Chapter 10 – The Performance

After the many training sessions they had been given, it was time for Lily and Albus to show off their skills to the Gamemakers, who would then give them a score out of 12. Before they were due down, Blight and Johanna sat with them in the 7th floor apartment to see if they could offer any advice.

'So tell me,' Johanna enquired, 'what exactly can you two do?'

'I can use a bow and arrow,' replied Lily.

'When you say "use", do you mean you're good with one?' Johanna asked further.

'Well, yeah, I guess. I can usually hit the target.'

'You can hit the target, eh?' Johanna taunted. 'Wow, aren't you something special?'

Lily was getting agitated; she didn't need this right now. 'I mean, I do hit the target! Every time, in fact! If I aim there, it will go there, alright?'

Johanna sat back and let a grin creep across her face. 'That's what I was looking for. If you want to impress the Gamemakers, you can't say you might do something or you'll try to do something. You have to do that something, and make it the best something you've ever done. Ever.'

Blight took a sip of coffee and turned to his counterpart. 'That wasn't exactly your method, was it?'

'No, I guess not,' Johanna responded. 'But I could do that because I was so very amazing, and if either of these two are as good as I was, and still am, then my words of advice don't matter. So,' she said, turning to Albus and Lily, 'if you are actually very vicious and fierce, then you should consider hiding it, and giving everyone a surprise when you rip apart your fellow tributes.'

Albus and Lily stared blankly back at her, lost for words. Johanna was being humorous, it seemed, but at the same time she was giving out a very frightening aura, as though the idea that she might just care about them was pretence and that she was void of emotion, save anger, as many people said she was. The four all talked for a little while more, determining the talents of the two Potters, until they had to go sit patiently and wait for their turn at impressing the Gamemakers.

Being from District 7, Albus and Lily would have their turn near the middle of all the others. The very middle spot, of course, belonged to Tait and Etta, a pair who had become probably the strongest allies with the Potters, which wasn't that tricky, since their only other allies were Hayley and Cole from 3. Tait still seemed to have his reservations about making friends, but the power of Etta meant that his complaints didn't change much in the end. The four of them sat together and chatted calmly while they waited, predicting what scores they would receive.

'I don't know quite how well I'll do,' said Etta. 'I'm alright with most things, but just alright. I'd say my best bet is with the flail, but it's not much good if someone starts throwing knives at me.' At this, Etta remembered about the particular knife-thrower who had sworn that Tait would know her vengeance as soon as he possibly could. She quickly turned to Tait. 'Not that I'm saying anyone is going to throw knives at us.'

Tait looked at the ground, evidently still shaken by Olida's threat. 'You're good with a bow, aren't you?' asked Lily kindly.

'Not that good,' responded Tait feebly, 'and not good at all compared to Olida and her knives.'

'Well, just come find us,' she replied happily. 'We'll keep you safe from her, won't we?' She turned to Albus.

'Sure, of course,' he said. 'I'm not half bad with a sword.'

'Does that mean you're not half good either?' retorted Tait.

Albus thought back to that morning with Johanna. 'Actually, I'd say I'm good with a sword; great, in fact. Heck, I'd probably even give Dynamo a run for his money!'

'Don't push it,' Tait interjected. 'We have seen you train, you know. You may be not bad, but your not Career level good.'

'I find that quite offensive frankly,' said Etta. 'Why do you have to be a Career to be good at this? I mean, look at Lily. She's a natural with a bow and she's probably never even been near one before in Seven. Even Albus, awesome with a sword, when I'm guessing he's only been able to use an axe before.'

Etta was presuming that Albus and Lily were just your everyday citizens of District 7, which wasn't quite correct, but they didn't think to correct her. Soon after that, it was Tait's turn to impress the Gamemakers, so he rose and started walking.

'Knock 'em dead,' called Etta after him.

He tittered. 'Not a bad idea.' With that, he left them.

Etta sighed. 'I'm all out of ideas. I've tried everything I can with him, but he just doesn't care anymore. Should I be his babysitter in the arena, or should I just let us go different ways?'

'Well,' answered Albus, after a short pause, 'he doesn't seem to care all that much about it, so I wouldn't worry about going out of your way to look after him.'

'Ah,' laughed Etta in a rather sad way, 'the thing is, despite his lack of care, I care. About him. A lot.'

Albus and Lily smiled at each other. 'No, not in the way you're thinking,' added Etta quickly. 'You really think someone as aggressive and crazy like me could be distracted by a crush?'

'You're not aggressive, or crazy,' said Lily in her usual kind way.

'Well, we'll just have to wait and see' Etta said, smiling kindly. 'Anyway, no, I'm not in love with Tait, but I do care about him. You see,' she whispered, leaning in closer, 'we're related. He's my half-brother, only he doesn't know it. He thinks his mom is dead, that she went crazy for morphling, but she's alive and lives with me. She did go crazy for morphling, but didn't die, only got pregnant. Well, someone made her pregnant, but I digress. Nine months later, a beautiful baby boy was born and unceremoniously dumped on his father who then raised him to believe his mother died when he was only little. At this time, his older sister was being brought up to know the whole truth; she had a brother who she could never meet. Only she did, because they were reaped together. My mom told me when she visited me that it's Tait who is my tragic sibling, which is why I have been very eager to protect him. So yeah, that's pretty much it.'

Albus and Lily looked back stunned, their dropped jaws and wide eyes mirroring their feelings of total shock and surprise.

'I'm guessing that was pretty unexpected. Well, now you know, but don't tell Tait. Oh look, it's my time to go and play with a flail. Wish me luck.'

'Not that you'll need it,' responded Albus, digging deep to find the ability to say something. Etta smiled appreciatively at him, then went away to go and "play", walking slowly as if she was in no apparent rush.