Magnus Chase's Pov:
I woke up in the dumpster, covered in the slime from the garbage bag next to me. My spine had a crick in it because the bed frame that I was sleeping in didn't have a mattress. I stretched and jumped out of my humble abiding. I grabbed my backpack from the crumbling nook that I hid it in, and set out toward the black market. I wasn't legally allowed to work in the factories, because I didn't technically exist.
My mom had hidden me from getting any records at birth because my dad was a fugitive. Their relationship had been completely secret, but nothing went as planned. My mom found out she was pregnant a week after my dad left. She had no way of explaining it without connecting herself to the escapee, so she left her parents and moved to the outskirts of town. We had a very happy life for 14 years, until the peacekeepers came for a census and found out about me. They killed my mom for avoiding the law, but I was able to get away.
I've spent the last two years as a homeless person/runaway. I'm probably not the only homeless person in Pandem, but I've never met any others. The people at the black market keep me fed when I've gone too long without a meal. They're like my adoptive family.
When I walked in that morning, I found Meaty John waiting with a bowl of hot gruel. "Big day, huh?" He asked. I was too busy shoveling food in my mouth to answer, but the back of my mind was asking him what he meant.
"It's not every day they decide which kids're gonna die, eh?"
Oh. That's what he means. It's reaping day. I've never been entered in the reaping because I don't exist, but attendance is mandatory, so if I skip and the peacekeepers find me, they'll sent me to the jail. I'll go and hide in the shadows.
The crowd started to thin out, so I figured it was about time to go to the town square. I stuck my bowl at the top of a stack of dirty bowls for Meaty John, and strolled out with the crowd. Soon, we came to the town square. It really was just a break from all the factories for the nice shops that require money to shop at, but it was the best place for the reaping because it had room for the makeshift stage.
The kids whose names were in the bowls were finding their spots near the front, so I ducked into the shadows near the back. This place was crawling with peacekeepers, so I had to keep my head down.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the escort, a heavy man in his sixties, took his place in the middle of the stage.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the District 8 reaping. This year is monumental because..."
I lost track after that. I let my attention wander to the people sitting behind the escort. The mayor was a short man with a very bushy beard. Next to him was the mentor. He was a tall, thin man with pale skin and white blond hair. He was dressed in all black, with a candy stripped scarf wound around his neck. He had won ten years earlier at the age of eighteen. I hadn't seen those games because my mom and I were disconnected from society, but apparently it was quite the showstopper. The mentor was deaf, I knew that much, so no one really expected him to last, but he did. He outlasted the rest. That was how he won.
My attention was yanked back to the escort as he read the first name.
"Calypso," Huh, she didn't have a last name. That's interesting. A girl with caramel colored hair and a soft white dress walked to the stage with her head held high.
The escort walked to the bowl filled with the boys names, and pulled out a slip of paper. He read,
"Natalie Chase's 16 year old son,"
That wasn't possible. I wasn't in there. They didn't even take the liberty to find out my name? The way I saw it, I had three options. I could walk up there like a man and take it, I could stay right where I was, or I could run. The last two sounded cowardly, so I went for option number one. I walked up like a man.
A/N: Thank you for getting this far! Are you guys getting bored of all the reapings? I can keep writing them if you want me too, but I can also skip the rest of them and go straight to the Capitol. You can PM me or leave a review to let me know. Thank you!
District 1 (luxury): Luke Castellan (18) and Clarisse La Rue (17)
District 2 (masonry and defense): Jason Grace (16) and Thalia Grace (15)
District 3 (technology): Leo Valdez (15) and Annabeth Chase (17)
District 4 (fishing):Percy Jackson (17) and Samirah Al-Abbas (16)
District 5 (power): Will Solace (18) and Hazel Levesque (13)
District 6 (transportation): Carter Kane (17) and Sadie Kane (15)
District 7 (lumber): Walt Stone (18) and Reyna Ramirez-Arellano (18)
District 8 (textiles): Calypso (15) and Magnus Chase (16)
District 9 (grain): Zia Rashid (18) and Frank Zhang (16)
District 10 (livestock): Grover Underwood (17) and Piper McLean (16)
District 11 (agriculture): Meg McCaffery (12) and Lester Papadopoulos (15)
District 12 (coal): Bianca Di-Angelo (16) and Nico Di-Angelo (14)