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The Great Reveal

I pass out far too much.

I woke up what felt like seconds later. I was laid in my bath with still my bloody clothes, and Theo was sat on the edge of the bath gently wiping away the blood on my arm with a cloth.

"Whaaaa you doin'?" I slurred, my mind still woozy from the blood loss. He seemed surprised to see me awake but helped prop me up and continued wiping at my arm.

"I heard you scream. Saw you lying in a very scary pool of blood." He chuckled. "If you were trying to commit suicide, you failed. The minute the cuts hit the water, bits of water clung to them and formed watery stitches. Weird as fuck man. But they're mostly healed now, just gotta get rid of the blood." Theo said, never taking his eyes off my wrist. "In my hurry to get here I'm pretty sure I was airborne for a couple of seconds, cool eh?" I turn away from him and look at a point on the wall. I space out and pretend I'm not listening. "So when you're all fixed up, we've had our air time and dinner, I reckon we both practice our new abilities for a bit. Still struggling to control these damn wings, it's like two extra arms. Oh yeah, I'm forgetting I keep getting an urge to eat worms and shit. You have no idea how depressing that is. So first I'm fantasising about like I don't know, lobster, and then my mouth starts to water at the thought of eating like… a maggot infested lobster. Okay I'm over exaggerating, but in all seriousness I don't want to be eating worms when we're eating like kings at the moment in time."

I let him ramble on about meaningless nothings.

He then says something that snaps me out of my trance: "Why did you do it?" Theo looks straight into my eyes, searching for an answer he hopes I'll give him.

"I can't stand to live inside this body." I say, my voice emotionless. And to my shock, Theodoros lets out a big booming laugh that echoes throughout the bathroom.

"You stone-headed idiot! Did you not read the whole pack? If you win, you're turned back to normal!" his body shakes with laughing, his wings shaking along with him and some of the feathers dip into the soapy water. Soon I'm joining in his laughter, and all my previous thoughts have disappeared. I have found my new distraction, I think as I look up to him with a rare, genuine smile.

He continues to scrub all the blood off me, and then leaves me in privacy to strip off the ruined pyjamas and wash myself.

When I return to the bedroom where I expected him to of waited, I see that he has gone. But in his wake he left a bottle of vodka with a note attached saying "Next time you feel like doing that again, come to my room and we'll drink ourselves senseless. –Theo x"

Despite it being immoral and wrong for us to be drinking excessively, I found the note an odd comfort. I hide both possessions in my pillow case, and wait in my wet towel for Ameile to arrive.

By the time she does, all the traces of my cuts are gone and in their wake leave blue silvery lines as scars.

"The colours weird because I'm a stupid mutt." I grumble to myself as Ameile dresses me and does my hair. A difficult task considering it twirls away from her fingers at every opportunity. Eventually though, she managed to lodge in some silver strands of thread into my hair, similar to the ones that I wore to the opening ceremonies.

I was in a gown this time, but not any dress I had ever seen before. It was supposed to be kept simple, as the main focus was to be left looking as my natural mutated self. My dress seemed to be made of some special type of blue seaweed. It was a strapless dress with the strips of seaweed going down the length of it. A belt made of different kinds of seashells lined the waistline, and the whole dress glittered and sparkled. It wasn't a disgusting dress, as I had originally thought when I was first told about it, but incredible. My legs were kept bare, I wore no shoes nor any other accessories. I had little makeup on, only to make me look more attractive. The dust coating my eyes remained the same. My black hair floated and twisted in the air even more wildly, is if in anticipation of something. The new bluish silver scars were left as they were, Ameile thought they were supposed to be there.

I walked backstage and saw a few of my allies were there, all dressed in odd outfits. I went and stood by Theo ie bird boy. He was in a suit made of raven feathers and wore a top hat, he also had a cane with a silver handle in the shape of a bird.

He saw me coming over and groaned loudly, making gagging noises. I punched him in the arm and before we could speak a word the show was starting.

Sunshine was up first. She was dressed in a short black dress that hugged to her newly found curves. Her hair seemed natural, but it had been scraped back to show her face. Her skin wasn't deathly pale anymore, but in fact a tanned bronze colour. Her lips were fuller, cheek bones more defined, her boobs were bigger. You just couldn't take your eyes away from her, it was entrancing. All in all, she had become far more physically attractive.

"So Sunshine," this female interviewer said, her name was Crystal; not anyone I had seen before, "Would you mind telling us about your new mutation?"

Sunshine smiled, and I swear the world stopped. The crowd held their breath, waiting for her to speak. "I'm a siren. I sing when touching someone, and whatever I tell them to do… they do it! It works better with boys though!" She giggled, giving the camera a flirtatious wink. I share a look with Clio. When has Sunshine ever giggled? But all the guys were eating it up, seeming to be under some kind of spell. The interviewer and Sunshine traded some made up scenarios that would be fun and next Iowan is called up.

I didn't know how I didn't notice him before. He was half-man, half-horse. He was about 6ft tall with the torso of the cocky boy he used to be, and the rest of his body was that of a sleek, chestnut brown, matching that of his hair on his head.

He doesn't need to ask what his mutation is. The crowd go wild. For once Iowan looks nervous, but after a minute or so of praise he is back to his cocky-self, trotting round the stage and swishing his tail proudly. Some people never change. Not even if they become part horse apparently.

Next it's me.

I walk out onto the stage and blink at the intense lights. Soon Crystal is in my face and is leading me towards the centre of the stage. I can barely see the crowd because it's so bright. But I can hear their thunderous cheers.

Knowing this is the first time I'll speak to the public, I give a smirk and a wave, hoping to gain a few sponsors from that.

"So, Olivia. You look fabulous!" I nod in acknowledgement and I feel my hair whipping wildly, curling and uncurling. Almost as though it has a mind of its own. "Would you like to tell us what your mutation is?"

I sigh sarcastically. "Well, if you insist." I smirk. "I am a Water Element." I said proudly, however only thinking of how my power would be much better suited to the tributes from District 4.

"And what does that do?" Crystal asks, looking excited.

"Spoilers." I say with a wink. I walk off the stage even though I haven't been dismissed. I hear the crowd going crazy. Of course, the only way to be liked is to keep them guessing and be bitchy as possible.

I give Theo a high five as he passes me on his way onto the stage.

His wings are hidden so as he walks on, there are very few claps.

"So Theodoros Gift! What is your mutation?"

He just looks at her with an expression of such boredom it makes me laugh out loud. With an audible sigh, he slowly extends his wings to their full magnificence. I take in the beauty of it all, all over again. And then, he slowly starts to beat his wings in a rhythmic pattern and rises a few feet off the ground. He looks up at the sky, and I know he is tempted to fly right up out of here. I catch his eye from behind stage and I see his resolve fade. He slowly returns back to the floor and I release my breath that I didn't even know I was holding. The audience is silent as he returns back to the floor, and then they go crazy for him.

"Wow that certainly was something, wasn't it folks?" Said Crystal, her voice tinged with awe and admiration. "What else can you do?"

Theo shrugs. "Not much if I'm honest." And then he does something that I had never seen him do. He retreats towards the backdrop of the stage, which is a dark black which flares up in multi-coloured lights when a tribute enters and leaves the stage. At this moment, it was dark with a single spotlight trained on him. He walked back until he was touching the wall… and he vanished.

Literally disappeared. I watched intently as his clothes, his body, his wings all faded into the shadow of the wall until there was nothing there.

The audience gasped in shock and horror and surprise. Crystal was about to call the alarm when he returned, grinning his usual cocky smile.

I hated that smile.

"Not gone anywhere people, no need to be alarmed."

At this point the crowd goes absolutely mental for him, screaming and chanting his name. He waves nonchalantly and leaves the stage, wings still extended.

Electra goes up next.

"You were amazing! I had no idea you could do that!" I tell Theo enthusiastically. He just gives me a withering look and returns his attention to the stage.

District 3 Electra is revealed to have super speed. Her body is more angular and streamlined, skin is tougher should she run into anything and she can go up to 180mph.

"She still looks stoned." Theo said spitefully.

Snivelling Jonas from District 3 is a Dwarf. He is about a foot shorter than he used to be. He now at least has muscles and is much stockier than before- the weediest kid I'd ever seen actually. His bones are thicker apparently, and fire retardant. Increased strength.

"We can get Iowan to step on him to kill him." I say with a mean laugh, giving the boy death glares as he waddles off. He catches my eye and makes a fearful squeak. I laugh nastily, but stop when I see Theo giving me a funny look. I shrug; my smirk back onto my face and I watch Clio go on stage.

She was apparently a nymph. Or will be. She looked her normal self, but she said that she had a berry that she was supposed to eat in the games to trigger the transition, and if she took it before basically it would poison her. Cheerful.

Pisces is an Elf. His ears had become pointed, eyes become more wide-set and slanted, all natural colours become more vibrant like his blue eyes were shocking blue, his body had lost all of his muscles and his entire physique was thin and angled. However he had become more physically able such as more strength, better endurance, greater speed, sharper focus and could see for greater distances, enchanting voice that could sway someone into doing something they don't want to. And watching him I saw he wasn't the laid back boy anymore. He was more calculating.

District 5. The excited girl from before the procedure. Average Leone still looked the exact same. She was a shape shifter. Boring. She tries to show the audience, but it obviously takes a lot of concentration. She tried to turn into a cat, and she managed the tale and whiskers but that was about it.

Blind boy Cosmo's mutation was a Cyclops. His two eyes had morphed into one big eye, and it's not milky white so I assume he has regained his sight. His previously frail body had grown a foot taller and become much bulkier. His strength and senses had all increased and been heightened. The oddest thing was that his skin was tinged a faint green.

District 6's tiny Felicity is a fairy. She had gained a pair of elegant butterfly wings. The thin membrane that can easily be slashed and torn – I think callously. Her skin is tinged pink, the same colour as her wings. The dusting that is around my eyes covers her arms and chest and face, pure silver and white sparkly dust.

The boy from the same, Webster, has a shrinking potion. He too, like Clio, is unable to touch it without being poisoned. If he drinks it he gets smaller with each gulp, and he has some berries to return him to normal height again.

Sibylline Forbes, the one I teased at the opening ceremony was an Oracle. She was so creepy looking. Her bright red hair has lost its entire colour and had become a silvery white. The rest of her seemed to have been drained too. Her eyes now big silver orbs, her skin paler than snow. She could have visions of up to 24 hours into the future, but it leaves her vulnerable and weak. I was confused to as why she revealed that.

Hart, her brother, was the complete contrast. Where she had white hair, his had been turned such a deep black. He seems more animal than human, with long claws, shaggy hair, dark slitted eyes which had become almost feral and there was something that glinted in his eyes. Insanity. Despite this he was still extremely good-looking. Apparently he could completely transform into a wolf. As a wolf he has keen sense of smell, teeth can elongate and shorten depending on whether they are more animal or human.

Pathetic Cotton from 8 showed I wasn't the only one with an Elemental Mutation. Where I had water, she had air. Her clothes and hair lifted as though she was in a perpetual breeze. Her face was more wide-set and her eye and hair colour seemed to almost change with each gust of wind, as though it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. She could carry messages through the wind and control amounts of wind, more as she practiced. Like me. The dust around her eyes changed to all the colours of the rainbow, making her look stupid.

Cocky Kingsley is a satyr. He looks so ridiculous. Like Iowan the top part of his body is human, but at the waist he has goat legs, covered with white wool and hooves. His straight black hair had already begun to curl and you can see at the top of his scalp twisted horns were already growing. His abilities are shit. He can climb up mountains and sing to plants to make them grow. How will that kill anyone? I scoff. His horns could perhaps spear someone, but when would they grow big enough?

Bimbo Barbie with her long blonde hair and fake boobs had all gone. Her hair had turned into a nest of snakes all with a set of fangs and yellow eyes, her own eyes become glowing orbs that when you look in their eyes you become paralysed but would only be activated when the games began. The snakes have a poisonous bite she warned slyly. I didn't care though, she would've lost all her sponsors for her attractiveness as her skin is now patched with snake skin, and she hinted at other skills but refused to reveal them.

Oscar, the little boy who was next to me before the procedure and the one who was crying had been transformed into a vampire. The sweet, little boy now looked like a demon. His eyes were blood red. When the crowd cheered, he bared a set of fangs, his expression full of malice and hatred. His skin becomes incredibly pale he looks dead, his blonde hair has darkened and become dull, dark circles surround eyes, lips and cheeks lost its colour, he has to drink tribute blood to survive. A fact he was willing to share, not immortal however can endure longer than a normal human such as speed, strength, agility, stronger senses, blood would heal his wounds. I almost felt like crying, and then I pinched myself. No point in crying over someone who would inevitably die. No 12 year old has ever won, despite the odds.

District 10 India has the Element Fire. Her dark sheet of hair has been replaced by real flames. The colour contrasts startlingly with her dark skin. She boasts how she is completely fire retardant, and shows off her arms which glow underneath the skin like the embers underneath coal. Touching her would burn anyone else but herself, and she too can control fire. She hid the fact that practice would make the amount of control increase. Dust around her eyes is coal black.

Cain, the boy who volunteered for his younger brother, has something called Death Mist, which is activated during the games. He becomes an almost ghost version of himself, and if he hits the right light and his skeleton should visible through the seemingly thin membrane of skin which is actually extremely tough. He says he has the ability to conceal himself from people who haven't done this particular ritual – something he refused to reveal, he can travel much faster than the average human, he becomes much paler and looks more dead than alive, impervious to poisons and silver. He upped his strengths and did not give any evidence of a weakness.

11. Ambrosia. A tribute that wasn't very memorable, despite the fiery defiance in her eyes. She was now a mermaid with glowing bright yellow cat eyes which stood out on her dark skin, a tail grows as long as her legs when she hits water, her black hair becomes thick ropes like seaweed but stays its natural colour, she can breathe underwater and when dry she's human.

The boy with a stupid name. Black Berry. Power of Growth. His power doesn't activate until the games. And even then he has to eat the cake to activate it. To make him shrink back to normal size he must drink from this special river. The more cake he eats, the bigger he grows.

District 12 tributes. Blondie Cinder was the final one with an Elemental mutation. Earth. She mostly spoke about her abilities, and it pissed me off. Everyone was showing off their new skills and not leaving anything for us to guess. Easy fucking targets. She could cause already living plants to grow or die, patches of her skin has already become rough with bark on her arms and shoulder, can change density of certain materials, has the ability to form tunnels and crumble rocks, and mould the earth to her will as she practices more. I decided she would be my first kill. I wanted that ability.

Finally, Cameo the Minotaur. Coal black hair and rusty red eyes, elongated teeth, rusty red thick twisted horns at his temples, his wiry hair thickened, his muscles become larger and his physique bulkier (in this case is good because he was a twig before) and he grew a bit taller.

Finally, once the show was over Theo and I were ushered into the lift and we scurried back into our room, not pausing to chat to our freaky allies. I head straight to the dining room, shuddering in revulsion.

We sat down at the table and remained silent until the rest of our team joined us. They too, were silent and seemed to be almost shell-shocked. What had the capitol done? They had crossed the boundaries of nature; they had messed with the natural order of things. Half-animal, half-human? Children who are able to control an element of nature? Mythical creatures, only heard about in fairy tales? It was horrifying.

I ate my meal numbly, not even tasting the food. Something that ought to be delicious tasted like cardboard. Half way through the meal, Theo had to excuse himself. I looked at him questioningly but he dismissed me, looking like he was going to be sick.

If it's because he thought I was disgusting I would kill that boy.

I lasted until dessert, but when the sickly cake adorned with black birds and waves, I had to leave. I almost ran out of the dining room.

I had a quick shower and scrubbed off all the makeup. Even wet, my hair floats in the air, which irritates me. I smash my new mirror in the beauty room with my fist and collapse into bed in just my underwear, screaming in frustration.

I fell asleep in a fitful haze of anger.