Reyna's Pov:

I found myself in a large crowd of people cheering my name. My sister Hylla was beside me.

"Reyna, you have to go on the stage now," she whispered frantically in my ear, glancing at the peacekeepers around us. If I didn't move soon, they would force me to. District 7 had a history of tributes running before the cameras found them. Consequently, there were dozens of peacekeepers milling around the square.

I was District 7's best chance of getting a victor this year, or any year. Everyone expected me to volunteer, so I did. I didn't specifically want to die or kill, but the people of my hometown expected me to. It was a question of honor. If I threw this away, I would lose everything. I would be turned away from society as a traitor because I didn't give my life for District 7.

I took a breath and moved my feet. I worked my way through the crowd to the platform. I mounted the steps and stood tall. The escort stiffened and walked over to the boys' bowl. He flashed a smile at the crowd and drew a name.

"Walter Stone,"

A tall boy made his way through the crowd to stand next to me.

"I'm Walt," he said with a grin, holding out his hand.

"Reyna," I said, and shook his hand for the camera, but didn't smile. If I made friends, this would only be worse. I was only there to win as fast as possible and get back to Hylla. Hylla was all that I had in the world. When we were young, we had a father. He was gone now. We survived only by our wits. We trusted each other and only one another. Hylla was a warrior, but the small training program that District 7 had wouldn't accept her because she couldn't pay. The only way I got in was because Hylla worked day and night to find the money. She said that it was the best chance we had to change our station in life. I agree with her.

Suddenly, my thoughts were broken by the escort leading us back into the capitol building. I hadn't payed too much attention to him before, but now I got a good look at him. He was younger than escorts usually were. Our old escort had died after last games, so they must have given us a new guy. He had dark brown hair that was in dire need of a cut. He was tall. Taller than Walt, who jogged to catch up with the escort and I.

"I didn't catch your name," I murmured to the new escort.

"Jessie," he replied. "And you're the hotshot everyone's got their money on."

"Reyna is good too," I said.

Jessie brought us down a hallway with green wallpaper that shimmered in the light. At the very end there were two doors.

"These are the last rooms you're going to see in District 7," he said to us solemnly. "That is, unless one of you beats the odds and returns home," he suggested, glancing at me.

I ignored him and strode into the room on the left. Plain blue walls complimented the black couch that sat collecting dust in the middle of the room. The only other thing in the room was a plain black door that was on the opposite side of the room than the door that I came in through. Choosing to sit on the floor rather than face the dust on the couch, I perch in the middle of the room with my back straight and close my eyes. I had precisely one hour until Jessie came to collect me. Hylla and I had agreed that she would only come for a quick, formal goodbye. We had done the heartfelt stuff last night, so today could be easy. It would be the last easy thing I did for a long time.

I heard the doorknob turn and stood up. The door opened to reveal Hylla with a grim look on her face. "And so, Sister, it has begun."

Frowning at her formality, I replied "So it has,"

She glanced at the couch where we both knew that the cameras were hidden, and moved in to hug me. "Goodbye sister, I'll see you on the other side." She whispered fiercely in my ear.

I nodded and soaked in the last hug that I would get from my big sister for a long time. Rather than leaving immediately, Hylla and I sat down on the floor and meditated quietly until Jessie came to force Hylla to leave.

"Take care of her will you?" I heard Hylla whisper in Jessie's ear as she left. After she was gone, Jessie led me to the other door and opened it without ceremony. It led straight onto the smokey train platform where the ride to my future was waiting.

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)