HELL FROM THE POWERS TRILOGY | C. HADLEY

CHAPTER 4

"I don't think a schoolyard fistfight is going to prepare you for the games, Kelly. But I can work with an ax and climbing. Can you throw them? Axes, I mean," Johanna asked, and Leighton shrugged.

"We'll see."

Johanna seemed rather annoyed with Leighton and moved on to Devyn. Hoping for more strength than she already knew. "Like Leighton, I can manage an ax, I can climb, make small traps, I know my way with plants and berries, I can carry a decent amount, and know how to make an acceptable fire," she said, and Johanna smiled in the victory of having a well-educated tribute. But of course, she already knew Devyn was capable of all these things.

"I've seen you balance at least an 80-pound branch over your shoulder. I would consider you strong, Dev," she told her, and Devyn scoffed.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna kill someone with a branch."

"You could be put in the forest, you never know," Johanna shrugged, and Devyn shook her head, resuming her unfinished fruits in the corner of her plate.

"Alright, you two best be off," Beatrice said after they cleaned off the final course of food from their plates. Leighton and Devyn stood up and were about to leave when Johanna stopped them.

"Also, stick close to each other. Or at least make sure the other isn't getting into trouble. Don't trust anyone, not even the weaker tributes. Everyone is your enemy, remember that," she pointed her finger towards the two, who nodded and waved goodbye before traveling to the elevator. They expected to shoot straight down, but instead, it flew up to the penthouse.

The door opened, and in walked the District twelve tributes. The muscular blonde boy smiled awkwardly towards the District seven tributes, who hardly acknowledged him while the dark-haired girl sent them a wary glance.

"Down as well?" The boy asked politely, and Devyn nodded. She caught the girl looking at the patch on her arm, and once she saw the low District number, she relaxed slightly, being happy it wasn't an arrogant career.

"I'm Peeta," the boy said, sticking out his hand, which Devyn shook slowly, and Leighton hesitated greatly to accept. They had to keep reminding themselves that in a few days, these two could be trying to kill them.

"Leighton. This is Devyn," Leighton charmed, and the District twelve girl raised an eyebrow.

"Katniss," she blurted out.

"We watched your reaping," Devyn began and saw Katniss look away and grit her teeth. "And we thought our escort was a handful," she changed the subject from the original topic, and Katniss looked back at her.

Peeta chuckled while Katniss' face unclenched. "District seven, huh? Looking forward to this?" He asked, and it was Leighton's turn to smirk.

"As much as you are," the door slid open, and they arrived just outside of the gymnasium. The four walked in together, not caring how much of a possible alliance they looked like, and saw they were the last to arrive. The careers eyes immediately met there's with glares towards Katniss and Peeta, which Devyn and Leighton couldn't blame them for. They had outshone the rest of the tributes at the parade with their fire and joined hands that everyone saw them as a more significant threat than the usual weak District twelve tributes.

Devyn ignored the stares diverting to her and Leighton, who separated from Katniss and Peeta to the other side of the circle the tributes had formed. Cato was once again examining Devyn with much enthusiasm while Marvel sized up Leighton with a smug grin across his face.

The head trainer, Atala, squeezed herself through the crowd of tributes and sifted through them. "In two weeks, 23 of you will be dead. One of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next four days, particularly to what I'm about to say." Devyn looked away from Atala for just a moment, and that was long enough for her to catch Cato still staring at her.