Hey guys, here I am with the next chapter! You're probably wondering what's been going on in Panem during Effie's underground adventure with Bongo, Golias, and the kids. Well, you're about to find out ;)
What An Escort Wouldn't Do
Nessa's eyes fluttered open, and she stretched her arms sleepily. Sunlight was streaming through the window next to the bed, which meant morning had come. It was time to continue her search for help, so she could find a way back to Lili.
With a yawn, she sat up, and then noticed to her surprise that a piece of paper was lying on the floor, right in front of the door to the hallway. It certainly hadn't been there last night…did someone slide it under the door while she'd been asleep? Curious, she slid off the bed, walked toward the paper, and picked it up. The side that she'd found facing the ceiling was blank, but when she turned it over, she could see a note written on the other side.
Never thought the tables would turn, sweetheart, but they did. Care to explain why you, of all people, slept in and is now late for work - while I'm the one who's right on schedule?
Look your best, if you really want 12 to win.
-H
Nessa's eyes widened. She hadn't meant to get Effie in trouble by sleeping too long. Now what was she going to do? She didn't know who this note was from, or what the person she'd switched bodies with did for work! All she knew was one thing: she had to fix her mistake so the real Effie wouldn't find out she'd been blamed for it. Reuniting with Lili would have to wait.
Reading the note again and remembering what the teenage boy had said last night, Nessa tried to piece together what exactly Effie was supposed to be doing right now. Something about sponsors (what were sponsors?)…only one player of some games tomorrow making it out of an arena…and what did the person who wrote the note mean by the number 12 hopefully winning? It had to have something to do with the games, but besides that, it was all too confusing.
Well, at least Nessa understood one thing about Effie's job: the part that involved her looking her best. That was something she could do easily, thanks to the many dress-up games she'd played with Lili. She just had to find something to wear—a dress that was fancy, but also cheerful and fun. Like the princess outfit Lili had worn to the royal costume party she'd hosted (or the cute "princess helper" outfit she herself had worn for the same occasion), or the really REALLY beautiful dress Lili had worn the day they'd played a fairy game! Just the thought of dressing up made Nessa smile in excitement. Maybe being in someone else's body wasn't so bad after all.
After locating Effie's closet, the former giraffe opened it with anticipation—and instantly gasped in fascination. The closet was filled with not just dozens of beautiful princess-y dresses, but also dozens of pretty shoes and boots! And at the top of the closet, there was a shelf filled with brightly coloured wigs!
"Wowie-wow!" Nessa said aloud. There were so many things to choose from. Every outfit and accessory in the closet were fancy, cheerful, and fun; she almost wished she could wear all of them together! Yet she knew she couldn't, since that would feel pretty hot. Normally she didn't mind hot temperatures—in fact, like all giraffes, she loved them—but now she was in a human's body, and humans didn't like heat at all. Plus, there were so many dresses to choose from that she doubted there would even be enough time to put all of them on.
Nessa had an easy time picking out a wig, since the one with the longest hair on it—a curly masterpiece that started out yellowish-light greenish and turned dark green, with a lacy black flower-like piece attached to the top of it—stood out most to her, along with a pair of black boots. But the dresses were impossible to choose from. There were so many of them, including a dress that looked more like a primrose shirt with long puffy sleeves and a simple purple skirt attached to each other, a bright red dress with a shoulder cover made of swirly round pieces of fabric, and an ocean-blue dress with humongous fluffy greyish sleeves a honey-coloured sash around its waist—they were the most princess-like ones, in her opinion. No way could the former giraffe choose just one out of those three…wait a minute. Maybe, with a little creativity, she wouldn't have to.
Fifteen minutes later, Nessa observed her reflection through a mirror on a table, very excited at the sight of her new outfit. It was so pretty; she'd managed to find a way to wear all three dresses without risking dehydration, by simply finding a pair of scissors and using them to snip off parts of each dress, which she then put on: the top half of the blue one including the sash (but not the sleeves), the red one's shoulder cover, and the purple one's skirt. Then, while she'd been at it, she had grabbed a coral pink wig and a lavender one and snipped off a few strands from each of them. After tying the severed strands together and wrapping them around her skirt to make it look even prettier, she'd pulled the black lacy accessory off her wig, cut it in half, and used both halves to tie the wig into two fluffy ponytails—all the while making sure that when she was finished, the black "elastics" were tied into ribbons. Just like the ones she'd always worn on her horns back in her own body, and the ones Lili always wore in her own pigtails, except a different colour.
"Oh, Lili would love this outfit," Nessa said aloud. She twirled a little, and her arm flew past a box sitting next to the mirror, accidentally knocking it over. Several small bottles, round compartments, and brushes fell out of it and onto the floor, and she gasped in delight at the sight of them. It was makeup; kind of like the set Lili's mom had! Nessa had only seen her use it a few times, yet it had always made her look so beautiful. Lili had always been fascinated by it too, but when the girl had asked if she could try out on herself as well, her mom said, "I'm sorry sweetie, but some of the things used to make makeup might make you feel a little sick. Tell you what…how about I get you some face crayons instead? That way, we can both look beautiful without you getting sick."
Lili and Nessa had both enjoyed using face crayons instead—and, once they were introduced to the product as well, so had Matt, Yuri, Bongo, and Golias. But as Nessa picked up one of Effie's lipstick bottles now and read its instructions out of curiosity, her heart pounded in excitement. Part of the bottle read, Note: Since this lipstick was made in the Capitol, extra ingredients have been added to this product so you won't have any bad bodily reactions once applying it.
This was Nessa's big opportunity to find out what it was like to wear makeup! But since she was late for Effie's work, she put all the overturned makeup back into their box, then grabbed the box and took it into the hallway. There, she found another door that led to an elevator, which she used to get to the building's bottom floor. It was the most beautiful and fast elevator she'd ever ridden in, and when she reached the bottom floor, she happily skipped all the way to the building's exit and down the street. Maybe the former giraffe was late for whatever she needed to be doing and didn't know where exactly she needed to go, but being in Effie's body was so much fun! She couldn't understand why the woman had wanted a break from her wonderful life.
Cars drove through the nearby roads, and everywhere Nessa looked, there were people in clothes just as bright as hers, most of whom had equally-brightly coloured hair or wigs as well. It was kind of like all the magical, lovely places she, Golias, and Bongo created with their scenery-changing powers, which brightened her spirits even more. All the people she walked past seemed friendly too, because they clapped and cheered once they saw her skipping by.
"Confident that Katniss Everdeen will win, are you, Miss Trinket?" a man in bright blue and lavender clothing called to her.
Nessa stopped in her tracks. Katniss! The boy from last night had told her about that person. He was hoping Katniss would be the one to make it out of the arena. She really wanted to ask these people why only one person could do that and what she (or Effie) was supposed to do for her job, but she knew she couldn't. They clearly thought she already knew, and she didn't want to make any more mistakes that could get the real Effie in trouble. So all Nessa could really do was smile cheerfully and say, "I sure am!"
"Well so are weee-ee," sang a woman with sky blue hair and a bright yellow dress. "I cannot wait to see what sorts of helpful things I can have sent into the arena for her!"
"Neither can I," chimed a woman with scarlet hair and a gold dress. "Come on everyone, let's go to the Games Headquarters and make some donations!"
And then all the men and women with Nessa ran off, leaving her alone and even more confused. That was it—there was no way she could do Effie's job if she didn't know what it was or where it was. She had to ask someone for help…but who?
A taxi came to a stop in front of her, and the driver inside of it rolled down his window. He gasped in amazement. "What an outfit, ma'am! Not one with matching colours, but still very amusing!"
Nessa smiled in surprise. "Really? You like it?"
The driver chuckled. "New trends are always fascinating to me, but yours? Only a tribute stylist could possibly have come up with something so outstandingly exciting." He then frowned. "Wait a minute…are you a stylist?"
A stylist? Hmm…Nessa didn't really have a job as one, but she had technically done what a stylist would do: taking several outfits and accessories and combining them all together. And the box containing Effie's makeup set was still sitting in her hands, waiting to be opened. Which meant maybe, at least in a way, she was a stylist. So, smiling proudly but modestly, Nessa replied, "Um…I guess I am."
"You are?!" the driver exclaimed, now really worried. "What are you doing out here then? You should be with your special tribute, and from what I understand, all the tributes are already being transported to the arena! Here, here, get in my cab, I'll bring you there myself. It won't even cost you a dime!"
Nessa started to say that she wasn't actually sure where she needed to be (not to mention what a tribute was), but stopped herself. This man wanted to take her to the arena; likely the same arena where the games were taking place. She was still curious about the games too—why could only one person leave the place they happened in, and why had Effie been so scared of them that she'd wished to switch places with someone? This was her big chance to find out, plus she'd probably get to see the boy from last night again. Maybe she'd get to meet Katniss too! It would be fun to find out why everyone was convinced she had strong chances of winning the games…and who knew? Maybe being a stylist happened to be Effie's job.
"Okay," decided Nessa, opening the taxi's back door and sitting down. "Take me to the arena." She closed the door, and the driver quickly drove away.
As they travelled through the streets, Nessa placed the box containing Effie's makeup set on her lap and opened it. It was time to use the set to make herself look even prettier. But there was so much makeup in the box—face powder, lipsticks, eyeshadows—there were so many choices here too! Which meant that, once again, she'd have to get creative in her own way.
By the time Nessa arrived outside the arena, her face looked even more beautiful (and unusual) than her outfit. Three white eyeshadow dots decorated her nose, and long trails of light yellow eyeshadow rested above her nose, in between her eyes, and just below her eyes as well, with a cute little heart at the end of each trail. Little bits of pink, orangish-yellowish, and green lipstick had been doodled on her forehead, while a blue lipstick-produced heart was drawn on each of her cheeks. And her eyes were each surrounded by a circle of white face powder (which hadn't been used on the rest of her face), with teal and green eyeshadow on top of the circles. Her lips, however, remained untouched.
The driver, who had been glancing at her through his rearview mirror from time to time, smiled when she was finally finished. "You must really love trying new things, ma'am."
Nessa giggled. "Yeah. Making yourself look pretty in different ways is so much fun. Especially by dressing up!"
"You have a point," the driver said, stopping the taxi an acre away from a giant opaque dome in the middle of nowhere. "Anyways, we're here now. The tribute hovercraft seems to be leaving the arena, so you'll need to go underground to reunite with your tribute."
"Underground? But how—"
"Now get out. Hurry, before they have to enter the Cornucopia!"
There was no time to ask the driver what the Cornucopia was, or what a tribute was, or anything. Nessa could only get out of the taxi, wave to the driver as he drove away, and look around. She soon noticed a hole in the ground a few inches behind her, wide enough for a human or even Bongo to climb into it, and suddenly realized that was what the driver had meant by going underground. Chuckling, she backed up a few steps, then took off running for the hole, which she then jumped into.
"Wheee!" Nessa yelled with pleasure, before landing on her feet at the bottom of the hole. She then gasped in amazement as she saw what was now in front of her: the hugest maze she'd ever seen! It was made of marble, had 24 entrances, and was super duper big; so big, she wondered if there was more than one exit like there was more than one entrance.
Wait a minute, she thought, that must be it! The maze is one of the games! And Effie must have been scared of it because of how easy it must be to get lost in it! It looks like it's the first game too, so that means in order to play the other games, you have to get through the maze first. But there were still a few things that didn't make sense: why would a stylist and beautiful looks be needed for a maze game? And what were sponsors and tributes? Not to mention what the boy from last night had said about only one person making it out of the arena, which Nessa guessed was where the other games took place.
There's only one way to find out, she thought. And into the maze she went.
Everyone born and raised in most of Panem's districts saw the Hunger Games as a nightmare come true. The tributes who had to participate (volunteers or not) had to live their next few days in fear and sadness, knowing there was a chance they wouldn't survive and dreading the possible moment where they would die in the arena—either from starvation, dehydration, mutt attacks, or getting slayed by another tribute. They also dreaded the possibility of having to kill someone themselves. Sure, it increased their own chances of survival, but either way, someone wouldn't be returning to their loved ones alive.
But there were a few tributes who didn't feel this way about the Games at all: the Careers, who lived in Districts 1 and 2, the wealthiest districts in the nation. When their names were drawn at the reaping, they didn't display the sadness their families felt. They had trained for this moment beforehand and, by this point, were too confident that they would win. They only genuinely cared about themselves, only liked Careers from other districts for their outstanding strengths and talents, and would always enjoy the moment whenever they stabbed, whacked, or twisted the necks off of the weaker tributes. And most of all, each Career saw themselves and only themselves as unbeatable.
Every day, Careers were told by their families and fighting instructors that they had one sole purpose: defeat their enemies (tributes from every district except 1 and 2) and become well-liked by the fancy Capitol citizens, or die trying. It was important that they survived and looked good while doing it—even during their private training sessions with the Game Makers and their interviews. If any non-Career tributes got a higher score in their private training sessions than they did, the Careers would see it as a nightmare come true. And as a result, their longing to be the Capitol's favourite tribute forever became stronger than ever.
However, this year's Careers' sadistic, selfish, and arrogant desire for fame and revenge was the strongest it had ever been—especially for the most sadistic, obsessive, and agile Career ever to be reaped for the Hunger Games: Clove, the female tribute from District 2. She had been confident and happy ever since her name was drawn by her escort, and her time in the Capitol had been flawless. Well, flawless until Katniss Everdeen, that pointless good-for-nothing arrow thrower from District 12, overshadowed her.
Clove was furious just by the thought of her. 10 was the highest score anyone could get in their private training sessions, and it was the score she herself had received. Then Katniss had come along and made the Game Makers give her an 11—how dare they! The interviews had been even worse; Clove had thought she would be able to win back everyone's affections, but NO. Caesar Flickerman had been far more interested in watching Katniss spin around in circles, in a dress far more beautiful than hers. Why hadn't she gotten a dress like that? One that could take everyone's breath away? Katniss had even received an obnoxious nickname, the Girl on Fire. Like she had any chance of succeeding in the arena! She was from District 12, the weakest district of all!
"She even made her reaping better than mine!" Clove was now ranting as her stylist, Rani, helped her into the outfit she was to wear in the arena. "I mean, volunteering is one thing, but making it that dramatic? I'm supposed to be the one getting all the praise!"
"You never stopped getting praise from me," Rani tried to reassure her.
"Stylists' approval means nothing," grumbled Clove. "It only means something if it comes from sponsors and the people in charge of the Games! But don't worry. Once I show everyone I'm a hundred times better than that show-off, sponsors will be begging me for forgiveness."
"All tributes, it's time to prepare for launch," a female voice on an intercom said. But Clove barely took notice of it.
Rani nodded. "People can be more creative with knives than arrows…"
"Exactly!" Clove insisted. "Everyone knows I'm the best tribute here! Even Glimmer and Marvel aren't as good as I am! I deserve everything that Fire Girl's getting. But apparently, my skills are something they need to see to believe."
"Well I believe in you," assured Rani. "And I know you'll show the Capitol you're the best of the best, even with the girl from 12 in the arena with you."
Clove started to reply when the door to her launch room swung open. In walked—no, skipped—a woman with a curly green wig in two floppy pigtails, childishly-applied makeup in the wrong places all over her face, and an outfit with colours that didn't match one bit. "Hi," she said, "I'm um…a stylist."
Rani frowned in confusion. "Really? I don't remember seeing you in the hovercraft with the rest of the stylists."
"50 seconds," the intercom said.
"Sorry," said the woman. "I slept too long, so I was a teeny weeny bit late."
"Ah. Which tribute are you supposed to be with?"
The woman nervously glanced behind her. "Um…her!" She pointed to Clove, who rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure this woman had just forgotten her tribute's name and was trying not to let anyone see that. Not that she herself cared. She usually only recognized tributes for specific strengths and weaknesses they had; not their actual names.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," Rani said, "but Clove here is my tribute. You'll have to go back to the maze—"
"No," interrupted Clove. "She's here to see me, so we might as well let her. She might be able to help me steal the spotlight back from Fire Girl."
"40 seconds," the intercom said.
The woman gasped in shock. "You can't steal the spotlight! Stealing is wrong!"
Clove laughed. "Not that kind of stealing! I just want you to see what I can do and tell everyone in the Capitol what you think of it."
"Oh," the woman said, smiling. "What can you do?"
"I'll need a knife first. Rani, would that happen to be my tribute token?"
Rani shook her head. "Sorry Clove. Weapons aren't allowed in the launch rooms, even for Careers."
"Then get me something sharp, like a needle. Remember, my reputation's at stake..."
With a sigh, Rani pulled off the topaz brooch she was wearing and gave it to Clove. "Here, you can use the pin on this. But be careful with it."
Clove smirked. "I'm a Career, Rani. You don't have to remind me to be careful."
"30 seconds," the intercom said.
"What are you going to do with the needle?" the woman asked.
"See that refrigerator?" Clove replied. "Consider it my target. Rani, Mismatched Stylist, I'd recommend you stand back. Wouldn't wanna hurt anyone before the Games start."
"I don't know," Rani hesitated. "We'd be standing awfully close to your tube…"
"Just stand back," insisted Clove. "It won't take long, I swear."
Without another word, Rani and the woman obeyed her and stood back. Okay, Clove could see it was true now—they did have to stand pretty close to her tribute tube. But that was fine by her. There was still plenty of time to prove she was worthy of the Capitol's attention before she had to be launched into the arena.
"20 seconds," the intercom said.
Clove smiled confidently and used her strong muscles to yank the metal pin off of Rani's brooch. Next, she straightened the pin so that it resembled a knife's blade, then stared at her launch room's refrigerator and took aim—which only took a second, since she was used to attacking under pressure. Finally, she threw the pin forward, sending it flying straight towards the fridge.
"Ooh, ooh…" she heard the woman exclaim in excitement.
With a satisfied chuckle, Clove turned around to face the woman and Rani. "And there you have it. If that's not skill compared to that show-off from District 12, then I don't know what—"
Suddenly Rani screamed, and Clove spun around just in time to see that the pin had bounced off the fridge instead of hitting it. It was now flying back the way it had come; maybe she'd thrown it with a little too much force.
"10 seconds," the intercom said.
Clove ducked swiftly, and the pin flew right past her. Rani threw herself to the floor, and then the woman screamed as well. But to Clove's confusion, she didn't duck like she and Rani had. Instead she did the one thing everyone knew a stylist was forbidden to do: run into the tribute tube for protection. As soon as the woman made it in there, the transparent glass wall slid down in front of her, sealing up any possibility of escape. Right after that, the pin bounced off the glass, not succeeding in breaking it, and fell to the floor.
"No!" Clove yelled. She ran towards her tube and did all she could to open it again—banging on it feverishly, pressing her hands against the glass and trying to slide it back up—but it was no use. Why did this have to happen to her? Of all the tributes?! Being replaced at the last minute?! Why couldn't Fire Girl have been replaced? Or Lover Boy? Or that girl from District 11?
Rani sat up and, instantly realizing what happened, grew wide-eyed with fear. Clove glared at her in anger. "Aren't you going to do something?! I'M the one who should be in the tube! Not some stylist that isn't even mine!"
"I…I…I don't know," stammered Rani. "Nothing…nothing like this has ever happened before!"
The woman was asking them a question in confusion, but the tube blocked out any sound coming from inside of it. Then before Clove's eyes, the woman's platform was rising and entering the arena. Seriously, how could the Game Makers possibly allow this?! SHE was the female tribute of District 2! SHE should be in the arena!
After a long, tense silence, Rani finally got to her feet and escorted Clove out of the launch room. "I saw a camera near us," the still-stunned stylist whispered. "Someone must have seen what happened. Someone will know what to do."
"Someone had better know what to do," retorted Clove. "I'm not letting anyone replace me as a tribute. Not when that flaming show-off already took everything away from me!"
The next thing Nessa knew, she was standing on a short round pedestal in the middle of a large prairie, with a forest not too far behind her. There were a lot more people on their own pedestals here too—all of whom were wearing identical outfits, and most of whom were staring at her in surprise and confusion. One creepy-looking blonde-haired teenage boy, a blonde teenage girl, and a brown-haired teenage boy were glaring at her intensely, and she recognized the boy she'd spoken to last night nearby. He looked more shocked to see her than anyone in this place did—well, aside from one teenage girl with brown hair, which was tied into a pretty braid. She looked like she was tempted to ask Nessa what she was doing here, but wasn't sure if she should do it.
Nessa observed her surroundings, still startled by what happened with Clove's pin throwing and the tube. She and everyone else in the prairie were in a big circle, and there were backpacks, knives, tent packs, pieces of clothing, and other objects scattered all over the middle of the circle. Then she jumped as she heard a man's voice from out of nowhere announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, let the 74th Hunger Games begin!"
Hunger Games?! That was a strange thing to call the next few games in store for everyone. If Lili were here, Nessa knew exactly what she'd say: "Being hungry is no fun. Everyone knows that!"
A timer suddenly appeared in the sky above them, and the man started counting with it; backwards from 60. Everyone stayed stiffly on their pedestals, observing either the objects in front of them or each other. Still unsure of what to do, Nessa stayed on her pedestal as well, and observed each of the people around her—apparently everyone who would be playing the next games. One fair-skinned, freckled girl had bright orange hair tied in two braids resembling Bongo's ears, and she could see a dark-haired boy trembling as he eyed a sharp object on the ground.
Then she gasped as she noticed a girl that looked younger than everyone else on the pedestals. If it wasn't for her older age, the fact that she wore her hair down, and the fact that she didn't have glasses, Nessa would have easily mistaken her for Lili. She had the same light brown skin as her, the same thick curly black hair…even her eyes and the shape of her head were kind of similar to Lili's!
Nessa smiled and waved to the girl, but she was too busy examining the items in the middle of the circle to notice. Suddenly she heard a gong, and as everyone leapt off their pedestals and ran toward the middle of the circle, the breeze produced as they jumped blew past her, causing her wig to slide down in front of her eyes. She couldn't see—which was probably a good thing, because as much as she didn't know this, what was now happening in front of her would have given her several bad dreams.
Putting her arms out in front of her, Nessa turned around and stumbled off her pedestal. She felt herself land on the grass and slowly walked forward, away from the circle of pedestals and hopefully toward the forest. It was tempting to stop and readjust her wig now, but something told her she'd be better off doing so as far apart from the game players as possible. She couldn't see what was happening behind her, but she was hearing a lot of people screaming, and several noises that sounded like someone was slicing something or stomping their feet. Or was it their feet? Somehow, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Eventually Nessa felt the palm of her hand touch a tree trunk, and she felt relieved as she realized she'd reached the forest. She heard several people rush past her and into the forest, then a "boom" sound that played thirteen times before plunging the area into silence. When a few seconds passed and she heard nothing, the former giraffe readjusted her wig and found herself face-to-face with a huge maple tree. She smiled and started to enter the forest to go explore it, when she heard three pairs of footsteps rushing toward her from behind.
Turning around, Nessa gulped as she recognized the teenagers coming her way. It was the creepy-looking blonde boy, the blonde girl, and the brown-haired boy who had glared at her earlier. They were still glaring at her now, and they were now carrying some of the things from the middle of the circle; the blonde boy had two tent packs, the brown-haired boy carried three sharp objects each attached to a stick, and the girl was carrying a bow and arrow, with many more arrows sticking out of a backpack slung on her back.
"Uh…hi guys," Nessa greeted, smiling politely.
The girl and the brown-haired boy surged ahead of their companion and each grabbed one of her arms, holding her in place. Once they had a firm grip on her, the blonde boy menacingly deepened his glare and demanded, "What did you do to Clove?!"
"I didn't do anything to her," said Nessa, suddenly realizing that Clove had been the one these teenagers had been expecting to appear on her pedestal; not her. No wonder they were upset. They thought something bad had happened to her!
"Oh yeah?" the blonde boy retorted. "Then why were you launched in here instead of her?"
"It was an accident!" Nessa said. "She was showing me and her stylist a pin trick, and I ran into her tube."
The girl smirked. "Finish her off, Cato."
"In a second, Glimmer," said the blonde boy. "We need to wait for Lover Boy to catch up. He'll want to see us in action, so he'll have an idea of what we'll do to the girl of his dreams."
Before Nessa had a chance to ask the girl, Glimmer, what she meant by "finishing her off," the boy from last night rushed over. "Sorry for the delay," he said. "Just gathering some extra suppl…Effie?"
"Yeah," said Cato. "In case you didn't realize it, she distracted Clove and had herself launched at the last minute."
"No, I knew that. What I don't know is why you're wasting your time with her when Katniss is escaping unharmed."
"He's got a point," said the brown-haired boy. "Clove would have wanted us to stay on track, and we should listen to what he has to say. He knows more about her, after all."
Glimmer shrugged. "Yeah, you're right. Besides, this lady probably doesn't have any fighting experience. She's fair game! We can get her back later."
Cato let out a long groan, then stood there and thought hard, before finally saying, "Glimmer, Marvel, you can let her go. Fire Girl's our top priority and a bigger challenge, so we'll go after her first." He then glared at Nessa once more and growled, "But if you dare get in our way, I'll make sure you regret coming here in my friend's place."
"Come on, guys," urged the boy Nessa had spoken with last night. "It'll be better if we find Katniss before dark."
Glimmer and Marvel nodded, let go of Nessa's arms, and with Cato and the boy following them, they dashed into the forest and out of sight. When they were gone, Nessa observed the forest and the lake near it, trying to process everything that had just transpired. She now knew an important piece of information: Cato, Glimmer, and Marvel were players she had to stay away from. And based on what they'd said, it was definitely a good thing that Clove had happened to be the person she'd accidentally replaced in the pedestal circle—she sounded just as scary as they were.
Nessa pushed away those thoughts and headed into the forest. She had to find out what exactly she'd gotten herself into, and fast. And the only way she could do that was by finding someone who could help her; but who would that be? It had to be a game player, she knew that for sure, but could she trust any of them? And even if she could, would they believe her if she told them she wasn't really Effie—just someone who had switched bodies with her?
I don't know, she thought, but at least now I know who I can't ask for help…
Oh…my…GOODNESS! Such drama here! Will Nessa be able to find out what's going on without any more trouble involving the Careers? Will her friends be able to save her? And what about Clove? Stay tuned in order to learn the answer in the next upcoming chapter. See you all soon!