Hey everyone!

So I've been in the pit of procrastination, and the rut of demotivation while being fed on by de-inspiration gremlins.

Needless to say, I haven't been writing lately. BUT I'm hoping to climb out and defeat all that by sitting down and forcing my brain to write a chapter.

So I apologize if it's crap, I'm doing my best.

Hopefully this will jump start the creative mechanics, and my imaginatron will get its act together . Thanks for bearing with me!

Chapter Twenty-one: Mentors and mishaps.

I grip Dash's hand tightly as we step through the doors and enter the cave. The moment we step inside, we're confronted by an intimidating glass elevator.

"It's going to be alright." Dash says reassuringly, gently pulling me into the awaiting elevator.

The moment we step inside the doors soundlessly slide shut and my stomach turns as we drop down at a frightening speed. The ride lasts less than ten seconds, and the doors once again soundlessly slide open.

"Hey, the new kid's here!"

Dash squeezes my hand slightly before letting go and stepping out. I follow close behind, my eyes darting around the room, taking everything in.

The main room also doubles as the lounge, to the left I can see a wall of doors, marked with the District numbers and seals, to my right is a pair of large double doors which I assume lead to the bedroom wing. Across the lounge lies a wide open doorway, through which I can glimpse the dining room.

"So this is the great Lady of the Sea, is it?" A head of black hair and attractive jasper eyes pops into my vision. His mouth parts in a dazzling smile, showing off his emerald studded canines. "I'm afraid we didn't have the pleasure of meeting on the victory tour, you left so suddenly and I was…preoccupied." The smile becomes more of a smirk as he looks me over. "Although now I see that was a mistake."

He stumbles as he's shoved aside, and glares at the culprit as he regains his balance.

The person in question is a tall spiky haired blonde who sniggers at the dark haired young man before turning to me. "Forgot how to stand Ebony? Hi, how are you doing?"

He yelps as Ebony recovers and tackles him, shouting. "Back off Riker, I saw her first!"

They begin to wrestle on the floor as Riker shouts back. "Yeah, but I'm older!"

Eliza rolls her eyes as she walks around them and drapes her arm over my shoulder casually. "Ignore them." She glances at Dash and grins. "Good to see ya, love. How's it going?"

He smiles and shakes his head slightly. "As well as can be expected. How about you?"

She sighs and pats my shoulder before removing her arm and straightening up. "Could be better. Trying to decide what to do with my tributes, you see the pair I've been tossed with this year?"

Dash nods. "Yeah, sorry."

She shrugs. "At least I'm not in Kaden's spot, he's already tearing himself up about the poor little things he's got."

I feel a lump rise in my throat when I remember the half-starved children from district twelve.

"Honestly, fighting already? It's the first day on the job, couldn't you two show just the slightest bit of restraint?" A cool voice drawls as its owner comes into view.

I get the oddest sense of déjà vu as I look at him. Something about the way he drawls his words, the way he moves and his black hair. He reminds me of what Steel could have looked like as an adult.

"Oh lay off Zane, you can't tell us what to do." Riker snaps, casually holding Ebony in a headlock.

Zane raises one eyebrow. "Well, I am older than the two of you, and since you just pulled that card with Ebony, apparently I can tell you what to do. At least take your rambunctious behavior elsewhere."

A thin woman with narrow features and pale violet hair pulled tightly back in a ponytail slides up beside Zane and looks down her nose at the District two mentors. "Run along now children."

Riker releases Ebony and shoots a nasty gesture at the woman as he stands up. Ebony scrambles to his feet and sneers at her. "We're not children."

"Then stop behaving like children." She waves her hand dismissively. "Shoo."

They shoot her nasty looks, but retreat to the couches toward the other end of the room.

Zane turns to the woman and smiles. "You always manage them so well, Tara."

"Why thank you Zane." She says with a flattering smile before turning and looking my over with a slightly skeptically raised eyebrow. "Mags Flint, hmm? I'm afraid you failed to socialize with any of the mentors during the tour."

Eliza steps forward protectively and crosses her arms. "Just because Mags chose not to socialize with you and Zane doesn't mean she neglected all of us." She smirks. "Obviously she has good taste."

Tara's lip curls back with a snarl, and she steps forward threateningly. "You pay attention, girl, I would tread carefully around me if I were you. I've seen the tributes you have this year…and you've seen mine. It would be a pity if they were to die a slow and painful death just because their mentor couldn't keep her smart tongue behind her teeth."

Eliza's entire body tenses, her face twisting in rage as her hands curl into fists. "You bitch!"

Dash jumps forward and grabs Eliza around the waist as she lunges for Tara, holding her back with some difficulty, he tries to grab her flailing fists. "Eliza, calm down!"

Tara had retreated a few steps, smirking as Eliza continued to struggle in Dash's arms.

"Eliza!"

"No! You heard what she said! She's going to have her tributes kill Triss and Yale!"

Dash manages to grab her arms and pin them at her sides, a move he's used on me more than once. "Eliza, they're going to be targets anyway!"

"But she-"

"I know what she said, there's nothing you can do about it. Now stop struggling or I'll have you sedated." He turned his attention on Tara. "And you, if you tell your tributes to give Eliza's tributes any special treatment, I won't get in the way next time she comes for you."

Tara's face pales ever so slightly, but her expression never changes. With Eliza's height and well-built body, she could easily overpower the thin woman. "Please darling, don't take the bait so easily. I don't give my tributes special targets."

Dash slowly relaxes his grip on Eliza, holding her only by her upper arms. "There, it's settled."

Eliza's jaw is tense, and she's still glaring daggers at Tara, but she makes no move toward her. "Get off me." She mutters, jerking out of Dash's grip, she straightens her leather vest roughly and storms to the elevator.

Tara scoffs and rolls her eyes, following Zane to the lounge.

Dash turns to me. "You okay?"

I shrug. "Is it always like this?"

He lets out a sigh and rubs the back of his head. "Sometimes, everyone's showing off because of the fresh blood, they'll mellow out in a few days…hopefully."

"Thanks for the optimism."

He smiles and motions toward the marked doors. "Want to look around some? We've got a few minutes before we have to head to the remake center and see our tributes off for the chariot rides."

I nod. "Sure, I'll follow you."

He shows me the room marked with our District. It's rather simple, a wall of screens, two swivel chairs, a small couch against the back wall and a chute for submitting sponsor gift requests.

He quickly explains how sponsor gifts work. "The sponsors donate money to our tributes account, then we decide how much of it we want to spend, and what on. Then we fill out one of these forums." He hands me one, a simple piece of paper with things such as "amount" "Item" "Message" and "Other"

"We fill it out and then put it in the chute, it shoots over to the gamemaker center, where they approve it and then send the requested item into the arena."

"The screens, do we see the arena?"

He shakes his head. "Yes and no, we can only see through the cameras that our tributes are visible through, so they constantly change as our tributes move through the arena, that way the mentors can't send warnings about where the other tributes are."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

He quickly takes me out of the room, not wanting me to dwell on the arena too much. We run into a young man of average height with curly auburn hair as we exit the room.

"Hey! There's the new girl, heard Ebony and Riker talking about you."

I frown. "Were they?"

He waves a hand dismissively. "Oh don't bother about them, they talk about everything. The name's Leo by the way, Leo the ladies man." He adds with a dramatic bow, flashing me a wink as he grins, showing off his dimples.

I can't help laughing at his antics. He straightens up and his face brightens.

"Hey, you have a beautiful laugh, you should do it more often."

The smile instantly fades from my face, and the familiar ache gnaws at my stomach.

He immediately looks concerned. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be forward."

Dash puts his hand on my arm. "Mags, you okay?"

I slowly pull myself together and take a deep breath. "I'm fine…" I straighten up and turn to Leo. "I'm sorry, it's just…my brother said that to me."

Horror crosses his face, and he quickly apologized. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize…" He clears his throat and looks down at the ground.

"It's alright, just took me by surprise."

He nods. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Yeah, me too."

Dash glances at the clock. "We should be heading to the remake center."

Leo looks up. "Already? Well, I should go get Heather, she didn't sleep at all last night so she was catching a few hours before the chariot rides. I'll see you around Lady of the sea."

I smile and wave as Dash leads me toward the elevator. Kaden and another young man slide in just as the doors are closing.

"Mags, good to see you again." Kaden says with a nod.

"It's good to see you too."

"Kaden, sorry about your tributes this year." Dash says as he shakes his hand.

Kaden sighs and shrugs. "It's pretty much the same every year, but thanks."

The light haired man he entered with speaks up for the first time, glancing at me with his large amber eyes. "Not much competition this year for the careers, your kid Ryder though, he might have some potential."

Dash nods. "He does, there's a few other tributes who could pose a threat as well, although you never know what these kids have up their sleeves. Glad to see you're feeling better, James."

James nods. "Few months in the finest hospital the Capitol has to offer and the cancer is gone…again." He falls silent and the elevator comes to a stop.

We all disembark and get into awaiting cars. Dash glances over at me as the car starts to move. "You alright?"

I nod. "Yeah…I'll be fine."

He doesn't reply, turning to look out the window. The rest of the ride is spent in silence, the minutes seeming to drag by into hours before we finally pull to a stop at the remake center.

"Come on, our tributes are waiting for us." Dash offers me his hand, and I take it without hesitation. He leads me through a side door which leads us directly into the large open room where the horses and chariots are waiting.

I glance around and see most of the other mentors are already there. Leo is standing next to a petite girl maybe a year older than me, laughing. She tucks her red curls behind her ear shyly, blushing slightly at something Leo says.

"There's our chariot." Dash says, pulling my attention away from the other mentors. He leads me up to the blue and green chariot, decorated in a sea theme. The horses harnessed to it are a stormy grey, their white manes woven with strings of pearls and artificial seaweed.

"Here come our tributes." Dash informs me, nodding toward the approaching pair.

Lisa is wearing a dress fashioned to look like a clam shell, dusted in white glitter with grey eye makeup, her hair pulled up in an intricate bun, adorned with pearls and miniature starfish.

Ryder is dressed in a pair of strangely textured dark grey pants, he's also wearing a vest made of the same material, his chest and arms are bare, and scrawled with foreign symbols and swirling designs, painted on in black. The swirling design climbs up the sides of his neck and spread across his face, giving him a savage appearance.

"Well, well, look at you two." Dash says appreciatively. He takes Lisa's hand and twirls her slowly, smiling as he says. "You look beautiful."

She blushes slightly at the compliment, beaming as she runs her hands over her skirt. "Isn't it lovely? Bojo is a genius."

I smile brightly as the man in question appears. "Mags, how lovely to see you again." He gives me a hug and kisses both my cheeks.

"Bojo! It's so good to see you. You've done a fantastic job as always."

He smiles modestly and bows. "Well thank you."

"If you don't mind me asking, what was the vision behind Ryder's outfit?" Dash inquires.

Ryder does not look very amused, his arms crossed sulkily.

His candy-red haired stylist, Jix, claps her hands excitedly. "He's a shark! Turn so they can see the fin!"

Ryder sighs wearily and turns, sure enough, attached to the back of his vest is a sleek black fin, just like a shark.

"I feel like a moron." He mutters.

"Well I think you look great." I say quickly. "It's actually just what we were going for, dark and dangerous. As you know, sharks are stealthy and deadly, they don't sleep and are nicknamed "Sea wolves" This will show everyone what you're made of."

He seems to relax slightly, more confident in his appearance.

"Oh! It's time to get in your chariots!" Jix says, ushering them up into the chariot.

Ryder jumps up without any trouble, then turns and offers his hand to help Lisa up. It's such a casual gesture, done almost automatically, but it leaves a massive impact on me. I think of how he always said "we" instead of "I" or "me", and suddenly wonder if he has a younger sibling.

As Lisa takes his hand and steps up into the chariot, she gives him a smile. "Thanks."

The smallest hint of a smile hovers about his lips as he nods. "No problem, I wouldn't want to try and climb up into a chariot in that getup on my own."

She giggles. "Yeah, high heels aren't the best for mounting chariots in."

He gives her hand a small squeeze before releasing it, placing his other hand on the side of the chariot, he turns and faces the horses.

"Lisa, don't be afraid to smile and wave at the crowd, be friendly. Ryder, you know the drill, strong and silent, the audience isn't even there."

He nods. "Got it."

Lisa waves as the chariot starts to move, the horses trained to go through the motions until its second nature to them.

Dash pulls me toward a staircase I hadn't noticed before, once we reach the top, I see that we've entered a balcony where the other mentors are filing into. From here we have an excellent vantage point to view the ceremony.

All the chariots have exited now, and the crowd roars and chatters excitedly as Estevan Gypsy comments on the costumes and stylists. The District five chariot is just rounding the first turn, when a commotion breaks out.

I frown as the district one chariot veers to the side and stops abruptly. The horses pulling the District two chariot panic, rearing as they whinny frantically before bolting. Vince and Trina cry out and grab at the sides of the chariot as it lurches forward.

The harness connecting the horses and chariot shatters, and the chariot goes spinning out of control, dumping Trina and Vince onto the ground. The other horses panic, and begin to rush in all directions in the confusion.

All the mentors are on their feet, worried gaze directed toward the commotion. Tala and Zane begin to curse loudly as Vince and Trina are knocked to the ground by stampeding horses.

"SOMEONE GET THEM OUT OF THERE!" Tala shrieks, slamming her fist down on the balcony rail.

I grab for Dash, panicked, my eyes never leaving the scene. "Dash…"

He's gripping the railing, his knuckles white as he watches our tributes.

Being up near the front of the possession, their horses are spooked, rearing and whinnying. Before they can bolt, Ryder turns to Lisa and grabs her arm, he jumps out of the chariot and swings her down after him, then pulling her along with him, he dodges the district five chariot and heads toward the rope boundary. He shouts over his shoulder to the other tributes to follow him.

They quickly jump out of their chariots and dash after him as officials race out onto the track, attempting to get the horses under control.

Tala is livid, cursing loudly as she looks at Trina and Vince lying crumpled on the ground. "Damn it! I'll gut whoever's responsible for this!" She wheels on Riker and grabs the front of his shirt, shaking him roughly. "If they're dead I'm going to-"

I gasp in horror and disgust at her string of threats, cringing at her graphic descriptions. Dash grabs my arm and pulls me toward the staircase. "Come on, I know a short cut to the other side of the courtyard."