Pray came to see me with two silver claws upraised.
"I got two things for you. First, I paid a visit to the hospital yesterday. They told me the minimum weight someone of your height and build can healthily be. I've seen you primping in the mirror and picking all the vegetables out of your meals. It just so happens that your minimum weight is what I weigh now. For every pound you go under that, I'm losing a pound too," she said. Right away I knew there was no way out. Pray was half a foot shorter than me and still in prime, lean athletic condition. Losing a pound for her was like losing one percent of her entire weight. She smiled at my stymied expression and went on.
"Second is initiating you, so that's not so bad," she said. I folded my arms.
"All right. What did you have in mind?" I asked. Pray's stiffly upraised finger folded.
"Shoot, I didn't think this far ahead," she said. "Wanna go get smashed?"
The full irony didn't hit me until we were all piled into the most exclusive bar in the Games Center. Only Pray would watch me like a hawk for signs of unhealthy eating and then encourage a newly minted Victor to get drunk.
The Victors usually seemed like a bunch of distant relations, but when they sat down, the cliques came out immediately. The Careers, especially the boys, started racking up drinks straight away. The outliers were much less rowdy. Drone didn't even drink any alcohol. He sat with the rest of us sipping a soda.
"What's your poison?" Hyden asked. "Even if a Victor's money was good here, yours wouldn't be." I wasn't sure, but it seemed he meant he would buy me drinks, which was sort of sweet. However, my problem was different. I looked to Pray for advice.
"You haven't ever gotten drunk, have you?" she asked.
"I was fifteen when I first volunteered!" I said.
"Don't worry, we got your back," Hyden said, and he tapped the counter. "Gimme a shot of single-malt scotch. The good stuff." The bartender passed me down a teeny glass of yellow liquid. It smelled terrible, but the others seemed to think it was very impressive.
I steeled myself and tossed it back. The most vile, unnatural taste I could have imagined flooded my mouth in a burning wave. My stomach rebelled at the idea of harboring it and I covered my mouth as I tried not to cough. The other Victors snickered.
"Pretty good, right?" Hyden asked with a very pleased expression.
"That tasted like nail polish!" I said after I caught my breath.
"Philistines," he sniffed.
"Is there anything that doesn't taste like alcohol?" I asked.
"Oh, you want what Cornflower's getting," Pray said. She looked down the bar to where the bartender was adding a tablespoon of alcohol to a cup full of brightly colored fruit juices and soda.
"Yeah, that looks way better," I said.
"The Fizzy Tickler. A real Victor's drink," Azure broke in. At least it didn't taste dusgusting, though it would have been better without the alcohol.
I must have been a real lightweight. Some of the others had half a dozen drinks, and I sipped through two Fizzy Ticklers, but we were all giggly before long. The other patrons retreated as we started getting louder and rowdier, and soon it was only us.
"So what's it like getting to play three Games?" Estrella asked. I had to listen closely because it was so slurred. "Wish I could've done that."
"It was scary," I admitted. I didn't feel as embarrassed as I would have otherwise. There was an aura in the air that what happened in the bar stayed in the bar.
"It's okay. Most of us are scared. Not me of course, but most of us," Estrella said.
"Yeah, I almost threw up when the buzzer sounded," Hyden said as he swayed on his chair.
"Of course they were all scared," Peridot said as she pointed vaguely in the direction of the non-Careers.
"Pray was scared too. She just won't admit it," Hyden said. Pray whirled around like a tiger.
"I was not! I never get scared! I'm a hunter!" she bellowed. Hyden was almost too drunk and stupid to live, because he went on.
"Then why did you have a teddy bear with you?" he asked. It was barely out before everything fell apart. Pray jumped on him and they crashed to the ground, rolling and grappling. Azure jumped in to help Hyden and Estrella joined to help Pray. The non-Careers scattered, except Toby, who tried to help people up and dust them off. Peridot smashed a bar stool for no reason and threw another at the wall. Toby's friend sat on the bar pouring colorful drinks out and watching the splashes. Jerky slipped on one of her puddles and threw a bottle at her, but he missed and it shattered on the wall. She started playing with the blue shards. I didn't know where to start, and it was hard to walk anyway. I would have helped Pray, but that would have made her mad. We were just lucky her silver claws were only paint today.
Somehow, they got us all kicked out. Those of us who could walk went back to our rooms. Hyden, sporting a bloody nose, shook my hand unsteadily before he went.
"That was a great time. Wow, what a great time. Did you have a good time?" he said. I couldn't even answer before he stumbled away with Pray glaring at his back. She was unsteadier than I was, so I helped her back to her room.
"Were you really never scared?" I dared to ask at the door. If Pray ever had a soft spot, it was for me.
"Sometimes I thought I was going to die. But I wasn't scared," she said with a faraway look. Her tone was flat and her words barely held together. "I kept looking over my shoulder like someone was following me. I wasn't scared though. Sometimes it was dark and there were noises and I had to stay still. I fought a girl. She almost killed me. I was the hunter, but sometimes I cried. But I was never scared."
If Pray even remembered saying that, she was never going to mention it again. She was Silver Claws, the hunter, never Pray Jager, the Tribute. I didn't think it was possible for Pray to be scared. When she denied it, I almost believed her.
One more chapter should do it. I might as well get ready, so go ahead and send in submissions for my inevitable next story. The only thing I don't need is a Six male, for reasons you'll probably figure out before I even write the next chapter.
I forgot what Ava's talent was supposed to be. I think it was mentoring and counseling kids like herself, but I wasn't sure.