Training Day 3

Jonathan Priel, 16, District 10

I'm kneeling on a pillow, my head is tilted downwards. My hands are pressed together in front of me. In front of me, a ten foot tall stone statue of Corvus. He has a crow resting on top of his shoulder.

I recite my daily passages, the same ones I recite every morning. I thank Corvus for his creation of all life, particularly humans, and therefore me. I thank him for his wisdom and fair and honest judgment of life. I ask him to help guide those who have fallen astray back on track. Those like my father.

As I finish my last words, the crow caws and descends in front of me. Its dark eyes stare into mine.

"Jonathan Priel." The words that come out of its beak cause me to drop my hands and lean back, only slightly.

"Y…yes?" I say back, not fully convinced it was the bird who spoke. Maybe it's someone behind me. Or just a voice in my head.

"You're doing well, my son. You've proven yourself a faithful servant." The bird says again. Suddenly, the bird is gone, and in front of me stands Corvus himself. He's as tall as his statue, even when he kneels down to my level he has a foot of extra height. His warm smile sends shivers down my spine. I'm in awe of his marvel. Starstruck.

"Th-thank you, sir. Anything for you." I bow my head again. He laughs. It fills the entire room.

"Rise, my son. You're about to embark on your most difficult journey yet." I stand, my heart racing a million miles an hour.

"What do you mean?" I ask, thrilled for the opportunity to please him.

"You've been chosen for a special assignment. Not many get the opportunity to participate in the Hunger Games. Many consider it a death sentence, but not me." Corvus smiles. "As you know, it's…frowned upon to hurt others. I do not condone it. However, in the arena…" His words fall off.

"It's encouraged." I finish his thought. He nods.

"You understand." He opens his arms to the side. "This group that you're with. They're morally immoral. You have to root out the sickness." He says, his whispering voice booming throughout the room. It doesn't take long for his words to resonate with me. I understand his ask. I know what I have to do.

My eyes slowly open. I initially felt saddened that my time with Corvus was cut short. I wanted to garner more of his wisdom. But once I remembered what he tasked me with, I felt empowered. I have to please him. I'm the only one that can.

I spring out of bed and start to turn the knob on my door before I realize I'm still in my pajamas. I turn around, rush to my dresser, and quickly change into my training clothes. Then, I head out to the main room.

Adelina is eating at the dining table with our mentor, Halle. Halle is about three years from dropping dead, based on her deteriorating joints and white hair loss. Neither of them say anything to me, which is how I'd like it. Halle is just as impure as Adelina. Besides, she hasn't put too much effort into either of us. She wrote us off as hopeless as soon as we were reaped. So neither of them stop me when I board the elevator. I don't head down to the training center though, it's too early for that. Instead, I take the short trip down to floor 9.

When the elevator doors open, I find myself face to face with Ricky James. I'll have to admit, at first, I found his stunt at training yesterday to be embarrassing for him. But I recognize I cannot complete Corvus' request alone. So, I might as well enlist another like-minded individual to assist me.

Besides, I don't have to tell him about Corvus' desires. He wouldn't appreciate it. No, all I have to do is convince him to work with me to dispose of the women in this competition.

So when I walk out of the elevator, I'm beaming. The pieces are falling into place, and everything will work out as it should. This, I'm certain of.

Adelina Claire, 12, District 10

I eat my breakfast slowly, doing my best to ignore whatever advice Halle is trying to give. She's been trying to tell me what to do ever since I stepped onto that train. I think she's been trying with Jonathan as well, and I don't think she's had success with him either. Not that Jonathan is a cause worth the trouble. He's constantly mumbling to himself, I think about some kind of god? I can't tell. Not that I care.

I take another bite and I let my mind wander to the alliance I've found myself in. Electra and Darrah. I wasn't sure what I was thinking, agreeing to join them. Well, that's not entirely true. I think I realized how scared I was. Surrounded by all those Careers, all those older tributes, even those as pathetic looking as Jonathan. Any of them could snap my neck in a second. At least if I'm surrounded by two other equal targets, I have a chance of getting away.

Darrah doesn't like me. I could tell she didn't even want me in the alliance at first. The feeling was mutual, but I have to say, she's quick. I don't just mean she's fast, which she is, but she's smart. She notices things that a normal person wouldn't. El's smart too, but in a more booksmart kind of way. It was Darrah that told me Jonathan's obsession was religion related. And here I just thought he was crazy.

"Adelina, are you listening? This could save your life." Halle covers her mouth with a handkerchief as she nearly coughs up a lung. I roll my eyes and take my last bite.

"Mhm." I say through my spoonful. Halle tries to go on, but her cough overtakes her words and it doesn't take long for her to have to step away, coughing the entire time. I push my plate away and head straight for the elevators down to training. I think it's still early, but there's guaranteed to be a Career or two already down here. Besides, I can get a headstart without my alliance on my back.

As I suspected, the girls from One and Four are practicing their archery. They don't pay me any mind as I pass them straight for the survival stations.

I get lost in my own mind as it replays that wretched day back home over and over again. The last few seconds of my buyer's life. I watched the blood pool around his body and the life leaves his body. And I didn't even feel bad about it. I mean…it was him or me, right? Besides, it gives me an unexpected advantage in the arena. I know I won't hesitate when it comes down to my life. I don't think El and Darrah can say the same.

The thing is, they can never find out about my past. Otherwise, well, it'll definitely be me against them.

Suddenly, there's a fully formed shelter in front of me. I take a step back, shocked, but then proud. Granted, it wouldn't fit more than one person, but it's a nice start.

Take that, Halle. I brush my hands clean on my leggings and realize the majority of tributes have found their way down and have scattered themselves around the training center. I see Darrah and El walking towards me, whispering to one another. I don't have time to get paranoid when something else catches my eye. Jonathan. Specifically, Jonathan missing. He's a stickler about the rules, or at least, whatever rules satisfy him. If he's not here, I can only wonder what trouble he's making for me.

Nadia Miniera, 12, District 12

Mum, Katia, dad. They were in my dreams last night. They were with me. Their smiles, their laughter's, their warmth. Everything was peaceful. Then my alarm woke we up and they're gone again and I'm here, in this waking nightmare. Something is telling me to keep going, I don't know what it is but it is there.

I set my alarm just early enough so that I would be able to avoid Charon before going to training. I know he wanted to be my ally but to be honest he is just scary and seems so unpredictable, which is a problem considering he could snap my neck with ease if he so chooses. I've never been a particularly good at judging others, but I'd rather have an ally that won't be able to do that.

The small amount of food that I'm able to stomach is guzzled up as quickly as possible. Then, I am out the door faster than I can count to three. As I enter the cold, grey training room I can feel a worm of anxiety slide through my body carrying every single possible negative outcome in the arena. How will I die? Will it be to a tribute, a mutt or natural causes? Will it be painful? No! You still have a chance, you just need a plan!

The tributes are eying me up as I slink through them, I do my best to avoid most interactions but at the same time hoping that I'll stumble across someone nice to ally with that won't be able to snap my neck like a twig.

After about fifteen minutes I spot him! Charon! He's stalking around the training room with his beady grey eyes and his new partner in the crime; the District 5 girl. I don't know what's going on in that mind of his, but I don't like it whatever it is. So, I take cover behind the nearby doorframe which leads into another section of the training room. Luckily, I just managed to avoid his gaze.

"What are you doing?" A voice suddenly averts my attention from behind.

I jump back, clutching my heart to find this new boy standing in front of me. He has dark hair, eyes and tanned skin a little like my own but looks possibly a couple of years older. His eyes seem friendly but intrigued by me.

"Don't scare me like that!" I yelp.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to scare you."

His face forms into a gentler smile but that's something Charon also used to do…However, his cheeks are a little flushed. Does he feel bad for scaring me or something?

"I'm hiding from my District partner," I answer bluntly.

"So I'm not the only one with a scary District partner?" he laughs.

My only answer is a shrug. I don't know his District partner so what am I supposed to say to that? I'm just not sure exactly the correct way to respond to this boy so far. Does he want an alliance or what? I suppose I should be acting friendly just in case.

"What are you doing?" I ask in return, folding my arms.

He glimpses briefly around the room that we now find ourselves in, looking ever so slightly puzzled and confused. It's a sought of botany room filled with various kinds of plants and herbs, strewn chaotically around the place. Whoever designed this part of the training room didn't put much effort into making it neat.

"I'm… urm… I've seen before that plants and herbs are used in the arena for healing injuries and stuff," he mutters.

I move into the center of the room, observing all the different kinds of plants and herbs of varied colors and shades. So, an idea begins to form in my mind.

I turn back to the boy.

"Have you ever done alchemy before?" I ask.

He maintains a slightly dumb look on his face.

"Alchemy?"

My eyes move around the room for some kind of cylinder.

"Go find a water bottle and bring it to me," I say.

"Ok!"

He begins speeding off back out the room but runs back to me after only a couple of seconds.

"My names Tristan by the way," he says, with a slight glimmer in his eyes.

"Oh… cool," I murmur, turning my attention back to the plants.

"Alright then…" he says, before hastily taking off again to find the water bottle.

He returns a few minutes later with a decently sized water bottle. We slice the top part off to form a flask and so, we get to work! Well… mostly me but he is there on standby to hand me the ingredients I need while I'm explaining everything to him. However, I think most of it must be going over his head. We do manage to create some decent concoctions over the next few hours, mostly to be used for remedies and things but soon however, time is almost up for lunch.

At the end of it all Tristan extends out his hand in a kind of fist shape towards me.

"Hey, I think we did pretty good today," he smiles.

"What's that?" I ask, staring at his extended clenched fist.

"Oh… it's a called a fist bump… you're supposed to bump my fist with your own."

I clench my hand and punch it into his however I think I do it a little too hard because pain shoots through my knuckles on impact.

"Ouch!" We both exclaim at the same time, shaking or hands in pain.

"Let's not do that again," he laughs.

"Yeah, good idea," I agree.

Unexpectedly, in this brief moment I feel myself smiling and laughing back at him a little. I don't remember the last time I did that even before I got reaped. I think I see his eyes light up when he takes note of this.

"What do you say we do this in the arena? I could find ingredients and equipment and you could make potions… or whatever it is you're doing?"

My mind contemplates this for a good hard second. I actually think an ally would be a good idea, tributes that stick together in the arena have previously seemed to gain more attention and support from the viewers, allowing them to get sponsored. Also, at the moment the choice is between him and Charon… we are at the end of training day three after all.

"Alright… you do seem to have your uses," I say, hopefully that didn't sound rude or anything like that.

"So… that's a yes then?"

I nod.

"Cool, we should probably get something to eat then," he suggests.

Franz Kubo, 18, District 2

I watch them all from a point of weird alienation, from the outside, as they continue to fling their might at the training dummies. It's not just because a lot of them come across as sociopaths and those that don't still probably are. No, it's not just that. It's also that they are all mostly spoilt and handed this on a silver plate. I never came from a rich family, so I've had to work for this. Henry and Jade are cut from the same cloth, raised to be the perfect child for the hunger games. Marissa as well, although she was never the favorite daughter of her parents I don't think. Either way, I can't feel too sorry for her plight, many others have had to work a lot harder to be where they're at. Taliesin and Tatiana have barely mentioned their backgrounds to me so something tells me theirs may be unconventional as well. I am however more interested to learn about the two outliers, Serenity and Harrison, despite not exactly agreeing with them being in our alliance. They just seem like they would have a more interesting story to tell from their Districts. That is if I decide to break out of my shell which is unlikely. I've never found it easy to connect with another human being but especially not these people. However, I have a niggling feeling this alliance won't last for long and will fall apart fairly soon. So, I won't have to worry about it. Still, I miss the days of just sitting on my own in the warm, beaming sunlight, watching the birds fly by and taking notes of the different appearances and sounds they make. Listening to the wind brush against the leaves, sometimes it's the simply things that are important in life. But, I'm here now because it's what my father wanted and so it's what I want… I guess.

I didn't join in today with the training dummies because in truth I suck with a sword. In fact, I suck with most melee weapons. It's one thing to hack a dummy to pieces but fighting an actual live, resting person is different and I've never had the knack for it. A dummy doesn't fight back after all, so they can hack at them as much as they like. I'm not impressed. Ranged weapons however… crossbows, bows… that's my thing. I'm keeping it pretty close to the chest though, there's no way I'm going to reveal it to the other careers and Tatiana doesn't know me well enough either.

When they are all puffed out, I finally decide to join them again. Tatiana is watching me the whole time, her crystal eyes still trying to piece me together like I'm a jigsaw puzzle that she can't work out but she'll get nothing out of me. I don't trust her. I know she was one of the best students of the best academy in two but her whole background, her parents, everything is so mysterious about her and the fact that she's only 15. I just don't trust it. Especially after yesterday, inviting this Harrison into the alliance and then to find out the 9 girl is also in the alliance… it's a lot to take in. He's sitting on the outside now, watching in by himself like he's some kind of alien. At least we've got that in common. Serenity and Harrison, at least I can understand their motivations clearly. They just want to survive.

Jade is the last to join the group, she strides in confidently, placing her hand on Henry's shoulder.

"Good job today, Henry," she says with a sarcastic venom in her voice.

"Looks like you've lived up to your nickname," she continues, trying to hold back laughter.

I notice a couple of the others begin to smirk a little. Henry's eyes glance around confused when he notices what's happening.

"Nickname… what nickname?"

Oh, I remember now, it was a little joke Jade and Marissa came up with earlier. I've preferred not to get involved.

"It's just something people call you now and then," Jade replies, trying to conceal her laughter again.

He turns to where me and Tatiana are stood.

"Oh yeah… do you know anything about this nickname Tatiana?"

I notice that she can't keep a smirk from crawling across her face. She never struck me as the bullying type, but I suppose she's just glad they are picking on the other 15-year-old and not her. She's managed to garner a little more respect than him and right now the others treat him in the same regard as Serenity and Harrison.

"I might do. It's not my place to say," Tatiana responds.

He turns his attention back to Jade.

"Alright go on. What is it then?"

"The moron," she replies, bursting out with laughter.

A couple of the others join in, but I refuse to. Remaining stone faced.

Henry nods looking deflated but also like he's finally starting to get used to his district partners antics.

"Uh huh and I bet you came up with this nickname, didn't you?"

"No… it was your mother," she laughs.

Suddenly Marissa joins in again at the teasing.

"And it will be written on her gravestone… here lies the mother of the beloved moron."

Henry is biting his lip, looking like he's about to explode. It's finally time for me to try to deescalate things.

"Ok guys you've had your fun but the jokes over," I interject.

The others stare at me, a little shocked that I've finally said something. I'm even shocked myself but I'm just getting tired of this constant back and forth.

"Oh, so now you want to play the hero when you've been basically acting like I don't exist half the time?" Tatiana suddenly confronts me.

I shift my stance to her, shocked. Looks like she had been bottling that up for a few days but I'm not even sure how to reply to her turning on me like that out of pure frustration.

"Excuse me?" Is all I manage.

"Hold on… you two are district partners?" Serenity chimes in with a look in her eyes that suggests that she's not fully serious.

Now all of a sudden, she's got the courage to speak up to the careers it seems.

"I know how about we come up with a name for Jade," Henry says.

"Jade the slug comes to mind…" he continues with spite.

This manages to garner a few smirks and giggles from the group. By the looks of it Jade isn't too pleased at all. She marches over to him instantly, staring him down, looking ready to send the smaller boy through the ground.

"Call me that again," she growls, all laughter and amusement now vanished from her eyes. Henry is squirming now as if he's facing down a bear, but I notice he just manages to keep his composure and doesn't break eye contact. It is nice to finally see him stand up for himself if I'm being honest. However, some of the trainers around us start to take notice of the commotion. Someone needs to deescalate this right away!

The heat of the room is now at maximum with the tension causing what even feels like sweat dripping from my head.

Finally, Taliesin steps in the center to bring attention onto him.

"Everyone's getting a bit ill tempered," he says, chuckling a little under his teeth.

"We don't have to like each other very much but if we don't stick together, at least at the beginning, then the outliers could come together to pick us apart," his tone changes to a more commanding one contrasting with the shadow on the wall he's been for most of the training days.

The room suddenly cools like a chilly breeze has swept through. Tension temporarily alleviated by Taliesin it seems just before it hit boiling point. Everyone looks around at each other in acknowledgment of this fact in the quiet that follows. Tatiana gives me a nod of mutual understanding, I can see her eyes have relaxed a little also. So, I return the favor.

Henry lets a deep audible reliving sigh, but his cheeks are still a rosy red from embarrassment.

"Fine, but I'm sticking with Taliesin. He seems reasonable," he says, moving over to Taliesin's side.

Yes, he may seem reasonable but there's also something a little unsettling about him that I don't like so I'm keeping my guard up around him. I have the feeling he might be up to something, but we've all been too busy arguing with each other to take note apparently.

"Fine, whatever it takes to get this done," Jade agrees.

"But remember I'm in charge and I don't appreciate you two bringing outliers into our alliance without coming to me first," she says, her eyes moving between Taliesin and Tatiana who are the guilty parties. Yes, they both seem like unconventional rule breakers. It makes sense now.

"So, while I'm in charge, any big decisions go through me… got it?"

Taliesin's and Tatiana's eyes meet each other, and they nod slowly in agreement.

"Of course… of course… while you're in charge," Taliesin answers with his usual snarky grin.

He always seems to carry an aurora of intensity with him that forces others to not cross a line. That's something I've noticed about Taliesin in the time I've known him.

"Good, glad we straightened that out," Jade says, and quickly disappears back to training.

Serenity then appears by my side, shuffling her way into the group.

"So, these are the Careers?" She asks, her eyes on Taliesin.

"Man, you guys have got issues," she says with a smug twinkle in her voice. I can see in her eyes that her confidence is raised by our dysfunctional group.

After everyone has gone back to training Tatiana stays behind with me.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what I said… us two need to stick together in this madhouse after all," she says with a smile.

While this is true, I fear she might be part of this madhouse she's talking about. Still, she's not wrong.

Nodding in agreement, I offer out my hand.

"You're right," I reply, managing a smile.

Emily Lynch, 17, District 6

The second day of training is in full swing. I don't have much time left to figure this out… whatever it is I'm trying to figure out. There is a small section of the training room quartered off from the rest of the room containing various containers and liquids stacked on metal shelves. I have majorly failed with the weapons so far so maybe these skills will work out better for me.

As I pass into the section, I am taken by surprise by another tribute already inside. It's that strange looking, silver haired boy from 12 who made such a scene yesterday at the start. He seems to be fiddling with a couple of syringes, I'm not sure what he's put in them but he's gleefully and elegantly flicking the bottom of the needles. His eyes catch a glimpse of me staring at him, so he slowly places the syringes down. Then he sends me a cheeky grin as he walks past me and exits the section and re-joins the District 5 girl, his ally. Soon I'm going to have to be fighting him, he's big, scary and cunning now it seems. What am I possibly going to do against him? Besides, he's not even a career. I've still got all of them to worry about as well.

My eyes shift around to the various boxes and glass bottles filled with liquids. A lot of the boxes have red crosses on them indicating medical supplies inside I imagine while a lot of the liquids are in flasks and labelled with various poisons. So that's what that boy was experimenting with in the syringes. Putting poison in them no doubt. Very cunning, although actually he might be on to something. If I want to beat them, I have to think like them after all.

The deadly poisons are all completely locked off from access behind some very thick glass, but they are labelled all the same so that we know what's what. I guess it wouldn't make sense to allow us actual access to the poison, anything could be done. Some of these tributes have a pretty sick imagination, I'm sure of it. However, they have provided some "harmless" liquid for us to practice with. So, I follow the 12 boy's lead and begin filling various syringes with the liquid. This all seems to come much more naturally to me than swinging an axe around in the training room and embarrassing myself in front of everyone. I could just quickly grab some poison at the start while everyone is distracted fighting from each other and lay low for the rest of the games, waiting for the perfect moment to strike! my thought cause me to feel a slight grin appear on my face not that different to the district 12 boy. Realising this, I immediately shake it off. Don't be stupid Emily, you're perfectly normal, aren't you?

My attention then turns to the first aid boxes all stacked up on the shelves. Good, at least those are for helping people, not harming them. Although, if I do need to use them, it will most likely just be on myself. Helping someone else would be counterproductive, wouldn't it? I spend the rest of my time in this room fiddling about with some of the bandages, working out how to apply it properly as well as how to apply antiseptic correctly if the need ever arose. We were never really taught first aid in district 6 unfortunately. Although a lot of us like my district partner Conrad probably needed it. Sometimes I wished I had met him under different circumstances. I like his gentle smile he showed me in the parade. He seems like an honest, sweet guy. Unlike that asshole of a boyfriend, I had.

Training day 2 ends as abruptly as it started. After lunch, I push my way into my apartment, trying to keep myself from welling up in tears once again like on the reaping day. I have to avoid everyone, so they don't see me like this. I hastily shut my bedroom door behind me and throw myself down on my bed, clutching my face in anguish. I am still in disbelief that this has happened to me.

Laying here on my bed, hours pass with my thoughts on a nightmarish loop of negativity. How will I escape the cornucopia, how will survive after if I make it out, will my family be watching the terror I'm going through? No, I don't want that, especially not Lukas. My mind wanders back to the fateful day, with the flowers. I always imagined the thought of them would bring back the pain of what my ex-boyfriend did but instead they bring back a different pain. That of the memories of Lukas. My hand moves towards my bedside draw, I take the handle and drag it open. Inside, I find a piece of paper scrunched up. When I open it up, I find the badly drawn letter "A" by sweet Lukas. One of the first pieces of work by him. I feel a slight chuckle from my mouth from the memories that return to me but then it just turns to tears, drenching the only reminder I have of Lukas at the moment.

Kalen Demner, 18, District 5

I wipe the sweat off my forehead as I hack away at an artificial tree with a very real axe. My arms are sore from all the training, but I don't let it slow me down. I let it push me harder. I let it prepare me for the very real pain I will experience out in the arena. There's the physical injuries I'll have to be careful to avoid, cuts from other tributes, bugs, or even more dangerous mutts. Then there will no doubt be hunger, dehydration, pure exhaustion from little or no sleep. I've watched mentally sound humans break down after very little time in the arena. I don't want to turn into…someone I'm not.

I've watched nearly everyone around me find someone to ally up with, even those I had already written off. The little boy from Three has a solid alliance with the boy from Six. A group of three twelve year old girls have banded together. A few outlying tributes have even gotten themselves wrapped up in the Careers…I wonder if that was intentional or not. Anyway, I feel like I'm the only one still solo.

I try to think of previous Games. How many of them were won by tributes who ran solo? I rack my brain for an answer and…I can't come up with one. Granted, 95% of the Games in my memory were won by Career tributes, so I shouldn't be so hard on myself.

I sigh. I wish my mom was still alive. She would have the answers. She would have been able to help me in the Justice Building. She could have helped guide me over the years. I genuinely wonder how much better my life would have been, had I just been able to save her.

The worst part is knowing that the life I was given, I ruined. I shut out Eleanor. I destroyed any chance at us having a normal sibling relationship. I lost touch with my dad. I lost touch with myself.

I repress everything. Standing here in the training center, I realize just how miniscule I am. How little I matter to the Capitol, to the Careers, to the people in the outer districts. How nothing I did or will do will matter unless I leave that arena with a crown on my head instead of shoved into a coffin. I need to focus on now. I've lived my entire life regretting something I couldn't do, instead of trying to better myself for my mother, which is what she would have truly wanted for me.

Even in the face of death, I'll still find a way to disappoint her. I'm sure of it.

"Are you just going to keep standing there, or will you get out of the way?" I snap out of thought and see Heather standing in front of me with her arms crossed. Behind her is the boy from Twelve, who is looking just as intimidating.

"Sorry." I say, moving out of the way to give the two of them space. They waste no time digging into the axes, swinging at and beheading training dummies and training posts like their lives are on the line. Which, they are.

With only about half a day left for training, I decide to utilize the rest of my time refreshing a few survival skills. While I knew some basics from my district, it was nice to better distinguish between plants that'll feed me, heal me, or kill me, as well as treating water so it doesn't kill me. Enough people will be trying to kill me, I'll try not to lend them a hand.

Unfortunately, I feel like I'm just starting to get into more advanced plants when the lead trainer announces the end of training. As all twenty three of us, with Ricky's absence, line up to return to our rooms, I realize just how soon the Games will begin. With only a few days between us and the arena, I only have a few more chances to demonstrate myself as a competitor in the arena, both to those standing around me and to the rich Capitol citizens who might want to bet on me.

Grey, 18, The Capitol

The dingiest Capitol bar lies in front of me with the lights from the inside lighting up the outside darkness and reflecting off the window. I slowly creek the bar door open to be met with loud noise of chatter from the inside. Now, time to scan around the dark room bouncing with green lights for my contact. There she is. Sitting at the bar, slowly sipping from what looks like a shot of something. Kate Wakai, the District 4 mentor. After finishing, the other eighteen-year-old slides the empty shot glass across the table back to the barman.

I nervously hobble my way over to her and hope onto the seat next to her. Her eyes tiredly make their way to me.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't come," she states.

"You know me Kate, I never miss our appointments."

Then I pass her the information on the committee that she requested. She sneaks it into her hand and then into her briefcase.

"Anything else?" She asks, handing me the shot that she recently ordered.

"You know I can't be away for long before they start getting suspicious."

"Yeah… as a matter of fact there is. I've been handing you guys information for months and normally how these arrangements work is you give me something in return."

I confidently down the shot she just ordered me and place it back down with a slam.

"Go on…" she sighs.

"I want in. I've proved my loyalty now I want to meet the order," I say in a much more hushed voice.

She begins chuckling but her eyes are still fixed on me. Why is she still not taking me seriously?

All of a sudden, I begin to feel… dizzy. The sounds of the bar are muffled, distorted and everything is going… blurry. I glance down out my now pixelated shot glass and then back at Kate who is still calmly finishing hers…

Finally, I feel myself collapsing off my seat onto the wooden floor. Kate stands up and begins circling around me.

"I'm sorry but this is the only way… we're about to find out how loyal you truly are," are the words I make out escaping from her mouth…

No one in the bar is reacting, not even the barman. Is this how powerful they truly are… everything fade to black…

When the darkness finally lifts, my vision gradually returns in it's place. My head is still throbbing a little so a clutch it in pain, groaning. It is only then that I begin to realize my surroundings. I'm sitting at a long metal table and directly opposite me there is an old man, very old. His wrinkled face does ring a bell though. If I hadn't just been drugged, I might be able to put my finger on it. On the chairs in between there are others. A younger man with glasses, who looks to me in his mid-twenties, a confident muscular woman in her thirties with almond colored hair and opposite then is… Chiron! The mentor of District 6!

"What's going on? Where am I?" I demand to know.

The old man opposite me takes a deep breath.

"Welcome to the Indigo Eye," he answers, his voice is slow and gentle.

"I'm Cornelius Bronze of District 1."

Of course! Cornelius! Winner of the 12th Hunger Games, he was known from what I remember as being one of the best tributes in history at mind games.

"Amber Light, District 2," the woman states in a monotone voice, her eyes are firm as are her brows and she refuses to break eye contact with mine. She's not someone I'd like to get on the bad side of I don't think.

Amber Light! Brute force was her path to victory I remember.

"Estaban North… district 3," the man with the glasses mutters.

Estaban…. One of the smartest winners in history. The dude appears to lack a lot of confidence just like in his games, but he didn't need it to win it didn't seem.

"I already know who you are Chiron."

Chiron smirks but remains silent.

All of the heads of the order were previous victors… three of them thought dead. The rumors were true…

"But I thought there were five heads of the order," I ponder.

"There are," I hear Kates voice call from behind me.

She pushes the doors open strolls past where I'm sitting to take a seat next to Chiron, closest to me.

"Kate Wakai, District 4," she states.

"Were you just waiting behind the doors to do that dramatic entrance?"

"I hope you have a better idea of getting me here next time than drugging me," I groan.

She smirks with a ever so slightly childish tint in her eyes for the first time before standing up again.

"You'll forgive us for the secrecy but soon there will be no need for it. The committee in the capitol is soon to crumble and we need to make sure it's us not Saskia Avery takes power," she says.

"Believe us when we tell you that her and her organization will be worse than The Capitol," Cornelius adds.

I feel a large gulp go through my throat.

"We are on borrowed time here and she will make her move soon and…" Amber begins, her eyes move back to Cornelius before she finishes her sentence.

"And what?" I question.

"And we believe that they have a tribute in the games," Kate finishes her sentence for her.

There is a pause of silence until I take note that all eyes are focused on me.

"And…you want me to help you find out who it is," I realize out loud.

Their heads all nod simultaneously.

Estaban swallows giving off a slight feeling of nerves.

"Most members of The Storm have two lighting marks somewhere on their body," he explains.

"But of course, this tribute might be an exception," Kate adds.

What makes this challenge all the more difficult is Saskia is as elusive as they come. We have no idea which District she's based in if she's based in one at all and The Storm are growing everywhere…

A few new developments today. Nadia and Tristan have allied, the career alliance looks to be unstable, but Henry is finally starting to stand up to Jade and bite back. Jonathan is scheming and Emily, Adelina and Kalen are struggling to adjust to the new life. Also surprise we have a new subplot! It turns out Kate is part of a secret rebel organization. What do you think of this new subplot? Hope you've enjoyed!

Sections written by Nautics: Nadia, Franz, Emily and Grey

Sections written by Team Shadow: Jonathan, Adelina, Kalen