Although it was busy on the road, we were able to make it to the Tribute Center without any delays. I noticed some cars on the highway didn't have wheels, they were floating half a meter above the asphalt. We didn't have those in District 1, and certainly not in the Main City. Maybe they had them in the richest Districts, like 5 or 9.

Eventually our car stopped. I got out and saw a huge high building in front of me. It was located on a hill, so we had a dazzling view on the enormous city beneath us. The building was surrounded by some sort of garden with strange plants.

'Welcome' Laika said 'we are the first to enter the Tribute home.'

'The first this year' Jess remarked. I knew she was right. Last year, right before the first edition, this building must have been stuffed with children who were all dead now, apart from one. Suddenly the building seemed like a ghost house, haunted by the spirits of 159 dead tributes.

Laika raised an eyebrow, offered Charlotte his arm and dragged her to the entrance. She looked like she was half asleep. I sighed. We probably had to be grateful to have a really nice escort, because our mentor was useless.

The hall was big, empty and white. There were a couple of lifts in the corner. A woman approached us.

'Welcome, District 1. The first, as usual? You're on floor 8 this year.' She said, while putting a tick on a paper sheet in her hand.

'Hi, Tiara. New job?' Laika grinned. The woman, Tiara, looked up and seemed to become afraid. Her lips started to tremble and she turned around. Within a few seconds she had disappeared.

Laika ignored it and pushed us to the lifts. He pressed the button with 8 on it and the doors closed. I felt butterflies in my stomach while the lift moved. After some time the doors opened again and we entered the apartment.

Every room I had visited so far in the Head City had amazed me. Again I was blown away by the huge loft with several staircases and awesome views through huge windows and enough bedrooms for everyone. I slowly walked around while I tried to touch everything. OK, we were tributes, but this was amazing. I had never seen anything like this. Did anyone in District 1 live like his? Probably not. Maybe only the richest of all, like Mrs. Johnson.

'Your bedrooms are upstairs. Choose one, spend the rest of the evening as you like. I will try and see if I can get Charlotte to bed.' Laika announced.

Kara and I ran upstairs and got neighboring rooms. I opened the door and ran into my new and final bedroom. It was a big, airy room with a bed and everything I wanted. The windows were huge. I walked to the glass and stared out of the windows for a while.

We were on the eighth floor, but it was still pretty high. Would it be possible to kill myself by jumping out of the windows? Probably not, there was probably a force field or something.

I took off my clothes and wandered to the big wardrobe. There was a lot in there, including a training suit with the number 1 on the back. Apparently they had already made one for everyone, regardless of your performance in the preliminaries. I shivered by the thought of the preliminaries. I'd rather participate in the Hunger Games than the preliminaries. Last year I didn't see a lot of the New Games, but I did see the preliminaries. The idea of being lost in a maze together with over hundred people wanting to kill you was horrible.

Would there be a maze again this year?

Slowly I walked back to my bed and climbed on it. While I was trying to fall asleep, my fingers were playing with the silk blankets.

I had to win these games. I wanted silk stuff for the rest of my life. I had loads of experience at hand to hand combat, even though I never killed anyone nor used a weapon. How hard could it be? Humans were horrible creatures and one less didn't matter. I stared at the ceiling and felt my eyes were closing.

I woke up when I heard a car. The sound was closer than the vague noise the cars on the highways in the City made all night long. I scratched my head, got out of my bed and wandered to the windows. It was still dark and probably around 4 o'clock. Down at the square in front of the Tribute Center there were two vehicles, the same as the ones we used to get here. I tried to think with my sleepy mind and after a while I realized this had to be the delegates of District 19, who would be second to arrive at the Head City. I stood there for a while and watched a group of girls, five of them, getting out of the cars. They were just like us.

Unlike Panem, where reapings were all held on the same day, the New Continent had decided to spread them over three days, so that every few hours there would be a train so the people wouldn't be bored. District 19 was one of the most far away Districts in East, so these girls must have been on their train for at least two or three days. And they were all going to die.

The idea of the building not being completely deserted apart from us anymore, was a comforting thing. I got into bed again and enjoyed a night without a single dream. Tomorrow I was going to use so much Morphling I would forget everything.

When I woke up, it was sunny in my room. I stretched my legs, opened my eyes and got out of bed. When I realized I was in the Head City, it felt like someone was pushing on my chest. Four days until the preliminaries.

I heard some noises coming from the living room, but I didn't feel like going down to the others. Eventually I decided to take a shower. There were lots of buttons in the cabin – different kinds of foam and scents. I tried them all.

I put something on I had found in my wardrobe and threw my old clothes in a corner. The servants would clean it up.

Jess was watching television in the living room. I rolled my eyes when she looked over her shoulder and I walked to the dining table, where I saw some newspapers. We were on the front page. My pimples were clearly visible, I thought bitterly. Then a small article at the corner of the page caught my eye.

Yesterday night when the delegation of District 1 arrived, one of them, Jess Woods, 16, appeared to have injured her head during the train ride. These incidents are not supposed to happen and that is why there will be an investigation on this one, which possibly could harm the reputation of escort Laika Devon.

I inhaled and exhaled deeply before I put the paper down. Jesus, what was the matter? Then I grinned by the thought of Head City officials blaming Laika for Jess' injury. That would be a good thing for me. I snatched a doughnut from a plate and made my way upstairs again. I started to creep when I approached Charlotte's room. Once I had reached her room I opened the door so carefully no one would be able to hear it.

'Boo' someone whispered. I shook and hit my head against the wall. I saw Kara standing behind me with a big smile on her face.

'You gave me a heart attack, stupid cow!' I murmured.

'What are you going to do?' She asked.

'What do you think? Getting Morphling of course. Otherwise I won't be able to function normally today.'

Charlotte was in a deep sleep when we got into the room. 'I want some too' Kara said.

We crept to the drawers and opened some.

'Here it is' Kara whispered. I walked to her on my toes and saw a drawer stuffed with the stuff we were looking for. I laughed and imagined the free-from-sorrow-feeling we were going to experience in a few moments.

We were able to relax and one way or another we were able to hide our use from Laika and Jess. My pulse was steady and I spent most of the afternoon in front of the television, watching District trains arriving on the train station, one almost every two hours. Most of them weren't really interesting. A mixture of boys, girls and sometimes groups consisting of both. They all seemed nervous like us last night. Seeing those faces was painful. Some of them were really young, maybe thirteen. I was very fearful when I was their age – I was living on the streets and every day was one to survive.

The press was looking forward to the arrival of District 4 tomorrow morning. Everyone wanted to see their tributes and of course last year's winner, Indiana, who would be mentoring these tributes. I was pretty curious too. Last year's games were extravagant and revolutionary. I was wondering if she was still sane after experiencing. Maybe she would get out of that train and turned out to have become a Morphling addict.

The Tribute Center was full of life. Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon we heard footsteps on the ceiling, which meant that District 20 had been assigned the ninth floor. They were all boys, around fourteen years old.

I kept hanging on the couch with Kara, watching an enthusiastic reporter telling us about District 34. It was depressing watching that crap. Rose and Flora were in their room. I felt sorry for them. Maybe I was going to survive the preliminaries, but they certainly were not.

At six we were called for dinner.

When I saw the dishes on the table, I almost got dizzy. Some of them I had never seen before, some of them only in films. When Laika saw my astonished face, he laughed.

There were six of us at the dinner table, because Charlotte wasn't there. I had to remind myself of the fact that the only reason I was able to remain calm was that I was under influence of Morphling. The thought of not having it close was terrifying, but I also felt horrible about stealing it from our mentor.

I put a salad with tiny pink fruits in it on my plate and got my fork. Then I ate it like a farmer would and burped. Kara giggled and Jess seemed uncomfortable.

'Maybe you should take this all seriously' Laika said angrily 'this isn't just a game, ok? Tomorrow we are going to watch uncensored footage of the first games and then you will be deciding what will be your survival tactic!'

His stare was so intense we became frightened. He wasn't our mentor, but still very dedicated to keeping us alive.

I shut up and listened to the other girls' conversation. None of the talking was about the Games.

After dinner we watched TV again. They were expecting District 8. We were so used to seeing tributes arrive it got boring. I felt like hitting something to get rid of my anger.

'Are we allowed in the training center?' I asked Laika.

He shook his head.

'Only if you survive the preliminaries. I for certain can't go in at all times, only Charlotte can, so if you make it to the Games, you'll have to train on your own.'

'Oh, I'll figure something out.' I murmured. Probably not.

I was walking in circles in the living room when I promised myself to survive the preliminaries. I was going to succeed in this task – killing a person wasn't that hard. If it was necessary to save my own life, it would even be a good thing.

I felt a pain in my heart when I realized my win would cost Kara's life. I shivered by the thought of last year's finale.

It was unexpected that two people from the same District had to compete in the finale. Reactions to it were mixed, it was well-received in the Head City but the Districts weren't too happy with it. Two friends who became enemies during the Games fought and Indiana won and Poppy lost. Lovely, in Head City terms.

I pushed the thought away, because the scenario was so unlikely to happen again.

Evening fell and our first day in the Head City had ended. We didn't do anything, but I didn't care. I had my daily dose of Morpling in my veins, which kept me going. Otherwise I would have kicked something, Jess or something

Oh my God it took l-o-n-g before I finally had enough time to put another chapter up! Snowboarding, a debate conference and exam week distracted me from everything related to my story. Sorry for that and all my mistakes this chapter :)