Hirana's eyes glitter like polished sapphire.
It's not because they're beautiful, although they are. It's not because they sparkle alongside her smile.
It's because she's been crying.
She's been slated to be his partner in the Games; Wonder saw the announcement tacked to the corkboard this morning. Hirana is an expert archer. A real pretty one, too.
She is smart, stealthy and solitary. A necessary contrast to Wonder's act-first-ask-questions-later attitude.
She's a big contender for the crown.
But these Games are like no other.
The two of them are watching TV in a secluded break room only a select few students know about, far from the instructors. Due to their close proximity and relationship with the Capitol, District One was able to receive a few Capitol channels.
They were sharing a stolen bag of sherbert fizzles while watching Latin Simone reruns when the Capitol seal suddenly appeared on the screen, accompanied by the blare of the national anthem.
"Oh god," Wonder had groaned, "What now?" He feels safe in saying that around Hirana. She wasn't a tattletale.
The screen grew staticky for a few seconds, then the image of President Aleta Mackrain fuzzed in. Standing at her lectern, hair perfectly coiffed as always, and with her signature dark red lipstick, she was as prim and proper as ever before.
"Citizens of Panem," she said, her voice sharp and humorless, "Tonight is a very exciting night. Tonight is the night I announce a new change coming to the Hunger Games."
She paused briefly to look down at her lectern, possibly reading off a cue card. Wonder and Hirana glanced at each other, confused. A bottomless pit of dread opened up inside Wonder's stomach.
"The Capitol has decided it necessary to introduce a special change to every twenty-fifth Hunger Games, to serve as extra reminders of the Districts' greed, violence and bloodlust, and all the misery and suffering they have caused our beloved nation. We have decided to dub the event the Quarter Quell." President Mackrain produced a crisp white envelope. "We have written down forty different twists, to be used in future Hunger Games. Tonight, you will see what the first one will be.
She sliced open the envelope and pulled out a card with deft fingers.
For a moment, Wonder had sworn he could physically feel the whole world holding its breath.
"On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the rebellion, to remind the districts that it was their choice to enact violence and start this brutal war, every citizen will vote for its male and female tributes." She looked up from the card, with not a single hint of emotion on her face. "Voting stations will be set up around the districts within three working days. You have until one week before the reaping to cast your votes. May the odds be ever in your favour."
The Capitol seal flashed on screen suddenly, then the normal television schedule resumed.
But neither Wonder nor Hirana felt like finishing their marathon of Latin Simone anymore.
"I don't want to be voted in," Wonder said aloud.
His thoughts swirled in his brain like a vortex; various scenarios for what could happen colliding with his various emotions, resulting in a bloody, tragic mess inside his cerebral cortex that only he could comprehend.
"Me neither," Hirana replied. "I-I thought…I thought t-this was supposed t-to be our choice…" To Wonder's surprise, tears began rolling down her face. "I don't wanna b-be forced to do this!"
It was like if Wonder's mom, from before Chiffon died, suddenly became the President and rewrote the rules. He didn't like being forced to go through all that rigorous training, and he didn't like the idea of his own district voting him in.
But that was it. President's orders.
Wonder's recent loss and Hirana's glistening tears were not enough to change anyone's mind.