"What's that?" I ask, looking at it as it glints in the elevator light.
Haymitch follows my gaze. "Nothing." He answers, and looks back at the elevator doors. I take that as I sign not to ask any more, and press my lips together, continuing the ride in silence.
When the doors open, I gasp. The room is huge, with a long, wooden table in the centre of it, and several red chairs set out around the table. It all looks totally modern, with bright colours and weird designs. Behind that is another room, seemingly with sofas and a TV in it, and a corridor leads off to my left, where the rooms are, I guess.
"The opening ceremony is tonight," Effie says. "It's a good job we're hear earlier than expected! I'll leave you two to freshen up and then send your stylists in to you." She beams, leaving us to find our rooms.
"I wonder what it'll be this year." I say to Cole, as we walk to the rooms.
Cole shrugs. "Well, I doubt they'll be sticking with the fire theme."
A knife twists inside my stomach. I grit my teeth. But Cole doesn't seem to realise as he opens the door to one of the rooms, and says, "I'll see you soon."
I nod, and take the last door on the left. The room opens up into a large bedroom - two of the windows are walls, and the other two are wall papered. The bed is huge, and there's a door to the left of it that I guess it the bathroom. I turn the light on dimly and flop onto the bed. It's now,
when I'm alone, that I realise how much I miss home. How much I miss my mother, and my brothers and my friends. But I miss the smaller things,
too - the sound of crickets ouside my window at night, the black line of trees from the forest which I can just see when I sleep, and the faint smell of bread that fills every crevice of my home from the bakery next door. I've only been away for one day, but it feels like a lifetime.
There is a knock on my door, and a man enters. He's quite small, with pale skin and pale blue hair. His eyes are a bright silver colour, and I can't tell if it's natural or not, but I severely doubt it. He wears a simple blue blazer, black shirt and blue trousers. He smiles at me.
"Dahlia, I'm Indigo, Indigo Inchacape, your stylist." He smiles. He seems friendly enough.
I smile, and he moves further into my room. "I'm going to let the prep team start work on you, just doing your hair and your makeup, and then I'm going to come back with your costume, all right? I know you went through the initial preening process when you first came here, but this is just for makeup and hair." He smiles.
I nod. "Thank you, Indigo. I'll see you soon."
He nods as a prep team enter the room. Three Capitol citizens, two female, one male, called by the names of Whytt, Domitia and Althea, all dressed in soft pinks, violets and yellows, smile at me. They sit me down in a chair, facing the wall, but I ask, "Can I look out of the window?"
"Of course." Whytt smiles.
Althea hands me a remote. "You can project pictures on to it. Try them out." She smiles.
I nod, and press a button. A waterfall. A dessert. The city below me. A forest.
I leave it there, and receive a smile from Domitia, as she pulls up my nails to begin painting and polishing them.
My mind wanders, taking in the woods in front of me. Even when Althea blocks my view to do my make up, I still imagine myself in the woods,
with Gale, making our morning treck to the hurt. Checking the snares as we wander back up. Roasting chestnuts in the fire of the hut. Lying out in the meadow under the summer sun, staring at the forrest. It takes Whytt snapping his fingers in my face to remove me from my daydream.
"We're done." He says, smiling.
I nod. "Thank you."
"Want to take a look?" Domitia asks.
I nod again, and she holds up a mirror to my face. I'm wearing thick black eye shadow, that goes right to underneath my eyebrows. Specks of black glitter begin at the top of my eyelid, and gets thicker as it reaches my lashes, which are thick and black, too. My lips are painted a dark purple colour, and my face has been lightly dusted with black glitter, so that it's almost unnoticable. My hair is tied back in a curled bun on the top of my head, and parts of my hair have been plaited into to it, leading back to the bun from my face. I look down at my nails, which are black,
and longer than ususal, with the same glitter effect as my eyes.
"Wow." I murmur. My blue eyes seem almost turqouise against the black of my makeup, and I know it's going to make an impression.
"We'll let Indigo get you into your costume." Althea smiles, and the prep team graciously leave the room, and Indigo enters. He smiles at me.
"You look beautiful. But it's the dress that's going to set people off."
I nod, and allow him to get my into my dress. It's plain black and strapless, with a tight bodice leading into a flowing skirt. I wear dark tights underneath, and boots that reach my mid calfs. The look like minors boots, but they've been made into heels, and they feel weird to walk in. I do a twirl, looking down at my dress, and understand the glitter.
"We're ready to go." Indigo grins, showing off pearly white teeth, and opening the door for me.