Trigger Warning: One mention of suicide.

Gus

Saying goodbye to my entire family is overwhelming. They all try to hug me at once. Ohmica's crying. Dynamo is also crying and he keeps apologising. Favonia's flapping her hands around, either with worry or excitement. She won't stop talking. Her accent keeps slipping between District 5 and Capitol. Coulomb is jumping up and down and giving me instructions on where to stab people. I'm slightly creeped out.

The adults are slightly more composed. Mom, Dad and Grandma are all trying not to cry. Uncle Arcas just seems relieved and thankful. I suppose he'd rather have me going into the games than his son. Eventually, Aunt Becky arrives. She hugs me and thanks me for volunteering to save her son. There's still no sign of Grandpa and Aunt Sotope. I'm guessing I'll see them both on the train.

I don't say much. I'm not really sure what I can say. I just keep reassuring people that I'm going to be okay. I'm not scared. I'm probably the calmest person in the room. Eventually, in the last minute or so before I have to leave, Grandma asks me what my district token is going to be.

"My new watch," I say, holding up my wrist.

The watch is gone.

Everyone gasps.

"Where did it go?" Grandma asks.

"I don't know," I say. "I swear it was still on my wrist when I was waiting for the reaping to start."

I feel the panic beginning to take over. I lost the expensive watch my grandparents bought for me. I messed up.

"Maybe someone stole it," Grandma says. "Probably some pickpocket at the reaping who didn't know better. I'll report it to the peacekeepers. They'll probably have caught the thief by the time you get back. Don't tell your grandfather, though. You know he can't stand thieves. He's got enough to deal with without having to worry about a pickpocket back in Five. Do you have anything else you want to use."

I nod. "My tiepin."

"That's a good choice," Grandma says. "Better than the watch, actually."

She gives my hand a comforting squeeze. I realise it's going to be okay. Just because I've lost my watch doesn't mean I'm going to lose the Hunger Games.

Hopefully getting robbed was my last piece of bad luck, though.

I give everyone in my family one last hug and remind them all that I love them and I'll be back in a month or so. Then I'm led out of the room by peacekeepers.

When I climb into the back of the car that's going to take me to the station, Tornada is already there.

My watch is on her wrist.

She's not trying to hide it. She's flaunting it like some crimelord heiress from District 6. She must've taken it from me while she was shaking my hand and I was distracted by the lightning.

"Hey," I yell. "You took my watch!"

"Does it matter, rich boy?" she asks, grey eyes as cold as steel. "I'll be dead in a week. You can pry it out of my cold, dead hands when you find my corpse after the bloodbath. For now, I'd just like to have something pretty to look at, for once."

"Okay," I say. "Keep it. But my grandpa's going to be very angry at you when he finds out you've stolen the watch that he bought for me as a Reaping Day present."

"Oooh, scary," Tornada says. "What's the old man gonna do to me? Strangle me with a bike chain?"

"I imagine he'll give you a stern talking to."

She raises an eyebrow. "I'm shitting myself with fear, rich boy."

"He might cut off your sponsor gifts," I say.

"What?" Tornada asks.

"He used to do that sometimes, when he was mentoring. If he really hated one of his tributes, he wouldn't send them anything, even if they had a lot of sponsor money. In the First Quarter Quell, he had two thieves, a lot like you. The girl had turned herself in so he took pity on her, sent her poison. She took it on the first day. He didn't send the boy anything. By the time the girl from Eight found him, he was so weak from hunger, she didn't even need to tie him up, like she did with her other victims. She just cut him open and he didn't even fight back."

Tornada scoffs. "He's not gonna do that to me. He's retired. Even if he is mentoring this year, he'll want to mentor you, not me."

"So who do you think is going to be your mentor?" I ask. "Beta? Tesoro? Sotope? Grandpa has a lot of friends in Victor's Village. The only mentor he won't be able to talk into cutting you off is Tesoro and he never even tries anyway. If you're stuck with Tesoro, he will be counting down the seconds until you die so he can go out drinking and partying. Some years, he doesn't even wait. If you want any sponsor gifts whatsoever, give me the watch."

Tornada sighs. She pouts. She's about to hand me the watch when she hesitates. I watch as she twists the knob so the time is incorrect and then licks the inside of the strap. Then she hands it to me.

"You win, rich boy. I hope you're fucking happy."

I grimace and clean the saliva off the watch with a pocket handkerchief. Then I put it back on my wrist. I'm sure there'll be a clock on the train I can use to reset it.

"I just want you to know," Tornada says, voice dripping with fake sadness. "That I was planning to get my mentor to sell your watch on the black market for sponsor money. But now I'll have to make do with this measly little charm bracelet."

She produces a charm bracelet, seemingly from out of nowhere, and dangles it in front of my face. I have no idea where she got it from. It was stolen, probably.

"Maybe you should think of a way to get sponsor money without resorting to thievery," I suggest. "Like using your winning personality."

She laughs. "I don't have a winning personality. I can't afford one. Unlike you, I didn't have wealthy grandparents to buy one for me."

I can hear the venom in her voice. That's when I realise why she was so hesitant to shake my hand. She wasn't intimidated. She was resentful. She was angry that I'm rich and she's not.

I don't know why but it makes me sad. I know I should be grateful that I'm part of the richest family in the district but the one thing I was never able to buy was a friend. Everyone is either nice to me because they want my money or they instantly hate me because they're jealous. The closest thing I have to a friend is Tarquin and he rarely writes to me anymore. His most recent letter told me that he's very busy at the academy. They're in a state of emergency over the Jack Frost murders and, as the Two victor who's closest in age to the killers, Tarquin feels like he has the most responsibility to prevent any further killings and salvage the situation.

Still, I have a rather comforting thought. When I win these games, I'm going to be able to see Tarquin in person every year because we'll both be mentors.

I just need to win the games without any help whatsoever from my thieving little district partner.

Don't you love it when your chapter coincidentally has the same name as a Tim Buckley song?

Gus has experienced his first major setback on his quest to become a victor. His watch went missing. Also, his district partner is a thief and she already hates him. The very first idea I had for this story was 'Luka Starkwain's grandson is in the games and also his district partner's a criminal'.

Next chapter, we'll see some reaping recaps and check in with at least one of the other two POV characters.