"Calypso."

Her district partner was talking to her, trying to get her attention.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to tell you…well, I really admire what you do for the district."

Calypso smiled at him. "Thanks, Grover. It's nice to know that I'm appreciated."

Calypso ran an apothecary for the big city in District 7. In the city, lumber was packaged and cut into paper in factories. The factories were dangerous, and in addition to cutting people up, could give people lung disease with all of the dangerous smog that was in there. Calypso's mother, Tethys Aterra, had taught her all about healing, medicine, and using physical procedures to help people. Calypso had known that it was her duty to her district to try and help counter some of the disasters the were wreaked by the dangerous working conditions. If someone was suffering from a lung disease, then she would make them a temporary cure and teach them how to counter that using physical exercises. If someone lost a hand, then Calypso cauterized it, bandaged it, kept it clean, and tried to teach the person how to live with one hand. If someone was sick, then Calypso cured it. She wanted to be able to go up to the lumber-cutting areas and help people there, but there wasn't the time or the money for it.

The first few years had been hard, but it had been worth it just to help people. Calypso had been raised in a relatively well-to-do family, and it just didn't seem fair that people in other places starved. Calypso couldn't end the Hunger Games or make a minimum wage, but she knew that she would do whatever she could to help out her people.

Some people couldn't pay, but everyone was kind. They brought her extra food sometimes, or gave her money when they could. They let her stay in their house. They made sure that she knew how appreciated she was. Really, that was the only payment she needed. She took out tesserae and gathered plants from the outskirts of the woods. It could have led to her demise, but Calypso didn't care. She wasn't afraid of dying. She was afraid of leaving behind the needy in her district. Doing illegal things and submitting her name to the Reaping was a gamble that she had been willing to take.

Until now.

Now she was going into the Hunger Games.

She couldn't hope to kill anyone. She was going to die! How was that at all beneficial to her people?

Grover was talking again. "I just wanted to let you know…when those Games start, I've got your back."

What did that mean? Was he stupid or selfless enough to sacrifice his own life for hers?

"Thanks, Grover," she replied. "But you should worry about yourself. You've got that girlfriend and I can take care of myself."

"I know," Grover said, and Calypso was surprised by the sudden intensity of his expression. "But Calypso, you've got to make it home. They need you back there, and you deserve to live. So I'm gonna help you."

"Grover, please don't."

"I'm going to help you, Calypso." Grover smiled. "You just got yourself an ally."

XXXXX

Piper's district partner was really glarey. He seemed to hate her. Piper wasn't sure why, as she couldn't recall ever meeting him.

He also had one eye. Piper was trying to look past that because what was on the inside really mattered, but he had made it kind of hard by staring straight at her with an angry face, and constantly adjusting his eyepatch like he wanted her to notice.

This could have been passed off as a crush or something, but Piper knew a lot about how people worked. This look was pure hate. Piper was kind of uncomfortable with being stuck in the same room alone. She had a feeling that he would gladly rip out her throat if he felt like he wouldn't get caught.

Piper fingered the material of her dress, trying not to cry. She focused on the violet color, thinking about how pretty it was and how it looked like those flowers that Dad brought home one day when she was eight. She couldn't afford to break down into tears, not now. Piper wasn't about to disgrace herself in front of her district partner. Plus, Piper was just generally stronger than that! She prided herself on being a tomboy, being rough and tough, not crying at anything. The Hunger Games didn't change that.

Except, god, they did! They changed everything, because Piper was probably going to die! Dad had taught her survival techniques, but those weren't going to be any good against a big Career who had been training for years and practiced with a sword daily!

The door opened, and Dad, the other mentor Drew, and Medea the escort entered. "We're going to watch the Reapings now," Medea told them. "Make sure to pay attention. This is your competition."

Piper tried to put all of her focus on the screen, but there was a lot of blind terror and yes, denial, in her that made her want to run away screaming so that she could keep pretending that she had a chance.

There were two volunteers from 1. The girl from 2 volunteered, the boy was Reaped. The boy from 3 didn't realize that he was Reaped and had to be told so by someone else (poor guy). 4 was two volunteers. The guy from 5 looked strong, the girl was tiny and shouldn't have been in these Games. The girl from 6's hair was really red. 7's were average, but could have been strong.

8 was them. Piper was proud of how her performance had gone. She didn't look awful, really. She was a bit stiff but from a certain viewpoint, you could call her strong and beautiful. Ethan looked as angry as he did now when he was Reaped.

The girl from 9 got her whole district to cheer for her, but the cheers stopped when her district partner stepped up. They looked like they knew each other. The two from 10 were the same. They seemed familiar with each other and horrified that they were going into the Games together.

From 11, there was a volunteer. A volunteer! Okay, it was the Reaped tribute's sister, but still! No one volunteered from the lower districts! From 12, there were two more volunteers! The girl looked strong and there was something scary about the young boy. They were threats, Piper knew it.

So the competition could have been worse, but it could have been a whole lot better. Piper was doomed.

XXXXX

"Is this your card?" Lou Ellen asked.

"How are you so good at this?" Will practically exploded. "I was watching you this time! I didn't see you switch around any cards!"

"Practice makes perfect," Lou reminded him.

It was nice to be back around Will. After she and Austin had broken up, they had stopped spending so much time together. And then there was the fact that she was a year younger than him…they just hadn't found any time to spend together.

But now, they were talking and chatting like there had never been any divide. Just like old times. Lou had to admit, it was great to have Will back as a friend! But why did it have to be the Hunger Games that brought them back together?

Will and Lou were in Lou's room. She had been crying in there. Lou knew that she might die. What was the point of pretending that everything was going to be okay? But still, the thoughts of leaving behind her daddy, her sisters and brother, her friends and the people that she knew on the street, was just so awful! And then there was the thought of death itself. Of being entirely unseeing, unfeeling, unbreathing. To be laid to rest in the earth—but then, it wasn't rest. It was just called rest to make the living feel better about burying the dead. The dead weren't sleeping. They were gone. Simply gone.

Would it hurt much?

Will had heard her crying and insisted on cheering her up. They had gone down to the food car (an entire room just for food!) and gotten some pastries. Lou hadn't even heard of half the stuff there. They had gotten a tray and loaded it up with anything that had sugar in it. Lou was nibbling on something called an 'éclair', which was absolutely amazing. Will had also asked an attendant for a deck of cards, and she was practicing some of her old tricks.

"I wonder if any of this is going to be useful during the Games," Lou admitted.

"I bet that it can be."

"But how?"

Will shrugged. "It means that you're talented and that you can work quickly."

Lou laughed. "That's the best real-world translation of my magic tricks that I've ever heard. My sister Naomi always said that I'd never get anywhere with my cheap parlor tricks."

"Considering that there's only one family in District 10 with a parlor…"

"Oh, shut up, Will!" Lou laughed.

Will shrugged. "I'm sorry. I'm still bitter over the fact that you totally cheated with that trick."

"How could I have cheated? It's called a trick for a reason!"

"I don't know! You must have had a deck full of the three of hearts!"

"Look into my eyes, Will!" Lou opened her dark green eyes wide and stared at Will, trying to creep him out. "I didn't cheat!"

"Yes, you totally did!" Will said. He opened his light blue eyes to counter hers. "Look into my eyes, Lou. I know you cheated because I'm a robot that can detect lies."

Lou burst into laughter. "I'm sure that you are, Will. And I'm the President."

God, she had missed this! She had missed the banter that she could exchange with the Solaces that she couldn't get at home. She missed Will's easygoing nature. She had missed her friend.

XXXXX

Hazel looked out of the window in the last car in the train, watching District 10 recede behind them. She tried to imagine Arion chasing them, catching up. She imagined jumping onto Arion with Frank and riding away.

She really just wanted to see her poor horse one last time. Who would take care of him now that she was going to the Capitol? Her mother certainly wouldn't. She was too caught up in her own world, trying to outsmart the gods with crazy magic. Maybe Frank's grandmother would stop by to feed her horse. She could see the old woman and Arion forming some kind of weird kinship. Hell, it wasn't like the horse even needed someone to take care of him. He could survive on his own. Hazel just wanted to make sure that he had a friend left.

Maybe it was selfish of her, but she was glad that she still had a friend while going to the Capitol. No, strike that. The fact that she was glad to have Frank here made her a terrible person, but Hazel couldn't hate herself as much as she should have. Having Frank always made things better.

Frank smiled at her, and her heart started beating faster. She looked away. She had to stop! One or both of them were going to be dead by the end of this. She ha to concentrate.

But she didn't want to. She wanted to admit to Frank that she had a crush on him, even if it was stupid. She at least wanted the comfort of letting her best friend know what he meant to her.

But she didn't. She kept her mouth shut.

"Hazel, do you have a plan?" Frank asked.

Of course she had a plan. A badly formed plan, one that might get them killed, but a plan.

"Frank, our friendship might be seen as a disadvantage, but we can use it for our favor."

"I'm listening."

"We know each other. We know each other's strengths and weaknesses and we trust each other."

"That's true. So you're saying that we should be an alliance?"

"Among other things." The more Hazel thought about it, the more her plan didn't seem so awful.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said Frank. Red rushed to Hazel's cheeks, and she was glad that the combination of the lighting and her skin made it hard for Frank to tell that she was blushing.

"We know how to survive. I'm good with animals. You've got good aim. We can use those things—"

"Wait," Frank interrupted. "I've got good aim with a gun, and maybe a crossbow. But they don't have guns in the Games!"

"So you practice with a bow and crossbow. We get average scores and get some sponsors. We don't go into the Bloodbath. We run away and trust ourselves and our abilities to help us."

"We work from there and make it home."

"Exactly."

Frank and Hazel made eye contact. Hazel knew that a lot could go wrong with this. But still, it felt good to have a plan and know that Frank was by her side. She believed that with him, they could make it to the end.

The only problem was what would happen once they got there.

XXXXX

"So, do you work in the orchards?" Connor asked her once Pomona, and Luke and Rose (the mentors) were done talking.

"Yeah. And you do something illegal?"

Connor choked on his drink. After a bought of coughing, he was back in commission. "How do you know about that?!"

"Large angry man charging you in the square today," Katie reminded him.

"Oh, yeah! Well, the thing is, I kind of stole his wallet…"

Katie looked furious. "You stole from him? What kind of person are you? That's unfair and immoral!"

To Katie's fury, Connor looked nonchalant still. "Well, I kind of needed the money…"

"So work for it just like everyone else! What gives you the right to disobey the law? Someone could have gotten hurt!"

"I almost did."

Well that was your fault, wasn't it? What an idiot! Katie couldn't believe that she had gotten partnered up with a their and a jerk for her time in the Games! Katie knew better than to steal, and more than that, she knew that stealing was wrong. Katie knew what her morals were, even if this stupid boy didn't. Saving her sister's life was right. Stealing was wrong.

"Look at it this way," Connor said, "if you were starving, wouldn't you steal food?"

Katie was taken aback by this. "Well, maybe, but…no! I would find the right way to get food! And you didn't need that money, did you?"

"We might have needed it later!"

"So you didn't need it!"

"No!"

"What's wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with you? What's your big problem with stealing?"

Katie had a feeling that her face was embarrassingly red by now. When she spoke, her voice was shrill. "It's wrong, that's my problem!"

"Is that it? Or is there some big sob story behind it?"

"I don't need a sob story to know right from wrong!"

(And still, memories came to her of those mean boys stealing the hair brush she had bought for Miranda's birthday.)

"I did what I have to do!" Connor insisted.

"I'm going to bed," said Katie.

XXXXX

Zoe knew the poor boy who had volunteered alongside her. She had to admit, volunteering was an act of bravery unprecedented in the stupid men of her district, really men anywhere. The volunteers from the lower district did so for glory, not to save a life.

But really, did it have to be this boy? His older sister and she had been friends, and Zoe did not want to have to kill him. He had taken on the death of his sister like a woman would have, and that alone was impressive. And Zoe did not want to admit it, but she would regret killing the young boy who had ran ahead of she and Bianca as they walked through the woods.

That said, Nico di Angelo was not the same boy that she remembered. He looked angry, murderous. Time had jaded him, perhaps, or maybe he was angry at her for some reason. One could not guess the ways of men. They were all angry, all impulsive, all pigs. Zoe could not change that.

"Oh, boy," the escort Persephone muttered. "What a great trip. We're all just going to have fun here, making angry faces at each other."

Zoe tried not to hate her fellow women, but Persephone was a warranted exception. She was annoying, sarcastic, and had changed her skin so that it was green. Zoe could not enjoy the company of a person so obviously capitolized.

"I am sorry that we do not live up to your expectations of happy tributes," Zoe said.

Persephone looked up from her nails. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"It would be obvious to any intelligent person with a good sense of hearing that I did just say something," Zoe replied.

"Well, aren't you a rude little thing?"

"I do not believe that I am the rude one here."

"Is that so? Just remember that I'm the one with the power here, kid. Don't make me mad."

"I did not seek to do so?"

"Really? Does being an insufferable little bitch just come naturally to you, then?"

There it was. That word. Zoe hated that word beyond description. It was derogatory towards her whole gender and only used by the worst of people, the ones who wanted to tear her down and then use her for their own twisted purposes. Zoe stood up and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her so hard that it shook.

Nico remained silent.