I felt betrayed. It was stupid. For me to have been betrayed would have implied that Kaldur'ahm and I trusted each other. Trust wasn't part of the agreement. Never had been. We were tributes. One or both of us would die in the arena, and if our luck was bad enough, it would be at the hands of the other.

And yet this boy kept myself and my sister fed, for no apparent reason other than kindness. He'd not once brought it up since. Was that why I couldn't help but feel trust towards him?

But, hey, we could get to stop pretending like we gave a damn about the other. And it was about damn time to. The Games would begin in two days, and trust would just be an unnecessary and avoidable weakness in the arena. Whatever had triggered Kaldur'ahm's decision- probably me having outdone him in training- I should have been happy about, because it meant that he'd finally accepted the fact that one or both of us might be going home.

So all in all it was irrelevant.

"Great," I'd said. "What's our new schedule gonna be then?"

Dinah answered "You'll both have four hours with me for presentation, and four with Oliver for content. You'll start with me Artemis."

I couldn't have imagined what Dinah would be teaching me that would take four hours, but she had me working down to the last minute. She took me to my room where a dress and shoes waited. The dress was plain, a soft material, sleeveless, floor-length, and the shoes were high-heeled. Dinah had me put them on before the fun started.

The shoes sucked worst of all. I had never worn anything like them before. I doubt any girl in the Seam had. I was basically wobbling around the room on the balls of my feet. The dress was another kind of problem. I was terrified of catching the hem and tripping myself, so, of course, I gathered the fabric around my hips in my hands and held it there.

And then when I mastered the art of walking, there was the art of sitting, posture, eye contact, hand gestures, and smiling.

At least I had Dinah instead of Queen Bee. She never snapped at me like I know Queen Bee would have. She simply pointed out what I did wrong and helped me fix it. For example, "Not above the ankles. These people consider it a crime up there with the likes of murder." when I had to hold the dress up. We only stopped when it was time for dinner.

Kaldur'ahm and Oliver were both in pretty good moods, so I thought the content session would be an improvement over presentation.

I was wrong.

The minute Oliver took me into the sitting room, he stared at me frowning. I tried to be polite, but finally I had to ask "What?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how we're going to present you. Will you be charming? Tough? Aloof? So far you're shining like the sun and moon together. You volunteered to save your sister. Zatanna made you unforgettable. You got the top training score. The masses are intrigued, but they don't know who you are. And the impression you make tomorrow will decide exactly what I can get you in terms of sponsors."

It was true. From all the tribute interviews I'd seen, I knew it was. You get a lot of favor when you appeal to the crowd.

"What's Kaldur'ahm's approach? Or can I not ask?"

"Likeable. He's got a shy kinda charm the ladies will appeal to, and a self-deprecating humor the guys will appreciate. While you radiate sullenness and hostility in all your waking hours."

I was kinda proud of that, honestly. I knew Jade and Roy would. But our damn deal hung over my head.

Oliver played the role of the audience. And I tried. I tried so hard to pretend that I wanted these people, these sick twisted souls that would be betting on my life however the tides turned in the arena, to like me.

An hour and fifty questions later, Oliver sighed and said "That's enough for now." I got the feeling I didn't make a good impression. It didn't put me in a very good mood.

The next morning, it wasn't Dinah but instead my prep team who were hanging over me. My lessons with the Queen's were over. That day I belonged to Zatanna. She was my only hope. If she could have made me look spectacular, then maybe no one would care about what came out of my mouth.

Whisper, Megan, and Ivy worked on me until late in the afternoon, doing things that made my skin glow like silk, tattooed patterns on my arms, stenciled and then painted in flame designs on my twenty perfect nails. Then Whisper went to work on my hair, weaving red ribbons into a pattern that began at me right ear wrapped around my head and then in a single braid down my left shoulder.

They erased my features with a layer of flesh toned makeup, then drew them back out. My eyes seemed huge and deeply set, my lips full and bold red, my lashes threw off bits of light when I blinked. Eventually they covered my whole body in a powder that made me shimmer in gold dust.

Then Zatanna came in with what was probably my dress, but I couldn't see it because it was in an opaque white bag. "Close your eyes," Zatanna told me.

The dress felt like silk when they slipped it over my head. And then, when it had settled around me, I felt the full weight of it. If it wasn't forty pounds then I'm a queen. I held Megan's hand for dear life as I stepped into the shoes, a pair of heels that were, thankfully, only an inch or two high. There was some adjusting and fidgeting, a little whispering back and forth. Then silence.

"Alright dear. Open your eyes."

I looked into the mirror and was shocked. The prep team thought it was a good shocked. It wasn't.

The dress was totally covered in jewels, yellow and red and white with hints of blue that accented the tips of the flame designs. The smallest movement gave the impression I was engulfed in fire. I say 'I' like it was me I saw in the mirror. It wasn't.

Whoever that was in the mirror was beautiful. She was transcendent. I was not beautiful. I was not transcendent. Not by any stretch of imagination.

"Thanks."

Though the team started gushing over it, only Zatanna's face maintained a cool mask of disbelief.

Oh my boss. She's sweet but I'm pretty sure she's killed me.