Feral waited with the other tributes outside the Training Center. She watched the time slowly ticked away on the clock as they waited for their turn in the private session. The Game Makers watched them while they trained with the other tributes, yes, but their final score depended mostly on how they preformed in their private session. Each one could last from twenty minutes to an hour long.

Merchan, who sat on her right, looked totally calm as he waited for his private session, as did the Careers. Jenn sat there nervously twiddling her thumbs and Tinn tapped his foot on the cement floor. Rowan ran his hands through his beautiful black hair. Zephyr, whose shoulder Feral was leaning her head on, whispered poems in her ear as they sat anxiously.

When Merchan finally stood up, he strode courageously into the Training Center and Feral watched as the doors closed behind him. She swallowed nervously and buried her face in Zephyr's shirt. She felt weird, being with him like that when she was supposed to be with Rowan. But there was a bond between them, she wasn't sure if it was just friendship or more then that, and he was a comfort to her, one that she wouldn't be able to have for much longer. The next day, they would be sent into the arena and would be enemies.

Finally, it was her turn. She rose to her feet and slowly made her way to the door. She cast one last glance at Zephyr before pushing the doors open and stepping into the Training Center. It looked the same as it always did, except it was empty of its tributes. Most of the instructors were gone, except the ones that manned the Gauntlet course. She headed there first, dashing from start to finish on the obstacle course in record time, just one second shorter then the high score that Rivera held.

She glanced at the Game Makers. They scribbled things madly on their notepads and sipped from wine glasses. Feral felt back for District Twelve; by the time it was their turn the Game Makers would be drunk and utterly tired of watching tributes try to show off for them.

She made her way over to archery and picked up her favorite bow and quiver filled with arrows. She took aim and hit the bull's eye on the first try. After hitting eight more in a row she glanced at the Game Makers again. They wore unreadable masks, which got on her nerves.

Suddenly she had an idea. She had promised Eve that she would go on the ropes course and climb as well. She slung the arrow over her shoulder and darted over to the ropes course. She had caught the attention of the Game Makers and all eyes were on her. Using climbing skills that she had been homing since she was little, Feral had reached the top of the ropes course in less than thirty seconds. By the scribbling the Game Makers were doing it had to be impressive. Her next move was dangerous by itself, but she was determined. Slipping her legs through the ropes and letting go with her arms, Feral hung upside-down and pulled an arrow out of the quiver which she had set on the top of the ropes. Taking careful aim and shooting from a distance she had never even attempted to shoot from before, Feral was risking a lot. She let the arrow fly. She closed her eyes and slowly opened them. She was amazed when she saw that her arrow had lodged itself right on the target. She hung herself right-side-up again and slung the quiver back over her shoulder with one hand. She climbed down from the ropes course and was trying to think of something else impressive to do when one of the Game Makers spoke.

"You are dismissed," He said plainly. No you did great; no you got a certain number of points, just a dismissal. Feral hated having to wait; it made her anxious and jumpy. But she simply nodded, a foxy smile alight on her face, and trotted out of the room. She headed up to the District Seven floor alone and didn't meet up with Eve until she got off the elevator.

"How'd you do?" she asked. Feral thought for a second.

"I did alright," she nodded, patting Eve on the shoulder. She didn't want to say what she really thought, which was that she did amazing, in case the Game Makers gave her a really low score for some reason. The rest of the day dragged by excruciatingly slowly, making Feral want to bang her head on a table. She wanted desperately to know what her score was, and what the other tributes' scores were.

She took an early shower so that she could watch the show where they announced the scores. She was in love with the showers she got in the Capitol and dreaded having to go back home if she won and only be able to take baths, where if you wanted hot water you had to boil it yourself. She loved having the warm water flowing over her skin, like it could wash away all her troubles. But not even the Capitol showers could wash away the Hunger Games.

When she got out she was just in time to see the show. Caesar Flickerman sat at a desk in his dark green wig, grinning wildly. "Welcome, ladies and gentleman," He said. "To the announcing of the tribute scores! Now earlier today the tributes all went into their private sessions in the Training Center to show the Game Makers what they can do. Now is the time that we all find out!"

A picture of Chance came up first and after a brief description of him from Caesar a number came up under his photo… nine. Spark's picture appeared with the number nine written down below it as well. The girl from District Two got a six while the boy got a five. Portrait, the twelve-year-old girl from District Three, got a six while her partner, Teck, got a ten that made Feral twirl her hair ferociously.

Up came District Four. River scored a nine, making Feral's anxiety grew for some reason. Rowan scored an eight, and Caesar described him as being "attractive and romantic to a T". Hera got a ten and Feral began to wonder if the high scores would ever end. But they did of course, with the District Five male tribute scoring a four. Jenn scored a seven, and Feral wondered what she had done to get it.

"Pour Tinn," She breathed when his picture came up with a zero beneath it. Without anyone to guide him, he couldn't see anywhere, so there had been nothing he could do. Even if he had someone to show him where to go he couldn't do anything in the Training Center, it all required vision.

Finally it was Feral's turn and she almost shook in nervousness as her picture slowly appeared on the screen. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation, desperately wanting to know what she had earned. A number slowly appeared on the screen and Feral had to rub her eyes to make sure she was reading it right…

Eleven

Her mouth dropped open and she blinked repeatedly. Even Caesar sounded surprised when he read the number off. Everyone loved the Fox Tribute, as Caesar called her, because of her slyness and the tribute love triangle. No one had actually expected her to do that good, certainly not better then the Careers.

The rest of the tributes seemed to come and fade away without Feral really noticing, although she heard and remembered the scores. Merchan got a nine that Feral had been expecting. The female tribute from District Eight got a three, and Zephyr got a seven. From Nine, Ari got a seven and Angelin got an eight. The girl from Ten got a seven and the boy got an eight. The team from Eleven got a five and a six. The girl from District Twelve got a six while the boy got a seven.

When the show flicked off all went silent. No one really said anything; instead they all just stared at a blank screen. Feral figured it would flick back to life any minute and say they had made a mistake with the scores that she hadn't gotten the highest score of that year's Hunger Games.

But it never did.

Instead she sat there for almost an hour, staring at the TV and mulling things over. The Game Makers thought she had the best chance of winning, but that couldn't have been right. In the Training Center it was easy to shoot dummies. In the real Games those dummies would be the other tributes and she couldn't kill a person. It was against her nature.