In the morning, I'm swiftly transported to LeeAnn's studio, where she's already waiting for me.

"There he is," she says with less energy than I'm used to from her. She looks almost sad to see me go.

"Oh, darling…" she says, studying my face as she trims my hair. "I'm going to miss you. You're a sweet boy."

I don't know what to say. LeeAnn is twisted in weird ways, but I can't help but like her deep down.

She quietly suits me in my Arena outfit. It's an odd ensemble. Every piece of clothing is pitch black, and I'm given odd shoes to wear. The shoes are almost like socks, but they have traction underneath them. I have no idea what the Arena is going to be from the outfit, but I'm sure it will be something odd.

When she's done, LeeAnn stands on a stool to reach my height before she hugs me. She starts shaking, and I realize she's crying.

"Oh dear," she sniffles. "I don't want to mess up my make-up."

She steps back from me, looking at my face one last time. "Gorgeous," she says. "Listen, Griff. You're a very special boy. Now, I've heard from Salacia that you are planning on sacrificing yourself for Aurora."

"I'm just here to protect her," I explain. "She doesn't deserve to die."

"I understand," LeeAnn says quietly. "But you're your own person. You deserve to have a chance too, Griff. Don't sell yourself short."

I think back to what Clarissa said to me. Everyone keeps saying the same things to me, but none of them understand.

"Thank you, LeeAnn," I say, offering her an empty smile before exiting the room.

Outside my room, Aurora is already waiting with Salacia and Nereus. She's dressed in a similar all-black outfit, but her blonde hair stands out against the suit.

"You look great," I say, offering her a hug.

"Listen up, you two," Nereus commands, and we turn to him.

"Now is the time we must all say farewell. Salacia and I aren't allowed past this point, and you both will be going in different directions. Before you go, I leave you with this advice: Fight your hardest but be smart. Before the war, the strongest frontrunner rarely won the Games. In many instances, the winner was not the strongest and not the smartest, but they used the two together to become a threat. I recommend you two do the same. I will do my best to help you with sponsor gifts but your survival is ultimately out of my control."

For some reason, I feel sentimental saying goodbye to the grumpy man, even though he's barely cracked a smile since we got here. "Thank you for everything," I say to him as I embrace him. "Keep Aurora alive," I mutter more quietly into his ear, and he nods.

Salacia is next in line. "You both look so beautiful," she wails as she clutches me tightly. "I'm going to miss you both. My very first tributes. You will both have a place in my heart forever."

I offer a fake smile as I distance myself from Salacia. I still haven't gotten used to her odd blue skin or crazy clothes, and even though she's been nice, she's certainly not someone I will miss in the Arena.

And then it's just Aurora. My Aurora. I feel tears welling up in my eyes as I hug her as tightly as I can. What if she dies in the Bloodbath and this is the last time I'll see her? You never know what could happen in the Arena.

"I'll see you soon," Aurora says like it's a promise. I just nod. I don't know what to say to her. We've been through so much together, and I can't believe the time is finally here.

Two Peacekeepers escort me to the small room where I'm supposed to enter the Arena. I stand in the room for a moment, looking around, but there's nothing left for me to do. I've said all my goodbyes. Now it's just me in here.

I glance up to see the timer, which tells me that I only have twenty seconds until I'm supposed to enter my tube. Nineteen seconds of freedom left. Eighteen. Seventeen.

I hold my arms to my chest and I let myself breathe for just a moment. I can do this.

The timer only has a few seconds left, so I quietly step into the glass tube. I glance back to see the cold reflective helmets of the Peacekeepers shining back at me.

The tube beneath me begins to rise, and my heart rate skyrockets. I have to ball my hands into fists to stop them from violently shaking.

I'm both taken aback and thrown off by the odd surroundings. The first thing that I notice is that there is no sky. Where the sky would be, there is a black dome with a white grid covering the entirety of the dome.

Then I see the rest of the Arena, and I can't help but let out a gasp. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before.

The ground beneath me is a stark black with thin, white grid lines running down it. Behind me, there are some sort of trees, but they have no color and are the same pattern as the ground. The only things I can see that aren't in the grid pattern are multicolored flowers, which are covering every nook and cranny of the surrounding landscape, painting it a weird assortment of color against the stark black scenery.

The only other thing that does not follow the same pattern is the Cornucopia. It's made out of some substance I don't recognize, but it glows a bright white, illuminating the tributes around me. Other than the Cornucopia, I don't see any other light source.

25 seconds remain on the clock. I scan the tributes around me. To my right is Vesta, who offers me a nervous smile. Next to her is the small boy from District 9 who got a 1 in Training. To my right, I see a girl I don't recognize, but I think she's from District 5 since that is the number inscribed on the shoulder of her shirt.

I glance around until I spot Aurora. She's not too hard to find, since her hair stands out against the dark surroundings. She spots me as well, and she blows me a quick kiss before focusing on the Cornucopia.

I do the same. The clock ticks quietly, counting down to the fateful moment we'll be set free.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

A cannon shot fires, and I throw myself off of my pedestal, sprinting at full force to be one of the first ones to the Cornucopia. As I run, I see that my footprints are leaving neon marks on the floor. It seems like our feet are leaving permanent tracks.

I'm one of the first ones to the Cornucopia, and I have my choice of the weapons rack. Before anyone else arrives, I quickly grab a spear. Turning, I spot another boy running toward me, his eyes on the rack behind me. Without thinking, I quickly reach back and embed my spear into his stomach, making him drop to the ground. I stare down at him in horror as I pull the spear out of his stomach. He just lays at my feet unmoving.

I hear a girl scream nearby, and I snap out of it. Turning back around, I quickly grab weapons for my allies.

The inside of the Cornucopia is a tunnel of light, and it's brightly illuminated. I can see Phoenix inside stabbing a girl, but he's the only one in there, so I quickly run in.

"Here," I say, passing him a longsword.

He grins at me, wiping blood from his knife onto his sleeve. "Thanks," he says, panting. "Let's go find the others. I got supplies from in here."

At the mouth of the Cornucopia, I see the boy from District 11, Jesse, fighting with the boy from District 6. Jesse actually looks like a pretty good fighter, disarming the boy before plunging his weapon into the boy's chest. I decide to avoid Jesse on the way out instead of fighting him.

Phoenix and I come across Axel and Vesta, who are both panting. Axel has a cut on his forehead, but other than that, the two look good.

"Have either of you seen Aurora or Isabelle?" I ask them. I'm starting to worry about Aurora - where is she?

"I saw Isabelle killing some kids on the other side," Vesta shrugs. "I haven't seen Aurora anywhere."

As if on cue, I hear Aurora's voice from across the Cornucopia. "GRIFF!"

I break into a sprint, running as fast as I can around the Cornucopia. I run past Isabelle, who is busy stabbing a tribute on the ground.

I finally spot a glimpse of blonde ahead of me, and I see Aurora on the ground, a girl on top of her. The girl has her arm on Aurora's neck, and she struggles to keep control as Aurora thrashes under her.

I run up to the two girls, grabbing my long knife and plunging it into the girl's back. She screams in agony as I push her off of Aurora. I move to attack the girl, but I can tell she's already dead. I pull my knife from her back and check her shoulder to see which District she's from. I don't recognize her from Training or anything. She's from District 8. I wonder where her District partner is.

I help Aurora up from the ground, checking her neck for any damage. She's bruised, but it could be a lot worse. "Thank you," she pants.

I hold Aurora's arm as we make our way back around the glowing Cornucopia. The ground around the Cornucopia is glowing a rainbow of neon colors since so many tributes ran across the ground here.

When we return to the group, which now includes Isabelle, we all trade supplies.

"What happened?" Axel asks me, passing me some rope.

"The girl from 8 pinned her down," I say. "I killed her."

I killed her.

And she's not the only one. I killed that boy at the weapons rack, too.

I push these thoughts to the back of my mind. I'm not a monster, I was doing what I had to do to keep Aurora and myself alive. I should be grateful that we're both still here.

The cannon shots begin to fire as we search through empty bins inside the Cornucopia. Seven cannon shots fire for the seven bodies scattered around the area. As the cannons fade to silence, I shudder.

"Can we get out of here?" I ask Phoenix. "All the bodies are freaking me out."

He nods. "Yeah, let's go. Pack up your stuff."

When we've gathered up our belongings, the group looks to Phoenix for our next move. "What are we doing to do now?" Vesta asks, stepping up next to Axel.

"Well, it looks like the Gamemakers left us a gift," Phoenix says, pointing to the trails of footprints leading away from the Cornucopia. "We just have to follow the prints, and they'll lead us to the others."

"Which ones should we follow?" Axel asks. There are multiple groups of prints, each a different color. It seems like the prints are colored by District, and all the allied tributes are from the same District except my group. My footprints are sky blue, as are Aurora's, while District 1's tracks are pink and District 2's are dark red.

I pause for a moment, glancing at Aurora. I want to say something, tell them not to follow the tracks of the other tributes. Why don't we mind our own business? We don't have to track down the others.

Before I open my mouth, Isabelle makes a decision. "Let's follow those," she says, pointing to the nearest set of tracks, which are silver. "There are two sets of prints."

"Sounds like a plan," Phoenix says, already walking away. "If we jog, we might be able to catch up to them tonight."

And then we're off. Into the Arena.

There's the Bloodbath! How do you feel about the Arena? I'm actually really proud of how creative it is. It'll be exciting to see how the different features of the Arena help or hinder the tributes in the future.

~S