The Panther Girl: 55th Hunger Games

Chapter 8

I know what to do even less when Cornelius opens his mouth to speak. The fact that he, a Career, is saying anything to me at all is just confusing. But the question he asks seems to be even more so.

Because after he finishes, I get the feeling that he just asked me if I wanted to join the Careers.

My mouth goes dry. The food in my mouth turns to sawdust. There's a vague metallic taste in my mouth, and I doubt that it's the pork. "What did you say?" I manage.

"I said," Cornelius says, his voice deep and rumbling, like thunder, "we want you to join us." His sentence holds no emotion, just like the rest of him, but that must just be on the surface. I've watched his reaping. I sense something sinister about the whole thing- the fact that he was the Career sent over here; the fact that the second time, it wasn't a question, but a command. Suddenly, I feel extremely offended.

"Is that a joke?" As soon as the words leave my mouth, I want to reach out with my hands and shove them back down from where they came from, but I refrain. Even so, when I hear the nervous laugh of the girl from Four, I know I've made a big mistake.

Cornelius slowly stands up, and I can't help but think about how much bigger he seems than when he wasn't just stood up. "No, it is not." The words are slow and deliberate, punctuate to the point of suffocating.

I am afraid. Very afraid. I think he knows this. But I won't give him the satisfaction of seeing the fear revealed, where everyone can see it.

I stand, aware of almost everyone's eyes on me. He is not nearly as tall as Cedar, I can see now; but he is nevertheless over a foot and a half taller than me and three times my size. Somehow I know that there's no going back now. Not with what I've started. I look Cornelius in the eye and glare. "You think I would ever ally with you? You think I would ever ally with Careers?"

"Cass-" Eli warns, but I cut him off.

"Careers killed my best friend's girlfriend," I snarl. "They killed the friends and siblings of so many people I know. If you ever thought it was a good idea to try and intimidate me into allying with you, it's never going to work."

Every eye at the Career table is wide, bewildered. They are probably so used to being feared that they don't know what to do with someone who isn't seemingly afraid of them. But Cornelius just stands there in front of me, raising an eyebrow. He stands there looking thoughtful for a moment, then his eyes turn hard as he bends down and growls in my ear, "You will pay in the arena. We're gonna get you first." Then he turns and stalks away, back to where he came from.

For the rest of lunch, I can only taste metal, knowing I now have no chance of survival.

. . .

"Cassia." I barely turn my head as Ash, leaning against the mahogany-paneled walls of my quarters, tries to lecture me about a certain little talk I had today that caused a big problem. We have been here for thirty minutes. I still find it somewhat funny that though the arena clearly changed Ash for the worse, he is still not able to lecture people. The only thing that keeps me from pointing this out, though, is that it obviously frustrates him. How else is he going to get through to his tributes if nothing else works? I wonder if Ash is feeling much deja vu right now, seeing as to the tributes he's had to try and train in the past.

Ash rubs his temples, a nervous habit I recognize from when we were still good friends. From when the Hunger Games had not really affected us personally, and we were still spared from most of the personal horrors that they inflicted. So he hadn't lost this part of his old self, either. Somehow that comforts me enough to think that maybe- just maybe- there is still hope.