Chapter 3:
The train station was swarming with reporters asking question upon question, faster than we could answer, not that we would have anyway. The boarding passed in a blur, and before I knew it I was sitting at a table on the train. I was wearing a light blue outfit I faintly remember slipping on in my trance like state, and look down at my hand where a silver ring studded with diamonds around the band sits on my middle finger. I twirl it around a few time and a sad smile seeps onto my lips at the thought of it.
My father had given the ring to me when I was young, I was named for it. I don't know where he got it, all I know is that it was always with me. When I was a child I wore it on one of my mother's silver chains from one of her few necklaces that she owned, until I got big enough that it would fit on my finger. My hands always looked foreign when I took it off, which I rarely did.
I finally looked up to see who else was occupying the table. I was met by three sets of eyes, Katniss, Peeta, and Jess. When I looked up they all dropped their gaze, and I blushed faintly. The silence was thick enough to cut with a knife, and it seemed like Peeta noticed that because he finally spoke,
"Do either of you have any strength's?" he asks, cutting the light stuff, getting right down to business, and I appreciated that. But neither Jess nor I said a word, and Katniss pulled a knife out of her pocket and handed it to me,
"Do something with it."
I pushed my chair away, as I stood up and looked around the room until my eyes finally fell on an Avox walking towards the table with a fish on a delicately set up platter. I smirked before throwing the knife, and impaling the fish in the eye. This was the kind of things I was good at, I was good with blades, any shape or form really, I was decent with a bow and arrow, but I was strongest with swords and knifes.
I sat back down as the startled Avox resumed walking towards us, and looked across the table to see Katniss and Peeta looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes, the corners of their mouths tilted up into a grin.
"You might stand a chance." Peeta says before turning to Jess, "What about you?" and Jess shrugs,
"All I can do is carve things, maybe I can manage to throw together my tombstone before they slaughter me." He says, and Katniss and Peeta just shake their heads before looking back at me,
"I can shoot a bow and arrow and I'm okay with a sword." I say and Jess rolls his eyes,
"Okay with a sword, the is the most ridiculous understatement I've ever heard!" he says and Katniss and Peeta look at us, a question mark practically drawn across their foreheads,
"What do you mean understatement?" Katniss says looking between us,
"She's the best sword fighter in the district, if not all of Panem, what you saw with the knife was only a fraction of what she can actually do." He explains, and I blush as Katniss and Peeta's gazes fall on me again,
"There has to be something your good at Jess." I say, turning the attention back to him and he opens his mouth to say something but Katniss beats him to it,
"If you're good at carving, you need delicate hands, and that's exactly what you need to prepare a snare. With the right instruction you might be able to survive, at least for a while." She says and before anyone can say another word Effie walks in,
"I need to talk to you, Katniss and Peeta, about the preparations for the Quarter Quell." she says and I swear my heart stops. How have I forgotten, the seventy fifth Hunger Games. The third annual Quarter Quell.
I remember President Snow standing on a stage somewhere in the Capitol, as a boy walked out with a box. The president flips open the lid before selecting an envelope from the neatly stacked rows. On the front a neatly printed 3, and the president runs his fingers along the folds, before carefully setting it back into the box and closing the lid again. There where shouts of complaint from the crowd, no doubt a bunch of people from the capitol that couldn't wait to see the kind of torture they would put the kids they pick for the Hunger Games through. After a couple seconds the president finally looks up and addresses the crowd,
"Just to keep the games interesting, we will be announcing the surprise of the Quarter Quell, after the games have started, give you a little surprise. Wouldn't you like that?" The president says and the crowd roars at the thought of the added drama of having a surprised thrown at the tributes after the games have begun, when they won't have time to prepare.
Effie bounces out of the room followed by Katniss and Peeta, leaving Jess and I alone. It's silent for a while before finally Jess says,
"I hope you win." I stare at him in disbelief, before saying
"What about you? Don't you want to win?"
"Like that will happen, even if I can set some snares, I still don't stand a chance." He says shaking his head, "But it would be cool to have district twelve win two years in a row. And more importantly, I know who you are, so I'd rather have you live over a bunch of strangers."
"I have to win, I have to go home to my mother and Grey." I say more to myself than to him but he still replies,
"And Jona, don't forget Jona." He says, and I'm sure he's mocking me but I'm not sure so I don't say anything. Instead I just turn my ring on my finger.
"If you win that'll be a symbol, just like Katniss's mockingjay." He says pointing at my ring and I hurry to push my hands into my pocket away from prying eyes, and turn on me heel before going back to my cabin.
Alright, chapter 3! how was it?
I really love the reviews so thank you so much!
As always,
Please Review!