When the sun finally peeled through the windows on our floor of the building I didn't want to move. Instead, I kept my eyes clamped shut and snuggled into the closest thing around me, that thing being Finnick Odair. He didn't leave my side the whole night, keeping both arms wrapped securely around my waist.
Waking up was usually a struggle for me, nightmares always helped to get me up at an ungodly hour. But with the presence of Finnick beside me I could sleep forever and not feel the need to get out of bed in the early hours.
Finnick wakes up soon after I do, sticking the same plan as I had, pulling me closer and refusing to move from our comfortable position. I liked to sleep beside him, Finnick and I fought off each other's constant horrors, sleep wouldn't come easy in the arena.
Two days, two days and I would find myself inside the prison the Game Makers design. I could only imagine what kind of nightmares they had come up with for this year's arena. I was going to be in for an interesting ride.
Sylvia begins banging on my door within twenty minutes of waking up, I let out a train and pull myself closer to Finnick's chest. He chuckles and me before sitting up on the other side of the bed, the comfort of his presence leaving me.
I pull myself out of bed and move to the dresser, taking the activewear that Gaia has picked out for me and begin to change before remembering there was someone else in my room, "Sorry," I cough awkwardly, Finnick respects my privacy, turning around and letting me change into the all-black activewear.
We make it to breakfast; Thorn gives a confused look between Finnick and me as we depart from the same room. He sits across from me, passing a plate of fresh fruit over the table. Mags seems completely immune to the shock of seeing Finnick and I waking up together whereas Gaia and the rest of the prep team look about ready to explode. Blaze is the only one other than Thorn that seems mildly co fused with the arrangement.
Finnick sips on his coffee before grimacing slightly, standing up he mumbles a quick "needs sugar" and bounds off to find some.
A pregnant silence fills the room that Thorn is quick to interrupt, "Are we not going to talk about whatever that was?" He asks in shock. I chuckle and bite into a slice of pineapple.
Mags answers the question in my place, "Nothing happened Thorn, sometimes Finnick needs her to fall asleep, you don't have to understand it but it makes him happy,"
"What makes who happy?" Finnick asks as he returned with a box of half-eaten sugar cubes.
"Aurora makes you happy," Gaia responds with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Finnick doesn't respond, instead, he winks at me, placing a cube into his coffee and stirring it around.
The rest of the meal goes by without any sort of trouble, we comfortably talk about what is going to happen on our next day of training. Thorn seems restless, fiddling with his fork instead of eating any of his food, "Thorn you have to eat," Mag's reasons, "You'll need strength today,"
"What's the point?" He chuckles darkly, "I don't know how to use any of the weapons, I didn't grow up on the same side of the District as Aurora,"
"Then I'll teach you," Finnick says, crossing his arms over his chest, "Whatever you need to learn, that's my job,"
Today we get an hours' worth of training with our mentors, for me that means Mags. For Thorn that means Finnick, it's the time we get to have experience with past Victors, learn their strategies. For most tributes this stage is crucial as our knowledge of the games is limited in comparison, Thorn and I are lucky to have such amazing mentors, I pity the likes of District 12 who have to share the same mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. I hadn't met him but from what Finnick had told me he was hardly sober, getting a straight sentence out of him would be difficult for Beck and Elsie.
Sylvia escorts us down the training room where we get our names checked off and are left to our own devices. My eyes scan precariously around the room for something I didn't do yesterday. I find the camouflage table that sits on the right-hand side of the training centre. I shouldn't have any trouble with camouflage, I'm a painter- it's the same thing but with berry juice.
Not long after I reach the camouflage table, I'm painting my arm to look like the three behind me. The rest of the world around seems to fall still as I carve out the shapes of the bark, adding flecks to green or black. I chuckle as a butterfly lands itself on my finger, I hear a childlike gasp behind me and I immediately know who it is. "How do you do that?" Elsie asks in shock, sitting down beside me.
I move my finger over to her hair and the butterfly finds a comfortable position on top of her head much to each of our amusements. "It's a lot of practice really," I explain, picking up a brush and touching up the scuff marks the butterfly had left behind, "But I can show you the basics,"
After a while of explaining the younger girl has painted a basic tree design on her arm, some of the colours don't quite match and the bark is a little faded in patches but I'm impressed for a first attempt. She lets out an excited cheer and runs over to the knife-throwing station where Beck is hurling knives into the targets. When he catches sight of the young girl, he looks just as excited about her achievement as she does, causing me to grin.
"So," Another voice breaks the silence sitting beside me, I meet the face of Clovis, he had clearly broken the rules of fighting with other tributes, his knuckles on his left hand were bruised and bloodied, "Have you thought any further about my proposition?" He asked, looking judiciously at the camouflage station as if it were above him.
I let out an annoyed sigh, placing my paintbrush down on the table, "Clearly I have mastered camouflage just yet," I start, Clovis raised an eyebrow expectantly, "If I had you wouldn't be bothering me,"
He laughs at my creative attempt of telling him to leave me alone, but he doesn't oblige to my wishes, instead, he begins to strategize, "The competition's intense this year, Viva from Eight and Tiberius from Seven are on the verge of becoming allies, they'll be untouchable,"
"And this is my problem because..." I trail off, not seeing a point to the conversation.
"We're all going in there to survive, aren't we?"
I shake my head, denying his comment completely, "Not me, I have someone to bring back,"
Clovis points in Elsie's direction who is watching Beck throw knives intently, "Her?" He asks as she picks up a knife, tossing it weakly in the direction of the dummy. It strikes the centre but falls to the ground as soon as it hits.
My heart breaks when I realise there are two people I want to protect. On one hand is Elsie, the poor innocent girl from District Twelve, she doesn't deserve to be in these games, she's too young. On the other hand, is Thorn, the boy who sacrificed his life to protect my family, the boy who saved my sister from completely losing my mind, the boy I could trust to take care of my family when I don't return.
I make up my mind at that point, I'd have to do it eventually, Elsie is someone I'll look out for in the games but there's only one person I want to go home. "Him," I point at Thorn who is currently learning how to fight with a sword, he's pretty good for a beginner, all of the rope pulling on the docks has given him strength.
"Too bad, I've already got him," Clovis smirked, "He jumped at the chance to join the Career pack, a smart thing to do,"
I know he's right, without me there, Thorn will be the first to die after the rest have been killed off, "If it comes down to it, I'll join you, but I can't promise you'll live through the night," I say honestly.
Clovis chuckles darkly, "It's going to be a shame for me to have to kill you,"
"It's going to be a shame for me to endure your empty threats," I respond, walking away from the District One boy and over to the fire-starting section. Tiberius, the boy from Seven sits, rubbing sticks together in attempts to start a fire. I would have guessed he'd be good at it, coming from the tree district, but the way he moves his hands impatiently makes me think he has no idea what he's doing.
I sit as far away from him as possible, fearfully wondering if he's going to impale me with a stick. He glares at me for a brief second, but his facial expression softens when Viva comes and sits between the two of us, "Easy there, Tiger," She says, placing her hands over his and directing him to move slower.
Something immediately clicks in my head as they sit down beside me, I might have Beck on my side but we'll be no match compared to the Careers who will be fully weaponised by the time the bloodbath is over. Without being killed the most we can hope for is a small knife or a backpack, the Careers will have everything from weapons to food- and they travel in a larger number, they already have the upper hand. If Viva and Tiberius have really teamed up, they're in the same boat as me, without weapons and weak against the Careers.
"Clovis tells me you two are forming an alliance," I attempt to spark conversation, it's purely strategic, if I can get Viva and Tiberius to favour me over the Career pack, I can use them to break the Careers apart.
"Clovis is a dick," Tiberius huffs, the sticks spark, but only briefly, producing a disappointing waft of smoke to rise into the air and fizzle out.
"Look at us, agreeing on things already," I joke, the sticks I'm holding quickly spark and soon a fire ignites amongst my pile of wood. Finnick taught me how to do it, some nights we stay down at the Cove together, huddle around a small campfire. Addy, Dante and Asher join us occasionally. I know those days are over but the memoir of my family brings a soft smile to my face.
"What do you want, Four?" Viva snaps at me like a person scolds a dog. I try not to flinch at the harsh tone in her voice, instead, I fake a shit-eating grin and gesture for them to huddle around.
"Listen, we all know how strong the Careers are and we all know what their first play is," I begin, prompting them to answer me.
The Careers are so predictable, every year they do the same thing, Viva seems to know the tactics because she answers me as soon as the sentence leaves my mouth, "Stay at the Cornucopia, divide all the remaining loot up amongst themselves," She responds, I feel as though I can hear the cogs turning in her head.
"They'll be unstoppable if they can get all those weapons and their next move is to take out the competition, that's you two," I point out.
"Then I'll kill them," Tiberius shrugs as though it's no big deal.
"On the first day? When they're the strongest, fittest and fully armed- not likely." I point out, Viva and Tiberius both seem to agree with me at this point with makes me grin, "We'll only have a chance if we can break them up at the Cornucopia, we'll salvage the rest of the weapons and split them between the five of us,"
"This five of us?" Viva asks, I point over at Beck and Elsie who are still throwing knives, Elsie's throws are getting better, digging into the dummy a little way. Beck gives her a high-five as Elsie jumps up and down in excitement. "The kid, seriously?" The redhead scoffs.
Before I can defend the girl, Tiberius cuts her off, "Elsie's nice, I accept," I didn't expect him to have a soft spot toward the girl but then I remember that's it's Elsie, almost everyone has a soft spot for her.
"Fine," Viva grumbles, "What's our play?"
"We need to make them seem like you-" I point at Tiberius, "Are their biggest enemy, if you linger, they'll go chasing after you long enough for Viva and me to swoop in and take the stuff,"
It's not the most solid plan, but surely with Beck, Tiberius, Viva and I, we'll be able to pull through. Thorn will still be with the Career pack by this point, I'll work out how to find him later. This alliance with Viva and Tiberius is sure to only last as long as the first day but's that's all I need.
The longer I can keep Elsie and Thorn safe, the better I'll sleep.