NIGHT 1

Luke Castellan

I wipe blood of my brow. We just killed the boy from three. Stupid boy, trying to build a fire on the first night! I look at my sword, stained with blood. After a long argument with Clarisse, I won and got to kill the boy. The sun is setting now, and it's starting to get chiller.

"Hey, let's starting lying out blankets for tonight. I'm already getting tired." Jason says, he grabs a blanket roll and lies it out. Blanket rolls are heavy, and in the center, so most tributes didn't get them, leaving loads rest.

"I'll take first watch!" Clarisse yells. I flinch at her voice. "I'll wake Jasoon up when I'm done." She gets her spear and sits on an overturned box of warmer clothes.

"Actually, it's Jason" Jason corrects.

"Fine, Jasoon" she says, and Jason doesn't talk anymore. Nyssa, the girl from eleven who we took under our wing because the stupid brat Nico ran off somewhere, steps up.

"We have twelve blankets," she says, and we nod, trying to think of where she's going with this; "and we have six of us. Only five of us will be sleeping at a time, giving each of us two and 1/5 blankets.

"Nerd," Clarisse says, "and how would I use 1/5 of a blanket?" Nyssa shrugs. Clarisse sharpens her sword with a knife. "Hey, Jase and Luke! Go get some firewood! It's gonna be cold! Jason opens his mouth like he's going to object, but closes his mouth when Clarisse gives him a death stare.

"Come on, Jason." I say, grabbing his arms and walking into the woods. We don't walk far, just far enough for Clarisse to stop nagging us. Jason looks like he's itching to say something, making everything awkward.

"Whadya think about Clarisse?" He finally asks. He itches his scalp. "She gives me the creeps." I snort.

"The creeps? What are you in, your 8th year? For me, Clarisse is just another tribute that I'll kill off on my way to victory. I don't need her. She doesn't care about me, and I don't care about her." I say. I'm surprised these words come so naturally, because Clarisse is my biggest threat.

"Yeah, your right" Jason says, blushing. "What about Piper?" He grabs another log. This time he scratches his ankle.

"Piper? She's pretty hot. I think she got a good score. 8, was it? Yeah she's nice." I pause for a moment while Jason scratches his wrist. "I bet her parents are filthy rich."

"Yeah, I think I like her. A lot" He scratches his neck, making everything awkward. "You think we got enough sticks? I think we do. Let's head back now." He starts to walk back toward the cornucopia, sticks loaded up in his hands. I know he's avoiding the conversation, but I let it go. We start to head back, but then an arrow whizzes past my ear.

"Jeez!" I shout. I swivel around, and take out my sword. I don't see a person, but another arrow comes at me, but it doesn't come close to me. I'm not very scared anymore. They're not very good with a bow. "Come on, bring it on!" I shout at the direction the arrow came from. Nobody comes, but I see an orange and yellow ski hat poking out behind a bush. "I can see you, you know! Jason, help me finish off this stupeedo!" I turn to talk to Jason, but he's gone. "Jase?" Pshh. That scaredy cat ran away! Pain shoots up my leg. "Agh!" I turn around, and see a body run away. I pull the arrow out of my leg. Blood goes everywhere. I need to go back to the cornucopia. I crawl on the ground to the cornucopia. I must get there! I'm almost there. I stumble through the woods. Finally I get there, but I'm feeling woozy and my leg is aching. Piper and Nyssa run over to me. Clarisse couldn't care less, Jason is looking guilty, standing off to the side playing with a shoelace. Thalia is nowhere to be seen, which isn't unusual. Everything starts to go black. I fall, and strong arms catch me. Then I'm unconscious.

Nico D'Angelo

I just got to the island. I ran away from the cornucopia, and swam to the island. Now I have a bunch of itchy bug bites on my legs, and my clothes are soaked from the swim. There's no animals, but there are plants, berries, and nuts which I can eat. It won't last me long, but if I get desperate I can just swim back to the cornucopia.

I don't have much on me. I have my clothes, a black leather jacket, gray pants, and a crimson shirt. I have my hunting boots and thick socks. The only other thing I have is my district token, a small scrap of blue leather from my father, which smells of the sea, and my father. I have tucked this in my back pocket. All my clothes are sticking to my body.

I can see the cornucopia from where I am. The careers don't notice me, and if they did, it would probably be too difficult to swim over with a weapon. Thalia is the only one who could, but she respects me enough to not get tangled up in killing me. The boy from two, Luke, has just fell unconscious. He has an arrow sticking out of his leg. There is a gnawing hunger inside of me, and I know I should probably get food, but I want to watch this. Piper and Thalia remove the arrow and tie his leg with a bandage. Clarisse and Jason don't help. Jason watches, and Clarisse sharpens her spear tip. Nyssa lays out a blanket for Luke, which Piper and Thalia set him on. They put another blanket on him, and rest his leg above his head on a box. After that, they don't pay much attention to him.

I should get food now. I stand up, brush the sand off, and climb a tree. There are coconuts in the tree, which will help my thirst. I get a coconut and climb back down. I also pick blueberries. This makes a nice meal. I drink the coconut milk, and eat the blueberries and the inner skin of the coconut. This nice meal makes me drowsy, but before I sleep I should make shelter. The island is small, with a thin strip of beach on the outside, and in the center grass, berry bushes, and palm trees. There is some driftwood on the beach which I gather. I tie the wood together with my shoe laces and lean it against a tree. I tear some soft leaves from plants and use it to make the bed. I weave the leaves together to make a mattress, and do it again for a blanket.

I crawl into the lean-to and smile softly. The first day and night weren't so bad. This isn't a bad way to start the games. A private island with a supply of food and water. The only thing I'm missing is a weapon. If I wanted, I could build a fire, but it isn't cold and there isn't any meat to cook. I drift to sleep in my surprisingly comfortable bed.

Grover Underwood

This sucks. I attempted to take out a career, but I ended up finding out number one: I suck at archery, and number two: I just put a bigger target on my back. I have to lose my hat now, since Luke saw it, and if he saw me wearing it he would stop at nothing to kill me. It was my district token, a wool hat woven for me by my Uncle Ferdinand. Who knew he was so good at weaving? But I can't get rid of it yet, so I stick it in my backpack. My head feels exposed without it, but if Luke saw me with it…

I should have gotten a better weapon. Unfortunately, the only thing I don't suck at is playing the pipes, and that'll sure earn me some sponsors. Not. I haven't made a good impression on the sponsors. A four in training. My interview consisted me stuttering and talking about pipes and nature and Uncle Ferdinand. Unfortunately, the stuff I said was like "nature is cool, I like pipes, and my uncle is a damn good weaver." Rachel and I wore cow costumes in the chariot parade. I know, sexy, right? Curse that stupid stylist Garrina. She got rid of my goatee, the only thing that really set me apart from the other tributes. Yay.

Yeah, this sucks big time. My only chance of finding an ally is with Rachel or Percy and Annabeth. Otherwise I'll die.

The capitol anthem is heard all around the arena, and it lights up the sky. It projects the tributes and their district number into the sky. I hope Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel are okay. First it show the girl and boy from five, Hazel and Frank. So the careers are alive, hooray. Then the girl from six and the girl from seven. Both from eight, and Jake from eleven. Only seven. That sucks, but at least I'm not one of the seven. And Percy and Annabeth and Rachel are still alive. That's always good.

I don't know why, but I feel it's necessary. I bring my three middle fingers from my left hand to my lips, then extend it to the sky. It felt right.