Priscilla Piscot POV

I didn't want to play the game if Miall wasn't there. Losing him again was worse than the first time. Seeing him again made it seem like he could never die. But then he did, and this time he was gone forever.

I saw all the other alliances making plans. Some of them, like Marley's, were even having fun. I didn't want to be on a team anymore. It wouldn't be like last time. Last time I was in a pretty epic alliance. If we hadn't crossed paths with the literal God of Death, one of us probably would have won.

I was starting to think maybe the Hunger Games weren't the most fun I'd ever played. The first time around, I'd started to lose my enthusiasm when I realized I liked Hoops better than the Games. If I ended up winning, at least I already had a talent.

That gave me an idea. If I won, I'd be famous. People would be watching me and hanging on my every word. But what if my every word was about Miall? I could talk about him all the time and never stop saying how cool he was. I could say he got robbed last time and that if he just got another chance, he'd win for sure.

Just like that, I had a reason to play again. I'd always loved games, but this wasn't like that. This was the most important game of my life. I had to win, no matter what.

Jynx Susurrus POV

Victory and I sat in her room, going over possibilities.

"Okay, what if it's a harsh Arena?" I asked.

"We should pick one weapon at the Cornucopia and focus on supplies," Victory said.

"Right. If it's an urban one, we can just grab weapons. In an all-Career Games, it won't take long enough for us to need food," I said. I'd been afraid Victory wouldn't pay attention to the little details that could save our lives, but she was very studious. In fact, she said she'd thought the same thing about me. I thought she was flighty, but she thought I took things lightly because everything came easy to me. That was a bit of a shock, but it was flattering that she thought I was such a natural.

We were as different as day and night, but in the Games we were a perfect match. I'd come to realize we'd really cared for each other all along. For a Career, the highest compliment you can pay to a competitor is to kill them yourself. We all think we're the best, and targeting someone means we think they're our biggest threat. I did like Victory. She was impossible sometimes, but I wanted her to win if I didn't. I knew she felt the same about me. Together, one of us might get our wish.

Hunter Thompson POV

I didn't want the Games to be outside. I didn't know if I could take it. If I looked up and saw open sky above the Bloodbath, I might not have the courage to move. If the platform rose up and brought me into darkness, I might step off the platform rather than bear another second of it.

I thought I was ready for anything. The Academy taught me how to fight and kill. The Games taught me how to survive, though obviously not well enough. There was no enemy I couldn't fight and nothing I wasn't ready for. Then came the bat.

I prayed for anything, anything other than that. Not the sound of papery wings in the air over my head. Not the blasphemous letters smeared in blood on its hide. I'd rather fight in a burning volcano or the open sea than see anything like that again.

I wondered how the scientists found enough of me to piece together. What did I come from? A scrap of flesh clinging to a broken piece of bone? The drops of blood spattered on Kazuo's face? He'd come to me when I first came back. He could barely speak as he begged me to forgive him. I tried to tell him it wasn't his fault. I didn't know anyone could be brave enough to try to pull me to safety when the bat was pulling me away. We sat for a long time in my room. Neither of us wanted to go outside.

The Arena could be anything. I prayed for an torchlit cave or a buzzing city. Anything with walls and lights. Lots of lights. Anything that could keep me safe from what was out there.

Victory Amarinthine POV

The Career pack, at its best, is a precariously contained powder keg. It never lasts the entire Games. Careers have won more than anyone else, but the final two rarely belong to the original pack. It's an all-or-nothing gamble to ally yourself with the fiercest killers in the Arena. You had the best the Cornucopia had to offer, but you had half a dozen knives aimed at your back all along the way.

That's how I ended up with Jynx. We never liked each other, but experience told us we could trust each other. For years I'd watched his every move in the Academy. We jostled for position and praise, and we studied each other every moment. We each knew the other better than we knew ourselves. Fighting style, strength, weaknesses, body language, motivation... we knew it all. We'd know when the other needed help and our mutual desire to defeat the other would mean we'd offer it. Both of us held in reserve the knowledge that if the other intended to betray us, we'd see it coming.

Short-range and close-range, we had it covered. Between us, we knew every weapon and every strategy. We were a bundle of contradictions- talent and effort, extrovert and introvert, blade and arrow. Both of us had selected the ally most likely to kill them, and that might keep us alive longer than anything else.

Orren Daphne POV

The door to my room was locked. They knew if they let me out I would start avenging, and they didn't trust me to target the guilty parties. They were right. They were too merciful- everyone was guilty. If I could, I'd judge them all. I already had in my heart.

Something had gone wrong last time. I'd judged a girl, but I saw her again. She must have made some pact with evil to be returned to life. When I met her in the Games, I'd make sure her punishment stuck.

I paced the room, restless to begin. There were more this time than last time. People were getting more depraved. It would only get worse if they were allowed to continue unchecked. How much longer could justice wait?

Aversa Jewel POV

We were the ones to beat. I was the one to beat, really. Arielle hardly belonged in our elite pack. Venus would never get the Capitol's support with her lifeless personality. Akari wasn't as good as she thought she was, and Odeda was a bimbo. I wouldn't take any of them lightly, of course, but that was hardly possible.

Akari nestled herself into position as our alliance's leader. I let her take it. Captains go down with ships. I didn't have to be a leader, but I wasn't a follower, either. I'd do what I wanted, and if she was smart, she'd let me. I was her best asset.

After training was over, I spent most of my time mingling with the Capitolites. I loved watching the kids line up for autographs or to take pictures. I wondered how many of my signatures would be treasured keepsakes for years to come. Having a Victor's autograph must be highly coveted. And I would be Victor. It wasn't idle boasting- I'd trained hard for this. I knew my stuff. That's how I could brag about it. Some of the others probably thought I was full of hot air, but it was just the truth. I was the Academy's best. This was what I did, and I did it well.

Daisy Stem POV

The Academy didn't have a protocol for this.

I learned every lesson they had to teach. I mastered every exercise and perfected every move. I was top of my class. I knew it all. But what did I do when I died?

It was embarrassing, first of all. After all the time and money they put into training me, I went and died. I wasted the adventure of a lifetime. At least I had a second chance. I'd make the best out of it.

Dying taught me a lot of things. The most important was not to die again. Obviously, I'd avoid what killed me the last time, but there was more than that. I'd be more serious this time. As shameful as it was, volunteering was sort of a lark for me. I didn't think about dying. They told me how good I was all the time, and I didn't really think it was possible. Now I knew what I was getting into. I'd had other plans for life besides the Games before, but I had to put those aside. The Games were my life, for better or for worse.

Mary Ellen and Marley are left for the final pre-Games chapter. Daisy will also get another POV, since this is her awakening and doesn't show much about her. I had to add it or her later POV would have no context.

Orren's is short because he is pretty much the most one-dimensional character possible. I can only type "vengeance" so many times. He's a man of action, not interior monologue.