I am taken into the Justice Building, a place I had only seen from the outside. The inside is furnished well, with mirrors and paintings hanging on the walls. I am put into a small room with a window looking out into the city square. I see people milling around. Family members hugging and walking back to their homes, safe for another year. But not me. No, not me. Or my family for that matter. These weeks will be hard for them too. Watching me fight to the death on national television is not a very pleasant activity; at least Aden was saved. Just then my family walks in. "Oh, honey!" my mom says, wrapping her arms around me. She then starts to sob. This is where my mother really gets to me; I get this is hard on her, but really! I'm the one going to fight to my death. Aden sits next to me and holds my hand; trying to hold on to the last bit of time we have together. My father stands in the corner, staring at me, but saying nothing. Just then a Peacekeeper walks in and tells my family to leave. We exchange goodbyes and I see them walk out the door.
Abria walks in next. She hugs me, but doesn't cry like my mother did. We talk about what might happen, to me, to her, to my families. "You have to win," she says.
"I know... I know...," I trail off.
"No! You have to mean it!," she says, fire blazing in her eyes. Just then the Peacekeeper walks in a orders her out. "Win," are her final words to me and then she is gone.
I am taken to the train station and put on a couple good smiles for the cameras. Nothing like my real smiles, but why would I even want to smile. Terran is next to me the whole time, playing nice for the cameras. Waving, smiling, even winking a couple times. The cameras eat it up. I must look so bland and uncaring next to him. We are ushered into the train and then we are on the way to the Capitol.
I gasp as I enter the train. Even though I have spent my whole life building or decorating these trains, I have never been in a completely finished one before. It is truly a work of art: wood, glass, crystal. Terran and Becky appear beside me. "Its marvelous, isn't it," Becky says. "Now get washed up for dinner and meet me in the dining car in a couple of minutes." Terran and I head down a long hallway with thick green carpet and dark oak walls.
"Thank you," I say, cutting into the silence. He stares at me for a long moment, the understanding flashes over his face.
"Yeah... the look on your face was just awful. I had to do something," he says.
"But why,?" I press. " I don't even know you, and you sacrificed yourself for my brother."
"Because...," he trails off. Then he turns away and opens the nearest bedroom drawer and closes the door behind him.
My room is so big and marvelous. There are really now words to describe it. The whole room is painted a soft, glowing yellow that makes it look like the room is bathed in sunlight. I look out the window and see that we are just nearing the border of District 6. My home, I might not see it again. I sit at the window until we leave my district and then go and change. As I open the closet I am astounded by the amount of clothes and shoes and coats. The trip to the Capitol will only take 4 days at the most, but the amount of clothes they have provided me with would suggest that the trip would take a month. My family was pretty well off, but no one ever had as many clothes as this. I slip on a gray shirt and black pants, check my appearance in the mirror and head to the dining car.
I am greeted by Becky and Terran in the dining car. The dining car is even more fancy and outlandish than the rest of the train. I take a seat at the long glass table just as a man and a woman enter. They are Armida and Tito, District 6 victors. They are each about 30 or so years old and won the games in consecutive years, or so I'm told. Armida will be my mentor and Tito will be Terran's. Armida is small and tiny, like a bird. I wonder how she won her games, many of the competitors in the Arena, especially the Careers, who are 2 to 3 times her size. Tito looks like a giant next to her, but Tito looks like a giant next to anyone. Tito is about 6 ½ feet tall and is muscular. It is no surprise to see how he won his games. All he would have to do it get one good punch in and they would have been a goner.
They sit down at the table across from Terran and me and Becky takes her place at the head of the table. They stare at us for a couple moments and a look passes between them, one I can't read. Then a waitress brings out the meal. It is just a soup. I mean, soup is great, but I was expecting something a little more. After the soup comes plate after plate of bread, meat, cheese, and other dishes that I have no name for. We eat in an uncomfortable silence, you could hear a pin drop.
"So do either of you have any special talents,?" Armida says.
"No," says Terran, "unless you count building trains."
"I don't," says Tito. "What about you,?" he says, gesturing in my direction.
"Ummm, not really. I mean I can fight hand-to-hand pretty well and know a couple basic survival skills but other than that, no." I say, staring at my plate.
"Well then, we will just have to find something that you are good at," says Armida. "But in the meantime why don't you try to eat and stay hydrated, add a couple pounds before you go into the Arena, it can't hurt." Terran and I glance at each other and dig in to another plate of food.