DISCLAIMER
I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS THAT ARE IN THE ACTUAL HUNGER GAMES BOOKS (EG. Finnick Odair). THEY REMAIN THE SOLE PROPERTY OF SUZZANE COLLINS. THANK YOU.
A/N
Hey so i decided to put this up because the people at school were hassling me *cough* Kyle *cough cough* :P Anyway i hope you guys enjoy this next chapter, even though personally i think its really bad.
Jacqui
Chapter Three – The Mentors
Axel’s POV
“Oh, do you know what you’ve got into?
Can you handle what I’m about to do?
‘Cause it’s about to get rough for you,
I’m here for your entertainment.”
For Your Entertainment – Adam Lambert
I watch the world fly past, taking me further and further away from home. But I’ve let go of the place called District Four, forgotten about all my friends and family still there. All I need to concentrate on now is keeping me alive.
I see Raine, looking glum and try to smile. But in the back of my mind, I’m already trying to figure out how to kill him. He looks at me once, nods a greeting and disappears into one of the many rooms on our carriage. Good, probably best thing if we don’t talk. How can we try to remain friends if we know that one of us will have to die to ensure the others survival? We can’t.
Diamanté, the woman who drew the names at the Reaping soon follows, announcing that soon we will be stopping for fuel. After this we are all expected to gather for supper and a recap of the Reaping.
I walk to my room silently, ignoring the gazes of the attendants on the train. Everything is at my disposal here. My room is by far the richest place I’ve ever seen. I get a large bedroom and my own private bathing suite. Even a television. If there’s one good thing about being drawn today at the Reaping, it’s this.
I peel of my Reaping clothes and step into the shower. I’ve used one once before, after an accident at work. We’d been diving for oysters, only to resurface to find the ocean coated in an oil spill. They made us all shower together to get the oil off, and it was disgusting. I reeked of oil for the next couple of days. My dark blonde hair still hasn’t entirely grown back yet.
I pull on jeans and a dark grey shirt before I head off to dinner, only to find that I am the only one present. It’s a big dining area, but it won’t fit everyone surely. Carrick is the first to arrive and he gives me a weak grin as he takes a seat next to me. His eyes are rimmed red, he’s obviously been crying.
“Rough day?” I ask as more people begin to flood into the room. He nods, running a hand through his brown, almost black hair. “You could say that.” I smile slightly. At least he’s still able to joke around. More and more guys flood in, but no girls. It’s not surprising, I overhead Diamanté saying that the girls were to stay in a separate carriage for the duration of the trip, Capitol’s orders. It doesn’t make sense to me. No matter what, we’re still going to be trying to kill each other.
Raine arrives last and takes the seat across from Carrick and me. Then comes the food. The most elaborate dishes are set before us, most of it swimming in some sort of gravy. I take hold of a small fish and bite into it, immediately my mouth floods with a garlic sauce.
The food is so rich, but it’s wonderful. I eat as much as I can hold before leaning back in my seat, rubbing my stomach in satisfaction. I glance at Raine, only to find that he hasn’t eaten anything except a small roll. But even then, he’s barely taken a bite.
“May I have your attention please?” Everyone looks up, silently staring at Diamanté. “Thank you,” she trills. “Congratulations all of you, for being chosen in this year’s Quarter Quell. I’m pleased to announce that you will each have your own mentor, but of course, you shall have to share with one of the girls.” I roll my eyes, and look lazily out the window at the ever darkening sky. No offense to Diamanté, but her speech is really boring.
“Once you are finished with supper, you will each be conducted into a room to spend half an hour with your mentor. Afterwards, you will all watch a recap of the Reaping in your own rooms.”
Blah, blah, blah. This is so boring. I mean, isn’t there better things we can do? Like sleep?
“Axel? Axel Shea?” I look up to find my face inches away from a woman named Annie. I know her, she’s Tidus’s grandmother. They say she’s crazy. “Yeah, that’s me.” The woman smiles, “Great. Hello, I’m Annie and I’m your mentor. I’m also mentor to your fellow tribute Arwen.”
I nod and stand up slowly, “So we’re going to this meeting yeah?” Her smile grows wider. “Yes, just follow me.” Annie leads me through a series of corridors and on the way I see Ella and Raine sitting with a man in his twenties. This makes me smile, who’d have thought they’d get to share a mentor together?
Annie takes me into an identical room, where Arwen sits waiting patiently for us. She’s a good friend of mine and she’s definitely a pretty girl; she has a good chance at winning too. She’s tall, athletic, with shoulder length blonde hair and clear blue eyes. Yep, she’s a shoe in for the Games.
“So,” Annie says as we sit down. “What have I got to work with this year?” Arwen and I exchange a look. This Annie chick is real subtle, that’s for sure. “Well, we both work at the fishing industry by the cliffs. You know, the small one for the under eighteens.” Arwen says and Annie nods.
“Good, that means you both know how to hunt. That’ll be important in the Games. So, give me some idea of what you can do individually.”
“I’m good with knots.” I volunteer and Arwen nods. “Me too, I can also weave just about anything.” Annie eyes us suspiciously, “What about combat wise? Are you any good at that?” I shake my head and Arwen mirrors me.
Annie sighs and leans back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest as she does so. “Looks like we’re going to have to just go by looks this year.” I frown. What looks? I mean sure, Arwen’s good enough to land a few sponsors on looks alone, but me? I’m on the short side, and have almost no hair thanks to that oil spill incident. There’s not much going for me other than the fact that I’m sturdily built.
“Nice to know that the only thing you’re going to help us with is our looks, instead of giving us actual advice on how to survive.” Arwen mutters angrily, but Annie doesn’t seem to hear. A buzzer goes off and Annie sighs in relief.
“Ok, off you go now. All you need to know for now is that tomorrow when you meet your stylists, do what they say. We’ll be arriving early tomorrow morning; you won’t have time have time for breakfast.”
We nod and get up to leave. Annie stays behind and leaves Arwen and I to walk back to our rooms by ourselves. Outside Arwen’s room I pause, and she turns to look at me in surprise. “Yes, Axel?” I swallow hard.
“Arwen, I just want you to know that, well…”
“Yes?”
I take a deep breath. “I want you to know, that whatever happens in the arena won’t change what our friendship was. I’m sorry that we have to do this, I don’t want you to die as much as I don’t want to.”
She smiles weakly, “I’m sorry too, Axel.”
“Let’s be allies,” I say quickly. “Let’s swear right now that’ll we protect each other in the arena.”
Arwen holds out her hand and shakes mine. “Done.”
I smile and walk off to my own room. I’m glad Arwen and I are allies, that means only twenty-three more tributes I have to go up against.
In my room, the television turns itself on just as I walk in. I shudder as the recap of the Reaping takes place. I don’t want to see my friends be drawn once again. So I climb straight into bed, pulling the covers up over my face so I can’t see the images on the screen. But I can still hear everything and I begin to shake as my friends’ names are drawn. They’re all going to die, all for the Capitol’s bloody entertainment.
There’s something about the other’s district’s tesserae being revoked and this catches my attention for a brief second. Great, now all the district’s will starve to death.
Ignore it, just ignore it. I tell myself as the train slowly rocks me to sleep.