I jump down off the chariot once we're inside then am about to help Ceres down because he seems to be struggling with his costume but Maris gets there first. As soon as Ceres is down he comes over to me. Maris looks at us worriedly then just as Ceres is about to say something tells him he should go and see if his stylist will help him get his costume off. I wonder what that's about but don't really have time to think about it because Xabina comes and starts talking to me about how cute I looked and that she thought it was really sweet the way Ceres made me laugh, even if I did laugh for a bit long, and… but I'm not really listening. At the mention of Ceres making me laugh Maris turned away and when she turns back I can see her eyes are glistening like she's about to cry…
'Come lets go' Xabina says leading us to the lift. Ceres is with us again in a green jumper and trousers he must have been wearing underneath the orange 'you must have been really hot in all that' I say to him sympathetically. 'yeah, I did think I looked pretty attractive' he says smiling and I push him into the lift. 'Eleven, second top' Xabina says pressing the button and up we go. Through the walls I can see the full extent of the capitol as we get higher and I'm staring out at it and I'm pretty sure it's staring back at us too. Ceres is also staring out through the lifts walls but he's looking down and he's dead still. 'Scared of heights?' I say nudging him.
'I guess' he says as the lift jolts to a stop.
'Your room' Xabina says opening the door closest to the lift.
The first thing I see is my reflection in a massive mirror, my dress is starting to wilt. Im surprised the flowers have lasted this long without water actually, I guess they must have used some sort of chemical to make them last longer. I should probably get changed but I'm so tired that all I can do is flop down unto the ginormous bed…
I'm running. Fast. Through the streets of the capitol. Running away. Away from what? It's deserted. No capitol people funny looking hair, no tributes, no Ceres. I'm alone. And I'm running. Round corners. Through dark streets. Past empty houses. Towards the president's mansion. And I keep running faster and faster. There's a statue that wasn't their earlier. And I stop. Confused. Where to now? Then the statue starts to move. As it turns it makes strange thudding noises like knocking on a wooden door.
I wake up to someone knocking on my door. I shiver because just before I woke up I saw… 'Gaia?' I sit up and realise my flower dress is starting to fall apart. I quickly stand up and search the wardrobe for something to wear with someone, probably Xabina saying 'Gaia? Gaia are you there, it's time for dinner. Gaia?' And more knocking.
Dinner is delicious. I'm so distracted by the food that I keep missing what the others are saying… 'gaia! I said do you want to train together or separately?' Maris says.
'oh, together' I say quickly. Maris lets out an exasperated sigh and slams down her cutlery.
'you do know only one of you can win this, don't you? You can't both live!' she says then leaves.
The rest of dinner is quiet after that, apart from Xabina babbling on. Because I know it's obvious but me and Ceres haven't been thinking about that. We've been laughing and trying to make the best of it but… there's not really anything we can make best of. Her saying it like that quiets us because although we know it no one's actually said it making it… real.
When I sleep I have the same dream and wake up screaming because again when the statue turns I see the girl from two's face staring at me…
