A/N: Hey everyone; I know it took me almost a month to update this story, but I forgot how very difficult it is to write in the insight of first person. But I've finally got chapter five down. Tell me what you think?
The morning we're to go to the training center for the first day, I feel as if my stomach has turned itself inside out. I sit at the table in the middle of the apartment we're staying in, picking at my food with my fork absentmindedly.
Last night, I slept in the nicest bed that I have ever known. Its sheets were velvet and the mattress had to have been stuffed with goose feathers, it was so soft. The pillows smelled of vanilla, and everything meld against my body perfectly. I'd had the best shower of my life, my hair feeling like silk from the soaps I used. It was like a place of dreams, and yet I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried.
My mind kept circulating with thoughts of President Cronus' words and images of Plutus as he lay draped across the kitchen table bleeding to death. We'd used the best herbs we knew of to try to take the pain away; resorted to burning the flesh closed to keep the blood inside of him. None of it had worked. It took Plutus three days to die, and by the end of it he had been begging for life to end. If the blood loss had not taken him when it did, I was considering giving him nightshade berries to give my poor brother mercy.
I'd like to blame Cronus for my brother's death. I'd like to blame the entire Capital, too. But I know it's not just them. It's all of us. Every single citizen of this nation that lets the Capital play us like pawns in a game of chess. If we were to stand up, innocent boys would not be whipped in the street for having a mind of their own. Innocent children would not be thrown into a ring to fight to the death. Being a murderer would not venerate you a God.
In all republics, murder is punished with death. But not for the Victor of the Divinity Games. No, they murder and they are praised. It's sick and twisted, but no one would dare say that. Not if we want to keep our heads, anyways.
So I didn't sleep, and now I can't eat. It's a shame, too. The table is full of gooey cinnamon rolls, dripping with frosting. There's pomegranates too, my favorite. I sigh forlornly at them, trying to take bites but my stomach turns to knots.
Prometheus can tell I'm nervous. He eyes me wearily from across the table where he drinks his coffee and eats his toast, reading a morning paper that one of the servants brought in from the Capital. "You'll be fine," he says after a moment, setting the paper down in favor of taking out a cigarette. "Try some new stuff. Learn as much as you can before you go in."
"What if I'm no good at anything?"
He smirks. "Never know until you try."
The moment I make it down to the training center, I've got Artemis and Apollo's arms around me. The latter has a black eyes, just like Atlas was worried about, but it doesn't seem to faze him as he gives me a flirty smile and says, "Atlas said we shouldn't show the alliance in the open, but at least this way the Demigods will know you're spoken for. Besides, that old fart barely knows what he's talking about most of the time." Artemis giving me a reassuring smile to accompany her twin's words.
"I don't think anyone would want to ally with me anyways," I say, blushing under their touch.
"You never know," says Artemis. "Maybe you're full of surprises!"
The first thing they do is drag me over to the archery range with them. I don't even know how to hold the bow properly, but Artemis and Apollo, they hit the bull's eye every time. I can see the startled looks from the Demigods, who all stand in herds at various stations. At one point Artemis smirks over at her twin and calls that she bets she can split his arrow right down the middle. He says she's on, which causes the girl to grin and take aim. Sure enough, the head of her arrow slices straight down the quick of Apollo's, sticking into the bull's eye with a splitting crack.
"Told ya' so," Artemis grins at her twin, who just shoves her in the shoulder and laughs. "What about you, Kore? What do you want to do next?"
I shrug my shoulders at them, saying I think I'm just going to walk around and see what all there is to do for a while. They nod, telling me to join them at the obstacle course later if I want, and head off in its direction. I watch them go before turning toward the combat station to my left, freezing up at the glare a male tribute standing there is giving me. I'm pretty sure he's from Dyo, golden skinned and golden haired with dark scars marring one side of his face.
Not wanting to hold his gaze any longer, I quickly move over to the station to my right, which happens to be the wildlife identification station. It's full of archives of books about plants and animals, some of which you have to look at a picture and guess which species it is and what it does. I'm surprised when I bend down to one of the lower shelves there and spy a head of chestnut curls through the slits in the book.
Curiously, I move to the other side of the shelf and find little Hesita from Dódeka sitting there, a book split open in her lap. "Hello," I say, startling her as she nearly jumps up and gives off a small yelp.
"Um…hello," she says back, keeping her posture rigid.
"I'm Kore," I say, giving her my friendliest smile. I'd feel awful if I scared her off. "From Énteka."
"Oh, I know," Hestia says, seeming to calm a little. "You looked real pretty in the parade yesterday."
"Thank you," I say, and gesture to the spot next to her. "Do you mind if I sit?" She shakes her head, and so I gingerly sit down by her. "You looked very lovely yourself. I liked your cape; it looked really neat flying out behind you."
"I was afraid it was really on fire for a moment," she admits, giving me a nervous smile full of crooked teeth. She's missing one of her front ones, and it makes my heart ache to realize how much of a child she still is. "I like fire though, so maybe it woulda been cool if it was."
"I like fire, too," I say earnestly. "Especially in the winter when it gets chilly." I make a shivering motion and wrap my arms around myself goofily.
Hestia laughs, nearly leaning into my side as she relaxes completely. "You're a lot nicer than the other tributes."
"Really?" I ask, but it isn't surprising. "What about your cousin; hasn't he been watching out for you?"
"Oh yeah!" she says enthusiastically. "Hades is real protective, but one of the mentors at the sword station called him over and wanted him to show her somethin', so I came over here to read. I don't really know much about any of these plants though…"
"I can teach you," I say. I know if Prometheus was here he'd be glowering at me, but I don't much care. "My mom's really good with plants, so I know a lot."
"I'd like that," Hestia says shyly, and it's so much like Despoina that I'd let her kill me in the arena, if she asked.
"Okay, well this one," I say, motioning to a plant with pointed leaves and stems full of small red blooms found in clusters printed on the page, "is called a castor plant. It is very dangerous. If you try to eat the seeds from it, it will kill you in two days. You don't want to touch them, at all."
"I heard about a boy in our republic once that died because he ate some castor seeds. Everyone said it was a real bad death."
"It can be very painful," I nod. "But now it won't happen to you, because you know better, right." I bump her shoulder with mine and try to give her a smile, to which she laughs at. I point to the next picture on the page, with round, shining blackberries. "That's called belladonna. It's a bad plant too. Sometimes they call it nightshade, because it makes you sleep forever."
"You mean it kills you too?" Hestia asks, brown eyes wide and innocently frightened.
"Yes," I say. "But this one," I set my finger on the image of a branch full of brown clusters with yellow strip petals flying out of them, "it's called witch hazel."
"The one Hecate used as a symbol!" Hestia says eagerly.
Hecate Soteira was one of the first winners of Republic Dódeka, back when the Games began. She was very intelligent and crafty, using different concoctions of the plants in the arena to not only disable her competitors, but create smokescreens to get away and remedies to cure pains. She was named Goddess of witchcraft, because the creativity of everything she did could only be described as such. After winning her games she returned back to her republic and became a renowned doctor of natural remedies.
"Very good!" I say to Hestia encouragingly. She's smart for a kid her age; most twelve year olds know nothing of past victors. Sometimes it can really come in handy to take their past experience and use it, when in the arena and you need an idea to help yourself out. "Do you know what it does?"
"It helps with aches and pains, right?" she asks.
"Yeah," I say. "It can also take down swelling. So if you hurt something in the arena and it starts to puff up, and there's witch hazel anywhere near, smash it down into a sort of paste. You can put it on the wound, and then wrap it up and it should help with the pain and tenderness.
"I remember once, my older brother fractured his wrist, but he had to work in the fields the next day, which you have to use your hands a lot for. My mom put some witch hazel on his wrist, and a splint, and this way it didn't hurt while he was working."
"You have an older brother?" Hestia asks curiously.
My smile turns soft then, sad. "Yeah, but he passed away last year."
"I'm real sorry," Hestia says, putting a small hand on my arm.
"It's okay, sweetie," I say to her, patting her hand. "Do you have any siblings?"
She shakes her head, curls bouncing. "Just my cousins. Hades has three sisters, but they're kinda mean." Hestia wrinkles her nose, then lets her expression soften into a fond smile. "But I like Hades. He's real nice."
"I'm glad," I say, not wanting to respond with anything else because Hades hadn't seemed real nice when he'd been glaring at me during the parade yesterday. "I have a little sister and a brother too, back home. They're going to be watching us in the Games."
"Really?" Hestia asked, seeming intrigued. "What're their names?"
"Well, my sister, who's about your age– her name's Despoina. And my baby brother's name is Arion. He'll be three this summer."
"Cool!" Hestia says. "I like babies. They're nice."
"They are," I agree with her. "He's pretty cute, and really likes horses, or as he calls them, 'orsies, because he can't pronounce the word yet."
Hestia giggles at that, and I'm left smiling tenderly at her until suddenly there's a figure at my side, really tall and really intimidating as he says, "Hestia, what are you doin'?"
The little girl looks up, her eyes wide and guiltless. "Kore was teachin' me about plants!" she says excitedly. "She's real smart, Hades."
I try to give the boy my best 'I-meant-no-harm' kind of look, but he simply glares at me and snorts before saying, "Come on, Hestia. I want to show ya how to set a snare."
"Can Kore come with?" Hestia asks.
I look between her hopeful face and Hades' renewed scowl. "That's okay, sweetie," I say to her. "I have to go talk to my friends anyways. I said I'd meet them at the obstacle course."
Her face falls slightly, but she nods. "Okay. I'll see you later though, right?"
"Sure," I say to placate her.
With one last grin at me, Hestia gets up and walks past Hades towards the survival skills unit, a bounce in her step; she's a special girl, to still be hopeful when in less than a week she'll be fighting for her life.
Sighing, I look after a moment before turning my attention back to Hades, who is still standing above me, eyeing my frame wearily. "I don't get what you're playing at, Énteka" he finally says.
I can't keep the shock from registering on my face, or the anger. "My name is Kore. And I'm not playing at anything," I say with a frown, getting to my feet and looking him in the eye. I won't cower under his intimidating stare. "I just told her not to eat some nightshade; excuse me for wanting to keep the poor kid safe. Now if you'll please move."
Hades crosses his arms over his chest and raises a defiant eyebrow. "Make me, Kore."
With a blatant scoff, I brush past him and don't look back, cheeks heating as I realize that was probably a really stupid thing to do. I've probably unintentionally made a new enemy. Everyone's your enemy anyways, I try to tell myself. Even Artemis and Apollo, eventually.
I keep walking in their direction though, toward the obstacle course. When I get there, it's to see Artemis hanging upside down in some climbing ropes with Apollo holding onto her ankle to keep her from falling head-first to the floor. "Boy, that was some sexual tension right there," she says as I step up to them.
"What?" I ask, completely ignorant to her meaning.
"You and that kid from Dódeka; I thought you were gonna kiss or something."
"It looked like they'd be doing a lot more than kissing, sister," Apollo winks and gives her ankle a little shake.
She kicks up with the foot he isn't holding and snags him in the thigh, making Apollo curse but he doesn't drop her. "Not all of us are as perverse as you, dear brother."
"Whatever, you're just grumpy because you've never gotten any."
"Any what?" I ask, glancing back and forth between the two.
Artemis and Apollo share a momentary look, then turn their eyes on me. "Oh, Kore honey," Apollo says. "No wonder everyone's calling you the Maiden."
"They're already calling me that?" I hiss.
"Prometheus and Atlas work fast," Artemis says, grabbing hold of the ropes she's eye-level with and not even having to tell Apollo to let go of her feet before he does and she makes an elegant flip onto the ground, landing in a crouch in front of me.
Apollo jumps down next, rising from the mat with a flourish. "They're already calling us the Archer Twins."
"Gods," I say.
"Our mentors know what they're doing," Artemis shrugs.
"I'll bet," I murmur, and follow after the twins to the knife throwing station with a shake of my head.
I'd imagine Prometheus already has bets for my virginity ranking in too, then. The thought makes me cringe, and when I throw my first knife at the dummies in front of me, I aim for its groin, just to let the steam off.
Artemis, Apollo and I end up eating lunch together, Artemis scarfing down sweet rolls and Apollo jokingly poking her in the side and telling her she's getting flabby. "Look who's talking," Artemis says, smacking him in the head. "You're on your third cheese bun already."
"A man needs sustenance," Apollo says, puffing out his chest.
"Yeah, well so does a woman," Artemis says, sticking out her tongue which still has sugar crumbs on it. "Isn't that right, Kore?"
I nod, mouth too full to speak. Personally, I'm already on my second piece of this fabulous bun covered in cheese, meats and vegetables like olives and mushrooms and peppers. I've eaten ten extra-large strawberries already, too.
"Easy for Kore to say though. Girl's got all kinds of curves she's gotta keep intact," Apollo says, making an hourglass figure with his hands.
"Perv," Artemis says, smacking him again as I blush and continue to stuff bread in my mouth.
It's when I'm moving onto my third piece I notice Pan coming from the buffet line and looking around for a place to sit. Everyone knows that joining the table of Demigods is out of the question. Hestia and Hades are sitting together alone at a table in the corner of the room, and everyone else is still getting lunch.
"Pan!" I call, catching the boy's attention and motioning him over to our table.
"Kore," Artemis and Apollo hiss. "We're not supposed to talk to him."
"He's just sitting with us," I whisper back, turning to give Pan a smile as he takes the seat next to mine. The table is round and there are still two chairs left, but if he took one farther away he'd be sitting by Artemis and Apollo and I'm sure he's weary to do such a thing. "Hi, Pan," I say softly.
He stares at his tray, which is full of sweet breads and– I kind of want to giggle– bacon. I guess he really liked it when I gave him some on the train. "Hi," he says, voice a bit of a bleak squeak.
He talked! I look to Artemis and Apollo excitedly, but they're simply staring at Pan suspiciously, turning to each other to give soft whispers and throwing me worried expressions. I roll my eyes and ignore them, taking quiet bites like Pan starts to until suddenly a chair pulls out at my side and a small, blonde girl sits down in it, hiding her face.
"Who are you?" Apollo asks a bit harshly, and Artemis elbows him in the ribs.
"Her name's Hebe," she says, giving the girl a welcoming look. "Republic Októ, right?"
The girl looks up, round, blue eyes frightened as she nods.
"How come you aren't sitting with the other tribute from your republic?" Apollo questions, his tone having turned a bit softer.
For her part, Hebe looks a little embarrassed. She opens her mouth, closes it, opens it again. "He isn't very nice, and everyone else said I can't sit with them." By everyone else, we all know she means the middle districts, which are made up of mostly older teens, where Hebe herself looks like she couldn't be more than twelve.
"How old are you, Hebe?" I ask, just to quench my curiosity.
"Fourteen," she says, her voice so demure the answer seems false, but why would she lie about it?
"Well, it's nice to meet you," I say. "I'm Kore, and that's Artemis and Apollo, and this is Pan."
"Hi," Hebe says, a bit less anxious. "You're all from Énteka and Ennéa, right…?" Everyone at the table nods, even Pan. "Nice to meet you."
"You too," we all say, except Pan who just stuffs his mouth with a bite of butter roll.
Everyone begins to eat again after that, silent and hungry after hours of training. We've got at least another twenty minutes left of lunch break, and then we'll go back into the training center for another five hours before being able to go to our republic apartments and rest for the night.
I'm considering going up and getting fourths of that stuffed bread when Apollo clears his throat. "So is it just me, or does anyone else not have any idea what the tributes from the other republics' names are?"
"Dódeka is Hades and Hestia," I say before I can stop myself.
"Of course you'd know his name," Artemis winks, causing a deep blush to spread down to my collarbones. It isn't that I like the boy– he's infuriating– but she's insinuating I do and it's embarrassing.
"The boy from my republic's name is Phobos," Hebe says, taking a bite of some weird concoction made of noodles and a white sauce. "The ones from Eptá are Cratos and Chione, I think…"
"Déka is Hypnos and Theia," Pan squeaks. His voice sounds like the high notes of a pan pipe, and I'm suddenly very aware of where he must have gotten his name from.
"I think that brute from Dyo's name is Ares or something," Artemis says, causing me to cringe. "You alright, Kore?"
"Yeah," I say. "It's just… he was glaring at me this morning and I don't know why."
"Beats me," Apollo shrugs. "I mean, you looked hot at the parade last night and all, but it wasn't as if you had rapt attention from everyone. Most tributes are pretty even in the favorites polls right now; Atlas made us watch them this morning."
"Except the male from Tría; he's lame in one leg so no one thinks he has a chance," Artemis says, her expression growing grim. "It's strange, considering he's from the Demigod district."
"I saw him working in the electronics unit this morning," Hebe says softly. "One of the mentors told him if he connected some wires together, he'd blow everyone in the room up, and he just smiled at her and said he knew. It was kinda scary…"
Artemis, Apollo and I share a look, and I can see that Pan has paused in his veracious eating for a minute, before resuming, only a bit slower this time. "Do you think he'll dig up the land minds, if he lives past the bloodbath?" Artemis asks aloud.
"The ones around the cornucopia?" Hebe asks curiously.
"Yeah," Apollo says. "There was a tribute in the forty-third Games who did something like that. His name was Menoitious, I think. He didn't win or anything, but he blew up a good few tributes. He was from Tría too."
We're all silent again for a moment, each of us finishing off our lunches and staring at the empty trays. For such small things, both Hebe and Pan can pack away a good bit of food. For Pan it's easy to believe with how poor his family must be back in our republic. Hebe is considerably skinny herself, even though I've heard Októ manages pretty well in the nourishment department. Then again, with the negligence of the Capital, I shouldn't be surprised that even the well-to-do republics are still starving.
"Hey, Kore, don't look now," Artemis says, smirking at me. "But that Hades kid is staring at you."
I blink at her, and even though she expressly said not to look, I can't help myself. Turning my head in the direction of the table Hades and Hestia sit at, I peek at them from under my eyelashes. Hestia is nibbling away at a peach, but Hades' eyes are on me, just as Artemis said. Our gazes connect, and I see something in his I can't quite decipher before I can no longer hold my nerve and look away, heat creeping up my cheeks.
"Don't get too attached, little maiden," Apollo warns. "You might just have to kill him in the arena."
"Yeah, I know," I say, because I do. But that doesn't mean I want to.