Chapter Seven
I flew out of bed and onto my feet.
"Whoa. Calm down. It's only me," Peyton said.
"Oh," I mumbled groggily, dragging myself into bed again. "How was training?"
"We didn't do much."
"So it was boring?"
"No, it was interesting."
"How can you not do much yet still be interesting?" I asked, sitting up.
"Do you know how she only gave us in for Allie?"
"Yeah?" Even in my sleepy state, the mention of Teah still burned me up a little.
"She apologises."
"Hm," I said, and lying down again.
"We met our prep team, by the way."
"And?" I asked.
"They're actually really nice. A little crazy, though."
"Everyone in the Capitol is crazy," I said into my pillow.
Peyton laughed- a sweet childish laugh that reminded me of innocence and lifted up my spirits a bit. "Our designer's name is Rica. From district three. You have to wake up early tomorrow to get dressed for the introduction."
"It's a cool combination isn't it? Glitz, glamour, fame and death. Plus, the whole of Panem gets to watch."
"Yeah," Peyton agreed sarcastically. "It's absolutely super."
I heard her go into her bed.
"Goodnight, Lanie."
"Sweet dreams, Peyton." While you still have them.
I let the memories of district twelve lull me to sleep.
The window let the sunlight stream in and wake me up. It didn't need to, though. Peyton was shaking my shoulders rigorously.
"What?" I groaned.
"Wake up. Get down to breakfast, you have to meet Rica."
"Will Teah be there?"
"Err… yeah, probably."
"Well then, see you in the arena."
"Lanie!"
"Ten minutes, please."
"No. Wake up. Take a bath."
"I hope I drown."
"Aw, come on! Nyal will be there," she said teasingly. I rolled over and shoved her playfully in the shoulders.
Staggering out of bed, I went into the bathroom. I tore off my clothes. Ungluing my eyes, I realised that there was no bath. Just a small room with glass and doors, another panel in the wall and a drain on the ground. A shower.
I slammed my palm down onto the panel, pressing several random buttons. My eyes hadn't quite focused themselves yet.
Immediately, a shower of warm water came cascading down. Another hidden hose sprayed soap. Mechanical hands came down and started to massage my scalp, a fragrant liquid oozed out of its fingertips, creating foam on my hair.
So this is how the rich live, I thought.
The shower stopped when all the foam and soap was gone. A blast of hot air shot out of nowhere and sent the drops of water off my skin. A glass container came down over my head and another jet of heat parted all the knots from the hair. As the container disappeared, I realised my hair was dry. A smooth glossy curtain of hair. Looking in the mirror, I realised that the liquid must have had some chemical that did something to my hair. The red was more noticeable than ever.
When I came back into the room, Peyton was gone. There were two packages on my bed and a note. Compliments of the President, the paper said. I unwrapped the packages. One was my mother's dress, the one she had given me to wear yesterday. The other was a simple blue dress. I marvelled at the smoothness and cleanliness of the material.
A note pinned to it said, This isn't from the Capitol. This is one of my mother's old dresses, made by a woman in district four. Wear it. The writing was neat, educated. From Tobias, the president, most likely.
I slipped the sea-blue dress on. It fitted perfectly. I liked it too. No ruffles, no fuss, no weird decorations, or clashing of colours. The hem came to my knees. It was simple, yet for a person from district twelve, a luxury.
The Avox girl came in at this moment and started to clean up the wrapping paper from the packages.
"Uh, do you know where the others are?" I asked her, placing my mother's dress on the bed-side table along with the President's note.
She thought for a moment, then pointed to the floor and put up two fingers.
"Two floors down?"
She nodded.
"Thanks." I left the room.
Hoping that I was going in the right direction, I found a flight of stairs. I headed down them. I walked around until I found another round of stairs. I was feeling proud of myself, not having got lost just yet.
I ended up in a corridor with several doors on either side of the walls. A door at the far end was open, guarded by Peacekeepers. Sounds like laughter and talking came through it. Hopefully it was the right place. I'd hate to end up in the middle of one of Tobias' council meetings.
Entering the room, I heard all the words and laughter die down into silence. The pressure of seventy pairs of eyes on me almost made my knees wobble. Then a voice called out in the far end of the hall. "Hey, Lanie! We're over here!"
Thankful for Zavier's tendency to talk, I headed over to them.
I felt a warm hand touch me on the arm. Because it wasn't the gloved touch of a Peacekeeper, I didn't turn around and wallop the person in the head. Luckily enough, because it was Tobias' hand on my arm.
"You like the dress?" he murmured.
"Yes, thank you."
"Enjoy the food."
I nodded. Going past the first few tables, I ignored their belligerent stares. Some people gave me envious glares. Some hands tightened around knives and forks. I tried not to imagine what I'd look like with the bread knives sticking out of my head. The next couple of tables were nicer. They stared open mouthed, probably because I was on speaking terms with the leader of Panem.
Great. I needed another reason for someone to run me through with a dagger.
I struggled not to wince as the sound of my footsteps reverberated everywhere. The table for district twelve was much more welcoming. Peyton pulled a chair out for me. I sat down onto the cushion. Teah wasn't anywhere, so that was good.
"Where'd you get the dress?" Peyton whispered.
"Uh…"
"Oh, Lanie, you have to try the beef. It tastes awesome," Zavier said, passing me a plate of gravy-covered meat.
Slowly, people started to talk again. But occasionally, eyes would turn my way, and I'd turn to meet them with a smile that they couldn't comprehend. Satisfaction would come when they turned away with embarrassment. Dish after dish of the most delicious foods were placed in front of me, and I ended up only eating about a couple of spoons from every dish. Grill marinated fish, stew and rice, chicken and salad, lamb chops and mashed potato, roast beef, the variety was endless. Sweet dishes followed the savoury. Fruit pudding, yoghurt with fruit pieces, something cold but had different colours that Tobias called ice-cream, little lollies with different insides, creamy mousse, different cakes with toppings… I couldn't fit anymore.
Words were subdued- maybe because stomachs were too full to talk. Not many people were staring at me now, and I was thankful. Zavier always kept the conversation flowing and laughter was common at our table. We could've been back at district twelve eating food we'd caught ourselves but still be equally boisterous.
At some point, Nyal traded places with Vena to sit next to me.
"Nice dress," he murmured.
I shrugged.
"Where'd you get it?"
"Somebody. I found it on my bed along with my mother's dress." I wasn't technically lying, I was only avoided the main information.
Nyal didn't pursue the subject. "You look good."
"Thank you." I bit the inside of my cheek, hoping they weren't red. I looked at Tobias subtly, to see if he was watching, but he was talking to a serious-looking man with a greying beard. Probably one of his father's friends. Zelix was there too. "Did you know that Zelix-"
"Is the Gamemaker?" Nyal continued. He grimaced. "No. But they told us yesterday. We also met Rica. She's from district three- our designer." He winced a bit at the last word.
"Yeah I know, Peyton told me." I studied his expression. "Do you really think we'll look that bad?"
"We'll be the laughing stock of Panem."
"Because we already aren't," I said sarcastically.
Nyal looked over his shoulder somewhere behind us. He stared with such intensity for three seconds that I started to get worried. Then he turned back to me.
"What?" I asked.
"A boy at district four," he said bitterly.
"What about him?" I swivelled my head around to look.
"No, don't," he muttered, taking my shoulder gently and turning me back to the table.
"What's wrong?"
"The way he looks at you."
"So what?" I said. "I'll shoot him with an arrow."
"You don't have any now, don't you?" Nyal said. "We saw him at the training centre yesterday. Looks like he's the one to beat."
"Can't I just look at him?" I asked, wanting to size the boy up, imagining how easy it would be to pin him in the jugular with my arrows. I turned around. My eyes didn't have to search for long. I almost immediately found his gaze. The severe glare locked me into place.
He was the one to beat, alright. His bulkiness just about matched Gill's, and his hands looked like they could do more damage than a carving of an arrow.
"Oh," I said, breaking the stare. "Why is he staring at me, for?"
"Because to the others, you're the one to beat. Even to us. If you weren't from district twelve, I probably would think you should be the first to kill."
I fought down a shudder. "You would stare at me like you were trying to stab me with your eyes?"
"Maybe not." He lowered his voice. "I'd probably be gawking at you."
I couldn't help but giggle a bit. To my left, Peyton raised an eyebrow. Nyal placed his arms around my shoulder again, and this time I didn't shy away. I was going to die, anyway, might as well make the most of my remaining time alive. Also, I wanted a barrier from the other boys extremely loathe-filled gaze.
The breakfast ended with Tobias bidding us good luck. Teah arrived and led us up four floors. It was all new to me, but the others navigated easily. Unlike the lavish decoration in the other floors, everything was a blank white like the first room we had been sent into.
There were twelve doors. One for each district. Teah led us out to the one at the far end. Inside, there were a dozen people. They all shrieked with delight when they saw us, and screeched even more when they noticed me.
"This one is new!" one said gleefully, clapping her manicured hands.
They crowded around me, studying my posture. One grabbed a lock of my hair and sniffed it. I flinched at their non-human like movements. Another one prodded my leg and attempted to raise the hem of my dress a little higher. I batted her hand away and recoiled.
"We are trying to take a look at you!" one reasoned.
"You look with your eyes, not your hands," I snapped.
They let out cries of joy at my reply. "She is feisty!"
"Sexy!" one exclaimed.
"Gorgeous!" one squawked.
"Leave her alone," a calm voice said.
The prep team parted to reveal a woman with honey coloured hair and three jewels embedded in her hand. She had a pair of glasses. Her clothes lacked the colour and flare of the Capitol fashion. Other than the jewels sewed into her skin, she seemed normal.
"I am Rica," she said, holding out her bejewelled hand.
I shook it. "Lanie."
She nodded in recognition. "The one who took the little girl's place. I had planned a costume to make her innocent and lovable, showered with gifts from sponsors. But I think that you don't suit those kinds of costumes, yes?"
"Err…"
"No," she muttered to herself. "Luckily I had a good enough look at you when you took the stage. The dress you wore was horrendous."
I smiled. "I'm glad someone else thinks the same."
"Gretchen, Tawny, Hilda, Jasmine, Xaynee- tend to the other girls. Stick to the plan. Mona, stay with me. Langdon, Cyan, Joa, Tam, Yale and Frey- the boys."
They nodded and followed Rica's orders. All of them seemed to have altered themselves in one way- flowers sewn into the scalp, gems embedded in skin, a slight tinge of a different hue to the skin, unnatural eye colour- things like that.
Mona's eyes were a rich deep purple. They studied me closely as I was ordered to strip down to nakedness. Rica drew a curtain around the bed for privacy. Told to lie down, I obeyed.
"Slim figure… not much hair… beautiful hair colour… natural?" she asked me.
I nodded.
"Posture- perfect… complexion- fair… eyes- bright green, something Capitol alterations can't achieve," she commented.
"Should I bring out the waxing kit?" Mona asked.
"No. Take the tweezers, though. Work on the brows."
Mona plucked a hair from my eyebrows. Gritting my teeth, I dealt with it. I hoped that when they finished, my family would still recognise me. I didn't want to change in the Capitol, or the arena.
I hoped I wouldn't lose myself in the Games.
"Ready for your costume?" Rica asked.
I nodded.
For three hours, they worked on beautifying me. Halfway through, Mona left and came back with a salad and ham sandwich for me to eat. After that, it was back to the task of making me gorgeous again. After removing any 'unwanted' hairs from my body, they coated me in some foul smelling substance, left me (I felt horribly like I was marinating), and rinsed me. My skin was as smooth as baby skin. They weren't finished, though. They scrubbed me down and coated me in another substance- this time, it was fragrant. They rinsed me straight after. My skin was now smooth and silken looking.
While Rica rinsed and worked on my hair, Mona set to work on applying make-up to my skin. I watched as my arms disappeared under different colours.
My face was next. They had cleaned my teeth, making them pearly white. But now, I was also disappearing. I would have a new face. A face that the Capitol would give me.
"Will they recognise me?" I asked, worried.
"Yes. I like to think that my job isn't to make people look so beautiful that they lose themselves, but to make sure that they are remembered for who they are." She smiled at me reassuringly.
Now, seated on the bed, Rica came in, carrying a plastic covered costume. My costume. The costume that would decide my survival in the games.
"Turn around," she said. "Close your eyes."
I shut my vision out and put myself completely in the hands of Rica and Mona. Rica pulled a silky-smooth garment over my head. Underclothes, probably. I heard a zip being opened. I felt my foot being fitted into something, then my other foot. Something smooth was pulled up to my thighs, to my chest, and then my arms were slipped into the sleeves.
"Cover the mirror, Mona," I heard Rica say.
Something was tied at my back, but I could still feel my skin exposed. I wasn't vulnerable, though, not under the layer of all that make-up. The costume hugged my skin perfectly- no loose spots.
Rica placed my feet into something snug. Then the other. High-heeled boots- it felt like. Maybe I could crawl to the stage.
"Open your eyes, Lanie."
I opened them. The mirror was covered. I couldn't see my face. I looked down and let out a gasp.
"Rica, what did you put me in?"
The material was stretchy. The pattern was clearly the pattern of a cave. Yet pure black. When I moved, parts of the costume shimmered in the light. Like the night sky and the twinkling stars. Except it was only on my body. I knew what it was. Almost every person in district twelve depended on it. My brother mined it. Coal.
Rica pushed something into my hand.
"Uh, a weapon?"
"A pickaxe," Rica corrected. She smiled. "Wave it around."
Feeling foolish, I moved the pickaxe through the air. My night-sky suit switched to life, and veins of lightning shot through the little gaps between the coal pieces.
"Coal provides electricity," Rica said.
"No way," I said, waving the pickaxe around. Mona ducked and the blade passed through the air above her head. "Whoa." Electricity. Rica. District Three. Of course…
"One more thing," Rica said. She patted a little black mask on my face. Okay- unrecognisable. She placed something on my head. A hard hat, one that miners wore- complete with headlight.
"Really," I said. "Do I need this?"
"You can throw it into the crowd if you want. Keep the mask on, though. Okay, here are your instructions," Rica said. "The battery pack will last twelve hours. When you come up onto the stage, I want you to slam the tip of the blade into the ground. Don't panic at what happens next. I designed it. You'll be safe."
A voice at the back of my head said, Uh oh.
"Then make the others shine like you."
Mona placed a hand on my shoulder. "They'll never forget you."
So... what do you think so far? Just wait till the Introduction in the next chapter! I'll blow you all away (little hint there). Also, I've got a question. Do any of the characters remind you of anyone in your real life? Who and in what way? Just a little question. :)