Here we are at last. The next chapter will be the start of the Games, and I hope you're all as excited as I am! Thank you, all you dear readers, for supporting me and continuing to be patient even when it takes me months to hammer out a chapter. And now, without further ado...

Fun Fact of the Chapter: The deadpan snarker of a District Nine escort, Bobby, was named after the protagonist of the musical "Company", music and lyrics by (who else?) Stephen Sondheim.

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Twelve.

Riley Rynne stares up at her ceiling, wide-eyed and unmoving, willing herself to be brave for what might be the last time. She thinks of Danielle and for a moment she is strong and fearless, but then a memory flashes in her mind and she automatically flinches, feeling the whip of a lash on her back from so many years ago. At least the Games won't be as painful as what I've been through, she thinks. She might be right. But she's probably wrong.

Kirby Knightly dreams of a world that is too good to be true. It is a world of abundant food and endless meadows of surpassing beauty, a world where peace and joy and justice prevail and Fawn Rivers is alive and well. A song comes to his mind, a lullaby, one of the old songs of his district, and he and Fawn embrace. They live into old age together without the threat of the Hunger Games tearing them or their family apart. Yes, this dream is far too good to be true, but at least Kirby is content.

…..

Eleven.

Caprice Alexander is pacing, unable to sleep, thoughts running at hundreds of miles an hour. A noise comes from the door and immediately she grabs a pen from the desk top and holds it like a knife, poised to throw. Damn. She throws the pen against the ground and sits on the edge of her bed, head in hands. Inhale, exhale. Try to calm down. She remembers the words that she said to her parents at the Reaping and once again asserts that she will not—cannot—let these Games change her into something she's not. And she's not a killer.

Cameron Ray knows that he should be trying to get rest, seeing that this is the night before the Games, but he can't help himself. His mentor somehow managed to get a hand on the recap of Cameron's father's Games, rather unceremoniously handing the tape to Cameron with a "Here. Watch up." And now he can't tear his eyes away from the screen and the 18-year-old boy from District Eleven. On day three of the Games, Christopher Ray and his allies from Three ran into the Career pack and were slaughtered. A classic Hunger Games death. Like father, like son, Cameron thinks glumly, switching off the TV screen. He tries to pretend that he has a better chance than that, but he knows he's deluding himself. He climbs into bed and falls into a troubled sleep, dreaming about his family and his home.

…..

Ten.

Chantelle Jacobsen sits on her bed, wide awake, and tries not to think about what or who she's got left back in District Ten. Instead, she turns her thoughts to the days ahead and all the rules people have been giving her. Ally with your district partner. Do everything you can to win, but make sure the Capitol likes you. 24 go in and only one can come out, and there's lots of murder along the way. Chantelle's lips twist into a bitter smirk. They can force her to play by the rules, but they can't make her put on a show for them.

Anderson Birk has always thought that nighttime was the loneliest and scariest time of the day. Not just because it's dark—he sees darkness all the time, that's nothing new—but because of the stillness. No one talks during the night. Everyone's settling down and going to sleep. Anderson has always relied on his hearing and nighttime is the only time that the sense fails him. Here in the Training Center on the night before the Games, there is complete and utter silence. Nothing for him to rely on except touch and his own thoughts. And at the time right before he falls asleep, when his mind and the sensation in his fingers are muted, it's like there's absolutely nothing. On this night, Anderson wonders if this is what death feels like.

…..

Nine.

Jace Latone decides that since she cannot sleep, she might as well enjoy the view and leaves her bedroom in favor of the common room, with its wall-sized window looking over the Capitol. Her eyes survey the area and find that her district partner has apparently had the same thought. Great. She seats herself on the other end of the couch. For a while, there is nothing but silence—normally the kind of atmosphere that Jace would be most comfortable in—but a question slips out of her mouth without her realization. "Why do you speak out?" she asks. "Why do you draw attention to yourself by raging against the unfairness of this all? There's nothing we can do about it. You're just asking for trouble."

Noaa Carpenter takes in her words as he fingers the folded-up sheet of paper in his pocket. He's confused by her, this silent district partner of his, and yet he pities her. She obviously doesn't know how much more fulfilling it is, when you're going off to die, to be able to believe in something and stand up for what you believe in. Noaa has had his life cut short by the Capitol, but he's not going to let them steal his voice. A fragment of his forbidden poem floats to the surface of his mind: Somebody force me to care... to help us survive being alive, being alive, being alive...

…..

Eight.

Sometime during the past few days, Parker Bates gave up on optimism. Why try to see only the bright side when the darkness is approaching? Sure, optimism had helped her to cope with the shock of the reaping, but that's over and done with now. She's going to the arena in a couple of hours, and in the arena optimism doesn't do you any good. So instead, Parker Bates decides that she is going to be a protector. She'll protect little Mary and do everything she can to save an innocent life, because Parker can't bear to think of anyone going into that arena without someone who cares by their side.

Yon Trizzle was told to go to sleep, so he's asleep. The part of his mind that isn't dreaming is running over the instructions he's been given for the Games. From Thera: "Come back home." From his mentor: "At the Cornucopia, grab the nearest thing to you then run away as fast as you can." From the Head Gamemaker: "As soon as you get into that arena, you kill as many people as you can, and then go away before they catch you so that you can kill more people the next day." From Liya the interviewer: "I'm sure you'll do everything you can to win these Games, won't you, Yon?" All he has are these instructions, and he will follow them. He's a good boy, after all. He does what he's told.

…..

Seven.

Bri Geers knows, deep inside of her, that her reasoning is faulty, that Emily Raine is innocent and doesn't deserve to be punished for her uncle's crime. Even if she justified it by saying that she's making Spark go through the same hell she did when she lost her father, it still wouldn't be right. Besides, Emily would most likely have died anyway, without Bri's help, so Spark would still have felt the pain. So why do it, then? Why be Artemis or Nemesis, hunting down someone to exact revenge upon? Angrily, she brushes these doubts aside. Her days are numbered. She might as while do something worthwhile with them.

Che Botill has never laughed himself to sleep before, but he figures this is the last opportunity he'll get in a long, long time. Everyone on the floor who can hear him must think he's weak or insane—either way, hopeless in the Games. Maybe he is. But Che doesn't want to think things like that. Laughing , even if it's borderline hysteria, gives him hope, strength, warmth. He'd rather laugh than cry any day. And this is the last chance he'll have to feel something warm in a long, long time.

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Six.

In Neetamarie Telva's nightmares, butterflies carry poison. People are suddenly transformed into monsters, and Mary has to play hide-and-seek with them or else she'll die. A voltage machine falls from the sky and she tries to warn her allies (her friends) to run, but they can't hear her. She tries to pull them out of the way, but she's too little and frankly too insignificant to make a difference. As she's screaming at them, they all get crushed by a giant piece of metal with a Capitol seal on it, and Mary wakes up terrified.

Eadem Ordinaria listens to the clock chime midnight in a daze somewhere in between waking and sleeping. He reflects on the days past and the days to come. He knows he's steadily growing unstable, his behavior erratic and dangerous not only to himself but to others. This doesn't frighten him as much as he thinks it would. What truly frightens him, though, is the idea of being normal. Not just because of his mother, but because in the Hunger Games, to be normal is to be dead and forgotten and those are two things that Eadem is terrifiedof being. Dead and forgotten. No, he'll be crazy and free instead.

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Five.

Her father's voice echoes in Teagan Stratus's mind as she relives the most frightening day of her life. "People are coming for us. For your mother and me. They don't know about you and your older sister...they can't know about you. You need to get get away." Then come the screams and the gunshots and the tunnels and Teagan wants to wake up, she needs to, but she's trapped in this hell for what seems like an eternity. The Capitol commentators say that the girl from Five's been running ever since she got picked for the Games. Teagan knows it's been far longer than that.

At night, Veras Valdez likes to let his mind rest. He knows, of course, that he won't be able to do this in the arena, since Careers and muttations tend to hunt at night. However, seeing as this is quite possibly his last opportunity to do so, he indulges himself and lets go of every single guard he's put up since the reaping and the beginning of the Games. His thoughts run free and wander into the until now forbidden territory of emotions, wishes, hopes, dreams, nightmares. And as Veras sleeps, he doesn't even realize that he's sobbing in terror.

…..

Four.

Carreen Haggerty wakes with the sound of the clock at six in the morning. Immediately she struggles to gain alertness, knowing that she'll have to be mentally as well as physically awake as soon as possible in the arena. Her eyes rest on her bracelet of seashells, the one Cedric had given her after the reaping. "I was going to give it to you on our six-month anniversary," he had said. "But that would happen during the games." For the first time, Carreen questions why she volunteered in the first place. I'm barely even a Career, much less qualified to lead the pack! And now I might never see Cedric again... She shakes her head firmly and walks over to the window to watch the sun rise.

Gabriel Maddox eases himself awake, at lest partially to delay the sudden revelation that this is it, this is the day of the Games and the inevitable fear that comes with it. Most of the time, he's able to keep it under control, but in the morning, right when he wakes up, the nasty mix of shock and panic hits him like a ton of bricks. They can't be allowed to see that, he reminds himself with a shiver. The other tributes, the Careers, they can't know that I'm afraid. And Mom and Dad and Irene and Keefe and Creston and Wave and Mer... I won't let them see it either. A mysterious little smile creeps onto his face. Gabriel Maddox was always good at pretending he was completely okay.

…..

Three.

Thalia Trinket seals the large manila envelope her mentor had found for her and writes on the front in thick black pen with her neatest handwriting. From the mind of Thalia Trinket, District Three. She puts her district on there because she's proud of where she comes from and she wants the Capitol to know it. The inside of the envelope is stuffed to the brim with pages of equations, sketches, inventions, visions, dreams for a better Panem that runs on clockwork. This is her masterpiece, the legacy that she will leave behind. She isn't afraid of dying, not really. Ideas live forever, and she wants to be one of the ideas that lasts.

Link Anderson eats as much breakfast as he can manage. No use starving himself right before the Games. He's going to need lots of energy and his brain needs to be twice as sharp as it usually is if he wants to get out of the Cornucopia bloodbath alive. His mind is running a hundred miles a minute, going over last-minute calculations and possibilities that he'll need to be prepared for. The arena is waiting for him. He'll be in there in just a few precious hours. There's no time to be frightened.

…..

Two.

Emerald Honeycomb allows herself a small, quiet smirk as the attendant injects the tracker into her arm. Now the Capitol will always know where she is in the arena. But they will never know what she's thinking, and that is her greatest weapon against them. They will know her location but not her plans, dreams, hopes, fears, joys. They will never be able to see behind her mask until she lets them see, and that gives her power, the power she's been craving for so long. Let the Games begin, everyone, she thinks as she wipes the smirk off her face in favor of a foolish grin. Let them begin for real.

Marius Sheer is sitting directly across from the boy from Twelve and can't help but stare at the boy. Kirby Knightly, death seeker. Marius tries but can't understand at all. Kirby's girlfriend died? Well, so did Armen, and Marius isn't asking for a spear to be driven through his chest. There's too much for him to live for. Marius is going to win these Games and live the life that Armen should have lived. Dying for someone who's already dead is just makes both deaths in vain. The boy from Twelve should know that. But then again, he wasn't raised as a Career.

…..

One.

This is Emily Raine's last chance to see any sort of friendly face before the arena takes over her life, so she hugs her uncle tight and doesn't let go. Spark is whispering frantically in her ear, advice and secrets of survival that she is barely listening to. She doesn't want advice. She just wants to be happy, and right now everything in the world seems to be conspiring against her. She tries to fight off tears as her mentor lets go and the plexiglass tube slides down, cutting this unprepared girl off from the outside world. She presses her hand against the tube and whispers, "I'm scared." Spark only closes his eyes and hangs his head in reply.

Luka Saroque grins, fists clenched not in anger but in anticipation. There's no way to go now but up. Up, up and away, up into the arena, up towards his destiny, whatever that might be. Up into a world where the rules of life are just as twisted as his mind, a world in which a psychopath like him will reign supreme. As the platform locks into place and he glances around the arena, his grin widens and he licks his lips. Now is the time he's been waiting for. Now it's his time to shine.

…..

"Listen, Amata. These Games are incredibly important. You know that the reapings were rigged even more so than usual, but I need you to know why. So. I need you to make sure these tributes have been killed by the end of the games. More importantly, make them suffer. Die slowly, in agony. Use your creative brain to think up something even more horrible."

"That should be—pretty easy—to do."

"I thought so."

"Might—I ask—why?"

"Rebellion."

President Aether Shadow knows full well that the Hunger Games are barbaric. They were created to be that way. She also knows that the continued existence of the Games is the fastest way to cause the districts to dissent. Katniss Everdeen and the Second Rebellion proved that. But she also knows that the rebellion can be quelled if the hearts of the people are shattered beyond repair, and that is exactly what she's planning to do.

Six special tributes, special in the sense that their deaths will be the most horrific the Games have ever seen. The six tributes closest to the heart of the coming rebellion. Their deaths will send the rebels a message, loud and clear: the Capitol knows of your existence and the Capitol is not afraid. We are strong. We are powerful. The greatest kindness we can show to you is to kill you all quickly, because we are willing to do absolutely anything to keep things exactly the way we are. We've succeeded for 191 years. We'll continue to succeed for thousands more.

Aether Shadow smiles and knows that the odds will always be in her favor.

Zero.