Chapter Ten: Allies?

"Wake up Emery," Persephone yearns, nudging my shoulder ever so lightly.

I let out a quiet groan and sit up on my bedside, then move on to the washroom to take a quick shower. The cold water instantly snapped me out of my sleepy daze.

Its day two of training . . . Hopefully I can make some allies today. I warmly smile at Persephone, my other mentor, as she returns it and stands by my door. She wears a white pantsuit with black lapels along with black heels. I walk up to my mirror and brush my unruly frizzy jet black hair then moved towards the lacy undergarments and training fatigues that she laid out for me and put them on. We walk out of my room and into the dining room, I as we walk I wonder about what Vince has in mind for me.

"There you are. Come, come, We have strategies to go over." Vincent says quickly pulling a chair out for me.

As I sit down I smile at Clancy as he nods towards me. Persephone takes her seat beside Minnie who continues to nonchalantly pamper herself with makeup while looking through a handheld mirror with Mars in her lap. I smile as Penelope places a bowl of what smells like apple scented porridge in front of me, I smile happily at her as she winks slyly and stands back at attention. Persephone and Minnie engage in small talk while Clancy continues to eat his breakfast.

"So, Kid," Vince begins.

I hate when he calls me that. Its like I'm just another tribute being sent to die . . . Well okay, I am just another tribute. But! I'm still a human being. If he can call Clancy by his name why can't he do the same for me?

"The young woman has a name, Mr. L'Amoreaux . . ." Minnie says with a hint of flirtatiousness not taking her eyes off the mirror she held.

Vincent casts a glance at Minnie and let out a scoff, "Emery, I want you to continue to acquire new skills, the both of you," he taps Clancy on the shoulder,

"Try out the survival courses, lift some weights, be intimidating like yesterday," Vince winks as Clancy nods in assent and went back to his breakfast.

Vince glances over to me as I look up shyly, "Try to make some allies today, continue to scout and learn new things. Don't rely on past skills, you might not be able to use them in the arena."

"Okay. Could I try out some weapons?" I say taking another mouthful of oatmeal, it tasted heavenly!

Vince takes a good look at me before responding. "Go ahead. Make sure you choose weapons that you can handle, like throwing knives or a slingshot for example," he lists off the options on his fingers.

I nod and finish my oatmeal quickly, savouring each and every bite.

"Come along children! Day two of training awaits!" Minnie chirps as she holds the elevator, while Clancy and I walk in and stand at her side. The elevator stops on floor four and their escort walks in, Minnie and the escort kiss each other on the cheeks and give each other a hug then ramble on about 'lingerie prices being to high' . . . Minnie's brother, Ritchie, steps in and greets them in the same fashion, continuing to chat all the way down.

We were one of the first to arrive in the gym. Minnie, Ritchie and the other Escort went to the spectators lounge as me and Clancy part ways.

I smile at Atala as she happily returns it, and then set my eyes on the slingshots. I study the slingshot, pick up black marble rounds and fire it at a couple of red and white targets, hitting all of them in the inner rings.

Although I may be good with a slingshot, I don't think it would do any good against someone like Lucifer with a huge menacing scythe running towards me. Speaking of Lucifer I watch him inch his way over to Kaplan's girlfriend Clarice, the female from District Twelve, this should be good . . .

"Hey there, gorgeous." Lucifer purrs, circling Clarice taking in her every feature.

"Um? H-Hello?" she stutters as he puts an arm over her shoulder, she doesn't remove it.

"Names Lucifer, Lucifer Jones." He purred as he kisses her left hand and continues to work his way up her arm, I think she was too intimidated by him to push him away. Just as Lucifer was about to kiss her on the lips, Kaplan shoves him aside.

"HEY, what are you doing? Get your hands off of her!" Kaplan snaps as every other tribute in the room focuses on them. Just as Kaplan was about to throw a punch, Lucifer caught it in mid-air and continued to slowly twist it sideways, causing Kaplan to gawk and kneel in pain as everyone continues to watch. The career pack giggled to themselves as they look on.

"Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah . . ." Lucifer hums calmly shaking a finger from his free hand,

"I was just playing around man! No need to get physical." he continues as he unsheathes a throwing knife and presses it against Kaplan's neck.

"Don't hurt him!" Clarice croaks as other tributes held her back.

Lucifer let out a sly chuckle, "No, No, I won't . . . Yet.",

"We wouldn't want to lose a tribute just days before the games, do we?" he mutters as he continues to press down on Kaplan's throat with his he continues to press down, Peacekeepers break the two apart.

Kaplan looks like he was going to push past the Peacekeepers and start a new fight, but instead Clarice comforts him and prevents him from starting up again. Lucifer and the career pack laugh it off and move on to another station.

"Watch your back Twelve!" Lucifer jeers as he strides away with his posse.

I feel sorry for Kaplan and Clarice as they probably won't last very long. . . Lovers never do.

I see Izzy and a handful of other tributes at the knives station, Izzy's throwing kunais at human silhouettes so I join her.

She looks really pretty, her skin was cream colored and her hair was orange, frizzy, puffy and bush like. Her emerald eyes gleam as I shyly wave to her.

"Hey, I'm Izzy, Izzy Wilkinson! Pleased to make -Nur!- your acquaintance! You're Emery the butterfly girl right?!" she chirps shaking my hand, so hard that I begin to tilt.

"Yup! That's me," I say squeezing my hand, trying to get feeling back into it again. I proceed to pick up a tomahawk and toss it at a silhouette, hitting it in the chest. Just as the axe makes impact I hear a feminine chuckle behind me.

"Aww . . .That's so cute!"

I turn around to see Spinel glaring at me, the same girl from my nightmares, standing toe to toe with me.

"Your skills remind me of mine . . . When I was 9." she spits as she picks up a throwing knife and tosses it into my silhouette, hitting it in the head, prompting me to gulp.

Izzy stands between the two of us, "Leave her alone! She didn't do anything to you."

Spinel makes a shooing motion, that doesn't make Izzy back off, "Shut up basket case! I'm talking to the princess here, throwing skills like that would get you killed,"

"If I get you in the arena I'll be sure to make it quick princess," she continues as she pats me on the head and continues to sashay towards the swords section.

In anger, I pick up a tomahawk and lob it at the nearest pillar just inches near her head. The room went quiet as Spinel stops mid walk and turns around to meet my gaze.

"I'll kill you . . . I don't know how or when, but I will." I say lowly with a hint of anger in the mix.

The corner of her lips twitched into a smile, "Likewise."

She rips the tomahawk out of the pillar and continues to walk away, twirling the tomahawk in her hand as she left. All eyes were on me, Clancy slowly nods his head in approval from the jungle gym, along with Gary and Paul from Seven and Six.

I turn around slowly and eye Izzy as she gave me a bright smile flashing her teeth as if nothing had transpired.

"Um, would you like to be allies with me Izzy? I promise I can pull my weight. We also have Clancy, my District partner in the group?" I ask timidly as she gives me a slap on the shoulder, making me flinch.

"Id love to be - Nur! - allies! What you just did just now earns alot of respect in my book!" she chirps,

"Great!"

Yes! Izzy is my ally, which means that I might make it. After me and Izzy got acquainted she taught me how to shoot crossbows, which I found pretty easy. I hit every target perfectly but I don't like the weapon as a whole, it's too easy to use. After a crash course of crossbow shooting, we decided to part ways.

I approach Gary Oak and Jinx Blossom from District Seven and slink behind a pillar, watching as they practiced swinging their axes. I peer out to catch another peak but quickly withdraw as they look in my direction.

"Hey there butterfly girl, what are you doing snooping around?" Jinx beams leaning on the pillar casually as Gary joins us.

"Hello, I wanted to know if we could be allies . . .?" I say waving timidly as Gary shakes his head sadly,

"Sorry Emery . . ." Jinx coos solemnly, "We would love to ally with you, but we believe that two of us are more than enough . . ." she says rubbing my shoulders. I nod and give a meek smile as Gary smiles brightly,

"I promise, if I bump into you in the area, I won't kill you," he beams nodding his head quickly,

"Same here!" Jinx says with a single nod. I say thank you and goodbye as they return to their axe training. I guess what they say about people from District Seven being down to earth is true.

Taking a deep breath and thinking nothing but positive thoughts, I try the rope climbing course, which consists of complicated rope bridges and nets to climb.

Being a professional climber I ace it with flying colours, not once receiving tips from the stations specialist.

Wanting to be alone, I continue to climb the net system so far that I end up in the middle of the training room, overlooking everyone. I watch as Zapp, Izzy's district partner and Natalie Bolt from Three make a fire, the pair from Six doing camouflage and Clancy bench pressing weights.

I find myself gawk cupping my chin as I watch Clancy work out, his muscles bulge through his fatigues, not as much as Lucius or Lucifer's but I didn't care . . . I hear obnoxious laughter from in front of me and move forward.

I watch as the career pack, Lucius and Evan in particular were shouting in each others face in what appears to be a heated argument.

It looked like fists were going to be thrown at any second until Peacekeepers pull them apart, Spinel laughs obnoxiously clutching her stomach as Evan angrily shoves down a trolley with spears to the floor. For a thirteen year old boy he was freakishly strong . . . I fiddle with my pockets and take out the slingshot that I forgot to put back on its rack and load a marble round into the black material, pulling back as I aim for Spinel's head.

Lets see if she finds this funny.

I release the marble and it flies across the room, hitting Spinel in the back of her head. She let out a shocked gasp as Lucifer wails loudly in laughter,

"WHO DID THAT!?" Spinel fumes as her head spun towards the slingshot section, she stomps up to Karen sharp from Ten and grabs her by the collar.

"You think you're funny?! Pulling shit like that!" she snaps, shaking her like a rag doll. Karen repeatedly told her that she didn't do anything in the same angry tone.

"Watch in the arena Ten! You're dead meat!" she roars as trainers had to yet again, pull a Career out of a fight just in time for lunch.

"So Emery, any luck getting allies?" Clancy says taking a sip of water.

Before I get a chance to answer I see Evan take up a seat by himself away from the Careers.

Although he was kicked out, he still showed no sign of caring or worry as he laid out his feet on the table and stuck his middle finger towards Lucius who was about to approach Evan, until Cody Langford from Ten raised his hand made a lowering motion. I guess Cody is apart of the careers now. We call outliers that get into the pack wannabe careers, they usually act tough and put on a cold persona but in the end, ignorance and bravado is their downfall.

"I got Izzy from Five," I say as Clancy nods in approval.

"I spoke to her, she's a little kooky but pretty good with knives, who else did you have in mind?" he asks

"I was thinking about letting Evan join us," I timidly wave towards him as he looks in my general direction, he gives me a faint smile and waves back.

"We can talk to him tomorrow, he'd would be a perfect addition."