Reyna walked up to the pair from 4, Percy and Clarisse. "I'd like to talk to you at the sword station." If Octavian was actually following her orders, then he'd be telling the pair from 1 the same thing.

District 4, at least, seemed compliant. They followed her to the sword station. It reminded her of how her dogs Aurum and Argentum would follow her back in 2: following her just to see where she led but watching, always watching. And dangerous.

Octavian was already there with District 1. The girl was watching her with a strange smile, and the boy and weird purple eyes. "Well, now that we're all here," Reyna started.

"Get on with it, Two," Clarisse barked.

For some reason, this made Reyna angry. How dare this girl act like she wasn't worth talking to? "I'm sorry, do you have somewhere to be?" Reyna asked.

"As Jackson here keeps reminding me, these training days are for training. Not talking."

Well, Percy Jackson had just earned her ire. "This won't take long, then. Are we all an alliance?"

"That's all you had to ask?" 4 blustered. "I have other things to do!"

The boy from 1 stepped in. What was his name? Castor? "I don't think it's a stupid question. I think that it's good to discuss. And I'll be the first to say that being in an alliance sounds good."

Octavian smiled at Castor. He seemed compliant, Octavian realized, quick to try and defuse all situations. So he wasn't a stereotypical Career, all bite and no bark. Someone easy to order around. Weak-minded, perhaps, but there might have been something else hiding in there.

"I'll second that," said Percy. Strong, Octavian catalouged him, but perhaps not inherently violent.

"Fine," Clarisse spat out. "We're an alliance. Anything else, princess?"

This would be amusing. Octavian watched in interest to see how Reyna would react to this. It could be informative. Sure enough, Reyna bristled. "Don't call me that."

Clarisse smirked. "You got a problem?"

Percy placed his hand on her arm. "Clarisse, calm down."

Clarisse didn't attack Percy, which interested Octavian. Perhaps the girl wasn't as terrifying as she seemed? Or maybe her district partner had some kind of hold on her. That would be fortuitous. Trust was easy to exploit.

"Nancy?" Castor asked.

"Duh," the redhead answered. "Was there much of a question?"

"What about your district partner?" Clarisse asked. "He was Reaped. Does he have what it takes to be one of us?"

Now Octavian was annoyed. That simple question could actually throw a wrench in his plans. "Yes, I was trained, Miss La Rue."

"It's Clarisse, punk!"

Octavian ignored her. "Now, I think that the matter comes to whether we allow others to join?"

Percy considered this question. Technically, it was the more, the merrier, right? But then again, too many people could get dangerous. If they happened to let everyone else in the Arena join, would they just have a big party or something? That would be cool.

Concentrate! Percy reminded himself. Now was not for jokes. His district was counting on him. Tyson and his mother were waiting for him to come back.

"I vote no," said Reyna. "We can't have too many people."

"I vote yes," Nancy countered. "The more people we have, the more kills we can make during the Bloodbath."

"Perhaps we should let some join and then kill them afterwards?" Octavian suggested.

Okay. Percy definitely did not like Octavian now. What kind of person would lure people into a sense of safety and then turn on them? Not someone that Percy wanted to trust his life with, that was for sure.

"That seems dishonorable," said Reyna. "We should at least give them a fighting chance."

"A fighting chance means that you will die," Octavian argued.

"I'm with the scarecrow on this one," said Clarisse. "I like that plan."

"Agreed," said Nancy. "Motion passed?"

Reyna made eye contact with Percy. She was trying to communicate something to him, Percy realized. They were the normal members of this alliance. He looked down.

"Fine," Reyna sighed. "You can go do what you want now."

Ethan watched the newly formed Career alliance go to separate stations. The buff girl picked up a mace and swung it around. Reyna from 2 practiced with a spear. Percy used a trident, Nancy threw some knives, and Castor used a sword. Octavian picked up a small knife and started butchering a dummy with it.

Ethan felt the rage in him start to rise. These people were the enemy. They were just as bad as the Capitol! They practiced for this dogfight and then volunteered, knowing that they could die! What kind of people did that? Only the worst.

Ethan yanked on the knot that he was tying. What a useless station. When was he going to use this, anyway? Dropping the rope on the floor, he made his way over to the swords. The boy from 1 didn't seem to notice or care that Ethan had joined him.

Ethan picked up a light rapier. It didn't feel right in his hand. Neither did a broadsword. He settled on a middleweight sword, about as long as his arm. Ethan didn't have any experience with it, but this one felt right in his hand. Experimentally, he started swinging it around.

It wasn't the hardest thing that he had ever done, but he obviously wasn't a natural. He looked at the 1 boy's movements and tried to copy them. The boy wasn't the best, either, but he seemed to know the technique.

"Do you want any help?" a trainer asked.

Ethan glared at the man. He didn't want to accept help from one of the demented Capitolites, but at the same time, he needed the help if he wanted to improve.

"Fine," he answered.

The man showed him the correct way to stand and guided his hand in a few thrusts and parries. Thankfully, Ethan picked up quickly.

Suddenly, the air behind him shifted. Ethan turned, to see that the 1 boy had swung his sword and only narrowly missed him. That boy had been trying to kill him!

"I'm s-sorry," the boy stuttered.

"Sorry? You could have stabbed me!"

"I didn't see you there. I'm really sorry."

Oh, so the boy thought that that was an acceptable excuse? This was one of the disgusting Careers! He was sneaky and underhanded, and thought that he would have been able to kill some of the competition before the Game started! Ethan's anger rose. How dare he?

"Are you okay?" the boy in front of him continued.

"Unfortunately for you."

The blonde seemed to notice Ethan's anger. "I really am sorry."

"I'm sorry, too."

"W-what for?"

"Sorry that I'm going to kill you."

That stunned the boy into silence. Ethan smirked, before turning his back and walking away. "What's the 1 boy's name?" he asked a random girl that he found at the fire-making station.

She looked up in surprise, and then when she saw his face, fear. She had dark skin, curly hair—she was from 10. Why wasn't she answering? Was she working with the 1 boy? Was she going to try to kill him once she had the chance?

"Um, I think Castor," she finally answered.

Hazel looked up at Ethan. He seemed unhinged, and it was kind of scaring her. She felt bad for Castor, he had to deal with this creepy guy's obsession.

Hazel turned back to her flint and steel, trying to use her perephrial vision to make sure that Ethan wasn't going to choke her or stab her with a fingernail. For once, the fear that the people in District 10 held for her and her mother might have come in handy. He could have easily hurt her. He was taller than she was, and looked pretty strong. Plus, there was the matter of his missing eye. How had that happened?

Hazel spotted Frank across the room, practicing with bows. Abandoning her futile attempts at fire-building, she went over to him. "Hey, Frank."

"Hey, Hazel. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. The guy from 8 is creepy, but other than that...how's your practice going?"

Frank looked down, kind of pink. "Pretty well, actually. I guess I just have sme kind of talent."

Oh, that was adorable! Frank was feeling bashful over the fact that he was good at something! Hazel worried about her friend sometimes, as he had so many problems with self esteem. She thought it was great that she had found something that he was good at.

"Can I see?" she asked.

"Um, sure."

Frank lifted the bow and drew back the string. He let the arrow fly. It didn't hit the bullseye, but it landed in a good strong hit on the target near the center. "Obviously I'm not perfect yet," Frank said, "but I think that I can get better."

"That's amazing! I guess I should try out a weapon."

"I'm sure that you'll do great at whatever you choose."

That settled it. Frank was officially the most amazing person that she had ever met. Feeling daring, she gave him a peck on the cheek and ran to the sword section. A large, long sword had caught her eye.

"Do you want any help with that?" a trainer asked her.

"Sure!" Hazel answered. She could use all the help she could get.

Lou was at the edible bugs station. She found it amazing that so many things in the natural world—so many gross things, to be exact—were okay for consumption. She was on her fourth round of taking the test. So far, her best score was 28 out of 40. Lou wanted to get a perfect score at least once before moving on. Maybe it was bad time management, but this could be important!

"Wow. I guess you're into bugs, just like the little rat you are."

Lou turned around. Nancy Bobofit from 1 stood there, smirking.

"You wanna go, Bobofit?" Lou asked her.

"Excuse me?"

Lou shrugged, smiling. "I just find it amusing that someone with the last name Bobofit is making fun of me. Can I call you Bobo?"

The freckled girl was getting angry. This was fun. "Why don't you say that one more time."

"Can I call you Bobo, Bobofit?"

Bobo curled her fingers into fists. Lou imagined steam coming out of her ears. She waited for Bobo to charge her, but the girl from 1 had enough self-control to at least avoid attacking another tribute before the Games started. Instead, Bobo just smiled at Lou. "Just you wait until the Arena, District Nine. Just you wait."

"I look forward to it."

Lou turned back to her test, but it wasn't long before she was interrupted again, this time by Will. "That wasn't very smart, Lou."

Lou shrugged. "Can you blame me for having my fun, Will?"

"I'd just, you know, prefer not to see you dead."

Lou laughed. "I'd like to avoid it myself. And you know what, Will? For you I'll tone it down."

Will nodded. "Edible."

"What?"

"Cicadas are edible."

"How do you know that?"

Will grinned at her. "A magician never tells their secrets, right?"

Lou made a face at him. "Fine. But I'm never eating a cicada."

Nico watched the pair from 9. They were talking and laughing together, which he found obnoxious. Didn't they know how valuable this time was? More importantly, couldn't they stop rubbing their friendship in everyone else's faces? The only people who were more annoying were the two from 10. The girl had actually kissed the boy. Some people just needed to get it together and get ready for the death contest that would start in a few short days!

Nico sliced the arms off the practice dummy with his short sword. So far, this weapon had been working for him. He was no Career, but he wasn't too bad either. Maybe he was good enough to take down Zoe, but he couldn't be sure yet. He had to make sure he was good enough to take down his district partner before he stopped practicing.

So lost in his anger was he that he completely missed the dummy on his next try. His sword swung down and hit the ground. Nico growled in consternation.

The girl from 10 looked over at him. "You okay?"

"Yes," he hissed, yanking up his sword.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"Of course not! Do I look hurt?"

"No, but you seem angry. Do you need help?"

Nico tried to bring up some anger at her. She was interfering with his practice. She was nosy. But instead, all that came to mind was Bianca. She would do the same thing in this situation, keep hounding him for information until he gave it. Nico took a deep breath. "I'm fine."

The 10 girl—Hazel! Her name was Hazel!—nodded. "Okay, then. You know, if you need any help, you can always come to me."

Why had she said that? Why was she making Nico believe that she was a decent person? Couldn't she just go away?

"Fine," Nico snapped. He focused his attention back on the dummy and went back to hacking it to pieces.