Cole Phlox Lindgren's POV:

"Do you think he will get reaped?" I hear a hushed voice say and I instantly stop in my tracks. Are they talking about me? I slowly creep down the stairs until I can see through the crack in the door where my Mother and Father are sitting. I have a feeling it was my Mam who asked that and my Dad is now contemplating on whether I will get reaped or not.

"Possibly," he says taking a sip from the cup in front of him, "but Vivek has just as much chance as him," he adds on placing the cup back down. He's right me and Vivek are both fifteen and neither of us have taken any tesserae. Hestia my twelve year old sister only has one slip in and it sickens me that kids her age may get reaped. Well actually there is at least one person from our district from the age of seven to eleven being reaped. The Capitol don't take pity on us, because we are one of the poorest districts we have to pay by sending an extra child. Yes, districts 1, 2 and 4 are taking two extra children but they actually want to. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone single one of them were a volunteer.

I continue to listen until my Mam and Dad's conversation which consists of how much they would miss of if we were reaped and how much they feel sorry for the three sets of parents that will loose their child today. As soon as I begin to ache in the position I'm in I stand up and make quite a few stomping sounds before pushing my way through the kitchen door and giving a nice wide smile to them.

"Morning," I call. The two of them just smile at me and nod their heads. I collect my cereal (which is a very small amount) and make my way to the table where everything seems to have gone quiet. I eat my breakfast slowly and soon enough my two sisters have joined us at the table. I watch Vivek as she pours her cereal and spoons on the little spoon of sugar she always has. I try to hold my laughter in as she places the first mouthful and a true look of disgust appears across her face. She spits it out suddenly but as always manages to see the funny side of it.

"Why do you always do that?" she shouts at me referring to me swapping the salt and sugar labels around. Everyone else is smiling as usual and I just bring myself to shrug my shoulders to her. For the rest of her breakfast she is careful to eat where the salt isn't and we are told by our parents to get ready for the reaping.

Now for my second prank of the day.

I walk into my room slowly so I can see the whole action unfold. Vivek trots herself up the stairs unexciting what she will receive when she enters her room. Once again I struggle to hold the laughter in as she enters her room. I hear the shower (which is annoyingly in her sideroom) being turned on and then screams. Now for my cue. I burst into her room and slam open the bathroom door.

"Vivek are you alright?" I say in a worried voice as she wraps a towel around her. The steam soon disappears and I catch my first glimpse of her body. The colour of her skin has turned to a sickly yellow and she is failing to see the funny side.

"Thanks a lot Cole. It's reaping day as well," she says angrily wrapping a second towel round her head.

"Oh come on it was just a joke. I was experimenting," I say trying to back my case up. "It comes off your skin you know. Just use the hair dryer."

"What on Panem is the flipping hair dryer going to do?" she shouts at me.

"It just makes it go away. Trust me I know everything about stuff like this," I say defensively. She looks at me suspiciously for a bit before walking into my room, as hers doesn't have a plug and turning the hair dryer on. She plays around with the button for a bit before pressing the switch. Normal air comes out at first and true to my word the yellowness starts to fade. She smiles at me slightly and then suddenly the powder explodes out of the tiny holes all over her face. She screams again and grips onto my shoulders. We play fight for a bit as I get powder all over me as well, we seem to be having a lot of fun before Mam and Dad come in laughing their socks off.

"Go get in the shower you to," my Dad says laughing still. I let go of Vivek and we both wander off to her room to get in. Reaping morning has been a lot funnier than I expected it to be.

Ange Parks' POV:

I might be seven but I would like to consider myself as quite a brainy person. I know that my parents don't tell me everything but I also know that I don't want to know everything. Not yet. I don't want to know why the games have came back, I don't want to know about death because I know that death means not coming back. I've never known someone who has experienced death but surely after this 'game' I will. That's another thing I don't understand. Why are they called a game? I know a game to be something fun and if death is involved this games most certainly isn't fun.

When the games were announced to come back I remember being cradled in my Mother's arms after the twist was read out. She said there was a possibility I would be going into the game. I was happy. Again, I thought that games were meant to be fun. Then I was given a 'talk', I was told what this game involved but I refused to listen. I've been getting on well though, I've been my normal bright and bubbly self.

"Who wants their hair brushed?" I hear my Mam call from somewhere in the house.

"I do! I do! I do!" I chant over and over again very loudly. I begin to run out of my room when large arms sweep me away and I stare into the face of my brother, Faine. His blue eyes glisten in the morning light and he gives me a large kiss on the cheek before carrying me over his shoulder while I kick and scream. I might be intelligent but I'm still a child and I will still act like a child. He takes me to the other side of the house where my Mam is sitting brushing her hair. Everyone in my family has red hair apart from my Dad and I couldn't ask for a better colour. We stand out well in district 9 and everyone knows us for it.

"Come and sit down then," my Mam calls beckoning me over to the seat next to her. I run over quickly in my green dress and begin to fiddle with the white lace as she combs the brush through my hair. "You look beautiful today, Ange," she says and I turn to look into her blue eyes.

"Well you look just like me so you must look beautiful as well," I say pulling a funny grin which my Mam always pulls.

"If only I was your age still," she mumbles and I can tell she's dreamily going off into her memories. I want to ask her how old she is but it will only ruin her memories or she might not want to tell me. Instead I lift my hand up until it is close to her face and I search for the grey hairs that are starting to appear. I catch two of them with my eye and hold them gently before entwining them with other hairs. I continue to do this until all of the grey hairs are entwined within a red hair and my Mother begins to laugh.

"Yes, I am turning old," she says beginning to brush my hair again. For quite a few minutes to come she strokes the brush through my long red hair and once she is done she pulls a pair of scissors out of the nearest drawer. I try not to bother her as she clips away at loose hairs and they fall down onto my neck and shirt wanting me to itch. She blows away the loose hairs once she is done and gives me a little twirl.

"Okay Ange, I've got a little present for you," she says pulling something out of her pocket and enclosing it in her hand.

"I like presents," I say joyfully wondering what it could be. Finger by finger she unwraps the present until I see a small charm bracelet. A wide smile appears across my face and I look at it more closely. "I love it," I say overwhelmed as I stare at the delicate patterns and the loaf of bread which has been so carefully carved into the surface. "Thank you," I say blushing. Mam only gives me presents on special occasions. I know the reaping isn't a special occasion but I know I need all the luck I can get when I go there.

Luna Rose's POV:

"Beautiful, don't you think?" I say to my best friend Chris as I look over the landscape. I see him in the corner of my eye nodding his head and I let myself dream away (as I always do). How amazing would it be if we were aloud out of the fences to explore. I would run for miles through the lovely storms and the freshening rain. I'd experience the sun playing with my skin and the wind trying to take me to some place new. I'd be with the people I love. Chris, my Mother and Father, my brother Tyler and my little cousin Bella. They'd love it. I'd love it. Wouldn't everything love it?

Beyond the grain fields is a journey that no-one will ever take never mind me, a twelve year old girl who would like to live in her dreams. I perch myself back on a higher branch of the tree so I can get closer to the bird I have just spotted. I edge my finger closer and closer to it's blue wing and as I touch the feather it flies away gracefully. It's wings move up and down in swift motions and then it's out of sight. My eyes search for a new animal and I spot a lone rabbit on the floor. I think that Chris has spotted it as well because his head is facing gown. It's little arms and legs burrow itself a small hole and then it bounds away with a small bit of food in it's mouth. Imagine life as a rabbit or a bird. There'd be no Hunger Games. No starving. No boundaries.

"Luna!" I hear my Mother's sweet voice call from somewhere. I look to Chris who is still staring down at the floor and I gave his sandy blonde hair a quick ruffle before quickly making my way down the tree.

"See you at the reaping," I call before running through the flower gardens and making my way into my own garden where Tyler is entertaining Bella. "Who's a beautiful little girl?" I say to Bella rubbing my own nose against hers and she begins to giggle voluntarily. I repeat this a few times before my Mother appears out of the doorway and throws a silver dress at me.

"Put it on quick, the reaping is soon," she calls before rushing back into the house and calling something to my Dad. Embarrassed of getting changed in front of my brother I quickly bound into the shed and change into the dress. I throw my old clothes into a corner of the garden and my Mother comes out with my Dad and gives me a large hug.

"You'll be fine sweetie," my Dad says patting me on the back. We live quite a bit away from district 9's justice building so the walk to the reaping is quite a lengthy one full of awkward silences. I spend most of the journey dreaming about a better place but the sound of quiet talk tells me that we have arrived at the reaping. Everyone is very cramped as the seven to eleven year olds can get reaped as well but I manage to fit myself into the twelve year olds and Tyler is standing not far in front with the boys that are nine.

The mayor reads the treaty of treason very quickly trying to get it out of the way and he introduces our escort onto the stage. I shaky woman with a freckled forehead makes her way onto the stage and begins to talk in a quiet tone introducing herself as Maria Yellow. We are shown a relatively quick video and it is time for the names to be drawn.

"We'll start with the ladies," she says quietly and walks over slowly to the female bowl. My name is only in there once it won't be me. It won't be. It can't be. "Luna Rose." It is me. I pull my head down so my tears can not be seen over my curly brown hair and I make my way onto the stage. How can it be me? I'm only twelve. What if Tyler is reaped as well? Horrible thoughts flood through my head as the male is called.

"Cole Phlox Lindgren," Maria says quietly once again. There is silence for quite a bit but soon I am joined on the stage with a boy who is fifteen. His black hair is buzzed cut and his olive skin seems to be burning in the strong sunlight.

"And district 9 also have to reap a child from the age of seven to eleven," Laria says louder than she has spoken yet. She coughs a few times and walks over to the bowl with many, many names in. I hope it isn't Tyler but my heart sinks when I find out who it is.

"Ange Parks," she calls. A seven year old appears out of the crowds and walks to the stage shivering.

The escort is about to say something when Ange speaks up, "I don't understand why I was chosen... I'm seven. Why am I here?" The crowd go absolutely silent and many people begin to weep. How can the Capitol be so cruel to send a seven year old in to a fight to the death?

The three of us are taken away and are put into our separate rooms. I get to talk to my best friends, my family and all the way through they are wishing me the best of luck but it is the last person who strikes me. A boy with red hair and blue eyes walks in.

"I'm Ange's brother. Please ally with her, please protect her. Will you?" he pleads. I'm startled by his words but I manage to choke out a yes. Not much longer Ange chooses him as her mentor, Cole chooses his fifteen year old sister and I choose my Father. He can protect me. And I will protect Ange.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review :)