Chapter 10- Shore Seawind
I've been picking scales off my arms and face since the Chariot Rides, and I doubt they'll all be gone by the time we head into the arena. My brilliant stylist, Augustus, decided that I would look best as a fish, and glued what seems like a thousand scales all over me. They're never going to come off completely.
"Are you listening, Shore?" Mags asks. The table's gone noticeably quiet. I clear my mind and put my cup of coffee down on the table, fingering the scale I just found on my arm.
"Yes, I'm listening."
"Then you'll know that I want you both to practice some survival skills today. Combat is all well and good, but if you don't know what's good to eat or how to light a fire, that's it for you."
Kelpie looks nervously between Mags and Glass; neither of them are smiling. Riptide says nothing, picking at the white tablecloth obsessively. By the looks of him, he shouldn't be in the Capitol at all. The boy's all nerves.
"Let's talk allies," Glass says, leaning forward. "Kelpie, you're going to have to show them something good today. I've gotten formal requests for Shore, but District 1 is hesitating on you." Kelpie's turned almost green with anxiety. She's lost if she doesn't get in with us.
"So what do I have to do?" she asks, swallowing.
"I want you to forget about what Mags just said. You can brush up on the survival skills later." Mags gives Glass a look but stays silent. "Where did you work back home? Shore here was a fisherman, what did you do?"
"My Da's a boat-builder and my Mam's a net weaver. I helped them mostly."
Glass sighs and rubs her forehead. "Right, so you got zero helpful skills. Wonderful. Well, go and choose a weapon, and stick with it until you're decent at it, understand? Do the rope course, do whatever it takes to impress them. Because, I hope you understand, Kelpie, if the formal invitation doesn't come in by tomorrow morning, you're out of an alliance. And you'd better scramble to find someone new to ally with or you're dead."
Kelpie bursts into tears at Glass's words. Mags shoots daggers at Glass, while Riptide and I sit uncomfortably on either side of Kelpie.
"There, there, it's not as bad as all that," Mags says, getting up and coming around the table to Kelpie. "Glass, there's no need for that kind of language. You'll be alright, Kelpie. But do visit the combat stations today. It's a good idea to impress your allies no matter what."
Mags glances at the clock. "Dry your tears quickly; you'll need to go down in just a few minutes. You'll be just fine."
At ten minutes to ten, Kelpie and I find ourselves in the elevator going down to the gymnasium. I'm not sure what to say to her, since she's still blinking back tears. That won't go over well with our allies; weakness is not allowed.
As the doors open onto the second day of training in the gymnasium, I get Kelpie a reassuring smile. I get a flicker of a smile in return before the others descend on us. There's no standing in the circle today; tributes are spread around the room already.
Cloak comes and slaps me on the back in a friendliness that I know is fake. There's a subtle battle going on between us as to who will be the leader, and it will only get worse once we're in the arena. He's bright for a District 1 tribute, who all tend to be a few knots short of a rope. Actually, both he and Tiara are smart, and both are talented at swordsmanship.
"Have you been crying?" Aggie asks Kelpie, crossing her arms. Agrippina, or Aggie as she told us to call her, is dangerous. She's small for fifteen, but she would be small for a twelve-year-old too; despite that, her aim is scarily accurate, no matter what weapon she uses. Most girls her size wouldn't intimidate anyone, but she's got almost everyone in the room frightened of her. I'm not scared of her, but I distrust her.
However, with this group, it's either be an ally or be an enemy. I'm not a fool; I'd rather have them as my pretend friends than having them want to kill me.
"I told her a joke on the way down that made her laugh so hard she cried," I say. Kelpie looks up at me, her eyes telling me she's grateful that I've covered for her. If she doesn't get into our group, the Agans will give me as much hell as Aria's getting when I get back to District 4. I'll help her out a bit.
"Yeah? Let's hear the joke then," Aggie says.
"District 4 humor, you wouldn't understand," I say. "Where are we starting first today?"
Aggie lets the subject drop, but she doesn't take her eyes off Kelpie. "Why don't you tell us, Ocean Boy?"
"Let's go shoot some arrows."
"Ocean Boy wants to shoot some arrows!" Cloak says. "Let's follow him, shall we?"
The arrow hits well off the mark I was aiming for. Aggie laughs, a harsh laugh that makes her sound like a crow. Nothing like the laughter that I'm used to; Da's deep rumbling laugh, Thalassa's laugh that sounds like pure joy, or my sisters' high-pitched giggling. Sounds of happiness, not mockery.
"Well we can't all be good at everything, now can we?" I say, smirking at Aggie.
"Shoot again, won't you?" she says.
"Nah, I think I'm good for now. Why don't you have a try, since you're so eager?" I ask, pushing the bow into her hands. Aggie scowls at me but steps into place; Dominicus hands her an arrow. She nocks the arrow, pulls the string back, lets go, and the arrow flies into the center of the target.
Aggie smiles smugly at me, shoving the bow towards me. "That's how it's done, 4."
Cloak nudges me. "Look, it's the freak from District 3 watching us again."
"Which one? They're both kind of weird," I say, turning around. It's the girl, the one with the red hair and big green eyes, who's watching us while sitting at the edible plants section.
"She's been watching everyone; it's creepy," Cloak says.
"So what're we going to do; scare her off?" I say.
"I can do that," Aggie says, and before we can do anything, she's striding off towards the District 3 girl. The twelve-year-old from 5 almost bumps into her; short as Aggie is, she's still taller than the kid. "Watch where you're going!" she yells at him, making the boy stumble backwards and run.
The rest of us standing here just howl at the reaction. "Look at the scaredy-cat!" Tiara calls after him. "That's right; why don't you just keep running? That's all you can do anyway!"
"Shh! Aggie's reached her," I say, pointing. Dominicus grins and bounces a little on the balls of his feet. Aggie leans down, mutters something low, then spins elegantly, walking back to us with a pep in her step.
"She didn't like whatever you said!" Cloak says, patting Aggie on the back. Aggie looks back to see the girl glaring at us with a ferocity I didn't think possible from District 3.
"What do you say we eliminate that one first off?" I say. "Make her stop looking at us."
Aggie smiles a crooked smile, her dark blue eyes flashing. "I'll make her stop looking alright." Her crooked smile turns into an uncharacteristically sweet one, looking up at me. "Why don't we go throw some knives?"
Dominicus keeps looking back at the girl as we walk away, though. "She doesn't look like your typical District 3, does she?"
Tiara reaches back and pulls him along. "What does it matter? She'll be dead soon. Just like her partner," she says, pointing out the tall boy with glasses that keeps skulking around the edges of the room. "Which one should we get first?"
"I don't care about the order," Aggie says, "I just want the girl. The rest of you can have fun with the boy."
"Deal," Cloak says, and that's the end of the conversation.
Every time I look at the District 3 girl, though, she's watching us from wherever she is in the room.
About a half hour before lunch, it appears that Kelpie has chosen knives as her weapon. No tears now; she throws the blades with a determination I didn't know she had. Whether it's willpower, concentration, or just plain talent, I don't know, but she's getting better with each throw.
"Where'd you learn to throw, 4?" Aggie asks, obviously surprised that Kelpie can throw like that.
"Natural talent," Kelpie says, throwing another knife and seeing it lodge in the dead center of the board.
"Good to see you can do something," Tiara says; Kelpie flushes and steps backwards. Aggie takes her place, throwing two knives at once. Both of them lodge in the center.
"Nice one," I say.
"I'd like to see you do better," Aggie says, looking up at me.
"Nah, I don't want to embarrass you," I say, standing back and fiddling with a knife. Kelpie throws one last blade, seeing it lodge just above the center circle.
Without warning, Aggie throws a knife well across the room, making the girl from 11 jump backwards; it lodges in the wall by the door and stays there.
"Would you watch where you're going?" the girl shouts.
Tiara says, "You see that one? We kill her too, okay?"
"Perfectly fine with that," I tell her. I find the girl irritating, and I'm pretty sure everyone else does too. Everyone, that is, except for the troublemaker from 6, who's been following her around since the first day of training.
Aggie turns to Kelpie and says, "Will you go get that, sweetheart?" Kelpie blinks a few times, taking in Aggie's sweet smile, then walks off at a fast pace to retrieve the knife.
"Right, is she in or is she out?" Aggie asks, dropping the smile. "She can throw a knife, but how useful is she going to be?"
"I'd ditch her," Tiara says, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "She's weak and annoying."
"Let's see what she can do this afternoon," Dominicus says. He's the quietest of our group, but no less deadly. "We're all supposed to team up; that's what Aulus said."
"To hell with what Aulus said!" Aggie says. "If she's going to slow us down, we might as well kill her in the bloodbath and be done with it."
"I say keep her," I put in. "If we have her in the group even for a short time, then we've fulfilled our alliance requirements. If we ditch her now, then some of the other weak ones might come asking to join; plus, when we're in the arena, we have to appear as a strong group, and we can only do that with the six of us."
Cloak scowls, then nods. "He's got a point. We can easily dispose of her once we're in the arena. She's not going to be able to kill any of us. So what's the harm? I say keep her."
"Fine," Aggie says in a low voice. "We'll keep her. But we kill her as soon as we can, understood?"
"Loud and clear," I say.
"Better hush it," Tiara says, lowering her voice too. "She's coming back."
Kelpie comes up and holds the knife out to Aggie. "Your knife." Aggie snatches the blade from Kelpie, turns it over twice, then throws it at the target, where it sticks in the center circle.
"Thank you," Aggie says coolly. Kelpie looks between me and Aggie, her hands shaking a little. I hope you know I just got you into the alliance, I think. She won't last long the way she's going, though.
The bell rings for lunch, and almost before it stops, we're out the door and heading for the dining hall, before anyone else has a chance to pick a table or the food.
Today the buffet tables hold bowls of blue colored soup, honey coated buns, chicken with oranges, buttered peas, and beets. Featured on the dessert tray are little puffs labeled meringues. I take a bit of everything and make my way to my group, where Dominicus and Tiara have pushed two tables together to make one big table for all of us.
I sit down next to Tiara, who's taken everything but the beets, and has two of the meringues on her tray. "Trying everything today, Ocean Boy?" she teases.
"Might as well; I'll never get food as good as this again!" The food here in the Capitol is excellent, but I miss Ma's cooking back home. Simpler for sure, but more familiar. After the fishing was done for the day, Da would always keep a fish or two back for her, and we would bring it home at the end of the day. Ma and the girls kept a garden out back, and we would bring seaweed home too, for them to dry and put into the bread.
I wonder what they're doing right now. Da's most likely out on the Jewel, as always, but what of Ma and the girls? And what about Thalassa? Where is she during the day?
"Come back to earth, Shore," Tiara says, poking me in the side. "What'cha thinking about?"
"Home," I reply honestly.
"Here, this tastes like home," Kelpie says, throwing me a bun from the bread basket in the middle of the table. I hadn't noticed it yesterday, but when I catch the bun from Kelpie, I see that it's light green, tinted by seaweed. District 4 bread. When I take a bite out of it, happy memories rush back to me, and even just temporarily, I am home again.
"Thanks," I tell her. Kelpie smiles and ducks her head.
Aggie, Cloak, and Tiara all start up a loud, boisterous conversation; I join in here and there, but mostly I watch the others come in, most timidly, and pick out the food from the buffet. Assistants stand by, ready to help if needed.
The pretty girl from 7 comes in with the staring District 3 girl; they choose their food and sit down together halfway across the room. Tiara stares with an open mouth.
"Elowyn chose to ally with her?" she says, turning to look at us, then back to the duo. "With her?"
"So we'll get rid of both of them," Aggie says offhandedly. "She has to go no matter what; they both do. Pretty girl will pull too many sponsors."
"We can have some fun with them," Cloak says.
"I don't care what you do with pretty girl; I want the redhead," Aggie says.
"What's her name, anyway?" Tiara asks.
"Why don't you ask her, diamonds?" Dominicus says, taking a bite out of his honey bun.
"Maybe I will."
"Oi! Red hair!" Cloak yells across the room. The few bits of conversation that had popped up immediately die; everyone sits watching us. "What's your name?"
The girl must know he's talking to her. She's glaring over here anyway. "Wouldn't you like to know," she calls back.
"I should go shake it out of her," Cloak says, moving to get up. Dominicus grabs his arm.
"She's not worth it. We don't need to know her name to kill her."
"Sit down and stop looking like a fool," Aggie says, rolling her eyes.
Cloak sits down and stabs a beet angrily. "I'd like to get my hands on her," he mumbles.
"Soon enough," Tiara says, reaching across the table to pat him on the arm. "Soon enough."
After lunch, it's my turn to show my allies what I can do. I start out at the knot station, where I amuse myself tying different knots; bowlines, hitches, and even a 4-strand square sinnet that doesn't have much of a purpose beside decoration. Kelpie joins me after a few minutes, tying her own knots that she's learned as a net weaver. Knots are essential to a sailor, and I can't remember when I even learned them. They're as engrained in me as breathing.
"This is boring," Aggie says, yawning. "So you can tie knots, congratulations."
"These knots are very complicated," the trainer says. "Would you like me to teach you how to set a trap that might be useful?"
"No, I want to go do something useful, like throw something sharp."
Putting the last finishing touches on my wall and crown knot, I put the ropes down. "Fine. But I'm going to the trident station. Who's going to join me?"
It turns out, they all do. I've been throwing and wielding tridents since I was a kid; every fisherman in District 4 has. Just like tying knots, using a trident is just second nature. Now I use my upbringing to my advantage and throw tridents through the stomachs of practice dummies; every one guaranteeing a kill if the dummies were real.
"Nice," Tiara says as I throw a silver trident through a dummy twenty feet away. Cloak and Dominicus are giving them a shot, but Aggie has wandered away, back to the knives.
"Thanks," I say, wiping my forehead. When I take my hand away, a scale comes off onto it. "Really? I'm going to be finding these stupid things for months." I hold the scale up to Tiara and she laughs.
"Getting all the gold paint from the chariots off of me was brutal; I must have spent three hours in the shower trying to get it all out." Tiara laughs again. "Looks like you impressed some of them."
I look to see the boy from 12 and the boy from 5 watching us, standing stiff and motionless. "I think my talent has terrified them," I say. Tiara makes a sudden movement towards them and the two boys scatter. Neither of them has a chance in the arena, so why bother training?
"Come on; let's go do some of the survival stations. My mentor wanted me to," I say, shifting my attention from the weak boys who are a distance away now. Kelpie looks unsure whether to come or to stay and practice throwing tridents. She shouldn't look so unsure; she's in the alliance now. But does she know that?
"Fine," Tiara says, pulling her hair back and out of the way.
"Kelpie, let's go," I say, making up her mind for her. "Let's go over to edible plants; see if we can pick anything up there."
On the way over, Tiara asks, "So who's your mentor?"
"Mags Flanagan. You know her?"
"Heard of her. And I saw her last year when she came through my district with the victor. You know him, what's his name…"
"Riptide," I answer. "Who's your mentor?"
"Silver Bellcreek. If you don't know her, I'd be surprised," Tiara says.
"First victor ever, wasn't she?"
"Yes. I like her, even if she gets a little spacey sometimes. Right, here's the plants. This is going to be so boring, Shore. I'm not staying more than twenty minutes here."
It does turn out to be a bit boring, but Kelpie is good at identifying the differences between poisonous berries and non poisonous berries. I know most of the water plants, which makes the trainer happy. "The knowledge here and how you use it all depends on the arena," he says.
"It had better not be a tundra," Tiara says. "I hate the cold. Maybe it'll be somewhere indoors."
"I want water," I say. Kelpie nods.
"Me too. Lots of water."
"We're not even going to use this," Tiara says, gesturing to the plants in front of her. "We're going to take the supplies and get so rich that we're not going to have to want for anything. That's how we do it."
"You never know what kind of arena it will be, though," the trainer says kindly.
"Whatever. I'm done here. Shore, Kelpie, are you coming?"
"Sure," I say, getting up. "Where to now?"
"I want to try throwing the knives again," Kelpie says quietly.
"What time is it?" I ask, looking around for the clock. "We've got two hours. I want to swing by shelter making before we go back to knives."
"Fine. Where's Aggie and the others?" Tiara asks.
"She's at the knives, and they're still at the trident station," I say, pointing.
"Well they're not missing us, are they?"
"Come on," Kelpie says. "I want to build a shelter too."
Building shelters actually turns out to be really fun. The trainer shows us a picture of a shelter called a round lodge, gives us the wood to make it, and lets us at it. Over on this side of the gymnasium, the ground is dirt and moss, so that the shelters will stay up. There're a few stations on the dirt side; like snare making, camouflage, and edible plants and insects.
"Will you hold your side up, Kelpie?" Tiara says, putting another large stick in place. We're trying to get all the sticks to stand up, making a circle at the top.
"I'm trying!" Kelpie says; the sticks she's holding collapse inward and knock the whole shelter down. Tiara bursts into giggles.
"Why can't we use a tarp?" I ask.
"You don't know that you'll have a tarp in the arena," the trainer points out.
"We can't really be sure we'll have sticks either," Kelpie says, sitting down and laughing. She hasn't laughed before now, so it's nice to hear.
"What are you doing?" Dominicus asks, coming over with Cloak. "And where's Aggie?"
"We're building a round lodge, and as far as I know, she's still at the knives," Tiara says, still giggling. "Come and help us!"
Cloak helps Tiara up, and together we get the sticks to stay up. The trainer hands me some rope and, while Cloak and Kelpie make sure the thing doesn't fall over, I tie the sticks together. Kelpie and I stand back to admire our handiwork.
Tiara climbs inside and laughs. "It's tiny!"
Seeing the round lodge up and fully functioning seems to turn us into kids again. My sisters would love it, especially Maris and Isla. "I'm coming in!" I say, crawling inside, quickly followed by Kelpie and Cloak. I sit with my knees scrunched up to my chest, and Kelpie's sitting on Tiara's legs while they both laugh.
"I think it's a little tight," Dominicus says, peering in through the doorway that we made.
"You think?" Cloak says, but he's laughing too.
"What on earth are you doing?" Aggie says, coming over.
"We built a round lodge!" Tiara says.
"Congratulations; you look ridiculous."
"Why don't you come on in?" I ask.
"No."
Cloak makes the mistake of leaning back against one of the walls, and the whole thing falls down on top of us. Luckily the sticks aren't very heavy, but I get hit in the head anyways. When I sit up, Tiara is flat on her back, laughing her head off.
"I think we should stick by the Cornucopia, since we suck at homemade shelters," I say, and it just makes her laugh harder.
"Come on, diamonds, it's not that funny," Dominicus says, giving Tiara a hand up. Kelpie stands up too, looking pleased to be included in the alliance.
"Quit fooling around and let's go," Aggie says, turning on her heel and walking away. Dominicus follows after her, and the rest of us trail along behind them.
Looking around, every eye is on us; I can see the envy in the faces of the other tributes. I grin at all of them, clapping Cloak on the back.
They should be envious; I've got the best chance of any of them, thanks to growing up in District 4 and being part of the biggest alliance in the Games. Most of the others are going in alone; I'll have my allies to back me up, at least for a time.
None of them is going to be the victor.
But I am.