Merry Christmas! Thank you all for following along with this story so far; this chapter here is one of my favorites so far. Wishing you all the best this holiday season!
Chapter 14- Terra Coppersmith
I've had enough of being here, but Shuttle's told me we can't leave until close to 8. The scores air at 10:00, so we'll get back in plenty of time, but I hate talking with these Capitolites.
The party I'm at tonight is one where everyone who's anyone in the Capitol is attending. I've seen the most ridiculous people here; wigs that go up four feet high, dotted with ships and birds and I don't know what else; a man went by recently with claws as long as my little finger. The Capitol people are grotesque and disfigured, and sometimes I find myself wondering if they're actually human.
Most of the other mentors are here tonight too; Mags was here earlier but she left early; I guess she doesn't have to work as hard for sponsors as the rest of us do. Porter Tripp went by a few minutes ago, with her characteristic stiff walk. Seeder's here, and Silver from District 1. Everyone has a false smile on their faces, trying to save the lives of their tributes.
"Terra Coppersmith!" A rather round woman dyed a teal blue comes at me, arms outstretched. "How lovely to finally meet you! You've been tucked away for quite a while," she says, wagging her finger at me.
"Raising a sister takes up most of my time," I say, smiling at the woman. I have absolutely no idea who she is.
"Yes, but your sister is here this year, isn't she? Oh you lucky girls, both getting a shot at the crown!" Lucky; that is not the word I would use. My sister could die.
"Yes, we're very fortunate," I say, smiling tightly. I don't want to cry right here, like I've been feeling like doing the last hour or so. Every time I think of Iry I want to curl up and bawl, but I can't. I need to work on saving her life. "Iry has the best chance of winning this year, in my opinion, and not just because I'm biased."
"Oh, do tell me why!" the woman says, plucking a dark blue champagne glass off of an Avox's platter.
"She's young, but she's smarter than most of the other tributes, I'd say, and she's strong too. If she had enough sponsors, then I could make sure she would want for nothing in the arena, and give her the best fighting chance."
"Would you announce all the sponsors?" the blue woman asks, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.
"I would do my best to. I'd even break the rules if I had to," I say.
"I'll think about it," she says firmly. "I'll find you again, Terra!" With that, the woman moves backwards and slips into the rest of the crowd.
Darn. That was a good chance for a sponsor.
"Hello there, pretty victor," a man says behind me. I turn to see a man who would look normal if it wasn't for his red pupils. He looks like a demon, and I'm instantly wary of him.
"Hello."
"I hear you're looking for sponsors for your little sister," he says, leaning closer. I take an automatic step back.
"Yes. I am."
"Having a victor is all well and good for the bragging rights, but what else do you get? Lost money, and soon your pockets are empty. Don't you agree?" His voice is quiet, yet threatening. I manage a nod. What else am I supposed to do?
Suddenly he grabs my hair and starts running his fingers through the curls. I shudder and step back again, but he's got me too tightly. "You want to keep your little sister alive, do you?"
"Yes," I say, still trying to get away without making a scene.
"What would you do for it?" He lets go of me suddenly and stares into my eyes with his own red pupiled ones.
"What?"
"What would you do for a sponsor? Tell me, would you do anything to save your little sister?" He brushes my hair again with his fingers as he smiles leeringly at me. "Anything?"
"Terra, there you are!" Shuttle says, appearing at my elbow. She looks alarmed, but determined at the same time. "Dolphinus Cray," she continues, acknowledging the man in front of us. "You must forgive me, but Terra is needed elsewhere."
Shuttle grabs my arm and pulls me away into the crowd, where I can't see Dolphinus anymore. "Thank you," I whisper.
"It's my job to keep you safe," she says, pulling me along. "Come on, Woof's got a new patron that wants to sponsor both tributes, which is rare enough in the Capitol."
"Shuttle!" Someone calls her name from the side, and Shuttle instantly brightens.
"Corinna! How are you?" Shuttle embraces the woman with curly brown hair that I recognize from the first day in the Prep Center. District 7 mentor. "Where's Elm tonight?"
"He stayed back to interrogate our tributes," Corinna says, rolling her eyes. "I've seen too little of you so far; we must get together while we're both in the Capitol."
"We'll be seeing too much of each other while the Games are on," Shuttle reminds her. "We sit right next to each other."
"Then we'll eat together at meals. Once the Games start, you're welcome down to our floor anytime."
"As always," Shuttle says with a laugh.
"As always. I'm afraid I have to get going; I want to be back at the Training Center in time for them to show the scores."
"There's hours yet."
"I know, but I want to hear how the day went for the tributes, you know. Oh, and this must be Terra!" Corinna says, giving me a hug.
"Terra, this is Corinna, Corinna, this is my newest recruit," Shuttle says, smiling.
"Terrible thing to hear about your sister," Corinna says, patting my arm. "I wish you all the best, you two. And good luck with that escort of yours! I saw him over at the bar twenty minutes ago and he did not look well. Good luck!" And with that, Corinna of District 7 is gone.
"We are leaving Postumius here; I don't want him back at the apartment," Shuttle says. "If Corinna is leaving, so can we. Let's find Woof and get out of here."
"Did you get anymore sponsors?" I ask. Shuttle shakes her head.
"Not yet. But we will, and we already have a good start. Don't you worry."
Woof's standing over on the balcony, talking to a man wearing a very tall red hat. "That's the man who's thinking of sponsoring both Azlon and Iry," Shuttle murmurs in my ear.
"So it's settled then," Woof says, giving a rare smile. "Thank you very much for your contribution, sir." The man in the red hat and Woof shake hands, both of them looking very pleased.
The deal must have gone through. "Thank you very much," I say, smiling too.
"One of them had better win, that is all I am going to say," the man says, tips his hat, and vanishes into the crowd.
"That's that," Woof says, turning to us. "Shall we go?"
"Absolutely. I've had enough," Shuttle says.
Woof starts to lead us out of the mob of flashing colors, feathers, and jewels. "Are we collecting the escort?"
"He can find his own way home," Shuttle says. "I've dragged his sorry drunken ass around enough times; he can manage it once."
"Excellent."
After Woof presses the down button in the building's elevator, I ask Shuttle, "Do you think Iry did alright today?"
"I'm sure she did fine."
"I'm so worried about her, Shuttle."
"You should have given her an ally," Woof says. "Given her a better chance."
"I don't want her to have a Fletcher who dies on her. I don't want her to have any attachment to the other tributes; I just want her to go in, hide, and win."
"Might I remind you that you would have died without your own ally?" Woof asks, raising an eyebrow.
"She'll be fine!" I say, my voice raising a little. "I want her to go in and win, with the least trauma possible. I don't want my sister destroyed in the arena; I want her to come out unchanged."
"That's not going to happen, Terra, I hope you know that," Shuttle says. "Everyone changes as soon as they're reaped. You can't stop it. But the best thing you could have done for her is given her an ally who would take care of her."
"And then what? She's not going to kill another tribute! They would kill her, and then where would she be?" The tears that I've been holding back the entire party spill over and I start to sob. "I can't lose her, Shuttle. I can't lose Iry."
"And we are going to do our best to make sure she comes home," Shuttle says, wrapping her arms around me. "We're going to try our best."
"I can't lose her."
"You won't."
The elevator stops and the doors open, revealing another pack of Capitolites ready to head up to the party. I smile at them through my tears, then Shuttle hurries me out and into the waiting car.
"She'll be alright, you know that," Shuttle says quietly in my ear. I nod.
"I'm so scared. I'm scared to lose her. She's who I've been living for since I was a kid. She's all I have."
"That's foolishness," Shuttle says. "You have a cat, too."
I laugh as the car pulls away from the Capitol building and into the busy streets. Even though it's getting later, the city is still as bright as it was this morning. I'll admit, the Capitol is beautiful. The colors are rich; pinks and purples and blues, all too artificial to ever be seen in nature. Behind the beauty there's a falseness to it, though. Like everyone here is play-acting.
There're quite a few cars on the streets, so our driver goes slow. This gives me a chance to see the city on a ground view, not from above like I normally do. The last time I was here, I was confined to the Training Center the whole time before the Games started. This time, I'm a mentor, and I have a lot more freedom. Something in me longs to visit the shops, to mingle in with the crowds. But I think my freedom is limited to going to parties and drumming up sponsors.
"Are we ever allowed to walk around down here?" I ask Shuttle.
"Not usually. Sometimes if a former sponsor wants me to go shopping with them, I will. It's all part of being a victor." Shuttle sounds sad when she says this.
"I don't see why you'd want to, anyway," Woof says, staring straight ahead. "Bobble heads, that's what they are. It's all a façade."
Some of the people that go by are walking dogs, dyed in all colors. There's one giant dog that comes up to the hips of the woman walking it, and it's dyed bright purple. I wish I could show Iry this part of the Capitol; she'd love it.
Despite how much I hate the Capitol, I find it hard to hate the individual people walking down the streets. For one thing, they look so unlike humans that it's hard to think of them as the same species as me. For another, the grandeur and color of the place is so beautiful. Trees with exotic fruit hang over the sidewalks; statues and water fountains are everywhere.
There's one family, a father, mother, and two girls, who are by the fountains, and if they weren't so dyed and tattooed, they could pass for a District 8 family without effort. What do the children think about the Hunger Games? How can they like seeing children like them die on screen?
"Why do they like watching us die?" I whisper to Shuttle. She shakes her head.
"I don't know, Terra. I don't know."
Without asking permission, I roll the window down and hang my head out. I hate being a mentor, hate seeing my sister as a tribute. Hate that my district's kids are forced here every year to die. But, for now, I just want to look at the Capitol without bias, and enjoy its colors.
"Pull your head in," Woof says.
"Why?"
"It's not done."
"I'm doing it."
"Let her be, Woof," Shuttle says quietly. Woof grunts, but stays quiet. Now that it's after 8:00, the heat that was present all day is finally starting to subside, leaving behind the cool of twilight. My favorite time of day. The sky isn't as blue either; it's turned more of a mauve, preparing for nightfall. I wonder how Iry did today. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.
The car goes a bit faster now, and the wind blows in my face. I so rarely ride in a car; this is a treat for me. I could easily afford a car back home, but where would I drive it? I don't need to throw my money around like that, and with my legs, I couldn't really drive it anyway.
It's a nice thought, though.
The car rounds a corner, passing a small ice cream shop that has pink haired children coming out of it, laughing; there in front of us is the Training Center. It's huge; 13 stories from the bottom up, and more underneath. Underground there's the gymnasium for training, the hospital, and I don't know what else.
"Welcome home," Shuttle says as we pull in front of the building, and stop. The driver gets out and comes around, opening my door for me. I climb out, then Shuttle, then Woof.
"Thank you," Shuttle says. The Capitol driver tips his hat to us, then drives away again. I look all the way up the building, to where the top seems to touch the sky. My temporary home and my temporary prison too.
"Shall we?" Woof says, gesturing to the door. I nod, and we go inside.