The Non Mortal Games

8: Metallucia: The Pyromaniac

Markus was standing beside me with his wings spread out. Preston was hovering on my other side making a victory sign with his hands. We were just about to follow District Two's lot into the view of the crowd. I created a fireball in each hand, and as the front of our chariot came into the light, I changed into Sage form (being careful not to accidentally touch Markus). The gears on my white, gold and silver steampunk dress caught the lights, and the crowd were going mad. I threw the two fireballs into the air and caught them. The crowd went wild again. We had definitely outshone District Two, and probably District One as well, that's for sure. I wondered what Magicia and James would do when their chariot rolled along the path. Since Twelve's would be the last chariot out, they'd have to do something spectacular to show their worth to the mortals, after seeing eleven other pairs of unique non-mortals.

After the President's speech, all the tributes went to their rooms. Since Markus and I were from District Three, we were on the third floor. Unfortunately, District Two, who were on the floor below, made a lot of noise. I could hear the male tribute singing loudly, and then the girl yelled, "I need BLOOD, Magnus! Do you want me to die before the stupid Games even START????" That girl must be a vampire, I thought. I had hoped I might get an early night, but there was no way that with my sensitive ears I'd ever get to sleep with all that racket.

Eventually the whole mess downstairs escalated into a shouting match, so I lost it and stormed downstairs, completely ignoring the elevator, and banged on their door (in Sage form). The boy, whose name was obviously Magnus, opened the door.

"What is it, Pyromaniac?" He asked. He looked perfectly ordinary, except that he had eyes like a cat's.

"Excuse me, but could you please keep the noise level down a bit? I understand you're angry-you've probably seen our Reaping footage-but there are plenty of Capitol idiots you could let off some steam on."

Magnus considered me for a moment, then said, "Eh, yeah. Maybe Vic can get some blood from them. She's been driving me crazy all night! 'blood blood blood! I need blood, Magnus! Don't you want me to live?' I'll tell her to be quiet. Just...don't touch me. I'm half demon and we're not supposed to hurt each other before the Games."

"Thank you. Sorry for disturbing you," I said.

"No problem, Pyromaniac. See you around."

"Erm, why do you keep calling me Pyromaniac? I know what happened at the Reaping, but..."

"Oh, some Capitol smart-aleck came up with a nickname for every tribute. There's a board in the dining room."

I was curious, so I decided to check it out. Sure enough, there it was, written on said board:

District 3, Metallucia= The Pyromaniac. I read some of the others:

Magnus =The Werecat (even though he clearly wasn't one)

Markus=The Black Bat (probably because of his wings)

Magicia= The Dragon Whisperer (because of her dragon wings and guardian I guessed)

Most of them weren't very creative. I went back up to my room. Thank goodness Magnus and the vampire from District Two had calmed down or gone elsewhere. Still, I wanted to see what Capitol technology was like compared to District Three's. I saw the huge screen on the wall and picked up the remote.