My costume was once again made out of jewels, but this time, the rubies were placed over a black dress, which hugged my curves. At least I wasn't naked again.
I made my way out to the chariot stable, where Finnick and Johanna were waiting. Johanna was, much to her chagrin, dressed as a tree and Finnick was about as naked as I had been during my first games.
"How did you end up with a semi decent costume?" Johanna asked with annoyance,
"Trust me," I lied, "I was as surprised as you were. I was expecting to be more naked than Finnick." That wasn't true. Victoria's costume for me had been incredibly revealing at first, but then she had seen all my scars and been unable to hide them in the material (or should I say lack of material) of my costume so had had to pull out a backup.
Suddenly, a man came by us with some sugarcubes for the horses and Finnick swiped some from his tray.
"What are you doing?" I asked,
"I'm going to go mess with the Girl on Fire," he laughed. We watched as he swaggered over to the youngest Victor and began to flirt with her. Johanna and I could barely contain our laughter at Katniss's reaction. When Finnick returned, Johanna was still laughing and said,
"Ok. My turn next." I wondered what she would do.
We all went to our chariots and I stood next to Gloss for the journey. I blew my kisses and smiled and waved all the way up to the front. President Snow made his speech and we were dismissed. When I met up with Finnick and Johanna, Johanna barely stayed for a minute before hopping in an elevator with Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta. Finnick and I waited for the lift to return and when it did, we saw Johanna's tree costume on the floor,
"You don't think she actually..." Finnick nodded,
"I think she did." I laughed. I would miss this time with my friends when I was dead.
"Okay, my turn next," I said, "although Johanna's strip is going to be hard to top." I got out on my floor and went to go change.
Training began the next morning, but I arrived late, oversleeping since I had stayed up late thinking about the best way to mess with Katniss. When I got there, I was still within the first half to arrive though. Johanna was late and Finnick was sitting with Mags. I felt sorry for him on that front. Mags had been his mentor. After his parents had been killed, she had become like his mother. I imagine that he would probably feel when she died the same way I would feel if Bella died.
I checked he was watching as I walked over to Katniss, who was trying and failing to make a fishhook. I exchanged some basic pleasantries with her then went right into the talk. Her face got redder and redder with ever word and she seemed frozen in place.
"Well, just checking," I said, getting up and handing her a pamphlet on the subject, "Better safe than sorry. See ya!"
Katniss just stared after me with her face red. I walked back over to Finnick, who was laughing.
"Johanna still won," he said,
"I got her to go redder," I replied with mock indignation, "Johanna just shocked her. She looked like a tomato by the time I was through with her." He grinned at me,
"Johanna still won."
"What did I win?" Johanna asked, coming up behind us.
"Who could embarrass Katniss the most," Finnick replied,
"I still think I won," I said, but Mags pointed to Johanna,
"See," Johanna said triumphantly, "even Mags agrees that I won." I rolled my eyes,
"Favouritism." I turned slightly and Gloss was calling me over, "I've got to go."
"Are you really going to ally with the careers?" Johanna asked,
"I am a career," I said,
"So's Finnick," she said, "and he's not allying with them."
"But his mentor isn't his district partner's sister, is he?"
"Guess not," Finnick said, slightly defeated. I walked away. That wasn't the real reason I was allying with the careers: it was because I didn't trust Finnick or Johanna to kill me if they needed to. They were more likely to sacrifice themselves for me and I couldn't be having that.
"So what's the plan?" I asked as I swaggered up to Gloss, Brutus and Enobaria.
"The plan," Brutus said with some annoyance, "that we came up with while you were off playing around with your childish nonsense, is that we pick the strongest tributes and ask them to ally with us then we kill the rest. Same as every year."
"Do you really think that's a good idea?" I asked, "That worked fine in our normal games but these are all victors. They know how to play the game."
"Some of the victors have weakened over time," Gloss explained, "and some weren't that strong to begin with. I saw your list. You know that."
"So what are we doing during training?"
"Scouting, intimidating. Do what you want," said Enobaria, "Just don't embarrass yourself. Or us."
I just hovered around the throwing knife station, but I kept getting bored since the targets didn't provide much of a challenge. I never missed after all. Then I went and started trying the other weapons. I wasn't bad with a sword seeing as it was quite similar to knives in some regards and my practised aim from knife throwing leant itself to archery and spears.
But still, after a few hours of all that, I was bored and went over to the swimming section. Finnick was also there, easily crossing the water with perfect practiced strokes . I quickly changed into the swimsuits provided and dove in. Finnick, who had been at the other end, was next to me in an instant,
"You know, supposedly spiders aren't so great in water," he teased, knowing I could swim,
"I wasn't always a spider though," I said. I hadn't been in water since my games. Since the cave. I wasn't exactly keen on being in it now. I didn't know why I had come here. Finnick began to tread water next to me,
"You don't look particularly keen on the pool,"
"Would you believe me if I said I hadn't swam since my games."
"Yes." It made sense after all, every time my head went under water, I saw the images of the dead. I tended to avoid it because of that. It was a shame, I used to love to swim.
"Do you want me to remind you how to swim?" Finnick offered,
"You know I killed the last person who tried to teach me how to swim."
"And would you kill me Rose?" I took a pause,
"No," I admitted finally, "I would probably let you kill me."
"Why did you volunteer?"
"You know why." He looked sad at this, maybe even heartbroken,
"I cared about you though. I still care about you. I was glad when Cashmere's name was called out and I thought you might have a shot at surviving. And then you volunteered and I realised I would have no-one to come home to either. Mags volunteered to die and so did you. Johanna's here and my parents are already dead. Who do I have left?" I was speechless at this,
"I'm sorry Finnick." Then I swam away. I had nothing else to say, no words to convey how I felt.
When we emerged from the swimming pool area, all the victors were crowded around the shooting range. Finnick and I pushed to the front to see Katniss Everdeen shooting. She was amazing. Never missing. Rapid fire. I knew my alliance would want her. And I knew she would say no.
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When training was finished, it took no longer that five minutes to take the elevator up to the district 1 apartment.
I was slightly tired, but that evaporated the minute I found what was waiting for me at the door.
I don't know exactly how to describe the emotion I felt when I opened the envelope. Inside, there was a single card, the same as the calendar, but it had only one name. One date. And one room number.
Bile rose up in my throat. I had nothing left. Why would I go? But the handwritten note at the top quickly changed that.
Bella Harris.
And suddenly there I was again. Caught in the president's trap. There really was no escape.
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That evening, I returned to the apartment covered in bruises and scratches. When I looked in the mirror, I could clearly see the purplish outline of handprints imprinted in my flesh. They were accompanied by nail scratches all over my neck, back, legs. Everything hurt.
If I had longer to live those scratches might scar. Especially if I didn't properly treat them. But I didn't, so I didn't bother.