Hi everyone! Well for the last chapter I only got like two reviews…I don't want to be one of those annoying people, but that was a little depressing…*sniff sniff* ;) but I don't blame you, Glimmer just can't live up to the awesomeness as Clove. But guess what? We're almost to 50 reviews! AAAH! Thank you guys so much! I know we can get to 50 on this chapter…I'm very determined. And maybe even f you're feeling rebellious…51? :O So pretty please?
Clove
I am having a horrible time. I've deemed the people in the capitol almost as bad as the people in District Twelve. They're all so prim and proper, why wouldn't Landon send us to Two or something? It's impossible to get half of these people to fight—although there are a lot who moved from the districts who are willing to come.
Surprisingly, I wasn't too unhappy with my outfit. We thankfully weren't told to die our skin and stuff as I had feared. I'm wearing distressed dark wash skinny jeans, a dark grey shirt, and my personal favorite part of the ensemble, a leather jacket. Unfortunately the accessories include ridiculously high black strappy stilettos, gaudy jewelry, and huge sunglasses, but it's worth it. I hope they know I'm keeping this jacket.
Even though we've taken almost every precaution imaginable to not getting caught, they're pairing us with whoever was not our fellow tribute, which was a bad decision on their part because even though Marvel and I have our moments, we still hate each others guts and I know for a fact that Glimmer annoys the hell out of Cato more often than not. Plus, it meant that we all had to endure the twenty minute long goodbye of Glimmer and Marvel.
"Be safe." Marvel told Glimmer once we got out of the car.
"I will. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you more."
"No!"
"Remember when you left me in the Games? I missed you so much it was unimaginable." At this part Cato and I had rolled our eyes because we'd heard this too many times before.
"Awww, I missed you more, even when I was dead."
"But I bet—"
"Okay, we get the point! You both missed each other more, blah blah blah, now cut the crap. We have to go." Cashmere had cut in. Cashmere and Enobaria were leaving later tonight; they were going to go farther out into the Capitol, into the areas we didn't cover.
We're to meet at this dinner place at nine thirty. It's already dark outside when we're dropped off in a neighborhood just a few blocks away from the downtown area. These houses are fricken huge, like two of the victors homes put together! I try not to gawk as we begin walking toward the bright lights that lie not too far ahead.
"Quit walking so fast." Marvel hisses at me.
"I'm not walking fast." I scowl back at him.
"Uh, Clove, you are. I thought you never wore heels, I was looking forward to you falling all over the place." Marvel says with a smirk.
I roll my eyes behind my huge cherry-red sunglasses, which he couldn't see because the lenses are black. "I'm a coordinated person. And I've worn heels before." It's true. Normally if I wear heels it's some kind of boot form, and I've been particularly obsessed with ankle boots lately. This strappy kind, not as much, but these shoes could be worse. Like the ridiculous (ridiculously ugly) heels I was put in for my interviews. Thank God my feet were out of the view of the camera because those awful shoes ruined the whole outfit…which kind of ruined itself, even without the shoes. What can I say? I had a bad stylist.
Marvel just scoffs. "Whatever."
After a few more silent minutes of walking, we're in the midst of a huge city, with buildings that are so tall they touch the sky and gleam like gems. There are people walking around all over the place, one more strange looking than the next, but some are relatively normal, like us. I sigh and just hope that no one recognizes us, then I begin to walk through the crowd of people in the streets, keeping my eyes peeled for worthy people.
"I think we should look more over there, where it isn't so busy." I say, pointing a few streets away.
"Why?"
"Because maybe people down there will be less…" I look for the right word as I look at the multi-colored people that are bustling around us. "Strange?"
Marvel sighs. "Fine, I guess."
We start walking again but hardly make it one street before Marvel stops and stares in awe up at a building.
"What?" I ask him, staring up at it as well, trying to see the magic.
"It's a Perry's!" he says, pointing to a sign with a cup of coffee that says "Perry's" in cursive lettering.
"Aaand?"
Marvel looks at me, his mouth agape. "This place is supposed to be legendary! They only have the best coffee ever! I've always wanted to try one." Marvel looks longingly at the door.
I roll my eyes, yet again. Who cares? I guess that's what you get when you're raised in District One. "Well you best keep wanting, because we have to go."
"No! Clove, come on, it'll take two seconds."
"Marvel, the line is like, a fucking mile long." I say, pointing inside the glass window to show all the Capitol citizens waiting to get their late night coffee. "We're not going. And besides, we're not supposed to talk to anyone unless we want to recruit them. Remember?"
Marvel glares at me for a moment, then finally says, "I'm going."
I narrow my eyes at him. "Do you want me to punch you in the face? Again?"
Marvel raises his eyebrows. "Bring it."
I narrow my eyes at him and raise my right arm, about to sock him one right in the face when I hear the noise of a fist connecting with a face. But I didn't punch him yet. And he didn't punch me. Marvel looks confused as I lower my fist.
"What?"
"Did you hear that?"
Marvel pauses and listens. I hear shuffling and then another thud. It sounds close—if it wasn't we wouldn't be able to hear it over the din of the city. I look around me, but all the capitol citizens are still walking around like normal. Which brings the thought to my mind, are these people stupid? There's a war going on!
But then I see where it could be coming from. Only a few feet away lies an alleyway, in between two big buildings. It's dark, shaded from all the lights. I begin toward it and tug Marvel along with me. I stop and peer into the alley to see what looks like three people fighting and one on the ground. But I can't see what they look like, it's all just black shadows.
"Oh, God. Don't go in there, Clove." Marvel warns me.
I look at him, aghast. "Why the hell not?"
"We don't want to get involved!"
I sigh, wishing again that I had Cato for this situation, because he would probably march right in there without a second thought. But in District One, people actually have…consciences, I suppose.
One figure pushes another one, slamming them into the wall. The one who's doing most of the beating looks a lot smaller than the rest, and I notice they have long hair. So then I assume it's a girl, but in the Capitol, you just never know.
I'm not debating whether to go in there or not, but who I should help beat. I'm guessing the girl is winning. But I really don't know, until I hear the voice. It's just sort of a grunt of some sort, but I instantly recognize it. I recognize it because I've seen her fight before, I've even helped train her here or there. But why is she here?
"I know who's in there." I say to Marvel.
"Yeah, a bunch of idiots. Let's go." He turns to start walking away but I just march right into the alleyway instead.
As I get closer, I can see the faces more clearly, since they all turn toward me. I stop right in front of the man that's lying on the ground, then look up to the other two guys. One looked my age, the other about two years older. And then there was her. But my arrival has caused her to lose, and she was now being held in a headlock.
"You lookin' for trouble too, girlie?" The man who has the girl asks me. I notice right away that he doesn't have a capitol accent. I also notice that Marvel didn't follow me in. Baby. I hope he gets hit by a car if while he's waiting for me.
I don't answer, just pull one of the knives I have inside my jacket. Ah, it feels good to do that again. I squint at my target in the dark lighting. Then I throw the knife at the man's hand, the one that's wrapped around the girl's neck. The man yelps at instantly jumps back from her, and I take out another knife, ready to throw it at the guy who's standing off to the side, but he holds his hand up in surrender. "Don't kill me, don't kill me! I was just observing!"
I narrow my eyes at him even though he can't see it. But before I can do anything, the girl punches him hard in the face and he falls to the ground. Then, she turns to face me, confusion on her face. She narrows her sapphire blue eyes, trying to see who I am.
"Mika." I greet her.
Mika stares at me for a few more seconds.
"What, I come back from the dead to see you and you don't even say anything?" I tease her.
Mika's eyes widen as she realizes who I am. But instead of happiness or some other good emotion, she just looks fearful.
"Clove?"
"Yup."
"No."
"What do you mean no?"
Mika starts shaking her head, walking slowly backwards. "It's not really you. They're doing it again."
I frown. "What? Mika, it's really me."
"No. It's just another trick."
I take off my sunglasses, staring hard at her. "It's me. It's Clove. I promise."
She narrows her eyes at me. "Prove it."
I sigh and try to think of something off the top of m head. She's just as stubborn as her brother. I pull out the first memory I can think of. "When you were ten and I was thirteen I helped you sneak into Cato's room to steal his favorite spear. Remember? You took it when he was sleeping, then we went into the backyard to spray it pink, but since you were really bad with a spear you ended up killing the neighbor's dog. You were all broken up about it."
Mika's eyes widen again, and then they fill with a mixture of sadness and relief. "Oh, Clove! It really is you! How is it possible?"
I shake my head. "It's a long story, I'll tell you in a little bit. And you need to tell me how you got here! Now follow me."
Mika just nods and follows obediently. It takes me a few minutes to find Marvel in the crowd, but then I see him talking to two burly-looking guys. I hung back until he was finished. After a few minutes, I saw one guy say something, and then the other nod his head, and then Marvel caught my eye and he started walking toward us with the two guys following.
"Wasn't he…wasn't he dead, too?" Mika whispers to me hesitantly.
"I told you, I'll explain later."
"Hey." Marvel says, walking up to us. "This is Alastair," he says, gesturing to a tall, brown-haired boy who looks about eighteen, "and Hunter." He says, pointing to the other one who looks about twenty. They actually don't look like obnoxious Marvel raises his eyebrows, indicating for me to introduce my finding.
Since Mika is only fourteen, she probably doesn't look to promising, but she's muscular and in good shape, and she's handy with weapons (after all, she's grown up and 2 and learned from some of the best), and her attitude kind of reminds me of myself.
"This is Mika." I say. Marvel looks like he's about to question me, but then I continue. "Cato's sister."
Marvel's eyes widen. "Oh, uh…nice to meet you. I can see the resemblance." He says, observing Mika's similar features. The deep blue eyes, the blond hair. Mika just scowls back at him. "Yeah, she's definitely Cato's sister…" Marvel mumbles, then looks at his watch.
"We should probably get going."
We all walk through the sea of people for about another hour, talking to people who looked promising. We always tried to ease into the conversation, as not to give our identities away without reason. But we had no luck. Before we knew it, it was nine thirty.
"Well." Marvel sighs as we start toward the entrance of the dinner place we're supposed to meet at. "I guess all we can do is hope they got even less people then we did."
I sigh. "I'm sure Enobaria and Cashmere will get tons." They're allowed to show their faces, after all.
Marvel is about to reply when the giant screens that are up on most of the buildings are wiped clean of their advertisements. Everyone stops and looks up at one screen or another, since they're all over. Then, Katniss's face pops up on the screens, completely surrounding us. There are a few boos from all around, but most people just stay silent. I know there are most likely fans of her around here. I turn my attention to the screen, too, as Katniss's mouth opens and she begins to talk. Her face looks worn and tired, and a little bit afraid, not to mention very sad looking. She begins rambling on about the benefits of war to the Districts. They must have hacked the Capitol's system.
"They've captured Prim." She says suddenly, which catches my attention. "And by them, I don't just mean the Capitol." I exchange a look with Marvel, and he looks worried. "There's something you all should know. The tributes—"
Her voice is suddenly cut off and replaced by horrible static, and then President Snow's face appears on the screens. He's looking intently at the camera, but still has a tiny, tiny evil smile on his face.
"Hello, my citizens." He greets everyone. He begins to talk then about the rebels, about how they are tearing our country apart, things like that. I look around me, seeing the Capitol people staring up at the screens with their strange faces, but then I see Glimmer and Cato…and Brutus. Brutus drove us here, but he wasn't supposed to get out. Brutus gestures for me to come over there, fast.
"Come on." I mumble to Marvel and the others, and then I start walking as fast as I can through the people, who complain at me for shoving into them.
Brutus places a hand on my back and leans over, talking in my hear so I can hear him over the noise. "We need to go, now. They're not sure how long they can hold off the rebels' interferences."
Cato and Glimmer are already far ahead of us, heading back toward the neighborhoods. I look up at the screens once more and see them flash a picture of the bloody Primrose, only for about a second. But then the screen flickers once again and Katniss is there again. She looks as if she has tears in her eyes, she probably saw the picture of her sister. "I don't have much time, so I will only say this." She takes a step closer to the camera. "You may have our family and friends locked up, but I know they're strong. You're only wasting your own time and energy, because we will never surrender."
This would've been more convincing if her voice didn't shake at the end.
Maybe the part about her friends was true. But her sister was a lot weaker than everyone thought.
