall back because I hit something, only I can't see what.
There seems to be a force field around them, and I can't get through. Now Father hits him again, and I realize he's trying to spell something on his back. I run around the force field, so I now face Cato's face, and he looks horribly injured.
I call out to him, and my voice comes out now, but he can't hear me. I try to run to him again, but I can't get through. I can only watch him being hurt by Father.
Cato looks up at me and I try to call out to him except for some reason he can't see me and can't hear me, so I decide to try and break the force field. I step back and ram my shoulder into it, but it doesn't work.
I stop for a second, and when I do Father looks at me, smiles, and wraps his whip around Cato's neck. I scream at him, but he can't hear me, or he's ignoring me. I scream at Cato to try and hold on, and then I throw my knife at Father to try and kill him but it just bounces back and hits me in the chest. I fall to the ground and watch Cato slowly die, while I myself am dying.
Cato dies before I do, and I see his ghost leave his body and try to go over to me, but Father takes out a big bottle labeled "Tributes" and Cato's ghost gets sucked into it. Before it does though, his ghost calls out to me and says, "Olivia… Please."
After a while I finally die, and my ghost floats over where Cato's body was. I can finally enter the force field, and I float over to Cato. I try to hold is face up, but I can't, because my hand just passes through it. I then try to hug him, but my hands just pass through his body. I float over to his back, and I try to read what's spelled on his back, which is now covered with blood.
I see the word that Father spelled on his back. MUTTS. At first I don't understand, but then I see something in between his shoulder blades. It's smaller compared to MUTTS, but definitely deeper, like it was cut using a knife. DEATH BY: is there, and it looks really gruesome. I say goodbye to Cato with tears in my eyes, which is weird because I'm supposed to be dead.
I wake up shaking, and at first I think I really am dead, but I soon find I'm not, because it is morning, clock reads 6:35 and I hear someone knock on the door.
"Olivia?" I hear someone say.
I get out of bed and walk over to the door, opening it. When I do, I see Sebastian standing there, scratching the back of his head. Sebastian is blonde, and like me, has dark roots. He is also tall and very muscular. In fact, he's so muscular that he looks sixteen, but he's only twelve.
He has freckles that spread across his nose and under his eyes, but it looks kind of cute on him. He's wearing his training clothes, which is weird because training isn't until after breakfast, which is at 7:30, since we all don't have school today.
"Are you okay? I woke up and heard you screaming." He says.
"Yeah, I am. I just had a nightmare. Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"No, I was going to go jogging at 6:30 so I woke up at 6:15. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Nah, that's alright. You're late for your jog, anyways. See you at breakfast?"
"Yeah," he says, but then before he turns around to go jog he adds, "Unless you wanna come. We can talk about it while jogging. My mom used to say that it always helps to talk about it." When he sees that I don't really feel like talking about it he says, "Or we can just jog. I doubt it's true talking about it helps though. I mean, isn't that what mother's are supposed to say?"
"I wouldn't know, mine died when I was two."
"Oh… Sorry."
"It's fine," I say, then change the subject. "Let me change, then let's go?"
"Okay. I'll meet you outside."
When he left, I turned around and walked over to my closet. I didn't feel like wearing my training clothes, which is a tight fit t-shirt and pants, and special shoes that we can use for any kind of terrain, kind of like what the tributes have to wear for training before they go into the arena.
Instead of wearing that, I decided to just wear a comfy t-shirt and some running shorts. When I get outside, I see Sebastian waiting for me and walk over to him. He sees me, smiles, and gets up. We stretch for a while and then start running. After a few miles, we see a water fountain and take a break.
"This is a really nice running course." I say, to break the silence. I soon find out that there was a silence because Sebastian lost his breath.
"Well, yeah. I never actually got this far. I usually run a little, swim a lot, then head back for breakfast." He says in between breaths.
"Oh, sorry. I'm used to running really far without stopping. You could've told me to stop, you know." I smile and add, "We can go back if you want."
"No, I think we're almost back to the starting line. Since this course is a circle."
"Oh, okay. Wanna rest some more or go jog?"
"Let's go." He says once he gets back his breath. We take another sip of water, then start jogging again.
Once we get back, we head back to our rooms to get ready for breakfast and training. Sebastian said he'd meet me in the breakfast place, since he might take longer than usual, and because he might take a nap, since there are still a few minutes left before breakfast.
I nod and go to my room so I can shower, change and go to breakfast. It's 7:15 when I finish, and I decide to walk around, since we're not allowed into the breakfast area before 7:30.
I walk up to the eating area floor, which is the top floor, and decide to walk around there. When I pass the eating area though, I see that the door is open. The plates are not yet set, which is odd because in ten minutes, about a hundred people will be going in for breakfast. In ten minutes, about 80 kids, 10 trainers and 10 Victors (some are not here) will be walking through that door, hungry, sleepy and most will be very cranky. And you know, if they don't get their food in time someone will get hurt.
Oh well, not my problem, I think, and walk in. I look around and see that I was wrong. About half a hundred plates are set, which means they either didn't set it yet or they sent people home. I see tiny cards in front of each plate, with a name on them. I walk over to the one closest to me and read the name. Marina.
I remember Marina. She's a short, brown-haired, thirteen year-old girl. When we were asked to introduce ourselves and show our specialty on the first day, she got her bow and arrow and shot it across the room, and it landed right in the heart of a dummy. I guess it surprised most of us because she didn't look like could fight, much less have a specialty and be good at it.
Nevertheless, her name is here and I guess she's making it to the next round. At least that's what I think the reason is for having only half a hundred plates set, instead of a hundred. I hear the sound of footsteps and on instinct, I grab my knife out of my pocket and turn around. I'm about to throw it at whoever steps through the door when I see Crash put his hand up.
"Hey! Don't kill me." He smiles. "You're not supposed to carry weapons outside of the training room."
"Oh, sorry." I say, and put it back in my jacket.
"It's okay, this is your first time here, right?"
"Well, I went here with my mom when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago."
"I meant, have you ever trained here?"
"Nope." I say.
"Yeah, so you don't know the rules. But next time I'm going to have to get that from you. It's the rules. Okay?"
"Okay." I say.
"And you're not supposed to be in here. It's 7:27. Breakfast is at 7:30."
"Sorry, I just love being 3 minutes early for everything." I smirk at him and say, "Why are there so little plates set compared to yesterday?"
"That's a secret you'll find out in 3 minutes." He smirks back at me and says, "Now get out before someone sees you."
"Fine." I leave, and walk outside for a few minutes. When I get back to the eating area, I find that people are all waiting outside and the door is closed. I look around for a while, and soon find Sebastian. I walk over to him and see that he's standing awkwardly beside Finn and Shelly, who are kissing.
When he sees me, a huge smile breaks out on his face and he walks closer to me. Right before he can say something, then door opens and we turn around, and see Crash. Compared to a few minutes ago, he looks really serious now, and he's holding a megaphone.
"When you go inside the eating area, you will find that only about 70 plates will be set, 5 for the trainers who are here today, none for the Victors since they're not here today, and 65 for you guys. You are 80, all in all." He says, then adds sarcastically, "Can anyone guess what that means?"
"Well, in case you didn't know, only 30 people can actually join the training camp. The rest are sent home and have to train in the training center. They also have to wait a whole year to join in again. When they're gone though, we start training for real, and then you guys start living with the Victors." Crash continues.
Some people gasp as they realize that 15 people will be going home today but Sebastian and I look at each other and grin, because we both know what is on both our minds. If 15 people are gone, that means 65 people will be left. And that also means that only 35 other people will have to go before the fun starts.
