Chapter 10- Dove Rosestar
The light coming through the window wakes me up. Where am I? Then the sleep haze clears and the memories of the day before rebounds back and I bury my head in my pillow.
After we said goodbye to our family and our district, Cabel and I were put into a car with Albinia Locket, who would not stop chatting the whole way. Cabel and I were just silent; my hand in his. Once we got to the station, there were cameras everywhere, and I was scared of them all, knowing that everyone in the country could see me. Cabel grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the train, followed closely by Albinia.
Once the train was in motion, I broke down into tears again. "I can't do it, Cabel! I can't do it!" I sobbed. He picked me up off the floor and pulled me over to a chair.
"Nothing is going to happen to you. I promised Mum I would take care of you in the arena, and I'm going to make sure you're going to come out, alright?"
"I don't want you to die!" I said, hugging him around the neck.
Cabel pulled back and grabbed my forearms. "Listen to me, Dove! Listen! One of us is going to come out of there and it's going to be you. So, we're going to train in the Capitol and we're going to make you the readiest you'll ever be to go into the arena. And I'll stay by your side the whole time; nothing is going to happen to you, I promise. Got it?"
I wiped my eyes and nodded. Behind us someone started clapping and we whirled around.
"You've got a lot to do if you're going to get her to be a victor," said the man behind us. Fabian King, District 6's oldest male victor. He won maybe thirteen years ago, and since then he's fallen out of shape and into a bit of disrepair. He's not very well known for being kind and caring.
Cabel stood up and faced Fabian, who looked him up and down. "You're something to look at though, boy, aren't you? You could get some sponsors, especially with the sibling tragedy you're going to play up. Not so sure about the girl."
"Dove is going to be fine in the arena," Cabel said. "You'll see. She'll have me."
"And you're that confident that you'll be alive the whole Games? Tell me more, boy," Fabian said
Cabel would have said more, but our other mentor, Lexa Icewing came in then and stood beside Fabian. She's a victor of about twenty years ago, and she's still capable, I think. She's pretty anyways.
"So, we have some dramatic ones, do we this year?" she said, crossing her arms. "Which one do you want, Fabian?"
"I'll take the boy. You can have the girl," Fabian said. I was fine with that; I didn't want Fabian to be responsible for me anyway.
"Supper!" Albinia said, appearing out of almost nowhere and pushing all of us along to the dining room.
After a fairly quiet supper we watched the reapings.
"Any tributes that stand out as allies for you two?" Lexa asked after the television was shut off. Cabel shook his head.
"I don't want any other allies. It's just going to be Dove and me in the arena."
"Suit yourself boy; it's your death sentence. Go to bed, I've had enough of you," Fabian said, and dismissed us.
Before we got to our rooms, Cabel grabbed my arm again.
"Just you and me, Dove. We'll be okay."
"Okay."
Someone knocks on my door. "Dove? Are you awake?" It's Cabel. I jump up and open the door for my brother.
"You should see this. We're pulling into the Capitol," he says. Still in the nightgown I put on last night, I follow Cabel out to the living room, and I gasp.
The Capitol! I've seen it on the television, but I've never seen it like this; all the colors and the majestic buildings, and the people watching us come in to the station!
"Go get dressed!" Lexa says coming in to the room. "You can't make a good impression in your nightgown, and believe me, you'll need sponsors."
I go back to find the dress I wore for the reapings, but it's disappeared in the night; I have no choice but to look in the wardrobe in the corner of the room. When I hit some buttons, it brings forth a beautiful dark blue dress, exactly my size.
After I'm dressed, I go back out to meet Cabel and the others just as the train is pulling into the station. I give a small gasp at the people who are cheering outside and waiting to see us; they're so decorated in bright colors, and some are so disfigured by surgeries they're terrifying.
"What have they done to themselves?" I whisper to Cabel. He shakes his head, his forehead creased.
"Smile and wave!" Albinia says; she's happy even if Cabel and I aren't. Of course; she's coming home. Imagine living here!
The train slows; the crowd and cameras swarm around the window, staring at us. I give a little wave and try to smile as best I can. I pick some people out in the crowd that fascinate me and repel me most; a woman with bright pink hair that seems to be tied in a bow; a man with whiskers and a swishing calico tail that pokes out of his trousers; a group of children all with pastel hair and gems sparkling above their eyes.
Then the train passes the station and goes through a tunnel, picking up speed again. The lights come on brighter as everything outside grows dark.
"Are you ready?" Albinia asks, looking at Cabel and me.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"The Prep Center. You are en route to your prep teams and the chariot rides," says Fabian, coming in behind us.
"What are they going to do there?" Cabel asks.
"You'll see, but don't protest anything they do to you. Got it?" Fabian says.
"But-" I start.
"Protest nothing! Get ready, it's time to go."
Several hours later, I've met my prep team, who scare me just as much as the people outside the window. They all talk in the high-pitched Capitol accent, and all of them have had some modification done.
I haven't been listening to Fabian very well, since I keep telling the prep team to stop what they're doing. I can get away with not listening to him, though. He's not my mentor; Lexa is.
"Stop complaining!" says the woman with bright orange hair and electric blue eyes. "We can't get anything done until you be quiet!"
I cross my arms. "What if I don't want you to do whatever you're doing?"
"Then you don't get pretty and you don't get sponsors!" says the woman with green hair in foot long spikes. I keep my arms crossed for a minute longer, then give in. I'll need sponsors too much to refuse.
Once they've scrubbed, scraped, soaked, and trimmed me, I'm left alone in the room to wait for my stylist. I have on a robe but I feel so very embarrassed. Where is Cabel? Are they doing this to him too?
"So, you're Dove," says the man entering, and I jump backwards, because he's been dyed completely blue.
I can't help myself. "What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" the man asks, genuinely confused.
"Why are you blue?"
"Oh, that! Isn't it handsome on me?" he says, bouncing back.
Sure. Sure, it is.
"I'm your stylist, Quintus," says the man in blue. He angles his head side to side, looking me up and down. "How old are you?"
"Fourteen."
"And you came with your brother, didn't you? Bit of bad luck for you isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Alright, well I'm here to get you ready for the parade tonight! District 6, transportation! Come with me; I have your costume ready!"
An hour later, I'm standing in the stable area by the horses, dressed as a pilot with lights running up and down my pants.
It's the stupidest thing I've ever seen, let alone worn.
"Aren't we looking fetching," Cabel says, coming over trailed by his own stylist. He's dressed identically to me.
"I think I'm ready for this to be over," I say, and he laughs.
"Let's get this over with and maybe not too many cameras will be on us. Pretty likely, with these outfits."
"We're not as badly dressed as the District 12s, though," I point out; the boy and girl from 12 look miserable dressed in short jumpsuits with headlamps strapped to their heads.
"I think we're lucky," Cabel says, and we laugh.
I look around the room, which is huge. Some tributes have better costumes than others; for example, the girl from 2 is dressed all in gold with a ring of gold leaves around her head. She's laughing with some other tributes, the boy and girl from 1. They're dressed almost identically in purple outfits covered in gemstones.
The really pretty girl from 3 is dressed in a sort of metallic, geometric shaped dress that's also lit up. District 3, technology.
"Come on, time to go! Up into the chariot you two!" says Fabian, coming over to us. I shoot an alarmed look at Cabel before he calmly steps up into the chariot and gives me a hand up too. All around us the other tributes are getting into position, facing the big doors.
"The horses are trained to go around; you won't have to control them at all. Enjoy, and don't forget to smile!" says Cabel's stylist. I give a look back at the four of them, Fabian, Lexa, and the two stylists. I don't like any of them.
"Ready?" Cabel asks.
I nod.
The doors open and the District 1s step out. Then the 2s, the 3s, the 4s, the 5s…
"Hold onto me. Let's look good for Mum," Cabel says.
And the horses step out of the stables into the cheering crowd.