I suddenly felt a wave of stage fright crash over me. My anxiety worsened as we got closer to the door. I was shaking so much, I would of fallen out of the chariot if it hadn't been for Percy's hand.

Then we rode through the door. The world blurred, and all I could hear were the muffled cheers of the capitol. I noticed Katniss urging me on from the side, and my vision cleared. The stress went away, and I found myself smiling and waving at the crowd. When I glanced back, Katniss was giving me two thumbs up.

Before I knew it, the parade was over. We were reunited with our mentors, and proceeded to the elevators. I was nervous that, since the parade was over, Percy would return to his state of isolation. Thankfully, the whole elevator ride, he stayed himself himself.

I decided to go straight to bed, as tomorrow was our first day in the training center. Percy agreed, and went straight to bed himself. Katniss told us that we'll want to build up pur survival skills in the training center, and maybe take up throwing knives of we master that.

I wasn't worried. I had used my celestial bronze knife for a good ten years, and a knife was what appeared most in the games. Percy was better with a sword, but was pretty handy with a knife as well. Percy and I had already agreed we would stick together, and play defense. Before the parade, we had discussed our strategy, and were pretty happy about it.

I woke up to Effnia knocking on my door, saying that today was "A big, big day!"

I groaned when she left, and pulled myself out of bed. I dressed in what I usually did when I went into the woods. A black tee shirt, dark green jacket, and black pants. That seemed ok for training. Plus, I was used to it.

I walked down to breakfast, and a wave of relief washed over me. Percy was still acting like himself.

Katniss, Percy, and I talked strategy while Effnia complained about how long the training was. After breakfast, we headed down to the training center, where the tributes from districts 5, 9, and 6 were already training.

I walked up to the Valdez kid, who was in the traps and snares area, being a master. I noticed something I hadn't before. He was wearing his ancestor's golden toolbelt.

"Hey," I said, kneeling down next to him. "Ethan Valdez, right?"

He turned to me and nodded. "Annabeth Chase?"

I nodded. He grinned. "Watch this."

He put his palm out in front of me. Like I predicted, flames danced along, and crept up his fingers. Usually, this power couldn't be passed down. But mixed with a titaness' DNA? That was more likely.

"You know," I told him, setting my own trap. "I knew you ancestors, Leo Valdez and Calypso."

He turned to me, wide-eyed. "Really?" he asked, completely forgetting his snare. "You can Time-Travel?"

I laughed, "You could say that."

After a few minutes, we started bonding. He helped me with the mechanical things, like traps and lighting a fire. I repayed him by helping him with the edible plants and range weapons.

I was about to show him how to make a bow out of sticks when a girl's voice called out behind us.

"Hey!" It shouted. We turned. It was the girl tribute from district 6. "Are you trying to sabatoge my fellow tribute?"

Her gold eyes glowed with fury, like Hazel's would during a fight. Her eyes loomed to the stick bow in Ethan's hands, and she calmed down.

"Oh," she admitted. "You're just helping him." She sat beside me. "I'm Helena. Mind showing me how to make that?"

I smiled. I repayed the friends I left by helping their relatives have a better chance of winning the games.

After a while, we started talking about something that was very dangerous.

We had formed an Alliance.