HELL FROM THE POWERS TRILOGY | C. HADLEY

CHAPTER 7

But the knife targets were still in her line of aim. With the second ax still in her mouth, she pulled her right arm back and threw the first ax underhand at the ground target. A loud thud rang through the gymnasium as it stuck squarely in the middle. She knew all the Gamemakers were looking at her now.

She grabbed the second ax from her teeth and began swinging her body back and forth on the ropes until she had a steady momentum. She let the ax go with a sharp yell, and it hit right beside the first. They were so closely touching you could hardly see any space between them.

She quickly climbed down the ropes and now saw the Gamemakers gawking at her. Some had their jaws dropped while others' eyes were wide. Devyn took a tacky bow as she shouted, "want any more? Or can I leave!" One of them, a tall woman with even taller hair, nodded, waving Devyn away.

Devyn gladly left, not noticing just how angry she was. She didn't know if she was mad because the Gamemakers first ignored her until she did something extraordinary or if she was merely irritated about standing in the same room as them.

***

"You couldn't have said it with a little bit of respect?" Beatrice yelled, and Devyn chuckled as she relaxed into the couch of the District seven apartment.

"Don't blame her, Beatrice. The Gamemakers get bored once they get to the later districts. She improvised," Johanna added.

"Improvised?" Beatrice squealed.

"What'd you do besides yell at them?"

"I hit a dummy first, then climbed up the ropes and threw a few upside down," Devyn replied.

"That's gotta be at least a nine! Nice job, Dev!" Devyn smiled at Johanna's comment. "And what about you?" She moved to Leighton, who shrugged.

"Spared a trainer and tried throwing some. I hit close to the bullseye each time, but I did better close up. I think I hit his face through his armor. I know I saw blood drip onto the mat," Leighton took a sip of his wine he continued drinking after dinner as Johanna praised him. Devyn had noticed how much he adored the wine here, and she knew they had a few bottles in District seven but not much. But she wouldn't be surprised if Leighton's family could afford one.

"Oh! The scores are coming on!" Vanity screamed, and Devyn jumped away from her. Caesar Flickerman faded onto the screen, his blue hair, makeup, and eyebrows sticking out from the dull background behind him.

"Hello, everyone! Tonight we will be announcing the training scores of all 24 tributes. As you know, the tributes were rated on a scale of 1 to 12 after three days of careful evaluation," and then the scores began. Marvel's face appeared beside Caesar as he glanced down at the first card.

"From District one, Marvel, with a score of nine," Devyn felt her heart beating rapidly.

"Also from District one, Glimmer, with a score of nine," if the careers were getting these scores, there was no way she would beat them. She'd be lucky to get an eight.

"From District two, Cato ..." Devyn felt herself lean forward slightly as Cato's picture came up, "... with a score of ten." She knew Cato would be proud and flaunt that ten later tonight, and she also knew that if she somehow got anything higher than a seven, he would question her strategy.

"The female tribute from District two, Clove, with a score of ten," Devyn gulped.

The list of tributes went on, and many got low or medium scores like fives or sixes. The one that surprised Devyn was the District four boy who was no older than 12 or 13 who got an eight. He probably got that because he was part of the careers.