I hope you all are enjoying this story so far; we have a long way to go until its end, and I think these next chapters will be fun to read, and are fun to write too. I would love to hear your opinions on them, so please review!
Chapter 16- Catalina Nightwind
My hands shake as I throw the knife at the target; it clatters to the floor nowhere near the wall. "You'll get it, don't worry," Summer says. Over the past two days, we've become not only allies but friends. She's one of the kindest people I've ever met; I think my family would like her too. She's the one really good thing about coming to the Capitol.
"We'll get it, and we'll get good scores tonight," I say, going back to get another knife. All around me there are tributes bigger and stronger than myself, throwing weapons that could kill me in an instant. I'm thinking that my tactic in the Games should be hiding. Maybe Summer and I can hide the whole Games. I don't want to say that now, though.
"After you throw that, let's go do something else," Summer says, crossing her arms. This time I throw the knife with all my strength and it hits the board. I jump around with joy, even though it didn't hit anywhere near the target.
"Great!" Summer says, high fiving me. Together we walk away from the targets and knives and head for the fire-starting station instead. We bypass the gauntlet course, because all of the Careers are there and we don't want to attract their attention. We haven't said so to each other, but I know they scare both of us.
The trainer at the fire station teaches Summer and I how to build a fire that nobody will be able to see. Together, we dig a tunnel with two holes, one smaller than the other; then we use tinder and flint to light a small fire inside. Once it gets started, there's very little smoke, thanks to an artificial breeze the assistant activates.
"It's the safest way to have a concealed fire in the arena," the trainer says kindly. "If you get a breeze like this, it'll keep your fire going and blow the smoke away." She lets the fire burn a few minutes, then puts it out to be safe. Summer and I try just a regular fire, and after a very long time we get that started too.
"Come on, let's go somewhere else now," Summer says once the trainer puts out our second fire. I nod and get up, following my ally.
"I want to go back to the camouflage station," I say.
"More flowers?" Summer asks, smiling. I like her smile a lot; it lights up her whole face. I like the whole of her, really. She has such long blonde hair that is so light that it's nearly white. She's the prettiest out of all the tributes for sure. And she's chosen me to be her ally.
"I want to look pretty for the private sessions this afternoon," I say.
"Let's go put some flowers on, then."
We spend the rest of the morning painting each other into a field of flowers. Summer uses the paints to create a field of daisies running up one of my arms and a field of dandelions up the other. "They're the only flowers we have in District 3," she says almost apologetically.
Being from 9, we have more flowers and plants, not just the grain that we send to the Capitol. I paint Summer into a field of delphinium and alyssum on one arm and I wind lavender around her other arm.
"Aren't we beautiful?" I say, and we both giggle at ourselves.
"We have to wear them into our private sessions," Summer says, and I nod.
"We'll stand out for sure."
I glance up at the clock and see that it's a few minutes to twelve. A bunch of the other tributes, including the Careers, are already lining up waiting for the bell. I see the girl from 2 look our way, then lean in to the girl from 1; both of them look at us again and laugh. My face feels red hot.
"I think they're laughing at our flowers," Summer says, looking in the laughing tributes' direction.
"Hmmph," I say. "I don't care. They can laugh all they want; we know we're beautiful."
With that, the bell rings and Summer and I get up together to get in line. We have to separate briefly to stand in district order, but as soon as I grab my lunch of soup and soft bread, I meet her at the table we've been sitting at for the last few days.
"Tell me all about District 3," I say, sitting down across from her. Summer takes a spoonful of soup and blows on it, thinking.
"Very busy and city-like. Lots of factories and Peacekeepers. There's not really a lot of plants there; just what weeds and flowers grow alongside the buildings in the cracks. It's quite big, too. I live in an apartment with my parents and brother, and on the windowsills we grow some vegetables with the seeds we save from the produce in the market. Saves us money."
She looks at me. "What about District 9?"
"Grain, lots of grain and fields, but we have lots of flowers and plants there too. We have factories, too for processing the wheat, but mostly we work in the fields, like my family," I say. I'm starting to get nervous for this afternoon.
Summer smiles at me, as though she can read my thoughts. "We'll be okay, you'll see. And allies in the arena?"
I nod. "Allies. Let's hide the whole time, if we can," I say, dropping my voice to a whisper.
"Okay."
"We'll be able to outlast the others and make it to the end," I say. Neither of us mentions what happens at the end of the Games, though I'm sure we're both thinking about it. I know I am, but I push it out of my mind. I couldn't kill Summer. But my promise to my family to come home rings in my ears.
Just as I finish my last bite of bread, the bell rings for the end of lunch. Over the speakers comes a deep voice, "Tributes, please stay in the dining hall. You will be called out in order of district; when your name is called, please proceed to the gymnasium for your private session. Thank you."
The speaker crackles into silence, and we all sit there and wait. Then the speaker comes back on and the man has been replaced with a robotic sounding woman.
"District 1, Velvet Dusksand."