Chapter 13

NARRATOR | Ashlyn Ramsey, District 11

We're awakened early for our second day of Training. Luckily, Eddie and I agreed to sleep early last night, so I feel more rested than I did after our late night together.

"We need to focus on survival stuff today," I tell Eddie as we step into the elevator to the training center. "Who knows how much fighting we'll actually need to do in the Arena. If we can keep ourselves alive in whatever Arena they put us in, we'll be solid."

Eddie nods as the elevator doors close. "You have some healing knowledge already, right?"

That's right - I told him about that last night, but not the whole story. "Only unofficial stuff," I say. "My mother trained to be a nurse for years, so she'd patch up the kids in the neighborhood if anyone got hurt. I still remember a few things, but they'll have books and stuff. I'll try to learn as much as I can."

Eddie just nods as the doors open, and we step out into the Training Center.

We're a few minutes early - only a few tributes are here, scattered across the huge room. The girl from One - I think her name's Eliza - is working on weaving a basket, and across the room, the boy from Twelve is swinging a fake sword at a dummy. Between them, I spot the tribute I'm looking for: Ansel. That's not all, though - he's standing with someone.

"Is that..." Eddie says from next to me.

"Safira," I sigh. The Career tribute is standing next to Ansel, talking into his ear. Yesterday, Ansel told us that Safira had a major rivalry with his District partner, so why is he talking to her today?

Eddie takes another look around the room, clearly worried about Violet. "Ansel's gonna get himself in trouble," he says, nervous. "Should we go over there?"

"Let's stay over here for now," I say, keeping my eyes on the two tributes. "I guess we're not invited to the conversation. Whatever it is, Ansel will tell us later."

I'm saying these things, but are they true? Is Ansel going to rejoin us later, telling us everything that's going on, or will he abandon us without a word and join Safira? Are Eddie and I getting screwed over here?

The elevator doors slide open behind us, and Violet steps out. My heart drops; I share a glance with Eddie before looking at Ansel. Ansel turns, spotting Violet, and he nods at Safira before turning away and walking in our direction.

"Move," Violet barks, bumping into Eddie as she passes. Eddie makes a move to go after her, but I grab his arm.

"Let it go," I say, giving his arm a squeeze. Eddie could get himself into a world of trouble if he engages with someone like Violet.

"What was that all about?" Eddie asks Ansel as he finally reaches us. "Violet looks pissed."

"Don't care," Ansel shrugs. "Safira was asking if I wanted to form an alliance with her, and she made a good offer."

"So?" I ask, glancing at Eddie. "What did you say?"

"I told her I wouldn't join without you two," Ansel says with a smile. "And she agreed. But I told her I needed to check with you first."

"I don't know, Ansel," I sigh. "Can we really trust someone like Safira? Part of me just feels like she's manipulating you to get back at Violet. It's possible she doesn't even want you as an ally. She might just be playing with us for the sake of her rivalry."

"She seemed genuine to me," Ansel tells me. "I think I'm going to train with her today, though. I can get a good read on people. You guys can come and form your own opinions if you want."

"It doesn't matter if she actually cares about us or not," Eddie shrugs. "The question is, will she protect us in the Arena? If she's gonna betray us, we'd be better off just the three of us."

"You're right," Ansel says. "I haven't told her yes yet. But this is a big opportunity, you guys. Safira's one of the most prepared people here, so she could be really useful."

"Well, let's just see how this goes," I say. "I don't have any reason to not trust Safira. But don't let her take advantage of you."

"I won't," Ansel nods. Behind us, more tributes file out of the elevator and into the Training Center. "Safira wants to train me in sword fighting if you two wanna join."

"We were going to focus on survival knowledge and healing today," I tell him. Next to me, Eddie nods. "But we'll meet up at lunch, and you can tell us everything."

"Okay," Ansel says with a smile. "Good luck!"

Ansel heads off, passing Violet as she glares at him. He meets up with Safira on the other side of the room, and they move to one of the stations nearby.

"Ansel's making me nervous," I tell Eddie with a frown.

"He has to be careful," Eddie sighs. "But I trust him to make the right decisions. We might need someone like her to keep us strong in the Arena."

I'm about to respond, but I see someone standing behind Eddie. It's the girl from Five, and it looks like she's listening in on our conversation. I put a hand on Eddie's shoulder, ducking around him to face the girl.

"Can I help you?" I ask sharply, and the girl jerks her head up to look at me.

"Oh, sorry," she says, her eyes darting between Eddie and me. "I was just thinking about what station to go to next... Just happened to stop here."

The girl offers me a forced smile before walking quickly away.

"What's that girl's name?" I ask Eddie. "She's giving me the creeps."

"Verity, I think," Eddie says, watching the girl as she walks away. He watched the Reapings more attentively than me. "She's been staring at people this whole time."

"Yeah, it's creepy," I say, rolling my eyes. "Is she going to actually train or what? Why is she just staring at people like that?"

"And was she listening to our conversation?" Eddie asks, turning back to face me.

"I think so," I sigh. "Don't know why she would care about anything we're doing. Not our problem, I guess."

"Right," Eddie says with a nod. "But she's super smart, I think. I overheard her District partner talking about her. He said she's an electrical engineer or something like that. I didn't understand most of what he was saying. But she's a big deal in Five, apparently."

"Well, she's not a big deal here," I say, crossing my arms. "And what she's doing hasn't been very smart so far."

"Whatever," Eddie shrugs. "Let's go try and get some guides on plants or something."

I nod, following my District partner across the Training Center. As we walk, I watch Safira sparring with Ansel. She clearly outmatches him, but he's not bad.

"Oh, Ansel," I mutter under my breath. "Please don't get us in trouble..."

A/N - So sorry for not posting more recently, life has been crazy! I have multiple chapters written for this story, but I always have to edit each one before I post and I haven't even had the time/motivation to do that recently. Hopefully this double chapter today will make up for it a bit :) I'm gonna try and edit ahead a bit to keep up my schedule, so fingers crossed on that!

~S