Siobhan Hearse- District Six female
"Hey," I sort of stage-whispered to Arthur when I caught him at the poisons station. "Did you really volunteer?"
"Sure did," he said. He peered down at the bowl of leaves he was counting into piles.
"Why?" I asked. I'd never heard of a twelve-year-old volunteering. It had probably never happened ever.
Arthur turned into a grown-up in an instant. His face lost the still-forming possibilities of a child's and went all hard and old and set. He even breathed differently when he took a breath before he spoke.
"Because the Arena is better than where I come from," he said in a man's voice.
"Oh," I said. I felt bad for asking. I could imagine what that meant. Maybe his family was abusive or he was really poor and starving all the time. I didn't ask anything else. I'd already made him hurt enough.
"I was a slave," he said without me asking. "Not legally, maybe, but really."
I didn't know what to say. Of all the things I imagined, that wasn't even on the list. Slaves? A little kid? A little kid, working all day and getting beaten? I didn't know what to say. I was quiet as Arthur described his everyday life.
"There are lots of us," Arthur said, and then I was a grown-up too. "I'm going to win and save them all. And if I don't, I still never have to go back. It's a win-win." He turned to me with the darkest smile.
"I'm sorry," I said. And I left. I couldn't bear another second. The truth weighed me down like a chain on my ankle. I walked across the room like I was walking through knee-deep water. If I could stand it, I wanted to talk to him again. When I was strong enough, I'd try. A boy like that was something to hitch your wagon to.
Tony Gear- District Six male
I felt good about the Games. I could definitely win this. I was a strong, smart guy with a lot going for me. The only problem was I felt the same way about every other Tribute in the training room. They all looked strong and smart. They all looked like they had a chance to win. Rachel was building some sort of club at the improvised weapons station. Katrina was running water through a sock filter. Pik was trying his hand at throwing knives.
Siobhan caught my eye bent over a table. They were pretty eye-catching in general, plus I remembered how much fun we'd had during the parade. I peeked over their shoulder and they swiveled back at me like an owl.
"I'm making a circuit," they said. They pointed at the little parts. "See, it has to go all the way around with no breaks so the electricity can go through."
"Neat," I said. "What are you going to do with it in the Arena?"
"I dunno," They said, and they shrugged. "Guess it depends on the Arena."
I ran a few numbers in my head. I'd been working on swords and fishing. Siobhan knew engineering and stuff. And she was a smart kid with a good attitude. Plus the Capitolites would go nuts for the cool big brother and the clever little sister. We could go places.
"Hey, you want the best ally in the Games?" I asked.
"I suppose I should really say, 'Yeah, who is it'," Siobhan said with a sassy look.
"Hey, I can't promise you'll win, but I can promise you'll have a better chance," I said.
"Okay," Siobhan said, and they stuck out their hand. "But let's ask Arthur too. He's working on bombs and he's really... mature."
"Bombs, huh? Sounds like he has a pretty good chance too," I said.
Arthur Harrington- District Nine male
The boy kept staring at me. I was just trying to finally take advantage of some of the crazy Capitolite food in the public food court and he kept staring at me. A boy about my age, wide-eyed and openly gaping.
"Hey," the boy said after minutes of staring. "You're the Nine boy, right?"
"That's right," I said.
"My dad has a bet on you," the boy said.
"To win?" I asked.
"No," the boy said. "He thinks you'll die in the Bloodbath."
Oh, okay. Nice. Thanks for telling me.
"Who's he betting on to win?" I asked.
"The Ten boy," the boy said.
"Oh, good choice," I politely lied. Angus seemed like a really nice person, but he wasn't going to win. Not someone like him.
"Check it out," the boy said. He took a tablet out of his pocket and tapped the screen a few times until it showed a page of Tributes and their odds. I found myself in the list. My odds were 46:1. Odds of me dying in the bloodbath were 31:1. That kid's dad wouldn't make much money even if he was right.
You know what? He's not going to be right.
I didn't have to be insulted or scared by the bet. It wasn't going to be right. I was going to survive the Bloodbath and the rest of the Games, too. For a good cause and also out of plain spite. There were going to be a lot of angry gamblers in a few weeks, because I wasn't going that fast. I was easy to count out- easy to forget. The only one who ever noticed me was the overseer beating me or my mother taking the beatings for me. The entire reason she wasn't here was the beating that finally went too far.
I got up from the table and walked away. I walked in one store after another, thinking back to all the times my mother told me to take life in my hands and enjoy the moment. I quickly discovered that Tributes were phenomenal advertising and that storekeepers gave stuff away free just so they could say we used it. I ate more candy than I'd seen in my whole life and walked back to my room hours later laden with every item I'd so much as looked at.
I lay in bed that night feeling like a different person. Not entirely different, just shifted in a small but permanent way. I wasn't afraid, for the first time in a long time. I was going to bed without having to worry at all about being shocked awake by an overseer dragging me out of bed for one punishment or another. My life was in my hands, for better or for worse. It was one shot in a hundred, but that was more than I'd ever had.
