Dim sunlight is peeking through the shutters when my eyes finally open. My forearm that broke my fall two nights ago is bandaged in white cloth and in a makeshift sling. My mother pushes open the door, and her face lights up at the sight of my conscious body. She rushes to my side and rests a glass of water on my nightstand-probably for me-before kissing me and crying with a huge grin on her face.
Once she stops, I realize that I'm crying too. She sits on the side of the bed careful not to aggravate my arm. She begins telling me about what happened the other night after I had lost consciousness.
A lynx that has visited us in the past but escaped my father's knives-the only weapon we're allowed to have-decided to pay us a visit the night I rode Jade. It spooked her, so as a natural response, she reared up then galloped to the far end of the pasture. apparently after I blacked out from suffocation, the lynx followed Jade to the end of the pasture and scared her to the point where she was so overwhelmed with fear she kicked the lynx in the skull, killing it. Jordan was the first one at the scene because he was watching me the whole time through the kitchen window. My mom rushed outside along with my dad, and they all helped carry my limp body into the house where my mom tried her best to treat my injuries.
I interrupt my mom because I want to know where my horse is and if she's alright. She's now wearing an apologetic frown on her face.
"Rose," She begins. "Jade jumped her fence last night. She broke the top rail and jumped the lower half. No one's seen her since. The peacekeepers aren't much help since…" Her voice trails off. Of coarse it did. She doesn't want to remind me about what will happen if the Peacekeepers get to her before we do. If they find her first, they'll shoot her without hesitation.
I make a slight attempt to sit up, but my mother tells me to get some rest for the reaping tomorrow. I don't object. Even though I've been asleep for the past couple of days, my body aches, and my family cannot afford to give me any real medicine or painkillers, so sleep is the only way to escape fro the pain. As I close my eyes, my mother gently leans over and kisses my forehead before leaving the room.
My mother is in my room waking me so I don't miss the announcement about the twist for the upcoming Quarter Quell. I carefully raise my upper body into a sitting position and drape my legs off of the side of the bed. When my feet reach the floor, I carefully put weight on my legs not knowing if they'll bear my weight. My mom is waiting my the door, so I follow behind her into our family room. Jordan and my father are waiting for us. Since we're the youngest, Jordan and I have to sit on the floor while our parents share the small couch, if one could call it that.
As the Capitol Seal appears on the screen, I lean over to Jordan and whisper in his ear, " I'm sorry I didn't listen to you the other night. It's just that I wanted to see Jade and couldn't bare to hear her in distress like that. I-" He cuts me off.
"I know. Now shh, it's starting." his attention is directed to the fuzzy screen showing a blurred image of President Donair making his way toward the podium to announce the one thing on everyone's minds. He opens the box containing easily a hundred different Quarter Quell options and pulls out a yellowed envelope marked with the number 125 in the center. He then opens the envelope and pulls out a slip of paper before reading, "On the 125th anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that human nor beast, created by nature or scientists can bring the capitol down, each tribute will be paired up with a Capitol-born mutation.
Many people among the crowd already sound confused. To help them make sense of this, President Donair continues, "Each of the twenty-four tributes will be assigned a mutation produced and raised in the Capitol's finest creation lab. Once week of training will be allotted for each pair as usual. In that time, both will have the option to train in the normal training center, or can train with their mutations in the additional center. The pair will be given a choice to spend their training day in either center. In the additional training center, the tribute and mutation will train together."
So many thoughts and emotions are racing through me as I think about the Quell. Once emotion in particular is not one I should have at the moment, excitement. Just thinking about the twenty-four tributes running around the arena with venomous dogs, birds with twenty foot wingspans, deer that can swallow someone whole-all of which I've seen in the arena for real-are things that I wouldn't mind to see. The Capitol Seal appears as the anthem plays after President Donair finishes her announcement.
My mother turns off the television and calls all of us to the kitchen where she has prepared dinner. I try to keep from shoveling all of the food into my mouth, but the fact that I might starve in the arena if I'm selected is controlling me. The plate of eggs and steak that was set out for me is empty within minutes and my stomach is content, so I go to my room to take in everything that was mentioned about the upcoming Quarter Quell. As I'm laying on my under the thin baby blue blanket my mom made for me, I try to think of what the mutt might look like and how it will behave. Knowing the Capitol, it will be hell trying to train it. The possibilities are endless when it comes to creating mutts for the games. My mind drifts off as sleep overtakes my body, and I'm soon unconscious in my bed.