The Half-Blood Games | Percabeth

Chapter 3: The Train

The speed takes my breath away.

I've never been on a train before, of course. Inter-district travel is forbidden unless you have a permit or something along those lines from President Kronus. Which, of course, I never had.

And this is the fastest train ever made; one of the Capitol's finest, which could easily go at 250 miles per hour. We'd be in the Capitol before the end of the day.

In school, they told us that the Capitol was built in a place once called the Rockies. District 3 was built in what used to be called the Appalachia. Even hundreds of years ago, people used to manufacture machines here, to be enjoyed by whoever wanted them. 

Somehow, in school, everything always came back to technology. Besides the basic reading, math, and history of Panem, they talk about technology. I guess they're trying to stamp out any idea of not working in the factories from our minds.

The tribute train is fancier than the room in the Justice Building. At this rate, I can't even begin to imagine what our suite in the Capitol will look like. We are each given our own chambers that have a bedroom, a dressing area, and a private bathroom with hot and cold running water. In the orphanage, most of the hot water is usually used up at the end of the day, seeing as everyone wants to have showers and no one wants to freeze to death doing it.

The drawers are filled with clothes, finer than anything you could find in District 3. Minerva, who came with us, told us to wear whatever we want, as long as we're ready for dinner in an hour.

I look down at my dress, suddenly worried. This is one of the only things I have left of my mother. What would the Capitol do to it when I was in the Games?

That's when I started crying.

The tears flowed freely, and I didn't stop them. I sat down on my bed, and buried my head in my hands.

Why had this happened to me? Didn't the Games take away enough from me already? From my family? Hadn't I already suffered enough?

I could think of several girls who deserved to be here. Nancy Bobofit, for example; her father was extremely rich, and she picked on anyone who she decided wasn't 'perfect'; a.k.a, everyone. A boy had committed suicide because of her.

But fate likes to pick on the weak, it seems. To beat the already beaten.

Soon, Minerva collected me for dinner. Thankfully, I had stopped crying, and my eyes were no longer red. You couldn't even tell that I had been crying. I follow her through rocking corridors of the train to the dining room, the walls covered in polished panels. On the table lay enough food to feed the entire orphanage for a month, at least.

Malcolm was waiting for us, along with Vulcan. Vulcan regarded me with a cold, calculating stare, while Malcolm looked in every other possible direction, seemingly trying to do anything but look at his mother.

Vulcan was almost a perfect victor; he was smart, and strong, which was how he won his games. But he was missing what a lot of Capitol people thought was the most important thing in the world; attractiveness. In fact, he was anything but. He looked like someone had broken his face with an iron bar when he was a baby and his face never healed.

I sat across from Malcolm, and Minerva across from Vulcan.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's begin," Minerva said in that cold voice that I was never going to get used to.

I stuffed myself. Back home, I had never been starving, too say, but I didn't exactly have all the food I wanted. There were over 70 other people who needed to eat, and Hestia only received a certain amount of money from the mayor per month.

Malcolm looked like he was used to getting food. Either being a baker earned you more money than I thought, or Minerva was paying child support. Either way, I was sure he hadn't tasted the richness of Capitol food before, and was surprised he wasn't going to town on it.

After dinner, we go to watch the replay of the Reapings. I repeat the names of the tributes after they're said, so I remember them. If I'm going to kill any of them, I should at least know their names.

From District 1 is a small, dark-skinned girl named Hazel Levesque and a scrawny boy with hair the color of sand named Octavian Argur. Neither of them struck me as your typical careers, but, you should never judge a book by its cover.

From District 2 are Clarisse la Rue and Frank Zhang, two large, stocky people who look exactly like careers. I'll have to look out for them.

I watch our Reaping, my emotionless face as I walk up to the stage. If I hadn't truly accepted it beforehand, watching myself on the massive T.V did the trick; I was stuck in these Games.

From District 4 is a red-haired girl named Rachel Dare and an attractive boy named Percy Jackson. I was instantly drawn to the boy, mainly because he volunteered. In career districts, volunteering wasn't unusual. But this was different. Percy had volunteered for his brother, Tyson, and there was a sadness in his eyes that made me feel the same emotion.

From District 5 is a black-haired girl named Thalia Grace and a blond-haired boy named Jason Grace. Two siblings, whose eyes are as electrifying as the power their district produces.

From District 6 is a girl with mischief in her eyes named Julia Feingold, and a blond-haired boy named Luke Castellan.

From District 7 is a red-haired girl named Juniper Bark and a brown-haired boy named Grover. Grover volunteered, and grabbed Juniper's hand when he got up to the stage, leading me to believe that they are a couple.

From District 8 is a girl whose eyes seem to change color named Piper McLean and a blond-haired boy named Will Solace.

From District 9 is a twelve-year-old girl named Meg McCaffrey and a black-haired boy named Michel Yew. Seeing Meg made me sad. A girl that young shouldn't have to experience something so ugly.

From District 10 is Nico and Bianca di Angelo, two more siblings who look like they'd do anything for each other.

From District 11 is a black-haired girl named Katie Gardner and a boy with a crooked grin named Travis Stoll. He smiled at her, while she glared at him.

And finally, from District 12 is a muscled girl named Nyssa Barrera and a scrawny boy named Leo Valdez. Leo had a smile that made you want to smile, too.

And then it was over, and the T.V switched to an ad about makeup that made you look 'paler than a vampire!' which was apparently the newest trend in the Capitol.

After seeing all the tributes, my heart sank. I could probably take some of them, but not all. If I was going to win these games, I'd need some serious luck.

And, strangely, the image of the boy from District 4 swam in front of my eyes, his sad eyes making me feel despair right down to the bottom of my soul.