It's only a matter of seconds until my worst nightmare becomes a reality. The crowd clears around the volunteer; my brother's grown since I last saw him, but it's undeniably him.
"What's your name, young man?" Laurentia asks as Damien reaches the stage.
"Damien Brimstone," he says, scanning the crowd with his eyes. For a second, I think that he's looking for me, but his eyes land ahead of me where Christina is sobbing in her sister's arms.
"How courageous," Laurentia sighs into the microphone. "Now, before this can be made official, we must ensure that this year's twist is still maintained. Our attendants are checking for any records of your siblings, Mr. Brimstone, so we will be patient until they return. One of them will be selected at random unless one wishes to step forward and volunteer at this time."
I barely hear what Laurentia's saying. My heart feels ready to beat out of my chest - if I keep my mouth shut, could I escape the Arena? Damien hasn't lived in our house for two years; is it possible that our connection has been wiped from the records?
Ciara grabs my hand as a man dressed in all-black approaches the stage. Laurentia leans over gracefully, plucking a piece of paper from his hand.
"Perfect," she says with a smile. "Mr. Brimstone, it appears that you will be joined this year by your sister. Please welcome to the stage District Five's second tribute, Luna Brimstone!"
The girls around me look through the crowd; none of them even know who I am. It's not until I raise my hand in the air that the girls back away as if I'm cursed. Ciara stands by my side, but she's forced to step aside as two Peacekeepers take hold of my arms.
Laurentia barely spares me a glance when I reach the stage, which is much more than Damien offers me. She quickly turns back to the microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your tributes in the 117th Hunger Games, Damien and Luna Brimstone!"
There's a smattering of applause. In my state of shock, the only thing that I notice is how relieved everybody looks. Relieved to have lasted another year. That was how I felt sixty seconds ago.
Peacekeepers take hold of me and escort me into the Town Hall. I've never been inside the building, but it's even grander than I imagined; the expansive reception hall is beautifully sculpted from stone, and most of the room is covered in gold. It's a jarring contrast to the world just outside the front doors.
A man at the head of our group turns to face Damien and me. "I assume that the two of you will be sharing a room," he says with a nod. "We'll head to a larger room in the back."
"We'll be separate," Damien says, not as a request, but as a demand. The man glances back, surprised, but he doesn't argue.
"Very well," he says, turning to lead us down a different hallway.
I glance over at Damien - he still hasn't even looked at me since he got us into this mess. I can't believe that he's acting this way despite everything that's just happened.
"Miss Brimstone, you'll be in here," the man orders, and I follow his direction into a small room. He clicks the door closed behind me.
For the first time since the Reaping, I'm alone, and that's all it takes for me to break down. I don't cry - it's still too soon for that - but I collapse to the ground. I can't describe how it feels to have your life ripped away from you in a matter of seconds, but I can't seem to wrap my head around it yet. I've barely lived my life, and now, it's all over. Just like that.
I hear voices outside the door, and I have only a few seconds to sit up and pretend like I haven't been laying like a ragdoll with my face against the carpet. The door opens, and a man enters. My heart leaps - my father actually came to visit me - but my eyes deceived me. The man is Jossie; Ciara enters behind him.
"I can't believe it," Ciara says, helping me up off the ground and squeezing me tightly. "I'm just in shock."
"Imagine how I feel," I say, trying to force out a laugh. Ciara lets me go, stepping back to take a good look at me.
"Have you seen my father anywhere?" I ask the siblings anxiously. They both shake their heads.
"Nowhere," Jossie says. "Maybe he's on his way."
I nod, but all three of us know that he's just trying to be nice. It's possible that my father didn't even show up for the Reaping.
"Have you talked to Damien yet?" I ask Jossie, but he shakes his head again.
"Christina is in there right now, I think," he says with a shrug. "I'll try again in a few minutes."
A Peacekeeper opens the door with a slam, startling all three of us.
"Time's up," he barks. Ciara and Jossie look at each other before turning back to me.
"Do your best," Ciara says, giving me another hug. That's all she can say at this point - we both know that this is it. I'm about to leave District Five for the last time, and I won't return again. No matter how hard I try, I won't survive the Arena, and that's a fact. Ciara will miss me, especially when she's covering my workload in the power plant, but she'll forget about me soon enough.
The Peacekeeper escorts Ciara and Jossie out of the room, and then I'm alone. I half-expect somebody to replace them - maybe my father finally made his way down here, or Martha wants to say goodbye to her faithful employee - but nobody materializes. I should've known; Martha probably has no choice but to head straight back to the power plant, and I've already accepted that my father isn't coming.
I hear a commotion in the hallway; it sounds like a girl is screaming. That must be Christina. Part of me is happy to hear her like this after everything she's indirectly put me through, but this thought makes me feel guilty.
After Christina is escorted out of the building, the hallway outside of my room is silent. The Peacekeeper returns after what feels like an eternity.
"Time to go," he orders.
I follow the man down the hallway. He stops at the next door, opening it in a similar fashion.
"Let's go," he calls, and Damien steps out of the room. He looks like a mess, and he still avoids my gaze.
The tension between my brother and me is palpable as we step out of the Town Hall and into the train platform. I want so desperately to ask him if our father visited him, but I already know the answer.
I can't keep playing these games anymore, though. If Damien's not going to speak to me, then I have to be the bigger person.
"If we're going to try to get out of this alive, you probably should talk to me," I say, trying but failing to keep my tone civil.
Damien glances at me as if I've just stabbed him. "If I want to get out of this alive, I'm going to stay the hell away from you," he spits. "Don't get the wrong impression."
Now it's my turn to feel like I've been stabbed. "Don't be stupid, Damien," I urge my brother. "Just because we've spent time apart doesn't mean that we're not still family."
"You had your chance to be in my life, Luna," Damien seethes, pointing his finger at my chest. "I didn't just leave you out of nowhere. You had an invitation to stay wherever I ended up, and you knew that. You made your choice, and now you have to live with that."
I try to find something to say, anything. I'm completely speechless; how could Damien treat me like this as if all of this has been my fault? Why is he acting like I was the one who left him and not the other way around?
Unfortunately, I don't have a chance to respond. The horn of the train in front of us blasts, and the Peacekeepers return from a few feet behind us to take hold of our arms. Ahead of us, I can see Laurentia on the train waving excitedly at us through a window.
Always the stubborn one, Damien can't let me go without one more jab. "Did dad stop by to visit?" he calls.
I don't give him the satisfaction of seeing me break. He knows that I expected our father to visit, and he also knows that I was sorely mistaken. Maybe he was right all along; maybe I should have left with him all those years ago. I'll never tell him that, though. Especially not now.
The hands of the Peacekeepers release their hold on us, and the doors of the train slide closed behind us. As the train begins to move with one final blast of its horn, Laurentia bounds into our compartment.
"Right this way, you two!" she exclaims, pushing me through the door with a hand on my back. "Let's get you to your personal compartments so you can get yourselves settled."
We reach Damien's room first. He slides the door open, glancing back at me before closing it behind him. I think maybe he wanted to see me one more time, just to make sure that he's hurt me.
I won't give him what he wants - that would be too easy. Damien and I are still siblings, and we still have the same genes whether he likes it or not.
Damien may not realize it yet, but I can play the exact same games as him.