*Tanner's POV*
The food was getting cold. We all sat waiting for Lystra, but she wasn't showing up. I blinked at everyone for a moment, then said,
"Well, I suppose she's not coming."
And, with that, we began to eat. The food, as usual, was delicious, but I didn't pay much attention to the taste. My mind was with Lystra. Where was she? What had she done for the Gamemakers? Could it really have been that bad?
I shivered slightly, because I knew it could have been.
It had taken awhile for my turn with the Gamemakers, and when I was walking in, I found the camouflage station blocked off, and something on the floor covered up. Out of curiosity, I had stepped towards it, but the Gamemakers had barked at me, and I had stepped back. They had seemed pretty jumpy.
Then I had examined the stations around me, thinking of what I should do. I expected the Gamemakers to be watching me like hawks, but instead, not an eye was on me. I kept glancing at them, hoping to find them watching, but they were too busy whispering to care about me. I found it just as insulting as Lystra had (I figured that out later). So insulted that I simply left, without doing anything for them.
The most hilarious and infuriating part was that they hadn't even noticed I was leaving. How long it took them to figure it out I don't know. I didn't stay and watch.
I had come back up to floor 11, wanting to talk to Lystra (odd how that made me so nervous), but she hadn't been there. Now, at dinner, she was still absent. I was more worried about her than you could imagine.
As the meal concluded, Kayton began to wring her hands, and Emerald checked her clock, and shared a gaze with Vincent. "Well," Emerald said "we'll just have to see what the Gamemakers think without her."
And so we sat down in front of the television, waiting for it to light up with the Capitol seal and play the anthem. I watched, wide eyed, and the results were played before me. They were done on a scale of 1 (being the worst) to 12 (being the best).
*Because so many of these tributes are submitted from people online, I'm putting all of the scores below according to district, girl first*
Elvatorix Fox – 6
Colin Shoemaker – 3
Carrie Rippet – 11
Armondo Rippet – 10
Luna Garcia – 5
Nicholas Atom – 4
Rayne Issa – 9
Peter Sumlen – 2
Illana Rainflower – 6
Percy Stein – 5
Fallen Surk – 3
Steven Kent – 5
Mazie Skiprose (aka Nich ;) – 11
Julius Adams – 4
Totsie Griffensong – 7
Tomas Bard – 4
Salena Flamel – 5
Carter James – 2
Echo Griffensong – 6
Satch Collins – 7
Lystra Fay Gull – 12
Tanner Lawson – 11
Lillibet Haldson – 8
Spade – 12
*Back to Tanner's POV*
I stared at the screen as it went black. I had gotten an 11? How? I had walked out on the Gamemakers – I should have gotten a zero, not an 11! And what had Lystra done to get a twelve – she must have gone crazy with the knives! I looked down at the numbers I'd scrawled on a page of Lystra's notebooks. That homeless boy from twelve that dug graves – Spade – he'd gotten a 12 too . . . interesting . . .
And the siblings from two had gotten an 11 and a 10 . . . and Mazie too had gotten an eleven . . . and Rayne had gotten a nine . . . I wanted Mazie and Rayne as allies, but I couldn't leave Lystra – not for the world. Never.
Maybe Spade would be a good ally, too.
I nodded at the paper once, and looked at Emerald, Vincent, and everybody else. They congratulated me on my eleven, and I smiled. Then I went to my bedroom, waiting until the building was quiet, and it was midnight once more. And then, praying that she would be there, and dressed in black, I headed to Lystra's room, to go with her to another meeting with Mazie.
I had to convince her to join Mazie's alliance. Surely now she saw why we had to.
If we didn't, we'd die.
Well, we'd probably die anyway.
But at least this way we'll die for a cause.