"What is the matter with you?!" Scylla exclaims over dinner after I tell her what happened at training. She grabs her knife and bangs it against the table with every word. "What" BANG "on" BANG "Earth" BANG "were" BANG "you" BANG "thinking?!"

I look down at my plate. "I'm...I'm sorry" I mumble.

"Sorry? Sorry?! No, you're not sorry. You WILL be sorry when you're dying of hunger with no allies to help you."

"Scylla..." Jet begins.

"No. If my tribute fails it looks bad on all of us." Scylla says as she stabs her chicken angrily.

"Yeah, well I'm not too happy about it either Scylla!" I shout. I've regretted my outburst at Mara ever since training, a few hours ago. Now, the entire Career alliance save Toren has been avoiding me.

"What exactly did she say?" she demands.

"Something like...good luck with your allies." I mutter.

She throws her hands in the air out of exasperation, "Of course! She's done with you. Done. The first District 4 tribute I've ever coached-heck, probably the first one in decades- who isn't in an alliance. I hope you know that your odds are miniscule now." She seems more concerned with her reputation as a mentor than with my chances of winning.

I bow my head and let my black hair curtain around my face. I am too humiliated to look up.

"And you!" Scylla points her fork at Toren, "You can't even hit a target with a bow and arrow? Mara was right to-"

"Scylla! Enough!" Jet warns, raising his voice. Scylla leans back after a moment and "Now, how about we finish dinner, and then go over to Cashmere's place to try and work this through."

Scylla and Jet both relax a little. I pick at my peas. I am sick of being treated like a child. Alliance or not, I still have what it takes to win these Games. No matter what.

"How are our standing right now?" Toren asks after an awkward pause.
` "There's really no change," says Jet, "It rarely does between the parade and the training scores. We'll need to talk about that later; how you should approach the training sessions."

Scylla excuses herself from the table and grabs a cell phone and begins dialing a number. "I'm going to try and fix this for you. At least it's not my life on the line here." She leaves the room with the phone to her ear.

I gulp a little. "So...uh...should we keep our same strategy for the training?"

Jet swallows some soup before saying, "Yeah, just keep that up."

Another awkward silence. There's really nothing more that needs to be said. I pick at my food for another few minutes before I realize that I'm not hungry. I excuse myself and leave.

Back in my room I flop on my bed and bury my head in my hands. How could I be so stupid! I wish I was like Toren. He always knew how to handle things like this. Ugh! Why did I do that?

There's a knock on my door. I sit up and try to appear calm. "Come in," I say.

The door opens slowly and Toren peaks his head through the crack. "I just wanted to tell you that it meant a lot. What you did earlier. With Mara." he looks a little uncomfortable, "I just wanted to say thanks."

He pauses before leaving, as if about to say something more. But he just shakes his head and leaves right after closing the door.

I decide to go to sleep early. The luxury of the Capitol and the majestic skyline don't appeal to me anymore. I change quickly into some pajamas and turn off the lights. I pause at the window, looking at the sunset. I try to think how many I have left. There's tonight, two more days of training, and then the ones before the Games start. And then that could very well be it.

No. Don't think like that. I will win. I am going to win.

I repeat this mantra to myself as I climb into the bed. I will win. I will win. I lose myself in the comfortable down sheets and try to clear my head. I will win. I am going to win. I am going to win. I will win. I...will...

…...

The next day lasts painfully long. I shower and put on my clothes. I take a lot of time trying to let the hot water wash away my troubles. I stand there and let the steam ease over my body. I close my eyes and try to feel a little optimism.

It doesn't work.

When I am forced to leave my room and enter the dining room, Scylla just tells me that Cashmere didn't say anything about Mara. Breakfast goes by quickly. Toren and I both shove food down our gullets as fast as possible. In the elevator I brace myself for the gym.

When the door opens, all the tributes look at us. But none of the Careers so much as glance at us the whole day. Mara sure has got them wrapped around her finger. They keep an awkward distance from me and don't look me in the eye. I guess this is what it feels like to have no alliance.

The day passes slowly, like the Gamemakers are already messing with us in their painful trap of the Games. Except this time, I'm their only target.

I continue following Scylla's advice, for all the good it will do. I learn basic snares. Hunting. I try my hand at camouflage but decide it's too useless and pathetic as a skill. I mean, it would only be helpful if the arena is a giant cake or something!

Finally, after hours and hours of avoiding everyone, training ends and we head back to our rooms. It's not much better there. No updates about betting or sponsoring and Cashmere responded saying that she can't influence Mara. I guess that's it then. No alliance for me.

The next day, Toren and I go our separate ways, just like yesterday. I head over to various stations. Mara and the other three Careers are dominating the weapons section. And even though throwing sharp things around would make me feel better, it would just make the situation worse.

After setting a few fires, I see Thorn and Toren laughing and talking by the intelligence station. Having nothing better to do, because I was hopeless at making fires and my ally Toren was excellent, I walked on over.

Thorn is just finishing up a test. The station is composed entirely of a large touchscreen that posed various intelligence games and tests. The score would be presented at the end. Thorn ends his test by solving a complex puzzle game that involves different colors of blocks that must be combined to form varying shapes. There are some other rules that I don't understand. When Thorn drags over a large yellow one to finish the puzzle, the simulation ends and it replaced by a single number.

"Your score is...93." The computer beeps out.

I have no idea how good that is, because I've never done it before. Thorn looks please, and Toren looks impressed. "Okay, my turn," says Toren as he takes command of the simulation.

Thorn steps away and rubs his hand on his head. "Is that a high score?" I ask him.

"Yeah," he says, "Yeah it is." He looks humble about it, and a little surprised. I realize that this is the first time someone from the Career alliance has actually talked to me since Mara kicked me out.

"What's it out of?" I say, trying to keep him talking.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that each test is 20 points and they add up for a total-"

"Can I come back in the alliance?" I blurt out. I cover my mouth with my hands. "Sorry. Sorry. I just-I just..."

"It's okay." He says, "Mara has been acting weirdly about you since the first day of training. She told us that we can't talk to you."

"I guessed as much." I look at Toren, who is still deeply involved in the test. "Toren too?"

"No. Just you. Guess it makes you special."

I shrug. "Guess so."

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I nod. "What did you do to her to get her so angry?"

I squirm uncomfortably. "I insulted her and said that I could beat her in the Games. Then she got angry and kicked me out."

Toren laughs a little. And then some more. He covers his mouth and says, "I'm sorry, it's not funny. It's life or death. I just imagined something...worse. I thought you spit at her or attacked her or tried to kill her or something."

"I almost did." I say. "I guess she has some problems."

"Oh, I know she does." Thorn confesses. "Brutus told me all about it because he knows her parents. Mara was adopted for the sole purpose of her becoming a tribute. They wanted the glory, you see. They gave her a special trainer and everything. They promised she could be part of their real family if she won."

He looks around to see if Mara is nearby. After seeing she wasn't, he leans in closer, "Between you and me? She's always been different because of what happened. She's more obsessed with training than any of us."

I'm stunned. I had a hard upbringing, because my family wanted a victor, but at least I had one. I wasn't bought by someone just to make them more famous one day. I came home from training to my parents who were actually proud. I can tell why she's insecure.

Thorn can tell that I never knew this. "Hey, I'll try to change her mind at lunch, okay?"

"Yes, thank you!" I breathe out heavily. Yes. I need to get back into that alliance. "Thank you so much."

Thorn says goodbye to Toren and then walks away. "Toren, did you hear that?"

"What?" He says, as he starts matching up different pairs of symbols with each other. "Huh?"

"Oh nevermind." I say. I am in such a better mood now. "Here let me help you."

The simulation is a fast paced matching game. Different black symbols appear on the white screen and we have to match two of them. I'm not sure that the game is designed for two people, but who cares? Intelligence is not a skill required to win.

Toren and my fingers fly over the touchscreen, trying to match as many as possible. Tree, leaf, alpha, circle, oval, flag, triangle, hovercraft. I scan each one, and hover my eyes over as many as possible. After a little time of bumping elbows and getting in each other's way, we establish a sort of rhythm. Our hands reach out for the symbols in a sort of tandem, each knowing exactly where the other is. My mind is connected to his and we both know, instinctively, where to go. It's kind of beautiful.

Then, after pressing two clocks down at the same time, the game ends. The number 89 pops up on screen.

"89? With both of us working together?" I exclaim.

"Thorn got a 93. Are we bad or is he just amazing?" says Toren.

"I think he's just really, really smart." I say. "We were going so quickly!" Our 89 on screen seems to be taunting us with its smallness.

Toren and I break for lunch. After we get our trays from the line, I anxiously try to kill time by taking forever to get our food. I scoop some peas onto my plate one by one. "What are you doing?" mutters Toren.

"I'm-" I say. I'm stalling for time. Still not sure if Mara will accept me back. "Screw this." I put down the ladle for some soup I've been pouring and walk to the Careers.

Mara looks up as we approach and stands up instantly. "What do you want?" she says.

"Mara, sit down." says Thorn. "It's cool. They can come."

"I don't think that they deserve-"

"It's not about what they deserve, Mara. They've trained too. We need their numbers."

"And I'm the only one here who can use throwing knives." I say. I think she's going to cave. She may be our self-appointed leader, but she has to listen to us.

"Sasha, Sheen?" Mara says.

Sheen says that it's fine and Sasha just nods.

Mara has no choice but to let us in. "Fine. Sit there." she says.

I try to contain my excitement. Finally, I am back into the Career alliance. The one that wins almost every year.

"We were just talking about our strategy for the bloodbath," says Sheen. "Gloss told me that we should each have our own weapon to claim. Because sometimes, there is only one of each."

"Bows!" say Toren and Mara at the same time. They both glare at each other.

"Toren." I warn. Toren looks at me and then at Mara. I can see gears turning behind his eyes.

"I'll take tridents." he says unhappily. "Mara can have the bows. Whatever."

Mara looks pleased with herself. "Sasha?"

Sasha claims knives.

"But I get any throwing knives." I say, making sure I get my best weapon.

"Fine. Sheen?"

"I'll take either swords or spears. Thorn, what do you want?"

Thorn considers it in his head. "Umm...Swords. If that's okay with you of course."

"Yeah. That's fine. I'll be spears and javelins then." says Sheen.

"Well that's settled. Okay, so we need specific targets for the bloodbath." says Mara.

Almost every time, the Career alliance will stay and take the Cornucopia. We will kill as many others as possible and then divide the spoils amongst ourselves. It's a basic strategy that works well.

"I think Titus is a threat." says Sheen.

"Him? He has no allies and is not that big." Mara laughs. "I mean look at him!"

All six of us turn in our chairs and stare at Titus who is sitting by himself with some steak. His head is resting on his fist as he lazily eats. He scans the room around him and looks at other tributes. I swear, he even licked his lips once.

"Okay, he might not look it, but he did volunteer. And he wanted to join us, so that means he thinks he's competiton." defends Sheen.

"There's a difference between thinking you're competition and actually being it." argues Thorn.

"Okay. Fine. I still think we should take him out." says Sheen.

"Who should do it?" says Mara. "What's his weapon?"

"Spears." comments Sasha. "I've seen him use them. He's pretty accurate."

"Okay, I'll take him. I'll get to the spears first and then kill him before he does." says Sheen.

"But what about the tributes who won't be going for the weapons?" says Toren. "How will we get them?"

"I don't think that they are competition." says Mara. "We should focus on the ones who can use weapons."
"No." I say. I don't want to disrupt anything when my presence here is still new, but I have to say this. "I mean, no, we should kill them too. The ones who don't take weapons are the ones that know how to survive. They can evade us, and they can possibly outlast us."

"Not to mention that we have no idea what the arena is, and sometimes our greatest threats are the ones we can't find." says Toren.

"Okay. Annie and I are the ones with long-distance weapons. We'll rush in, grab our bows and knives and then go to the edges of the Cornucopia and try to prevent anyone from escaping. Your four should target specific people." says Mara.

It feels nice to know that I have that responsibility. I try to hide a smile by blowing on some soup.

Thorn says, "We should wait until training scores to pick them out. That way, we know who our biggest competition is."

The training sessions are today. I haven't even thought about that. I have been too busy with my alliance that I hadn't thought about that single number that will determine how many sponsors I will get.

We keep eating lunch and discussing various tributes. We points some out to each other and what their strengths are. It's comforting, to know who the competition is. In the entire room, there are only four or five who are actual threats. All I really have to worry about is the other Careers.

Then, lunch is over and we head back over to the weapons. I delight in practicing my knives again. Sheen gives me a short lesson on spears until we both realize I'm no good. Toren is still struggling to shoot straight. How come he's even in the Capitol? Why was he chosen?

After I work up a good sweat and feel my heart pound, I realize that the tributes are starting to get ready for the individual training sessions. Mara calls us to a halt and we all stop. She wishes us good luck as we pass by.

The tributes are gathering in a circle. Time for my training session. Perhaps the single most important moment outside of the arena. This is it. Time to show them what I'm capable of.

I can do this.


To the few of you who are reading this through and through, thank you! The next chapter could take a while, because I am going to be working on my other chapters with my betas. Please review and favorite! Reviews are make a writer write! Comment with your thoughts and opinions on characters. Again, thank you for reading!