Chapter Nine - Allies
Oh my goodness. Maybe I'm not so ready.
All the faces of the kids I saw reaped on the recap last night swim through my mind, blurring into one terrifying alien sort of face. The kind that would fit in with the Capitol. I'm led out of my room and into the dining room, where we're to meet everyone else before we go downstairs. I'm gripping my trident very hard, just in case I need to protect myself already. I've never seen someone attacked at the chariots, but hey, there's a first for everything.
I'm currently wearing a skirt made of the extra blue fabric from the tail to walk downstairs, as it would be kind of hard to move on land in the tail. Emeline and I walk in and go to sit at the table next to my mentors. Zéle and Cassius are nowhere to be seen.
Emeline suddenly jumps and shireks. She's staring just in front of me. I go to follow her gaze when she runs over to Finnick and flings her arms around him.
"Finnick! My, my, dear boy, it has been ages, hasn't it?"
Finnick laughs, hugging her back. "Only a few months since my tour, Em."
"Do you like the girl's costume? I tried to make them different this year!"
Finnick looks over at me, smile a bit forced. "Very nice. Alexis, Emeline was my own stylist last year. It's lovely to see you again, he continues, addressing Emeline, " we must take some time to catch up later, but we'd better head down for the opening ceremonies. Where is Cassius?"
"Right here." A voice at the door calls back.
Cassius walks over and stands next to me. "Ready?" I say quietly. I look up at him, and I guess I must look pretty scared, but his gaze looks friendly again, kind. Like Cassius before the Games.
Cass nods, and we all start to walk to the elevator together. "Cass," I say, grabbing his shoulder. He turns around and looks at me, looking expectant. "Will you join the Volunteers?" I ask. "What if they don't take me?"
He looks at me, his eye narrowed as if seems to scan my abilities. "They'll take you." He says finally. "If you want them to."
Hmmm…Do I want them to? I think of the other tributes I saw in the reapings. The little boy from 3. The quiet girl from 6. The girl from 7, with her arm in a makeshift sling. The boy from 9, who fainted. Do I really want to help them hurt those kids?
And Cassius? I know he'll join the Volunteers. And I can't save those kids if I want either Cassius or me to get out of here alive.
I sigh. "Let's just go."
I guess I'll just have to see what happens when I get there.
I wish I had Cassius' nerve. As soon as we got downstairs, he walked off towards the group of tributes from 1 and 2 and starting chatting with them. I can hear the laughter from here. He's sure to ally with them.
After several more rounds of laughter from whatever hilarious story the boy from 1 is telling, I decide to go and talk to some of the other tributes and see how they're doing. Most of the others have stuck quite close to their chariot, with the exception of 7 and 9, who are hovering around 7's horses and talking shyly. My eyes land on the little boy from 3, standing by himself at his chariot. He's wearing what appears to be a stack of wires, but looks more like the noodles they served me for dinner. He looks scared and lonely, which is unacceptable. I form a small plan in my mind before hopping off my chariot and walking over to him.
"Hi!" I say brightly.
"Hi." he answers, quietly. Hmmm. That won't do.
"Nice costume you've got there." I grin, teasing.
This gets a reaction of out him. He seems to have realized that I'm not trying to kill him, and looks up from his shoes. His eyes give a small smile before he replies, "Looks fantastic, doesn't it?" He strikes a funny, though still somewhat nervous pose. I laugh loudly, which seems to relax him more, and he grins.
"What's your name, kid?" I ask.
"Jayden."
"Nice to meet you, Jayden, although I would have preferred to meet you under some other, more pleasant circumstances." He smiles. "I'm Alexis."
He peers closely at my face, studying me. "You're the girl who got reaped, aren't you?" He says finally.
I know what he means, but I decide to drag it out anyway. "Well, yes, but most of us here were reaped, so that doesn't really narrow things down."
He smiles again. "The one from Four."
"That's right."
"Why didn't anyone volunteer?"
I shrug. "Guess they weren't ready yet, the cowards. They picked the best year for it too!" I add, sarcasm perhaps a bit overdone.
"Is that why you aren't with them?"
"Them?"
"The Careers."
"The who?"
"Oh, you must call them something else. We call the people who trained for the Games Careers, or Career Tributes. Beacause it's their life's goal to have the opportunity to rip our heads off."
I laugh. "We just call them the Volunteers. Sounds kinder I guess, since Four supports the idea. I've had a bit of training too though. We all get trained a bit in Four."
He frowns, pulling back a bit. "Lucky."
I try to defend myself. "Well, it's not like we need it, normally I mean, what with the Volunteer- I mean, Careers. But it's mandatory, lots of us don't want to do it."
"Like you?"
"Like me." I confirm.
"Are you going to try and join them, though? The Careers?"
"I don't know. I don't know if they'd have me, anyway. But I won't kill for fun, like they do. If I do join them," she says, thinking of an idea suddenly. "I'll try and get to the other tributes before they do so they don't have to suffer. If we all have to die we should make it torturous for each other, the Capitol does that enough for us already."
These comments seem to help him trust me. His face seems to relax and his attitude appears more easy. I look over at the group from 7 and 9 and make another decision.
"If I can't help you in the Games, I want to there are others who will."
"hmmm?"
"Come on." I say, gesturing towards the bigger group.
Jayden and I approach the group cautiously. I recognize the girl from 7 who's arm seems to have mostly recovered from its injury at the reaping, and the boy from 9, who had the unluckiness of not only getting reaped but fainting. He doesn't seem so weak now though, as I come up to the group nervously, keeping Jayden close at me side even though I only learn his name maybe 10 minutes ago.
The group silences as we approach, but they don't stop us from coming. The silence continues from a while as the six of us stand there, looking awkwardly at one another.
"Hi." I say finally.
"Hello." the girl from 7 stiffly.
"This is Jayden from Three. I'm Alexis, from Four." At the words "from Four" there's a sudden shift in the mood of the group. It might take more than this to lighten it, but it's worth a shot. "I mean, not that you couldn't tell from the costumes. I love Jayden's, it looks like the spaghetti I ate earlier today." Jayden laughs, and the others gives a forced sort of chuckle. It's a bit less cold than it was a few moments ago, so I'll take.
The girl from 7 gives a kinder, though still small, smile. "I'm Willow. This is my partner, Ash," she said, motioning to the boy standing beside her. "and District Nine, Heather and Spencer. What brings you here?" She finished, curiously.
I decide to tell her exactly what I think. "I know what you mean. District Four usually hangs out with the Careers, right? Well, I guess I might, but I'm not like them, I won't kill for fun and I won't kill to torture. I'll only join them to help Cassius and to help everyone else, if they'll take me."
They seem shocked by my blunt honesty. Annie's words from the morning before reaping echo in my mind; thank you for being honest to me. It's why I trust you. Perhaps the same thing would help these tributes trust me.
"Cassius," Heather finally says, "is that the boy from your district?"
"Yes," I reply. "He's a Volunteer, but I know he has a true heart. I've seen it. For years we hung out together because one of my best friends is his cousin. I'm worried about what the Games will do to him."
They nod.
"So, why aren't you over with them?" asks Ash, shyly.
"Don't want to be. I went to talk to Jayden instead, and now were like bros!" I give Jayden a huge grin and he laughs again, then grows a bit quiet.
"She wanted me to have allies, in case she had to join the Career group." He whispers. "She wanted to join them to put others out of their misery faster than the Careers would cruelly let them. It's the only way you can really help people in this game."
His words, truthful and kind, rest uneasily over the crowd of us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cassius' group breaking apart for the Opening Ceremonies, but I need this one answer.
"So, you want to join us?" Spencer, who's been quiet for most of this asks.
"Well, yes. If you guys are an "us", we would love to partake. Well, for me, from whatever distance that may be." I say, probably a bit cryptically. I think the message got across though. I mean to ask whether they were alliance, and say that I will be on their side, even if I'm with Careers. Yes, I can see Willow's understood because her eyebrows have shot up into the leaves of her costume. She seems to be the leader of this group at the moment, so I watch her. After an excruciatingly long pause, she sticks her hand out. "Allies?"
"Allies." I confirm, smiling. I look at my new crowd with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. "Well then, we'd better get to our chariots. Team, Break!" Jayden, Willow, and Ash cheer laughing as our group breaks up. It seems that 3 and 7 trust me whole-heartedly now. I'll just have to work on 1, 2, and 9 tomorrow.
I hop on to our chariot, avoiding Cassius' eyes. I pull my tail on under my skirt, and then take the skirt off from on top. I realize I have a couple paces to go until I've reached my rock, a tall and round structure, identical to the one Cassius sits on. I make a mad leap for the stone, resulting in my nearly toppling over the edge of the chariot on the other side. Cassius leans over, laughing, and gives me a hand up. I sit, cautiously on my rock, and Cassius hands me my trident, his eyes growing serious again.
"Ready?" He asks.
"Ready."
And our chariot is pulled out swiftly after Jayden's.
The crowds of creatures and blinding lights await us on the outside of the building. I hear the cheers and roars of the citizens before I can actually see, but I start waving anyway. I can tell by the way the crowd is screaming my name as well as Cassius' we have their full attention, and they like our costumes. Once my eyes adjust, I glance over at Cassius. He seems to be loving the attention, grinning crazily and waving like he's trying to signal someone over from across the town. I nudge him carefully, and nod towards our tridents. He understands quickly, as you tend to do once you've known someone for so long and raises his trident when I raise mine. We fake a bit of a fight first, which the crowd loves, before clashing our tridents against each other, hard. The crowd doesn't stop their cheer, but I don't know that this means the same thing that it means back home. I guess not. In District Four, this would be a symbol of friendship, of trust, of working together as fishers. Of course, here, there aren't many things to fish, for we do that all for them back home.
Our chariot begins to pull back into the building, but my mind is elsewhere. My body might be here, but my spirit will always belong back on the Samphire, waves lapping the sides of our little fishing boat, wind blowing at my face, and, of course, Brooke, Annie, and my parents at my side.