The morning comes slowly.
But not slowly enough.
The blinds fly open at the same time as the door opens. Angel the rest of the style team rush in. They are all talking rapidly about hair and clothing, yet the fact that Mako and I are both in the same bed together does not come up in conversation.
"Come on, Miss Ariel," says Flound, one of the team members. "We don't have much time to get ready!"
I manage to grab a hold of the sheets and cover myself with them as the team yanks me out of bed. They don't even give me time to say goodbye to Mako before they pull me out of the room and into a waiting hovercraft. I get onto a ladder and a current glues me too the rungs as Flound comes up to me with a syringe, injecting me with the tracking device.
"Angel slept in late," says Flound. "So we're a bit pressed for time."
No kidding.
They scrub me down and dress me in what looks like the most complicated outfit I have ever seen in the Games.
But you never know what will happen during the Quarter Quell. My heart leaps to the sky as I find myself wearing a wet suit, with two tanks of oxygen and a scuba mask and everything, but no shoes or flippers. No big deal for me, but God help those who can't swim
But wait, are we going to be in water? What if it's something else?"
I am still wearing the bracelet Mako gave me. I suppose it is my District token. But wait! The shark tooth necklace! I never got to give it to Mako! Damn these idiot stylists! Haven't they ever heard of an alarm clock?
"We're here," says Angel. "Good luck."
I am lowered by the same ladder into the room below the arena. I see Finnick there waiting for me. Annie must be with Mako. I am offered a table load of food, but I don't eat much. I know you can get cramps if you swim directly after eating. But then who am I to judge just by my costume what my arena will be like. Then it hits me.
I'm still a Career. Mako isn't. I start to panic as I am pushed onto the platform that will transport me into the arena. Finnick approaches me and holds me arms to calm me down.
"Ariel, Ariel," he says. "You have to listen to me, because I won't repeat myself." I calm down. "You are damn lucky you can swim. I am not admitting anything, nor am I apologizing. But I will say this: Swim fast hard, and fight hard. You're a career. Killing is no longer just self-defence."
"What about Mako?" I protest. "I can't kill him. And he's not a career. What do-"
I am cut off from Finnick when the plastic tube comes down around me. But instead of excelling upward, I accelerate forward through two sliding doors into the arena.
Below me is cool, rippling water, splashing up against my metal plate. It is crystal clear and I can see the Cornucopia submerged, the items orbiting it in bubbles of air.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" cries Plutarch Heavsbea. "Let the One-Hundredth Hunger Games begin!"
I see I am a good distance from the other tributes. There is a head of long, bright, red hair. That must be the girl from District 5. I can also make out Aid's tiny frame and platinum hair, also another tribute I don't know. I'm not sure how much time has passed, but all I know is that I need to get to the Cornucopia. Fast.
The gong goes off and I don't waste any time. I dive into the water, swimming as fast as I can. I can make out the items that orbit the golden horn. There are a lot of weapons: Swords knives, spears, tridents.
A harpoon gun!
My heart nearly pounds out of my chest as I head for it. Then I notice there are also extra tanks of oxygen floating around. Should I take one?
I don't have enough time though because I can see other tributes swimming towards me. Their scuba masks make it hard to recognize them, but then I see Scalpel's red streaked hair as he approaches. He pops one of the bubbles and grabs a spear and then pops another to get a large bottle of water.
Duh, this is all salt water. I follow his idea and go for a bottle then a backpack, which is surprisingly water resistant. By now, Garnet is here and has already killed someone by breaking their neck. The body floats upward past another approaching tribute, and then I see even more coming. They aren't kicking much though. How are they moving so quickly? I grab the harpoon gun that orbits by me and I poise myself for anyone who comes for me.
"Ariel!"
I hear my name, but it sounds like it is coming through an old speaker. I see Sapphire with her finger pressed to the side of her mask and then I hear her voice.
"Watch your back!" she says. I turn to see a large tribute propel towards me with a knife. Then a blur swims past me and the tribute's oxygen tank starts spewing bubbles. He starts to panic and then aid swims up from underneath with a knife and slashes his throat open. Blood melts into the water, obscuring my vision, even as the tribute floats upward. I turn back to the Cornucopia and two more bodies leak blood into the water.
"Careful!" Aid says shrilly. I now understand the communication system in the scuba gear.
The bloodbath has few people in it, but when I look up, I see why. Some tributes are still struggling with swimming. When I look back a few more tributes are swimming away from the bloodbath, and that is when I see two tiny propellers, each on the bottom of their oxygen tanks. That is how they reached the Cornucopia so quickly, but why couldn't I figure that out?
"Ariel, focus!" says Scalpel, pulling his spear out of the neck of another tribute. At first I think the literal bloodbath is over, but then Garnet starts to swim upward towards the other tributes.
On no! He's going to kill the ones who are struggling. Sapphire, Aid, and Scalpel follow him, leaving me floating amongst the remaining supplies, clutching to my harpoon gun and bag.
It suddenly occurs to me that I have not seen Mako at all since the Games have begun. I look, only to see I am surrounded by a cylinder of walls. Every so often I see a few dark caves. Below me, far below me, I can just barely make out the floor of the arena, but it splits at one point and plummets into the dark as a trench. The arena is not extremely wide, but it is very deep. I put two and two together.
The Gamemakers have put us in a giant fish tank, which is a lot more frightening then it sounds. I am wrenched from my thoughts when Sapphire and Aid return to my side asking me what is wrong. I locate the button on the side of my scuba mask and press down.
"Just getting supplies," I say, reaching out for a passing backpack and handing it to Aid. My face is humid and sweaty from the tightly sealed mask.
"There had better be somewhere that is on land," says Garnet, coming down from his killing spree.
"Let's try a cave," I suggest. "There's bound to be an air pocket or something."
Or someone.