Chapter 9: Save It

I scowl at the table as Jasper chews me out. "I can't believe Clove found you out. What were you thinking, Marvel? Didn't I warn you about being careful?"

I look at him warily. "I know, Jasper. She just… she just knew, I guess."

"That's not a good enough answer," my mentor seethes. "Your cover is blown. Your allies know they can't trust you, not that they could anyway, but they're going to suspect you even more now when it comes to the Games. And you've got Clove on your bad side now. I know you don't like her, but the girl is lethal."

"Really?" I snap. "Because to me she just seems like a little girl who has a small talent with a knife, who only wants attention but actually has no idea what she's doing."

Jasper actually rises out of his chair in his fury. "Lorcae and Jabez Flair are both victors. Maybe they aren't as famous as some of the other victors from District Two, but they didn't escape the Games by chance. They passed on the knowledge of how to win these Games to Clove, undoubtedly, and she clearly knows what she's doing. She knows how to use weapons, she knows how to get to know her allies, and as you found out today, she knows how to judge her competitors. You underestimated the person who is probably going to be your biggest threat in the arena, and you're going to pay a price for that."

Something during this rant, my eyes have lowered and the shame has caught up to me. I'm not sure how I let Clove discover my act… I just know she did. I failed and it could cost me everything.

I look up again as Jasper's tone softens. "Clove is a smart girl. I know you told me she seems childish, but you can't underestimate her of all people. For all you know she could be putting on an act too. But she knows what she's doing."

I nod. "I know," I say quietly.

He sighs. "We're going to have to see what we can salvage of this. If you play this right… if you play this just right, you might be able to fake your way through it. But they're going to take some serious convincing."

I frown, confused. "What do you mean? You said I blew it."

Jasper nods. "Yeah. And you did. But that doesn't mean they think you're brilliant, necessarily. If you play it right, you might be able to pull it off as though you weren't quite inventing a whole new character to be, but rather acting as an exaggeration of your previous self."

I consider this. "I guess you know what you're doing… so I'll trust you."

"It's not up to me," he insists. "This depends on you alone, kid. I can't do anything to help you here."

Resisting the urge to point out that actually, that's his job, I sit still and think about what he's suggested, and whether my allies will believe it.

Zen and Cato, I'm not worried about. I don't think Cato particularly cares about the personality of his allies so long as we listen to him… which is something we'll worry about later, since he doesn't have much opportunity to order us around in training. Zen, I don't think, has a clue what's going on half the time, so he's not a big deal either. The three of us, while I wouldn't say we get along, seem to have some sort of mutual agreement not to overthink everything. Maybe that's our nature, maybe it's a girl thing to read more into every situation than is actually there. Clove certainly fits that stereotype. But I doubt either of them will have a hard time accepting this new, altered act.

Shell appears to have lost it a long time ago, and I'm not sure what to think about that. In my mind, one of two scenarios plays out. In the first, she's so far gone that she doesn't notice a thing, which would of course work out very much in my favor. In the second, more probable scenario, she sees right through me and kills me the second we get into the arena. I'd have to be very careful in order to fool her.

As for Glimmer, well, I know her. Not as well as, say, Em and Di, of course, but better than my other allies, having spent the most time with her. And this is what I know: she hates me. Absolutely, she hates me. And she'll avoid talking to me as much as she possibly can. Having said that, she also knows me better than the tributes from One and Four do, so that could potentially be problematic. But overall, the vibe I get from Glimmer is that when it comes to me, she just really doesn't give a damn. And right now, that's more than I could ask for.

Unfortunately, Clove is another story.

She's not going to buy it for a minute. She'll think it's another ruse, because she's smart, smarter than she lets on. I should have known better than to label her as a child, because obviously she's a lot more prepared for this than I am.

Clove is going to be the biggest obstacle in this new plan. I'll have to be especially wary around her, more so than I should have been already. But maybe… maybe it could work if, when Clove is around, I ease up on the act a bit. Act a little less stupid, play it off as sporadic burst of intelligence, maybe.

It could work.

"Okay," I tell Jasper finally. "I'll give it a shot."

He nods approvingly. "Good. Go to bed, then. Think about it some more. You've got a long day tomorrow, and you can't take private sessions with Gamemakers lightly."

"I know," I say. Because I do. But luckily for me, I've been thinking about what I can do to impress the Gamemakers for years, so I can relax tonight.

"Good. Now go to sleep."

I nod and start heading back to my room, thinking about what we've discussed. I waited until after dinner to confess to Jasper what had happened, both to put off the inevitable fury that he'd unleash upon me and also to make sure there wasn't a chance of Star and Glimmer overhearing.

I'm so lost in those thoughts that I don't even notice she's there until we bump into each other, literally. "Ouch!" she hisses, and my head snaps up.

"Sorry," I whisper to Glimmer. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Neither was I, obviously, or I wouldn't have hit you," she scowls.

"Why are you up?" I ask curiously. She had claimed she was going to bed early after dinner.

She shrugs. "Couldn't sleep."

There's a pause, that sort of awkward pause where it seems as though our brief conversation wasn't quite short enough that it was still acceptable to just nod and walk away at this point, but also not long enough to leave while still being polite.

Not that I'm sure while I'm concerned with manners right now.

"Um, I was just talking with Jasper." I'm not sure why I'm telling her this, either, but what else is there to say. "About our allies, you know."

Glimmer nods. "They're… quite something."

I grin. "That's putting it one way. I was going to say they're all a pain in the ass, but I guess your way works too."

She glares at me. "Oh, grow up," she snaps. "We're going into the arena in just a few days and you're treating it like a joke! Are you capable of taking anything seriously?"

"Nope," I say lightly.

Glimmer sighs in frustration and I'm glad to see that she's clearly not questioning my stupidity yet. Her disdain for me is contributing to this whole situation quite nicely.

"You're awful," she says quietly. "Awful. This really is just a game to you, isn't it? You think it's fun, you're just like them. You have no idea… you have no idea what it's like to actually…" She shakes her head violently and I see the first hints of tears sparkling in her eyes.

"Hey," I say uncertainly. "I didn't mean to…"

"Forget it," she snaps. "You wouldn't give a damn even if I did tell you."

"Sorry," I mumble, knowing it won't make a difference.

Glimmer just frowns at me. "I'm not going to say it's okay. Because it's not. But there's not point in arguing, is there? We're just going to have to kill each other anyway."

I smirk. "That's the spirit."

This actually draws a reluctant giggle from her, and there's another pause. "Well," she says, "I was just going to get a cup of hot chocolate or something before I try to sleep again." Then she tentatively adds, "If you wanted, you could come too."

I consider the offer carefully. Jasper is probably gone by now, back to his own room. There's really no harm, is there? Glimmer and I can't stand each other, for the most part, and one conversation isn't going to change that.

"Sure," I say cautiously. "I'm not really ready to go to sleep anyway."

She nods and we start heading to the dining room, each filling a small much with hot chocolate when we get there. Sitting down across from each other, we quietly sip our drinks.

"What do you think of the others?" she asks eventually.

I make a face. "I don't like them."

She rolls her eyes. "I kind of got that, believe it or not."

I smirk. "They'll be gone in no time. You and me in the final two, Glims. Won't that be interesting?"

"Don't call me that," she snaps, as I knew she would. I snicker.

"Sorry. Couldn't help it."

Apparently getting over it, she says, "I don't really like Zen or Cato, and Shell gives me the creeps. Clove seems okay though."

"Clove?" I splutter, nearly choking on my drink. "You've got to be kidding me."

Glimmer shrugs. "I don't think she's that bad. And it'll be good to have her as an ally, you know. Both her parents are victors, she'll know what she's doing."

"I don't think that makes her all that much more prepared than the rest of us," I argue. "Is it just me, or does she seem kind of naïve to you?"

She looks at me thoughtfully. "I don't think she's naïve, exactly, or childish. I just think she's lived in a very different world than we have."

Surprisingly, this provides more insight for me than Jasper's analysis of her. I nod slowly. "Fair enough."

"You don't want to judge people too harshly before you know their story," she says softly, and I realize there may be a double meaning behind this.

"Are your parents…?" I begin to ask hesitantly.

"They're alive," she says shortly.

"Siblings?"

"None." A short pause. "You?"

"No parents, one sister," I tell her. "And… and someone who's as good as my sister."

Glimmer's lips quirk up in what could be a smile. "I see."

"No, you don't," I chuckle. "No one could see until they've met her."

She shakes her head, amused. "I'll take your word for it. Well," she says, rising from her chair, "I should get to bed. And so should you." I nod and, on cue, stand up as well, and we both start walking back to our rooms.

We reach hers first. "Goodnight," she says quickly.

"Goodnight," I say back, and I turn away and have walked a few steps before she speaks again in a voice that suggests that she's not sure why she's saying anything at all.

"Marvel?"

I look back at her questioningly.

She looks sheepish. "Well… I guess I just wanted to say that, if I don't make it back home… I hope you do. You know, to your sister and… the one who's like your sister." She gives me a half smile, then.

I raise my eyebrows, surprised. "Thanks, Glimmer," I say sincerely. "And… you, too."

She gives a short, sarcastic laugh. "Thanks. It's a very different scenario, though… that would require a long explanation, and…" she gestures to the dark hallway to indicate that we don't have the time right now. "See you tomorrow, Marvel."

"See you," I say quietly, as she steps through and closes her door.

I ponder what she's said until I get back to my own room. A different scenario… she'd mentioned Em and Di. Maybe… maybe she doesn't have anyone to go back to. Except that she said her parents were still alive. I don't know. It's too much to think about right now, too much to think about ever. I'll ask her about it later, if I get a chance, because now I'm curious about her motive for saying what she did.

For now, I just go to sleep. In my last moments awake, though, I'm still thinking about our discussion. Glimmer's an interesting conversationalist, at least. Something changed today. We're not friends. Who would be that stupid, just days before the Games? Speaking of stupid, I didn't do a great job of keeping up that pretense… but the few immature, sarcastic comments I managed to slip in were good enough. No, we're not friends, but I don't think we hate each other exactly. It's more like we're… allies. Not in the way we are with the other four, but something just a bit stronger. I feel like maybe I'd watch her back during a fight and trust her to do the same for me, instead of expecting her to kill me herself. That's not to say that we wouldn't turn on each other later, of course, because in the Hunger Games you can never rule out that possibility. But by the time I fall unconscious, I'm certain that there's a lot more to Glimmer Wingfield than I originally thought.

I know it's been way too long since I updated this and I'm so sorry for that! Thank you guys for continuing to review and for being so patient. I just moved a few days ago and there is literally nothing to do in the TLF - temporary housing before we get our house, that's military life - so I finally just decided that I needed to write this chapter. I've sort of been delaying it because I wasn't sure where to go with the story between this and the Games, but it's great to be writing this again. I hope you guys are still going to read this... I didn't realize until just now how long it took to write. About three hours. :P

Anyway, this was fun to write... this is the beginning of a deeper alliance forming between Marvel and Glimmer, which will be good for both of them since Cato and Clove, the leaders of the pack, have a strong alliance as well. I'm going to try to build on that more in the rest of the story, up until it has to end (for obvious reasons).

So, there's chapter nine. I hope to hear what you thought of it and I'll try to have the next chapter up shortly... I have a lot more time on my hands now that it's summer and the move is over.

Also - and this is IMPORTANT, okay? Please read! I've put up a poll on my page, and if anyone reading this is a Harry Potter fan I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote! It's about a potential story I'm thinking of writing and it would mean a lot if I could get your thoughts on it. Thanks!

To the people who's messages I haven't replied to, I'm so sorry! I've just been short on time and I'll definitely get to those... sorry for the wait! :/

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading and I hope to hear what you thought! (:

~What the Quell