There are some continuity errors in the first two Districts because I was so impatient to get these Reapings out that I didn't correct my errors from the Valerie mixup.

Quiola Cassidy POV

"What do you guys think?"

We were all excited to see our new escort. The word was that Ambrosia had been secretly working against the Capitol for years, which was really stupid, since there was hardly anyone for her to help. Our new escort was a Hispanic woman who barely seemed older than I was. She was draped in Panem's flag and gave our nation's salute as she walked onstage.

"H-hello everyone! I'm very excited to meet you! I'm Aurelia Plush, and I'm your new escort! I hope you're as excited as I am," she tittered.

"I don't like her," I said. I didn't have to know her. I could already tell. The others weren't listening anyway. I was just making conversation because we were all so scared. The truth was, I was just as scared as they were.

"Is it okay if I do the girls first?" Aurelia asked. No one spoke up, of course, and she laughed. "Oh, of course it is! I'm the escort!" She fished in the bowl and her microphone picked up the sound of her nails clinking on the glass.

"Quiola Cassidy!" she called. I should have been scared, but instead I was just mad. I wanted to run up there and slap the ditz, but it wasn't her fault. The Capitol said this was our fault, but they weren't fooling anyone. They were the maniacs killing children. I didn't look at Aurelia as I walked to the stage. When the male Tribute, Kerry, joined me, he didn't look either. He was looking up and out, like he could climb away. I could see he was already thinking of strategies, and I could tell Five had a fighting chance this year.

It was a full room at the Justice Hall. My parents were there, of course, and my sister Emiljia. My best friends Trish and Lane, who were next to me at the Reaping, were there too. I had to deal with them one at a time.

"I love you," my mother said through tears as she hugged me. I wanted to be brave in front of everyone, but I cried as much as she did. She handed me a notebook with a pen attached by a ribbon.

"You have so many things to say. Don't let them disappear," she said. Her face crumpled and she ran out of the room. My father watched her go with something like contempt.

"Forget that. Focus on living, not that you have much chance," he said. That did it. I'd heard similar things from him a million times, and I'd never been able to figure out what his problem was.

"What is wrong with you? I could die and all you do is insult me! Get out of here!" I yelled. Emiljia and my friends watched in shock as I stared him down. He started to cry, and none of us knew what to do.

"I was always too hard on you. I'm sorry," he said. He ran out after my mother.

"Don't listen to him," Trish said. "You have to come back to us. Promise."

"I promise," I said. Either I'd keep it or I wouldn't care.

Emiljia was last of all. She had her arms folded in tightly against her chest, and she was trembling.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Her lips trembled and she tried to speak.

"I didn't volunteer," she said. "I'm so sorry. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course. This isn't your fault either. We'll be all right. Something will work out," I said. Out of all of us, someone had to be the strong one. It was just funny it had to be me.

Kerry Samosa POV

I pulled up ahead of Cam, who was struggling to keep up.

"Slow down!" he called up. "You're gonna fall!"

"So what?" I answered. I might die tomorrow anyway. I had one day to enjoy life before the Reaping might take it all away. It was time to throw everything to the wind and go for broke.

It wasn't easy to get enough time to climb the rocky cliffs outside the city in Five. Usually I had to content myself with skinny trees or dilapidated buildings. Before the Reaping, everyone was distracted. No one noticed students playing hooky and no one had the heart to fire an absent worker. It was the perfect chance.

The sandstone underneath me was soft and fragile. I pressed myself flat against the cliff face and pushed myself up with my legs, feeling for secure handholds. All my life, I'd always wanted to go up. Farther, higher, harder- always more. There weren't many chances to improve your life in Panem, but I was determined to find one. Anything could happen. Maybe I'd go to the Capitol. But if it didn't have mountains, I wasn't interested.

"Oh, now it's a race?" Cam said. I heard rocks scraping as he sped up.

"It's always a race," I said, and I pushed myself onward. I glanced down between pushes, careful not to dislodge any rocks in his direction. Each look down thrilled me and flipped my stomach. We were up high enough that if we fell, we might not get back up. Bits of sand and dirt scraped my fingers and lodged under my nails as I clawed at the cliff.

I found my rhythm, and then it was like I was flying. I left Cam in the dust as I soared up the cliff. It was higher than I'd ever gone before. Before long, the top of the peak was in view, with the sun nearly blinding me behind it. I should have slowed as the incline steepened to a nearly vertical pitch, but I was past that. I wedged a foot into a crack in the rock and wiggled up the last ten feet. I hauled myself up onto a flat plateau and gloried in what I'd accomplished.

From the top, I could see all across Five. I could see the entire city, and the bit of open land around it, ringed with fences. I wondered about what lay across the fence and what life was like there. Maybe someday I'd find out.

"Hey! Little help?" Cam said, and I saw his hand at the edge of the final push. I slid out of my stomach and helped haul him to the top.

"Wow. It's great up here," Cam said as he looked around. He looked down and shied away from the edge. "Maybe not the smartest idea, though."

"No, not really," I said. But then, smart people would have stayed home. They'd be safe, but they wouldn't get to see this. Sometimes, it was worth it.