"I'm Melody, Melody Bateman; from District 1."

"And what do you want," I say, standing up with a knife from the table in my hand.

"I just wanted to say hi," she says with a hurt expression on her face.

"Sure, and I'm the president of Panem," I say sarcastically, seeing through her facade.

She stands and glares at me for a moment before turning on her heel and storming back to the Career table. They all glare at me, and I glare back, until I'm distracted by someone calling my name.

"Cassie, come here now."

I look around and see Katniss standing in the doorway, and she doesn't look pleased with me. I take a glance at Clove and see that she's glaring at Katniss even more than she was at me. I stand and walk over to Katniss, and she leaves the room, clearly expecting me to follow. She stops outside the door to the Training Centre and turns to me.

"So you got into a fight with Clove," she says.

"Yes," I sigh. "But she started it."

"Tell me exactly what happened."

"We were having a bit of a go at each other at the Gauntlet, and she went before me, and I fell off and Max took me to see the doctor to make sure I was alright, and when I went back, I did some knot-tying. I got bored after a bit, so I went over to the knife-throwing. Clove was there, and she started having a go at me again, so I tried to leave but she wouldn't let me. Max came over to try and get me out of there, but Jackson, the guy from 2, came over and wouldn't let either of us leave. He had a sword on him, and Clove had a knife, too."

"So there wasn't really a fight?"

"No, it was just a standoff between us. She's really got it in for me."

She puts her hands on my shoulders. "Keep away from her; whatever you do."

She walks away then, and I go back in, and Max comes over to me.

"What was that all about?"

"She just wanted to know what went on earlier."

"I see, come on, let's get back to training."

We file back into the gymnasium with everyone else and resume our training. I go over to the spears and get some help from the trainer and start throwing. I'm alright at it, so after about an hour, I try out the archery. The first time I try it, the string snaps painfully against my arm, leaving a bright red mark, but I persist, wanting another plan of action for the arena. I stick with it for almost two hours, and by the time I've finished, I'm getting all the arrows in the centre two rings and some are hitting right in the centre. We don't have too much longer left, so I decide to do a bit of fire-lighting. I stay there until we're told to leave, and by then, I'm pretty confident with a few different ways of doing it, so I decide not to revisit it tomorrow. I walk back to the elevator, and Victoria slides in just before the doors shut. While it goes up, we discuss the pact that we made.

"Do we want anyone else?" she asks.

"Max is good. Very philosophical, but he's clever, and he'd be a good ally. What about the guy from your District?"

"Oh, Troy? He's a bit distant, but he's strong. I could ask him."

"Good, I'll ask Max over dinner. Is there anybody else?"

"The pair from 10 seem nice enough. Do you want to ask them tomorrow?"

"Sure, I don't see why not. How about you ask them, and I'll investigate the Careers."

"Sounds like a plan. It'd be good to know their tactics. Do you know their names?"

"District 1 is Melody and Carter, and District 2 is Clove and Jackson. Clove is a deadly accurate knife thrower, and I'm pretty sure Jackson does a lot with swords. I'll watch them tomorrow and write this stuff down and deliver it to everyone we have," I say.

"Sounds like a plan. Do you know the tributes from 10?"

"No, do you?"

"Yes, they're Lilli and Alec. They don't know much and aren't that skilled, but it'll be good to have numbers."

The lift stops, and Victoria gets out.

"Another thing, feel free to call me Vicki."

"Well Cassie's the shortened version. My real name's Cassandra."

We say goodbye, and the lift goes up one more floor to the District 12 floor. I get out and see that Max has just beaten me back. He heading off to get changed, but I call out to him so I can ask about the Alliance.

"Max, would you be interested in joining an Alliance?"

"With whom?" he asks sceptically.

"The pair from 11, and possibly the pair from 10."

He shrugs. "Don't see why not. We'd be better off with a group of us."

"So you're definitely in?"

"Sure. So what are their names?"

"Victoria and Troy from 11, and Lilli and Alec from 10."

"Are we going to do anything about the Careers?"

"I'm watching them and writing down everything I find out. I already know their names, and some of the things they specialise in."

"So who are they? What do you know?"

"Melody and Carter from 1, and Clove and Jackson from 2; Clove uses knives and Jackson uses swords. That's all I know, but I'll be watching them tomorrow."

"Good. Let's get changed and go to dinner."

We change quickly and eat dinner quickly, not saying much, until Katniss and Peeta start conversation.

"So what did you two do today?" Peeta asks.

"I did a lot of weightlifting and a bit with spears," Max says.

"What about you, Cassie?" Peeta presses.

"I tried out the Gauntlet," I say.

"How did you go with it?" Katniss asks.

"I was going alright until I got whacked in the face and fell off."

"Are you alright?" Effie asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My lip's a bit sore where it split, but the doctor fixed it up really well."

"What else did you do?" Katniss asks again.

"After I got fixed up I did some knot-tying and snares, then I tried out knife-throwing."

"How did you go?"

"It would appear that I'm better than I thought; quite a bit better, in fact. The trainer was very pleased."

"Did the Careers see you?"

"No, I did it while Clove and Jackson were gone. Melody and Carter were busy, so they weren't watching me."

"Was that all?"

"No, I also did some weightlifting with Max, climbed the net."

"How did you go with that?" Katniss asks, clearly interested in my answer.

"I'll do better with a bit more muscle. I got to the top after a few slips, but I never fell. Once I got to the top, though, I knew I wouldn't be able to climb across or back down, so I dropped and rolled, and it didn't hurt me at all."

"What else?" Peeta asks.

"I tried out the swords, spears, archery and fire-lighting."

"How did you go with all of them?" Katniss asks.

"I don't really like swords, but I know the basics, I was alright with spears, I had pretty good aim with archery, but the string snapped back against my arm the first time, and I'm pretty confident with a few different methods of fire-lighting."

"Nice. So the string snapped back against your arm, did it?"

I hold out my arm. "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Nice welt. Did you ice it?"

"Nah, I'll be fine."

Once we finish dinner, we don't really have much to talk about, so I ask Effie if I can have a few sheets of paper and a pen. She gives them to me, and I head back to my room. I need four sheets for a set, and I need three sets: one for the pair from 10, one for the pair from 11, and one for Max and I. I start out by writing the names of all four Careers on the top of separate sheets. I add Melody's last name simply because I know it, but it's not overly important. Then I write down everything I know about them. When I'm done, there's a gentle knock at the door.

Katniss comes in to see what I'm doing. "What are these?" she asks, shuffling through the papers.

"We've formed an Alliance."

"Who?"

"Max and I, Victoria and Troy from 11, and hopefully Lilli and Alec from 10."

"So what's with the papers?"

"Files on the Careers; Victoria and I were discussing things in the lift, and we decided that while I'm training, I'm going to find out as much as I can about the Careers. Then we'll give each pair a sheet to look at so we know what we're up against."

"So what kind of stuff have you got so far?"

"All their names, the last name of one, what the pair from 2 are good at, and a couple of things on their personalities."

"Enlighten me," Katniss says. "What exactly do you know about them?"

"Melody Bateman from District 1; don't know much about her, except she came up to me at lunch, supposedly wanting to say hello. I think she might be trying to get info about me for Clove, and basically, I told her to piss off while I had a knife in my hand."

"Go on."

"Carter from District 1; I know even less about him, but from what I've seen, he seems like the quiet one, if that's possible for a Career."

"Keep going."

"Clove from District 2; deadly with knives, has a grudge against you, therefore one against me. She's the biggest threat to me, since she has a score to settle."

"Interesting."

"Jackson from District 2; from what I've seen, he works with swords. He's a giant, and built like an ox. Doesn't seem too smart, but he's strong."

"I'm sure you'll have some pretty good files by the time you're finished. Just remember that you need to train too. Don't forget that."

"I won't."

"Good. You'd better get some rest for tomorrow. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night," I say quietly as she shuts the door behind her.

Training hard is what's going to stop Clove from getting me.