Chapter Two

Being back in the Capitol does horrible things for my sleep pattern. I barely slept at all last night. By the fourth time of waking up screaming from nightmares, I decided to get out of bed. It's now 4:00AM, and I'm up before everyone else so I decided to get a cup of tea. The tea glides smoothing down my throat warming my insides as I look over the Capitol. I only get to enjoy the peace for a moment before panic starts to rise up within me. I'm only 17 years old, and I'm supposed to help two children murder other children? I don't even know how I survived; I have no idea how I'm supposed to help them survive. Then, like lightning, my mind silences. I hear a noise coming from behind me. A very soft noise that only a hunter would hear. I smile, because I know who it is.

"You're very quiet, Louisa," I say very delicately.

"Yeah, I had to be around my house. Do you think it will help me in the arena?"

Then a blast of a voice comes from the darkness of the hallway.

"It will be tremendous help in the arena. Don't you ever underestimate the power of being quiet and stealthy, got it?" Haymitch can be really intimidating sometimes, but Louisa seems to be taking it well.

"Yes sir," she says as she heads to the dining room for breakfast.

I snicker to myself at the fact that she just called Haymitch sir. He whips his head back at me and tries to give me a mean glare, which only makes me laugh more. I'm glad I've gotten close to Haymitch, this time last year I would have never laughed at him.

Noah is shoveling food into his mouth, much like how I did when I first came to the Capitol. Effie is sitting at the end of the table looking absolutely disgusted by Noah's eating habits. Reluctantly, I break the silence.

"Alright, so it's your first day of training. Haymitch told me last year not to show anyone your skills, whatever they may be. What.. Exactly are your skills?" I ask with hesitation.

"We already know that you're light on your feet, Louisa. Anything else you can do?" Haymitch adds.

She looks up from her meal slowly and closes her lips tightly together, like she's thinking.

"Well.. I'm uh, I'm pretty good at gymnastics. It's something the women in my family have done since before the first rebellion," she says, in a way that makes me think she doesn't actually want to say it.

"Oh! I love gymnastics!" Effie chimes in.

Haymitch looks confused. I don't think he actually knows what gymnastics is. I don't really expect him to, though. The only reason I know is because Madge was pretty good at it, too.

"Alright boy, so what can you do? We can see your strong, but what sets you apart?" Haymitch says in a very fatherly tone, which was odd.

Noah stops eating for a moment and raises his head.

"I'm a good shot. I can hit the bulls-eye almost every time. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as I can throw it.

I lift my eyebrows and look to Haymitch, who has an equally surprised look on his face. We don't get much more time with the kids before their stylist teams come in. While Noah and Louisa are getting ready for training, I slip into some black pants and a red top that Cinna set out for me last night. I come out of my room just as Effie is about to take them to the training room.

"Remember, don't show them your skills, leave that for the Gamemakers to see. Go to survival stations, you'll need those the most," I offer as some last minute advice.

They both nod, then the elevator doors close. Now it's just Haymitch and I in the apartment. I'm not quite sure what to do now. I can hear Haymitch in his room, so I decide to wait for him to tell me what to do. It's odd just sitting here. I feel like I should be going down to the training center with them. Haymitch's loud footsteps interrupt my thoughts. To my surprise, he is dressed rather nicely. Khaki slacks and a brown vest over a cream-colored button down dress shirt with brown leather shoes. I guess my face contorted into a surprised look because Haymitch rolls his eyes at me. He grabs his coat then heads for the elevator.

"Well get the hell in, sweetheart," he says from inside the elevator.

I don't ask any questions. I just get off the coach and rush in with the doors closing right behind me. He must be able to tell that I'm confused because he speaks up.

"We're going to the sponsor's lounge. The kids need sponsors and it's our job to help get them some. It's easy. All you have to do is tell them how great Noah and Louisa are."

I start feeling extremely nervous. Sure, it might be easy for a half drunken 40-year-old man to convince sponsors, but it wont be easy for me. I hate talking to people I don't know. I especially hate making myself look vulnerable. On the walk to lounge I try and sort out my priorities. Children's lives are much more important than my phobia of talking to strangers. Plus, I've gotten pretty good at the whole talking-to-people-I don't-know thing. Being a victor tends to force you to do that. I take a deep breath as Haymitch opens the door to the lounge.

It's noisy, extremely noisy. There are tons of people talking to one another.

"Our tribute is the best."

"I can promise you they will win."

"Choose our district and you wont regret it."

I look around trying to take in my surroundings. There are pictures of each tribute projected onto the walls. One mentor is standing by the pictures of their tributes; The other mentor, I'm assuming, is walking around talking to sponsors. You can tell the sponsors apart from the mentors simply by the way they're dressed. The sponsors are all Capitol citizens. They're brightly dressed; some wearing hats, some wearing shiny shoes or coats. All of the women have wigs on, and all of the men are in vibrantly colored suites. I follow Haymitch over to the pictures of Noah and Louisa.

"Look, just stay here and if any sponsors come around tell them how great our kids are this year. It's that simple. Think you can handle that, sweeheart?" Haymitch declares.

I nodd nervously, then he walks off. Not many sponsors are coming by the pictures, so I relax a bit.

"So you have two children being mentored by a drunk and a girl who got lucky in the arena. Wow, the odds are definitely in their favor," a sneering voice says from my left side.

I don't even have to turn my head to look, I know who it is.

"Look Cato, why don't you just back the hell off?" I try to say in an intimidating voice, but I haven't yet mastered how to do that.

So I look up at him and give him the look I give Gale whenever he's pissing me off.

"Oh, fire girl, you are so feisty," he utters through a cocky, crooked smile.

I don't understand why he's even talking to me. Sure, I won, but usually Careers don't speak to outlying districts no matter what the case. I know one thing for sure, though: I don't like being called feisty. So I lower my voice to almost a whisper.

"Call me feisty again and we will have a big problem. Got it?"

He chuckles then swaggers off.

Why is he giving me such a hard time? I haven't seen him talking to any other mentors, except the one with him. I don't understand it and since I don't understand I'm pushing it to the back of my mind. I'll deal with that later. Now I have to try and get sponsors for the kids.