After entering the Justice Building, Coral and I are split up and taking to rooms on opposites of the building. The first group to visit is my mother and younger siblings. I was about to ask where father was, but mother said. "Your father has important information that you and only you need to hear."
"Okay." I said.
"Promise." my brother said.
"Promise that you'll come back." my sister said.
I want to be honest and tell them I have a one and a million chance of winning this thing. The chances that there will be a body of water in the arena, a net and trident in the Cornucopia are astronomical compared to my chances of winning. I thought, instead I said. "I promise."
At that moment the Peacekeepers were coming to collect my family. Next person to come see me is my father. It's a somber affair.
"I don't have much time, so shut up and listen." my father said.
"Okay." I said, but in my head I thought. Down to business. This is a side of my father I never saw.
"Fourteen years ago, I found you as a baby on a Capitol hovercraft. Your true parentage is that of a District 4 victor and a Capitol courtesan who had a visitor in President Snow's circle of advisors." my father said.
"Anything else?" I asked.
"You were genetically modified to help weed out President Snow's enemies. How you were supposed to weed out the president's enemies and the extent of the modification I never found out. If you survive a fatal injury in the arena, President Snow will be on you in a heartbeat." he said.
That was a lot to take in, and I don't get to ask questions because the Peacekeepers were coming to collect my father. I was in shock that they were coming so soon.
"Do your best son." my father said, as they were escorting him from the room.
I receive a few other guests, but none of them offered anything of substance. My family was the only thing that gave me a sense of comfort in my last moments as an innocent child. We have an hour to say goodbyes, and that hour is coming to a close. In the final minutes before the Peacekeepers came to get me, I look out the window and see a car pull up to the basement door of the Justice Building.
We get to ride in a car to the train station. That's new. I thought.
The moment I finished my thought, the Peacekeepers entered and escorted me to the elevator. We get to the elevator, and we wait for a good ten minutes before another group of Peacekeepers shows up escorting Coral. The elevator opens and we're told to get on. We get on and stare at the Peacekeepers. After the doors shut, we look at each other and then look away. I start whistling to fill the void of emptiness, but Coral gets the dumb idea to ask questions.
"How do you see this playing out?" Coral asks.
I stop whistling momentarily, take a breath, and then let it out as turn to look at her as I ask. "What makes you think I know?"
"What's the worse that can happen with making a simple prediction? Do you think we should still team up with 1 and 2 or strike out on our own?" she asks.
"I don't like playing twenty questions. It can get our hopes up, and then they get dashed when we enter the arena that doesn't measure up to our expectations. We can work with 1 and 2, but I'm prepared to make a break for it when things go south." I said.
I think that I should use my natural charm to my advantage whenever, and however I can. Math is not my strong suit, I'll admit right now, but there's a—possibly—seventy-six percent chance—You know what. I most likely did the math wrong, so I'll leave the math to the mathematicians, and see if I can level the odds so that they'll be in my favor. I thought.
"Are you listening?" Coral asked, bringing me back to reality.
"No, I wasn't. I attempted to calculate the odds of either one of us being the victor. What's going on?" I asked, being pulled back to reality again.
"Ah, the lovely guest for this year's Hunger Games." Amethyst said, greeting us.
"Ah!" I said, letting out surprised shock. I didn't realize the doors had opened.
I need to develop a faster thought process. I thought.
"Did you get to talk a moment while you rode?" Amethyst asked.
"We did, but we didn't develop anything concrete." I said, and then exited the elevator.
I was the first to exit the building to see the car had already been started and waiting for us get in. Amethyst sits between us on drones on about the Capitol, which about bores me to tears, but I look over at Coral. She's distracted by the camera crews at the station. We all get out of the vehicle and climb the stairs to the station.
Coral pretends to be an airhead—though to be honest it's not an act—for the cameras again. They eat that stuff up, while I put my playboy persona on and turn the arrogance up to eleven.
With the camera crews satisfied, the three of us board the train. The door shuts and then the train pulls away from the station. This is one of the Capitol high speed trains because after the train has been going for a moment it speeds up to a ridiculous speed and does so effortlessly. I look out the window and I see the landscape go by in a blur.
Amethyst leads us into the dining car which is as gaudy as the room we were being held in at the Justice Building. She then leads through the dining car to the living quarters. Coral and I each get our own room and each room comes with bedroom, a dressing area and a private bathroom that has both hot and cold water. Hot water wasn't a luxury back home, but it does dry my skin out. Which was a stupid thought because the bathroom has bottles of moisturizers. After the shower, a bank of fans kicks on and blows me dry. That's new. I thought, and then stepped out of the shower. As I looked in the mirror, I saw that my hair had been ruffled, and I got a little perturbed. Now I usually don't get bent out of shape over my appearance, but I do like to keep it in some kind of working order. I grab a brush and try to fix it, but it was only making me madder. So, I put the brush down, and go get dressed. I remember Amethyst saying that I had an hour to get ready for dinner. I looked at the clock and saw that I had ten minutes until dinner. I exit my room, and head to the dining car.
Dinner is a high-class affair: seven courses and every course is richer than the last. By the time we finished the seventh courses both Coral and I are shades of a green: Coral is a medium shade while I'm just a pale shade.
After dinner we're directed to another car to watch the recaps of the reaping. The tributes are taken either by volunteering or take their place on the stage. Districts 1 and 2 have big muscular boys and have a good fifty pounds on me, but the rest of the field is nothing of note. They definitely will be a threat to be reckoned with. My plan now hinges on their being large body of water, a finding or crafting a net and a spear. Or a trident preferably. I thought.
"While you're in the arena, we will be your lifeline." A male voice said.
Coral and I turned to see our mentors walk in. The male won his games about ten years ago, and the other was Mags.
"Anything you could possibly need or want it will be up to us to get it for you." Mags said.
The male turned and introduced himself to Coral saying that he would be her mentor.
"I'm Mags Flanagan," she said, offering her hand.
"Oh, I'm very aware of who you are. I'm intrigued to know how you won your Games." I said, shaking her hand.
"That's a story for another time." Mags said.
I remember seeing pictures of Mags from her younger days. Even though fifty-three years has passed since her Games, Mags still retains some of her youthful beauty. Her hair has faded from it's bright fiery red of her youth, but it started to become silver like starlight. Her skin is starting to age, but Mags has a fantastic skin regiment because even I can barely see the breakdown. Come to think of it Mags is barely wearing any makeup.
I stare at Mags for a moment, and then I say one word. "Sweetheart," which was the nickname she was given after winning her Games.
"That's a name I haven't heard in a long time." she said, in thick southern accent that Mags usually hides.
"Gets some rest. Mags and I will discuss the coming events of tomorrow." Coral's mentor told us.
"Night darling." Mags says to me, still in her thick southern accent.
I should be creeped out, but something about how she called me darling seems almost endearing. Before I knew what was happening, I gave Mags a hug, and then left.
"What was that?" Coral asked after leaving the room.
"I have no idea." I said, and then entered my room.
I don't even bother looking through the drawers for clothes to sleep in. I remove the clothes I wore to dinner, fold them up and placed them on the chair, and then crawl into bed.
My dreams are as black as night and empty as night as well, but I sense of calming peace in the void. I stay asleep all night.
Come morning, Amethyst comes to wakes us, and she is in her usual chipper mood. I get dressed, brush my teeth, and head out to breakfast. As the door to the dining car shut, Amethyst waved goodbye and then went to front half of the train.
"She has a penchant for young boys." Mags says, joining me at the door.
"I'm guessing the Capitol keeps her in check?" I asked.
"From what I've seen, yeah. Come on, let's eat. You have a lot to learn before we arrive." Mags said, and then walked back to the table.
I sit down at the table and get a bowl of stew. A plate of meat and vegetables and a tall glass of water. As I finish the bowl of stew, Chrysan Skyfall—Coral's mentor—asked. "The big question is do we train you together, or separately."
Coral seems like a very superficial person, but this moment could the first test of her character.
"If it's all the same to you, I want to be trained separately." Coral said.
I school my features. Coral maybe attempting to put some distance between us, even before the Games start. I feel all eyes are on my, but the only eyes I make contact with are Mags. Mags imperceptibly nods her head, and I nod my head.
"I'm okay with that." I said and continued to eat my food.
Chrysan and Coral stepped over to another table to discuss Coral's strength and weaknesses.
"What do you have to share?" Mags asked.
"I can swim like a fish, I know about twenty or thirty different knots, I know how fish using a net and trident, and I'm very personable." I said.
"Your personality will be useful for getting sponsors and throwing off the competition. Do you know any other skills?" she asked.
"No. I was thinking about learning about wild plants, but I never got that far." I said.
"There will be a station for that kind of stuff—we got here sooner than expected." Mags said.
The train car went black as the train entered the mountain. I finished my plate of food and drank two glasses of water.
I wanted to ask Mags if she might have known who my father was but given the delicate nature of the matter, I thought against it.
"Stylists and their team are fickle creatures, but they can be the difference getting sponsors and not getting sponsors. Play nice." Mags said, as the train started to slow down.
"Okay." I said as the train exited the mountain and pulled into the station.