Chapter 3:Cole
I don't have to turn around to know where the cry of disbelief and anguish is coming from.
"Nina? Nina no, no it can't be her!"
But I can see the small girl slowly making her way to the stage, her dark auburn hair flowing down the back of her pink and purple dress. There's only one person it could possibly be.
But Ethan still refuses to believe it. He grabs my shoulders and turns me around to face the stormy waters of his eyes.
"This can't be happening, Cole, please tell me it's not happening!" But before I can say anything, the peacekeepers pull him away from me and I'm being pushed towards her. Her brother was yelling so loud I couldn't even hear my name being called.
I struggle to remind myself that little Nina isn't standing in front me now. The hair tumbling down her shoulders isn't red like hers; it's just a girl wearing clothes. But I know who this girl is, and when the Sun hits the back of her head, reviling hidden strikes of copper,it might as well be her. I might as will be 24 years in the past.
"Now it's time to pick our male tribute", chirps Cassia, utterly oblivious to this girl's family history. Her aunt's name was lost among the countless number who has died in the Games years ago.
I don't know if it's the way she gasps after reading the paper she's drawn out or the helpless sense of deja vu, but I know it's him before she even says his name.
"Jedrek Livingstone!"
