Hey Everyone!

So, this is Chaper 4...sorry, I've been kind of working on other things...like planning to make sure all my chapters fall into line for my House of Hades story (which you should totally check out if you've read Percy Jackson and like my stuff! I have a Mark of Athena, too!)

Well, thanks for being so patient with me!

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Meeting the Mentor

"Now, it'll be really pleasant when you get there, I promise," Daphnia kept babbling about how beautiful the Capitol will be.

"And everyone will be super nice…" I zoned out and turned to look at the world speeding past us.

We'd moved from the car to the train, and the scenery passing by was a big blue of blue, green, and white.

Jeremy was sitting next to me in one of the four soft, brown leather chair of the dining car.

Daphnia was sitting across from us, and I learned that her skirt didn't have a metal frame in it, so it pressed flat against her slightly chubby thighs.

Her pink tights seemed like they were about to burst from trying to hold her legs, but I kept my opinions to myself.

I just really wished she'd stop congratulating us.

"Well, I'm going to go find Winchester," she stood up abruptly. "He'll want to meet you right away."

"Wait," Jeremy stopped her with his voice. "Winchester who?"

"Winchester Layman," Daphnia said, confused. "Why?"

I looked over at both of them, my face lit up.

Winchester? Could it actually be him? We haven't seen him in years…

Winchester was thirteen when he was picked for the Hunger Games. He had just started training as a Career. I was so surprised when he'd volunteered.

I guess I'd forgotten he'd won.

"Just bring him in as soon as possible," Jeremy replied, and she left, looking rather confused.

When the door slid shut, the room was really quiet, and then I realized this was the first time in a while where I've been alone with my brother.

I look over at him to find him staring at me.

"You know," he whispered, "Mom really could have been a stylist." My heart sank. "You look amazing."

Mom.

Should I tell him? Should I tell him how she didn't visit me and sent her a messenger with a morbid wish?

"She…she never came to see me," I choke out.

"What? No," Jeremy's eyes turned from happy to sad. "She told me she already had."

I shook my head. "Journey was my only visitor."

"Unbelievable," Jeremy whispered. "How could she not think to visit you? That's not right. That's not Mom."

She just doesn't love me, Jeremy.

"Of course she does, don't say that," Jeremy said, the sadness in his eyes changing to concern.

That's when I realized I said it out loud.

Jeremy opened his mouth to say something when he door slid open and a pair of pale brown eyes and dark brown hair came waltzing in the room. "Hello, tributes, I'll be your mentor, my name is-"

"Winchester, yeah," I cut in, smiling up at the boy who grew up in my childhood. "We know."

His eyes fell on my face and he smiled. His eyes welled up with tears. "Dyla?"

Winchester was the one that gave me that nickname in the first place. We met when we were little, and even though my brother could say "Dylila" pretty well, Winchester struggled with it, so my brother told him he could shorten it, and he started calling me "Dyla."

My brother's been calling me "Dyla" as well ever since.

That was maybe ten years ago.

I smiled. That's when I realized my eyes were kind of tearful, too.

Jeremy asked, "What about me, bro?"

"What?" Winchester asked, his eyes darting from me to Jeremy and back to me again. "But how did…?"

"We don't know," I said. "But we think it had something to do with the Careers."

"Those Careers are nasty people," Winchester whispered.

"They asked us," Jeremy said. "We both said no. That's why we think we're both here."

He shook his head. "That makes sense."

"Well, I'm glad to see you again," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm sorry I had to see you on these terms. Especially both of you," Winchester sighed, and he walked over to the chair across from Jeremy.

Before he sat down, Jeremy said, "But it is kind of nice, right?" and smiled.

Winchester nodded his head side to side and said, "Yeah, I guess it is kind of nice. But in a really sick way."

Jeremy laughed and stood up and gave him a hug. Winchester pressed his face into my brother's shoulder and whispered, "I missed you, man."

"Missed you, too," Jeremy replied.

They broke apart just for Winchester to open his arms out to me. He smiled at me. "Come here, Dyla. You're so much taller now!"

I rushed into his arms. It was good to have a familiar face on the train, other than my brother.

My brother was five when Winchester came up with my nickname, and Winchester is a year younger than my brother, and it's been ten years since then, so…he's only fourteen? I thought.

"What year were you picked?" my brother asked as I pulled away from Winchester and sat back down in my seat, and he collapsed in the seat in front of Jeremy.

"Two years ago," he said. "The stadium was set for us to win, though. It was the one that was mostly ocean, with only a few very small islands scattered around. Remember? The only reason why the eighteen year-old Career girl didn't win was because she had so many weapons on her and she had so much muscle mass that she drowned. Plus the knife in her back I threw there forcing her to loose blood until she lost consciousness while she was swimming."

"So, you're how old?" I asked.

"Fourteen," he replied.

"You got picked when you were twelve?" I asked.

"Yeah, man," he ran a hand through his messy hair. "It was so unnerving for me."

Then he turned to me, and really looked me in the eye. "I was so worried last year when they picked you. So, so worried."

I blinked. Winchester was like a brother to me. I didn't want to make him worry, but it was nice to know that he cared whether I lived or died.

I was hoping that him knowing us will help us in some way. Maybe he would be more inclined to teach us more…strategies and survival skills than if we were just strangers.

"Okay guys, listen up," Winchester leaned back in his seat and pulled his leg up and pressed his foot up to his knee. "We need strategy."

"I know," I said. "We need something worth learning to help us stay alive."

Winchester nodded. "Okay, you all remember last year, right?"

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah. The old abandoned neighborhood? That was freaky."

Winchester nodded. "Exactly. The whole point of it was to weed out the tributes who were scared of the dark, or afraid of things lurking behind corners. That's what got the boy from our District.

"The girl was scared but not scared enough to give up and wait to die like he did. She fought until she thought she was over her fears. And then…"

I shivered at what those terrible kids from District 1 did to her. Cut off the head of his dead body and hung it by the neck on a rope and lowered it down in her face when she turned a corner, just to make her scream so she wouldn't hear the boy sneaking up on her from behind.

I was so upset when they stumbled upon the body before the craft could take it away. That rarely happens.

"How can we prevent that? How can we prevent giving into something that we're in control of, not them?" Jeremy asked.

Winchester sighed. "I don't know. I didn't have to do that."

"Well, we'll be okay," I said. "They won't do the same area twice. It's not exciting anymore."

"That's what I'm hoping," he said quietly.

"Well, what advice do you have for us first?" Jeremy asked.

"How about we start with a very important thing that I messed up on: Don't overlook the weaker competition. That girl from eleven almost killed me. And the girl from five nearly choked me to death. They have just about as great a chance as winning as you two do. I'm not saying don't be scared of the Careers; I'm saying don't forget about the others." He finished and stared both of us in the eyes, turning from one to the other.

"What's next on the agenda of life saving advice?" I asked seriously.

"I'd say getting sponsors…"

Isn't it so nice how they're meeting tons of friends along the way? ;)

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! For once, I didn't end in thoughts! That's a mini-victory on my part. XD!

Thanks for Reading!