A Perfect Storm (A Fanfiction for "The Hunger Games")

Chapter 4

When we all get back to our suite, Lydia ushers us to sit down on the plush blue couch despite the fact that we are still wearing our clothes from the parade. Sia and Levi, Mykael's stylist, seat themselves in matching glass chairs at our dining table and listen eagerly. Aaryn sits down across from us in an armchair, rubbing his thumb along the rim of the wine glass Lydia brought him. He doesn't seem to have any interest in drinking it, just scrutinizes the plum fluid with minor curiosity.

"Training is tomorrow and there is much to talk about!" Lydia shrills half-heartedly, but I am still surprised by the slight eagerness in her voice. In this moment she doesn't sound sick. "Aaryn, dear, why don't you take it from here?"

I snort at the words "dear" but no one seems to notice. From what I've seen, Aaryn is hardly a dear.

Our mentor just sighs and looks at us with boredom. But if I look closely, I notice that his green eyes sparkle with intelligence. He is not bored as he appears to be, but trying to think up what to tell us. "Well," he starts, "you will enter a room. There will be different stations, some with weapons, some with other helpful tools. You pick a station and then you work away. That pretty much sums it up unless they've changed it in the two years since I last saw it."

He smiles with mock sincerity and stands up, brushing off his dress pants even though there is nothing on them. "Does that help you out?" he asks bitterly and I realize that despite his calm façade, he's still angry from our blow out on the train.

"No," Mykael speaks up. The venom dripping from his tongue shocks me. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I'm not exactly in a good mood either. "That doesn't help us at all. I get that you're mad because we didn't let you bully us, but you're eighteen. Grow up and do what you're supposed to."

Aaryn doesn't say anything for a while. He just eyes Mykael curiously as though he were casually reading the ingredients on a milk jug. "Huh," he says slowly, "maybe I underestimated you at first, Mykael." He sits down again and looks at us each separately. "If you really need advice, get on the career's good side." I open my mouth to speak but Aaryn shushes me before I have a chance to. "Usually you aren't supposed to but show your skills during training when you know they're watching. They'll want to recruit you. Then, near the end of the games, betray them. Run away during the night and go somewhere they won't find you easily. Even the bravest know when to step down."

I think in a panic. What are my skills? I'm just a lowly mechanic. I'm nothing. Biting my lip until it bleeds; I refuse to give up so easily. There has to be something that I'm good at. I can use daggers and grenades, but I don't think that they will have grenades in training. For the first time since my name was reaped, I realize that I may not be any help to Mykael after all. I won't survive the first few minutes. I'm just a helpless little girl waiting to be slaughtered.

"I have no skills that are anything worth showing off," I whisper quietly, half to myself.

Aaryn raises an eyebrow. "No? You shouldn't pick fights that you can't follow up." When he looks at me I shiver despite myself. This is his first direct reference to our argument. "I'm sure there's something."

Sighing, I decide to tell him the scarce things that I might be able to use to my advantage. "I have good aim. I was a mechanic, so I can build things and my fingers are nimble. If I had to say, my weapon of choice would be a dagger. It's just... what good will that be against someone twice my size with an axe?" Saying it out loud makes me feel even more pathetic. The reality hits me like a cold wall; I can't defend myself. I can't defend Mykael.

I expect him to look disappointed that he didn't have someone better and more skilled to mentor, but he only looks curious. For a few minutes there is silence in which Sia excuses herself, probably to avoid the awkwardness. She casts me an encouraging glance before she leaves, but I wonder if she's just thinking about her "precious creation" being destroyed. I find it hard to believe that she is actually fond of me, versus the image that I can portray.

Finally, Aaryn speaks, "Perhaps you would be better off staying out of the picture. Make yourself unnoticeable during training and hide out of sight in the games."

I snort. "You mean because I can't do anything helpful. You know that I'll just die if anyone finds me." I don't tell him that that had been my original plan anyway.

Our mentor just shakes his head slowly. "No, that's not what I meant. You're a mechanic and I can bet you're pretty clever. I think that you can trick people, plant traps for them and they won't even suspect a thing. It might be one of the best skills to have."

I frown. I never thought of cleverness as a skill, but I guess that it is. Contemplating, I lean back on a fluffed up black cushion. Eventually, realizing that he must be right, I answer grudgingly, "Fine."

Aaryn doesn't direct anything to me, but grins, clearly pleased with himself that he said something I actually agreed with. "Well then, just remember what I said when you're in the training room tomorrow."

Leaning against the back of the armchair, he watches as we stand up to leave. Mykael meets my stare once and looks away so quickly that I wonder if I imagined it. I gulp and turn to the side so no one will see what that meant to me and how wounded I am. Over all these years, Mykael has always been that one person that I could trust, that I could depend on. That dependable person is gone. He can't even look at me now. I long for how things were before the ceremony when our names were cursed together. Now it can only be one without the other or not at all. Suddenly, I feel like I am nothing. I could just vanish into thin air as easily as a phantom. Nobody needs me; it would save someone else the trouble of killing me anyway. Shaking my head, I push the idea away. If I want to help Mykael, I need to get myself together or both of our lives end out there on the battlefield.

Finally I start to walk past Aaryn to my room, but he grabs my arm in a strong hold when I pass. "I know what you want to do," he whispers in my ear discretely so no one else will notice, "and I know that it won't work. You can't play with the games, Dayta Coryd."

"You don't know anything about me," I whisper back and yank my arm hard out of his stone grip. He doesn't say anything more as I walk away, but I can't act like what he said didn't freak me out. He seems to know everything, knew what I was going to do when I hadn't given any signs about it at all. I wonder if his show of confidence is just an act to hide something else. He's clever and I cannot deny it, I just wish that he didn't seem to know everything about me.

Trying to shake the short discussion out of my head, I tiptoe into my bathroom and scrub off all of my make-up until my face is pink and blotchy. After, I quickly undress and crawl under my warm covers. Tossing and turning in the bed, I realize what's keeping me awake. As much as I hate it, Aaryn was right. I have to find a way to train without the other tributes noticing me. Because if I don't, they'll trace me down and demolish me like I am nothing more than just another victim marked off their to-kill list. I don't care what he said, I will still help Mykael. I just have to believe that Aaryn isn't right when he says that I can't prevent his death.

Don't be right.