WHY CRESSIDA TURNED REBEL
Chapter 5 Preps and Parades
Andromeda was asleep when Cressida went to talk to her, and Cressida decided to let her stay that way. The next day, when they were just a few kilometers from the Capitol, she and Bunyan both tackled her. It would be the last time for a private conversation until they got to their rooms at the Training Center that night.
Andromeda confirmed that she knew how to use a lasoo, and gave an exciting description of roping a calf from horseback. But the suggestion that she could lasso another tribute in order to kill him or her shocked her. Bunyan lost his cool at that point.
"These are the Hunger Games. Life or Death. If you have a weapon or technique available that could give you an advantage, you need to use it."
"Or die," finished Andromeda.
"Yes, or die," said Bunyan, satisfied that Andromeda seemed to have absorbed his message of what was at stake. But Cressida heard an undertone in Andromeda's voice and wondered whether the girl meant something else.
That dying might be preferable to some other things.
They pulled through the tunnel and into the Capitol railway station. As Cressida expected, there was a huge crowd of thrill-seekers waiting to see them. Sam looked pleased at the attention he was getting. He didn't know that the crowds showed up to gawk at all the tributes, even the losers from District 12.
Peacekeepers guided them into a car that had been reserved for District 10. As they sped through the Capitol, Cressida was relieved to be back home, and Bunyan seemed to be looking forward to having fun when not tied up with the Hunger Games. To her surprise, neither of the teens seemed fascinated by the size and luxury of the city.
At the Prep Center, Cressida and Bunyan turned their charges over to their prep teams and stylists. Before setting out to the Training Center, where they would meet up with the tributes after the parade, they stopped in the lobby to look at pictures of this year's Tributes. The girls' pictures were on the right-hand wall and the boys' on the left.
"Humph," said Bunyan drily. "Looks like District 1 wins the beauty contest. But maybe she's just a pretty face."
Cressida looked at Miss District 1 and swore. "No. She's NOT just a pretty face. She's formidable."
"You know her?"
"Look at her name."
"Cashmere Golding. Wait, last year's winner was named Gloss Golding, and HE was from District 1 – "
"That's his sister. They interviewed her last year when it looked like Gloss was going to win the Games, and I saw the tape while working on the documentary. She makes a good impression, and reading between the lines, I suspect she's from that secret training Academy nobody is supposed to know about. Plus Gloss probably gave her pointers himself." She skipped mentioning the lurid rumor that Cashmere might have actually slept with her brother at least once. That might be mere slander, the sort of thing the Capitol fans deplored and ate up.
"I don't think there has ever been two siblings in the Games before. The odds of the Lottery turning up that way are ridiculous."
"In District 1 they volunteer."
"Right. Still, the PR people are going to eat it up, and we still don't have a decent spin for our people—"
"Pardon me, are you the escort for District 10?" asked a young man, suddenly walking up. "We've got problems. The girl won't undress."
Cressida followed him to the prep area and through the curtains marked with a 10. In spite of the man's complaints, Cressida was standing nearly naked, except for a rather large brassiere. She looked embarrassed and angry. "I've been measured for blouses and jeans before, and they've never had to look at my breasts to see how to fit them! Shaving my hair down there was humiliating enough!"
An older woman, presumably the stylist started to talk about the Capitol's superior technology and how it could measure body shape. Cressida waved her quiet.
"You get out," Cressida ordered the stupid young man, "OK, Andromeda, we're all women now, and we've got breasts of our own. Could you show us?"
"Not like mine," mumbled Andromeda, undoing the brassiere.
"Ulp," said Cressida.
"What happened?" asked the stylist.
"Got thrown against a post falling off a horse several years ago. Tore a big gash in my right breast, as you can see, and my ribs were worse off. Naturally I hate for people to see it. Satisfied?"
"Um," said the stylist. "All right, we can work around the scar. Definitely no low necklines. If you win the Games, you can probably get a plastic surgeon to fix it."
"Not bloody likely." The British expression had been picked up in North America over the centuries and was now common in Panem. "I'm going to DIE, and I can't even keep my dignity before I die!"
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Cressida and Bunyan watched the parade from a window in the Training Center, with the other mentors and escorts. When the District 10 chariot came up, with Sam and Andromeda in glorified cowboy costumes, Cressida noted that the stylist had done a good job of dressing her. But to be frank, Cashmere was already the star of the parade, having been in the leading District 1 chariot. None of the followers could catch up with her literally or figuratively.
The pair went down to the courtyard afterward and made their way through the horses and chariots. Sam was standing by his chariot in his cowboy outfit.
"But where's Andromeda?" asked Cressida.
"Ran off." Sam sat curtly.
"WHAT? Why didn't you stop her?" demanded Bunyan.
"Why should I? If she manages to get away, more power to her. If they catch and kill her, at least that's one less person I have to fight in the Games."
Bunyan and Cressida stared at each other. "At least she can't go far," Cressida said hopefully. "She's too noticeable in that outfit.
"Nope," said Sam. "She got a cloak from a Capitol fangirl, giving her the fancy cowboy hat in return. The girl wanted a souvenir from the parade." He seemed to be enjoying himself. He may not have liked Andromeda that much, but he certainly sympathized with her running off and making fools of the Capitol security.
"Go up to the suite on the 10th floor," ordered Bunyan. "Don't tell anybody that she's disappeared."
"OK. Will they be serving a fancy dinner?"
"Yes!"
"Good. I can eat a lot in peace for a change." He went off toward the elevators.
"What'll we do?" said Cressida, getting panicky. They were supposedly in charge of the girl, and would be punished severely if she got away.
"Use logic," said Bunyan. "She's in utterly unknown territory, from her point of view. She's only seen two places in the flesh – the railway station, and the Prep Center. The station's too far away, but the Prep Center will have something she would consider very valuable – horses. Not all of them are used in the parade. Let's look for her there"
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A half-an-hour later they were in the stables for the show horses at the Prep Center. Being from District 10 the livestock district, and a Victor, Bunyan was able to get them in, pretending that he wanted to admire the facilities and show them to Cressida. It sounded lame to Cressida – they didn't look luxurious by Capitol standards, and the smell of manure was making her feel sick, but the excuse worked.
Cressida was feeling like dead weight; Bunyan was doing all the sleuthing. Most of the stalls were empty because the parade horses had not been brought back; those that did hold horses obviously did not hold girls. Finally they found a stall which seemed to be devoted to storing bales of hay. But Bunyan saw something suspicious, and within seconds he pulled Andromeda from behind the stack. He threw her against the side of the stall and slapped her soundly on her bottom.
"Ow!" the girl cried.
"Hey!" Cressida protested.
"You think that hurts?" Now that they had found the girl, he was free to be angry, very angry. "The punishment for a tribute running away is two dozen lashes. If that happens, you're going to start the games in pain and with considerable blood loss, and you're not going to last very long. What were you thinking?"
"I thought I could escape on a horse!"
"Wouldn't have worked. These horses are muttations; they're bred to memorize and follow certain paths, not obey the commands of riders. And even if you got the horse under control, this isn't your hometown in District 10; a girl riding a horse down a street of the Capitol is going to attract attention. The only way to save you from a flogging now is to somehow smuggle you back into the Training center, one of the most tightly guarded buildings in the Center."
Finally Cressida had a bright idea. "You can pass her off as me."
"What?"
"I'm a substitute for the usual escort, so the guards in the Training Center don't know me. They've seen me exactly once, during all the hurly-burly surrounding the parade. Here's my ID. It doesn't have my picture, so Andromeda can use it."
Bunyan looked at the girl clinically. "She's got that silly Capitol hairdo that the stylist gave her, and she can put that Capitol-made cloak back on, so she can pass as a native. Maybe too young to look like an escort, but a lot of Capitol women do try to look much younger than their age. We can give it a try. How do I get your ID back to you?"
"Meet me in the restaurant across from the Training Center, say 21:00 tonight."
"And where will you be in the meantime?"
"There's somebody I need to talk to."
The original escort for District 10
TO BE CONTINUED