^A picture of Robin. Not sure if his name has been mentioned yet, but he's the District 3 boy who joined Soren's alliance, when Soren got to him before the Careers could.
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Chapter 11
POV: Soren (District 4)
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I'm sitting in my room on my bed. Lacie's sitting at a desk on the other side of the room.
For some reason, Lacie has a problem with my inclusion of Robin, the boy from District 3, in our group. To be honest, I don't have much patience with her arguments; it's basically the only thing I've done so far without her approval or suggestion.
"We need to just stick to the plan," Lacie lectures me. "Dalia and Nia are good enough. More allies mean more traitors later, Soren. You know that."
I roll my eyes a bit. "Lacie, you saw him train. He's really good; even the Careers wanted him. He's smart, good at shooting, and I can tell he's loyal. Please."
I've found that I'm actually quite effective at convincing Lacie to go with my plans. She reluctantly shakes her head. "I'll look into his stats," she concedes. "If he does well in the Assessments we can go for it. Just remember our lives are on the line with every decision we make."
~
After coming to a compromise, Lacie and I slowly climb the stairs to the roof of the Tribute Suites. Being the person she is, Lacie has been itching to explore the building and see what the roof has to offer.
We walk through the large doors to the roof, but Lacie pauses when she sees three tributes already seated on the roof. One of the girls is resting her head on the boy's shoulder, while another girl sits close by.
"Who is it?" I whisper to Lacie.
"Carlo and Persephone from District 5," she says, "and Maisy from District 9."
I somewhat recognize them now from behind. They're not too bad.
Maisy turns around at the sound of our whisperings, offering a shy smile and a wave.
"Sorry, we'll come back," I say to her with a warm smile.
Carlo and Persephone turn around, spotting us.
"No, stay!" Persephone calls. "We don't own the roof. What's your name?"
"Soren," I tell them.
"And I'm Lacie," Lacie says soon after.
"I'm Persephone, this is Carlo," Persephone says sweetly. "We were just talking about how amazing the city is."
"The cost of one of these buildings is probably more than every building in District 5 combined," Carlo says with a disbelieving laugh.
"It's certainly beautiful," I say, sitting next to Maisy.
"Isn't it?" she says. "Three years ago a granary exploded in 9 and the city went up in flames. Imagine if the Districts looked like this - most of District 9 is still homeless."
"Well, we'd better enjoy it while we can," Lacie speaks up for the first time. "And if we win the Games, we'll get the luxury for the rest of our lives."
I nod, looking up at the stars. The five of us sit in peaceful silence. The stars are fainter than they are in District 4, but they're still beautiful.
~
Lacie leaves soon after our encounter with the others, but I stay for about an hour before heading back to my suite.
As I climb down the stairs, I can hear two female voices below me in the stairwell.
"You need to take care of yourself, Angelica," a girl's voice says. "I think you're making yourself a target."
I recognize that name - it must be Nia and Dalia's District partner, Angelica.
"I know, I just feel like Leon brings out the worst in me. I need to hold myself back, I can't get on the bad side of the Gamemakers," Angelica says.
I can't help but eavesdrop, intrigued. I wasn't aware Angelica and Leon were feuding.
The other girl speaks. It must be the District 8 girl who I always see with Angelica - Saylee. "Right, save it for the Arena. We have to lay low until we can get out into the Arena."
The footsteps stop. "This is Floor 8," Angelica says.
"I can read numbers, you dimwit!"
The girls laugh as a door closes. I quickly start to descend the stairs to make it look like I wasn't listening. Angelica is probably climbing the stairs to Floor 11 right now.
I pass Angelica soon after. I offer a small smile, and she just looks at me suspiciously. Ignoring her, I head down to my room.
~
It's the last day of Training. My Individual Assessment is today, and I'm nervous. Today seems a bit different - everyone seems more on-edge.
I head over to the knife station with Robin, handing him two sharp knives. Today, I'm going to show him how to throw them properly.
I pore over the other knives, choosing a few more good ones that I can practice with myself.
As I look over the knives, Victoria approaches the table next to me. I smile at her and move over to give her some room to look.
It takes a moment for me to realize she's talking to me, as she stares down at the knives rather than at me. "Don't think I've forgotten what you did with Robin yesterday. That stunt you pulled."
My heart drops. I wasn't thinking at the time, but I may have made myself a target to the Careers by stealing their ally.
"Just remember that you won't be the favorite forever," she continues. "The Capitol may love you because you're Roman's brother, but in the Arena, they'll see who the real champions are. I've been training my whole life for this; I can easily rip you into shreds. Next time think before you mess with us."
I nod a bit, nervously grabbing another knife as Victoria turns and storms away.
After my encounter with Victoria, I slowly walk to the knife-throwing station. Robin is at one target, and next to him at the other two are a few other tributes. I vaguely recognize them, even though we haven't talked. At one target is Jordan, a tall boy from District 7, along with Rose, a girl from District 8. Next to them is Jordan's District partner, Kala, who is with Greta, a girl from District 9. The two District 7 tributes teach the girls how to throw axes. I think the four of them are allied with Maisy, who's the girl I saw on the roof.
Greta rears back and throws an ax, landing midway from the bullseye to the edge of the target. Kala cheers, giving Greta a small hug in celebration.
"I'm basically District 7 now!" Greta says with a laugh.
"Getting there," Kala chuckles. "Hey, Jordan, where did you find those silver ones?"
Breaking from my thoughts, I finally stop eavesdropping and turn to Robin, who is busy throwing knives. He's doing pretty well - most of them have hit the target.
Suddenly, I realize the group behind me has gone silent. Turning, I see them frozen in fascinated horror, staring across the room.
It's Angelica and Leon. The two are talking heatedly, on the verge of fighting each other.
Angelica lunges, trying to grab Leon's knife. The knife is flung across the room, where Lacie and Dalia have to duck to avoid it. Leon grabs Angelica's shirt, flinging her to the ground. He throws punches at her as she balls up on the ground.
Angelica's words from last night come back to me.
"I need to hold myself back, I can't get on the bad side of the Gamemakers..."
So much for that. Breaking into stride, I run to the two tributes.
"Hey!" I shout at the guards, getting their attention. Robin runs closely behind me, as does Saylee, the girl who I think is allied with Angelica.
Robin and I work to pull Leon off of Angelica, while Saylee tends to her injuries. Armed guards drag Leon out of the Training Center as he screams profanities at Angelica. Medics arrive soon after, transporting Angelica away on a stretcher. Saylee offers us a short "thank you" before she accompanies the group to the infirmary.
~
A long chapter filled with lots of drama! How do we feel?
I know it might be confusing to remember all of the tributes. A tribute list will be coming soon, I promise. Some of the tributes aren't main characters and will die early on, and that's okay.
We've met quite a few tributes so far! Who are your favorites so far? I know there are lots to choose from :)
~S