Hello everyone! I'm leaving this note here to tell you all some very exciting news: I have an editor now! We're both re-reading the entirety of this book, so you should all expect another major chapter update on all the previous chapters. I really want this book to be as easy and enjoyable to read, so I'm constantly going through and changing things so it's up to my standards. A new chapter should be up by next week as well as the edited chapters.
Stay tuned for another very important note next week! Enjoy reading!
I wake to knocking at my door. I open my eyes and see I'm in my room again. The last thing I remember is talking to Jay. Didn't I fall asleep on the roof? Yes, in Jay's arms. He must have carried me back to my room after I fell asleep. The sun isn't up yet, meaning our early start for the day has begun. Anxiety starts to fill my body as I realize what day it is. "Come in," I say to the person knocking on my door. Seraphina walks in, a solemn smile on her face. "Good morning, Willow," she says. "Do we have to leave?" I ask her. She nods. "Xavier is already off with Angel in their hovercraft."
She gives me a simple, comfortable outfit to wear on our trip to the arena, then guides me to the roof. The final dressing and preparations will be done in the catacombs under the arena itself. The hovercraft appears out of thin air, like my mom said they do, and a ladder drops down. Some sort of current freezes us in place while we're lifted safely inside.
When we get inside the hovercraft I expect to be unfrozen along with Seraphina, but instead, a woman approaches me with a syringe. "Stay still," she says. Stay still? I'm glued into place. "This is your tracker. The stiller you are, the more efficiently I can place it."
I feel the sharp pain of the needle as it places the tracking device deep into my forearm skin. Now, the Gamemakers will be able to track me throughout the whole arena. Not only where I am, but if I'm alive or not. The ladder un-freezes me once the tracker is injected. The woman disappears, and Seraphina guides me to a room where breakfast is laid out. I don't want to eat. The nerves are causing my stomach to tense up. I eat as much as I can, which isn't a lot, then look out the window. We're soaring high above a forest of trees like birds. Except, a bird is free and uncaged. I'm not.
The ride lasts about fifteen minutes before the windows black out, indicating we're near the arena. The hovercraft lands and Seraphina and I go back down the ladder, only this time it leads down into a tube underground, into the catacombs that lie beneath the arena. We follow the directions to the Launch Room, as Seraphina calls it. In the Districts, we refer to it as the Stockyard: the place animals go before slaughter. Every arena is built new each year, I will be the first and only tribute to use this Launch Room. I struggle to keep the food down as I shower and brush my teeth for the last time.
Seraphina pulls my hair into a high ponytail, leaving two, thin strands of hair in my face to frame it. It'll keep my hair at bay while also looking television ready. Then the clothes arrive, the same for every tribute. Seraphina has no say in the outfit, but helps me dress in it. Undergarments, a thick, black turtleneck long-sleeve lined with fleece, black pants lined with the same warm fleece, a black belt, and a thick, warm jacket that falls down to my thighs. It has pockets and a hood. "This outfit will keep you very warm. My guess is a cold climate with snow," Seraphina says. The black boots, worn over thick socks, are better than I dreamed of. They're a soft leather lined with fur, with a narrow, flexible rubber sole with treads. Good for running.
I think I'm finished when Seraphina pulls me close. "I have something for you," she whispers. She opens up her hand quickly, only giving me a few seconds to look at what it is. The Mockingjay pin. "How did you get that?" I whisper. "I found it in the pocket of your reaping dress and decided to grab it for you," she whispers back. "They don't allow tokens any more, but I thought you'd need it with you. Here, I'll pin it where they can't see it." She rolls up the sleeve of my jacket and long-sleeve, then pins it to the inside. "There," she says. "So you'll always feel it." She could be killed for what she just did. There are very strict rules here, and she just broke one of them. "Thank you, so much," I say. I give her a hug, then we step away from each other.
"Move around, make sure everything fits," she tells me, speaking in her normal volume. I walk, run back and forth, then swing my arms around. Nothing budges more than it needs to. "It fits perfect," I say. "Then there's nothing to do but wait for the call," she says. I turn down food offered to me, but accept a glass of water. I sip on it slowly, but then remember Mom telling me of her near death from dehydration. I gulp the water, now. But, I am careful not to drink so much I throw up. Anxiety transforms itself to terror as I anticipate what is to come. I could be dead in an hour, if that.
"Do you want to talk?" Seraphina asks. I shake my head, but after a moment, I hold out my hand to her. She encloses it in both of hers. We sit like this for the next five minutes before a robotic female voice tells us to prepare for launch. My hand starts shaking now. While clenching Seraphina's hand in mine, I walk over and stand on the circular metal plate.
"Remember what Daton told you. Run, find water, and find Xavier," she says. I nod. "And, finally, remember who you have waiting for you at home. I'm not allowed to bet, but if I could, I would bet on you."
"Really?" I ask.
"I don't lie, Willow," says Seraphina. She leans down and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck." Then, a glass cylinder is lowering around me, breaking our handhold, cutting me off from the last bit of real world I have left. I look at her with wide, terrified eyes. She nods and mouths out: remember who the real enemy is. Then, I start to rise. The real enemy? I know who it isーPresident Roseー but why would Seraphina tell me that? To increase my rage and anger? The blinding sun takes me out of my thoughts. The air is cold and smells of pine. No. The air is really cold. My ears and nose numb within seconds, and my eyes already start drying out. The platform stops rising and I hear Roseclear's voice boom through the arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 14th Hunger Games begin!"