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FOUR

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𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, they were allowed to go where they pleased through the stations. Keres found herself helplessly following Phelia and Niko, the pair taking her under their wing to show her how to properly tie knows she already knew how to tie, camouflage skills she'd already studied, and to go over fire starting for the hundredth time.

Keres noticed how some of the tributes, disregarding the Careers, were walking and moving as if sore from the day before. They weren't used to climbing, lifting with the throwing blocks, the gauntlet obstacle course, and sparring with swords and weapons with weights they weren't used to or comfortable with. Some were even sporting bruises on their arms from where they'd fallen and Keres could only imagine how badly marked their skin was underneath the uniform.

She let her eyes wander from tribute to tribute but kept herself watching Helios mostly. He was excelling. He'd been at the hand-to-hand combat station for the past hour and a half, laughing with Atticus and Sage, running through little bouts of fights. He'd already caught the attention of Adonis, who'd been watching him alongside his Career friends for the majority of the morning. They had lunch in the next hour and Keres had a feeling that by the time they sat down in the cafeteria all together, Helios would be sitting beside the kings and queens.

"He hasn't spoken to you once," said Phelia, stating the obvious. "What's his game plan? Make all the alliances for you?"

"He's just being Helios," muttered Keres, tying her knot and watching it fall apart. It was a trick she learned as a child to play with her brother, the knot that never stays. "He makes friends, learns their secrets, and then leaves them. It's all a game to him." Keres looked up and met Phelia's eyes. "I'm sure it's the same for you. Talking with me, being friendly, learning how bad I am at everything so you know who to kill first."

Amusement shone in Phelia's eyes and she shrugged, a playful smile on her lips. "Maybe, you never know, Keres. I might just be buttering you up for the rest of them."

"That's what she's doing to me," chimed Niko, holding up his rope with delicate square knots.

Keres let out a small laugh under her breath and asked the pair, "How did you two learn all this?"

"My dad was big on fishing near the dam, where the water got calm at the bottom," explained Niko with a smile. "He'd teach me how to fish, tie knots, all the things you'd learn in District 4."

"Why?"

Niko shrugged. "There was always a level of preparation growing up, like my parents knew I'd be here one day. I'm betting all childhood is like that in the districts. The wondering and knowing that one day your best friend will be reaped, then you, then your girlfriend or brother." He shrugged for a second time and worked on getting his knots undone. "He didn't want me going in here and dying. He wanted me to put up some of a fight."

Phelia held up her string of knots. Some were coming undone, some were near perfect, and others weren't even true knots at all. "I just thought it was fun."

Niko spluttered, laughing behind his fist and Keres couldn't help but smile either. It was easy with the two of them. It was easy to play along and laugh, to pretend they weren't going to be at each other's throats and running for their lives in a few days time.

As they were preparing to meet Tansy and Forrest near the weights to watch Forrest launch one of the balls into the wall, Helios's voice stabbed through the air.

"Hey, sis, over here!"

Keres felt a striking chill cover her entirely as she turned to see what Helios could've wanted. He was standing with the exact people she was trying her best to avoid and their eyes burned her skin as she approached, leaving Phelia and Niko to wait and watch the encounter.

Her eyes met Titus's first and he stared down at her like she was an ant. His arms were crossed and his forearm flexed like he was trying to resist the urge to pluck her up by the scruff of her neck and toss her aside. She wanted to smirk, she even felt her lips pull up but she stopped herself. It would be easy to take him down. He was tall, not as balanced as Bryn, whose eyes followed her with every breath.

"Listen, guys," said Helios, taking Keres by the shoulder, "we're a package deal, okay? I've told you this."

"She could carry our stuff," murmured Isolde, unimpressed. "A pack mule is something we're looking for."

"You really think she'll survive past the bloodbath?" snapped Titus, like an untrained dog. He looked at her brother, an unforgiving darkness circling in his eyes. "She won't make it past the first five minutes, man. If you want a spot in our group, it can't be with her."

"Well," said Helios with a sigh, scratching the back of his neck. "This is awkward, isn't it, sis?"

For a moment, she believed he would turn her away and join the forces. It'd give him a better shot at winning, sticking with the best, but they both knew who the best was and it wasn't Titus.

Keres willed the best tears she could to her eyes and nodded. "I–I understand."

"Guess we'll see you out on the battlefield," said Helios, his hand guiding both himself and Keres away before Adonis's voice snapped out towards them. It wasn't an entirely deep and menacing voice but the look her gave them told her a different story. He could play the prince but he was just like them.

"Is she strong, man?"

"Strong?" questioned Helios, glancing back with an amusing confused look on his face. Perhaps, he was a better actor than she first thought. Her brother was working the crowd, his loner status be damned. He was assessing and earning his place, her little spy. "How strong can a gardener be, really?"

She wanted to hit him but he was playing her just as she'd wanted him too. Sweet, innocent, little farm girl.

"Spar with Bryn," said Adonis, his hand on the blonde's petite shoulder. She had large eyes and they seemed to swallow Keres up entirely. "If you can keep up, we can think over you being our mule."

"And–and my brother?" asked Keres.

"He already has a place with us," said Vita, her tone cool. "It doesn't matter if you win or fail, he's made his bed."

"But," Keres frowned, "we aren't allowed to–to fight each other–"

"Only if they don't see," said Adonis with a scowl, "unless you're really that afraid of losing."

"We could get in trouble–" Keres didn't care about that but she wasn't going to show them her true intentions.

"Fine," said Adonis, rolling his eyes. "Don't fight and be screwed for the games, it's your call."

They just want to humiliate you.

She widened her eyes and looked around, noticing the trainers talking Freesia through the obstacle course slowly. They wouldn't bother looking over here, they wouldn't even notice. "No, no," murmured Keres, "I'll...I'll do it. O–okay?"

She looked to Helios for support and he gave her a little smile. It seemed this was part of his plan, to get her in the ring. He pulled her close and whispered, "Learn her moves."

"What about the others?" she asked as he walked her towards the platform where she'd get her ass kicked. "It'd be better if I was going against Vita or even Titus."

"Trust me," he murmured. "Bryn is the only one I haven't seen fight so far. Her and Reiner."

Keres nodded, letting out a slow breath. "Pull the bitch off if she tries to claw my face off, okay?"

He nodded with a small chuckle. He stepped back and clapped his hands together, letting out a cheer. "Let's go, Keres! You go this, whoop!"

It was for show and it didn't make her feel any better. She was going to be holding her punches but Bryn wouldn't be. She watched the younger girl step onto the platform and studied the way she walked. It was on heavy feet, not light, which surprised Keres. Her footsteps could be heard and Keres wondered if her normal step was this heavy.

Bryn, it seemed, didn't speak much but she gave Keres a formal greeting, no chatter, and instead, launched herself across the platform not waiting for Keres to make the first move. But this was what Keres wanted. She wanted this girl to make the first move, showing herself and her weaknesses.

Keres didn't allow herself to dodge like she would have. She took the hit and cried out, not just for show, when her back hit the mat. She feigned a struggle to keep Bryn away from her face, the younger girl was scrappy and had her teeth gritted. Keres had to show some strength or she would've gotten her face crushed in so she rolled over and Bryn got to one foot and knee in a crouched stance instantly a few feet away.

She was waiting for the girl to stand and Keres rose slowly, stiffly. It wasn't difficult to pretend the hit didn't hurt, the platform wasn't padded and nor was it comfortable to get slammed into. She could already feel a bruise forming, she would surely be sore the next day.

There was an audience growing and Keres could feel her unease take over. This was what she was trying to avoid, the watchful eyes, the linger gazes, the judgment, and the calculation. She was too busy focusing on the faces of her fellow tributes when Bryn's fist collided with her face and she was sent back down to the mat. The girl walked on heavy feet, not dancing on her toes or using her lithe body for agility and silence.

Bryn was a physical fighter with obvious moves, but, clearly from the blood trickling down Keres's nose as she sat up, not that obvious.

Bryn bent down beside Keres, her face twisted in anger, but when she began to speak, her tone did not match her looks.

"You need to stay alert," she whispered, her mouth a snarl but her voice kind. "It'll be easy to get distracted in the arena and if you want to make it through the bloodbath or even a full twenty-four hours, you'll need to build what you can here first. Now, hold up your hand to me."

Keres did so, slowly, and Bryn knocked her hand back with a scowl and added, under her breath, "Not all of us are like Titus and Vita."

There was a wave of shock that spread up Keres's arms as she watched Bryn walk away and back to her pack, all snickering and shaking their heads. There was no way Keres would be allowed to join them but that was exactly what she was hoping for. She didn't need to be seen as a threat but Bryn's comment made her feel otherwise.

Not all of us are like Titus and Vita.

She could only assume the girl had been speaking about herself and potentially her District 2 teammate. But could Keres trust her? Or Adonis? Or were they too playing roles?

Helios walked across the mat and towards her as she finally got to her feet. Her brother had his arms crossed and looked displeased, clearly an act.

"That was good," he said under his breath, "but did she threaten you just now?"

Keres thought about lying but instead shook her head. "She offered me advice, actually."

"Really?"

She nodded, wiping the blood from underneath her nose against her hand. "If you're to go with them, you can trust her."

"Really?"

"Have you not noticed how they're different?" asked Keres, watching the Careers carefully as they moved to the weapons station. Titus lifted the biggest sword with ease in one hand. "Her and, maybe, Adonis. They aren't like the rest of them."

"What about Isolde and Reiner?" he asked, keeping his eyes down to avoid being caught watching.

"I wouldn't trust them."

They hadn't even bothered to watch the fight, like they knew before it even began who would lose and win. Of course, everyone knew who would too but something about the way they decided Keres wasn't worth the time sent a worry through her stomach.

There were a lot of older kids here, a lot of arrogance in the room. The fighting would be harder than they would've liked it to be but she always knew there would be bloodshed. What she didn't know was whether or not she would feel anything once it all began.

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Keres watched Phelia throw the knife, the blade lodging itself into the thick human target against the wall. Flat targets were different from real ones but accuracy was accuracy. Still versus moving would prove to be difficult for most but Keres knew with a knife in her hand, she could hit her mark yards away.

Hunting rabbits, hunting deer, it was all the same. Stutter steps, springs, gallops, jogs, all movements that could be tracked with an easy eye.

Phelia's knife had hit the shoulder of her target and she prepared for her next throw, only twelve feet away now compared to the ten for her first throw. Niko stood behind her, anxious for his own turn. They'd had a quiet and uneventful lunch in the cafeteria, eating sliced meats and sipping strange juices Keres couldn't even name. The Capitol loved their additives and concoctions just as much as they loved their wealth.

The little throwing knife left Phelia's hand and struck the board, stuck in the right bicep of her target. The girl cursed softly under her breath and threw her last blade from fifteen feet away and watched it miss her target by an inch off the hip.

"Not bad," murmured Niko, going forward to collect the knives from their station. "At least you hit the target, right?"

"Yeah but if they'd hit where I'd been aiming..." She trailed off as she grumbled back but sighed, shaking her head. "Better than the first group, right?"

Tansy had tried her hardest but she'd missed all but one, a slight nick to the neck of her target. Even the tiniest bit of damage could be vital and Keres patted the younger girl happily on the shoulder in congratulations, even if her other two knives were nowhere close to the human cutout. Even at only fourteen, she was still so small. There was strength to her little arms but not enough to have a knife cut through hard flesh and muscle with a single throw.

Alder, just shy of fourteen, had hit his target twice out of the three but in similar places as Tansy. Only a slice off the calf and upper thigh of the target, nothing lethal. Koru was better, striking the target in the center of its stomach and one in the middle of the thigh with more power. Although the third knife had come close to the face, just a few inches off.

Hardworking from District 7, Koru provided the little group with more power but Niko had been the shock of them all as he took the knives and prepared for his turn at the first line marker.

He flipped the knife in the air and it landed in his palm, Phelia rolling her eyes and muttering, "Show off," as he practiced his aim.

When the knife was finally thrown, it struck the neck of the target with an audible thump. He threw the next quickly after and then the third from the other two distances, hitting the general area of the right eye and the pelvic center of the target.

Keres didn't know what to say besides a muffled, "Wow," behind her hand against her mouth.

"When my father would take me fishing," he said as he walked back to them, "he'd show me the different ways to hunt. We didn't need fishing poles or nets, spears like District 4 or just knives worked just fine." He touched his thigh, patting it gently. "With a limp, he knew I'd be an easy target here or, well, anywhere in life. He wanted me to have some edge."

"It'll get you a good score with the judges," said Keres with a firm nod. "But that'll still make you a target."

Phelia's head turned. "Really?"

"Notice last year in the games, when Susanne from 11 got a score of ten?" said Keres and the two tributes looked at her blankly. No one ever remembers the ones who've died. "The Careers came after her first, tackling the bigger prey before going after the last few stragglers. It just makes them want to kill you more."

She hadn't meant to disclose the information but her two friends (yes, I guess she could consider them friends) needed the upper hand if they wanted to make it through the bloodbath. She hated that she had a growing soft spot for them but it was inevitable since they were grouped together, since Phelia had reached over and helped Keres with her fire.

"Why do you know so much about them? The games?" asked Phelia.

"Wanted to know what I'll be going up against, I don't know," said Keres with a shrug. How did she tell them she'd become obsessed? That hate fueled her every move? "Don't want to be killed first or in the first five, right?"

"Maybe you'll make it to the final ten," said Niko with a wink.

Maybe I'll make it to the final two.

Keres collected the knives and felt the sudden eyes of her tributes as she readied herself. She knew exactly where to throw to hit the worst marks. She knew how softly to throw so the knife would bounce off uselessly but she also knew how hard to have it stick, lodged deeply in the target.

Holding the handle in between agile fingers, she threw the knife and watched it hit the board uselessly and bounce off, skidding across the floor. Stepping back to the next line, she threw the knife a little harder just for show and watched it hit the board by the cutout's feet but not on target, never on target.

Her third knife was just as useless, aiming for the show of hitting the face or chest but truly aiming for the hand. The knife missed, of course, but it hit where she'd been aiming. Right off the pinkie finger.

"Aiming for the wasps again?" asked Elma, walking down between the fences that separated the cattle. Pregnant heifers on their way to becoming true cows in one pin and the bulls and steers in the other. Elma, always seeming so waif, climbed the wooden plants of the fence, sitting on top to watch Keres.

"Helios swells up like a balloon any time he's stung," said Keres, releasing her knife and watching it strike the wasp. Trapping it against the wood, dead and no longer squirming, she pulled the knife free and watched the bug get lost in the grass.

Elma crossed a leg over her knee. Delicate. Soft. "How'd you get so good?"

"It's just tracking," said Keres with a shrug. "Following it with your eyes, determining which direction it'll go next so you can–" She clapped her hands together. "–hit it, just like that."

The sunlight hit Elma perfectly, illuminating her brown hair and making it look nearly amber. Like she was suddenly blonde, coated in rays from angels and soft spoken things. Always soft, always gentle, always the very contrast to Keres.

"You've always been good at that," said Elma.

"At what?"

"Killing things."

Keres frowned and hurt spread in her chest, not because of her words but what they could mean for her future so succumbed to her past. She'd always been surrounded by death and her little hungry jaws.

"The wasps, the cows, the rabbits," said Elma with a shrug. "But never the wolves or coyotes. You never kill them."

"They're too quick," lied Keres.

"Like sees like," said Elma back with a small smile that meant something more. "You protect them, pull their legs free from traps." Elma glanced towards the forest where the trees stood deadly still and the air seemed thicker there covered by their haunt. "You protect the wolves but kill the wasps."

"I don't like being stung."

"You'd rather get bitten then? Clawed?"

"No," said Keres, shaking her head. "The wasps are pests, I don't like bugs."

Elma held out her hand, pretending, "And what about the butterflies and the bees?"

"They're different."

"How?"

"Wasps are always in your face," said Keres, "and it's the same with mosquitos. They're pests, Elm. They're annoying and they make me itch and swell. I can kill wasps all day if it meant I wouldn't get stung."

"Sweet little killer's afraid of getting stung," purred Elma with a kiddish laugh. "You know, the symbolism behind wasps means to take action. To make a plan, working towards a goal, and not just sitting on your ass and waiting for it to come to you."

"What about the wolves? Any symbolism there?"

Elma smiled. "Intelligence, chaos, greed, sin, and most importantly they represent loyalty, Keres Lykaios." Her smile burned into Keres skull. "Starting to sound familiar?"

Always familiar, like a look inside herself. She'd seen the wolf in her name and there was no surprise that it was starting to show in her face. She'd seen it inside of her and within her brother, the wolves would always be like family.

Elma jumped down from the fence. "Now, show me how to aim for the wasps again?"

"Damn," muttered Niko, patting Keres on the shoulder, "better luck next time. You were pretty close with that last one."

"Not close enough," said Phelia, honestly. "Gamemakers will still give you a shit score."

"But that's what she wants," reminded Niko. "Low score, less of a target."

"It'll be hard not being a target with a brother like that," muttered Phelia, glancing back and where Helios was chatting up Adonis like they'd been the siblings the whole time. Hands clapped on the back, strange yet devious smiles, congratulations perhaps from a job well done from training. "He'll be your downfall."

Keres scowled. "There isn't anything I can do about it."

"Well..."

"I'm not killing my brother."

"But you'll wait for his pack of lunatics to kill you first?"

Keres narrowed her eyes. "Keep talking like that and I'll think you care about me."

A slow smile came to Phelia's lips. "And that'd be awful, wouldn't it?"

"Terrible," muttered Niko, shaking his head, "horrible, nasty, ill advised–"

Phelia met Keres's eyes and the girl let her roam her face like some magnificent painting, like some curious mystery. "You've studied the games...what did you notice about allies?"

This was not something Keres had thought about outside of her brother. Her and Helios being allies were a given, they had been born to be together so it only made sense for them to follow the other into the arena and into death the same way. But with him slowly infiltrating the Career pack, Keres hadn't thought about what it'd be like to be alone.

She'd been alone until Helios volunteered. She'd always planned to be alone but now that she was here, she wasn't exactly sure. Allies meant friends and that meant hard deaths.

"We'd have to turn on one another," said Keres, "at some point. Would you really want to see a friend die?"

I'd seen them die before. I'd seen loved ones killed and passed over like something rotten.

"Yeah, but don't tributes who aren't as likely to get sponsors need alliances to survive?" asked Niko. "And...I don't want to say you won't get sponsors but come on, Kere...you don't stand out."

"Your brother's taken all the glory for himself," added Phelia. "You need people to protect you."

I think it's the opposite. I think you'll need me to protect you.

"I won't let you guys drag yourselves down with me," said Keres, shaking her head. She had the urge to flip the knives in her hands as she retrieved them from the target. She wanted to picture wasps in her head and snap their wings off, one by one. "Once the games start, I'm going to hide and hope for the best."

Phelia frowned. "And when the careers find you?"

"Then I'll hope my brother's with them," said Keres with a shrug. She placed the knives in their respective places on the rack of weapons and she let her eyes roam the beautiful sword that would no doubt be in the hands of Titus.

She wished it would be her own but she knew she'd have better luck collecting little knives. The sword would be for later, when she'd cut down Titus from his golden throne. Maybe his blood would be golden, too, just like the rest of him.

Just like all of them.

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The third day of training was unlike the first two. Evander and Dante made certain Helios and Keres understood what they were getting into once they met with the Gamemakers.

"You need to be outstanding," said Dante, glancing towards Cloelia who had been hovering for the past ten minutes. Dante, before the escort had arrived, had told them not to stand out too much. Targets on your back would be difficult to erase. "Surprise them with something they haven't seen during training, okay? Show them strength, poise, accuracy–"

"Show them you can be a victor just as easily as District 1 tributes," added Evander. He regarded Keres and came to stand by her, fixing the end of her braids like a mother would fuss over a son's collar. He leaned closer to whisper, "I can see the strength in your arms. When you meet the Gamemakers, steer clear of the heavier objects. Something light to pick up or throw, nothing that can strain you."

"Don't I want to look strained?" muttered Keres, batting his hands away as he tried to fix her hair for a second time. "Like I can't pick anything up? Or control it?"

Evander pinched her bicep and she flinched. "You're too strong for your own good."

"It's from the years of living on a farm," said Helios, flexing his arm and giving the room a small show. "It toughens you up out there."

And spits you back out alive and bleeding.

"Do you know what you'll do for them yet?" Dante asked Keres in a kind voice, his eyes always just as soft as his face. "For the Gamemakers?" He was fully aware she planned to fail in any way she could.

She'd thought about it all through the night and truthfully, she didn't have any idea. She contemplated the knife trick she'd done the day before for the other watchful tributes, but she didn't want to do something people had already seen. Shouldn't she be a little resourceful? A little more...predictable?

Shy little District 10 girl who can barely throw a knife or climb the wall, what will she do for the big monsters in charge? How will she cower and bend through their claws and teeth?

Keres shrugged, glancing towards Helios. "I'm sure my brother will help me come up with something."

He pretended to throw an invisible knife, flinging his arm out with a serpentine gaze on his darkening features. "I'm going to juggle knives, see if they get a kick out of it."

"And if you drop one on your head?"

He grinned. "Then that'll for sure get their attention." He cleared his throat and glanced awkwardly towards Cloelia who was picking through the breakfast snacks left out. "I'm good with an ax, I might just break open the dummy or whatever's in there."

Already, Keres could sense a change in him since being in the Capitol. His confidence, his arrogance, and even his pride had escalated. Yet, when he looked at his sister, Keres could still see the softness. The kind hearted younger brother who still looked up to her like she, herself, was something otherworldly.

"You should try the bow and arrow," offered Helios as Evander crossed his arms behind his back. "You're shit at them, it'll be realistic for you to fail."

"I'm sure your sister has a few tricks up her sleeve," said Evander.

Dante was popping grapes into his mouth and nodded. "She's gotten this far under the radar–"

"I wouldn't say your stunt in the training room was going under the radar," murmured Cloelia in a shrill voice as she licked cream off her finger. "It's stated very clearly, no hand-to-hand combat with other tributes. It's unfair and unsportsmanlike."

"Then how are we supposed to learn to defend ourselves?" asked Keres. "If we're not allowed to fight each other, how is that fair?"

"You're not supposed to defend yourselves," said Cloelia, shaking her head. "You're meant to attack."

"But isn't the goal of all this to survive?" said Helios, plopping down on the couch and crossing one leg over his knee to bounce his foot.

Cloelia tsked her tongue. "That's why the Capitol provides you with an ample supply of techniques to learn, such as identifying the different plants that could be in the arena, fire starters, camouflage, climbing, snares...those are only if it's necessary. The point of the games is to kill or be killed. Survive by fighting back or die from being unlucky."

Helios rolled his eyes. "Annie Cresta, winner of the 70th games, won by hiding until the end and 'cause she happened to be a good swimmer. Or–or Seeder from District 11 won only because she outlived her opponents by going without food, Beetee Latier won by using his electronic traps–none of them used combat–"

"And your point is?"

Helios glared. "That's the only way they could survive. If we'd been able to train with each other, and I mean actually with each other hand-to-hand, there's a better chance of survival for those who are weaker. Cresta, Seeder, and Latier only won because they happened to be smart, not lucky." He draped an arm across the back of the couch. "How's my sister going to survive if she can't learn a few moves from other tributes? Follow their steps and jabs?"

Cloelia narrowed her eyes. "She'll have you, won't she? A brother to protect her?"

"I shouldn't rely on my brother to get me to the finish line," said Keres. "But what I learned from–from–" She added a convenient stammer to her words. "–Bryn, I know I won't survive a physical attack." She looked at her brother with her big doe eyes. "Maybe...maybe if I can hide like the Cresta girl or work on my snares, I can make a trap like Beetee."

Helios gave a snort. "There's so much more you need than just being smart. She needs strength and two weak fucking days in the training room won't get her that. How is any of this fair? Has anyone thought of that?"

She did. She'd burned it into his mind as it had been burned into hers. The Careers trained all their life, they would go in as monsters and come out as them too, only this time with a crown. All she could hope for was that she was better, that both of them could survive and reap what they intended to sow.

"Come, it's time for you to meet with the Gamemakers. the other tributes are surely there already," said Cloelia, snapping her fingers and forcing the siblings to follow her.

There were times when Helios and Keres were so in sync, it frightened her. Just an extension of the other. Both dark mops of hair, greasy and black like tar, freckled and pale and tan and everything all at once because they were made up of so much other than what they were. Just halves of a whole, a mirror. They had always been a mirror.

Inside the elevator, Keres didn't know what to say. There was a lot to think about and what she needed to do to act. The private training sessions were key. Elma had scored a six during her session, not awful but still troubling. Keres wished she could've been in the room with her or looking through a camera. To see her in her final days would've been a gift rather than the one exploited on screens.

When they arrived, they were seated with the other tributes. One by one they were called in. She watched Titus and Viita, Adonis and Bryn, Felix and Sage, and so on and so forth be called inside. Niko gave her a shy smile from across the room on the District 5 bench but Phelia only stared. No expression, just a haunting look that could barely be grasped as anything.

Were they scared?

When it was finally Keres's turn, she stood and walked silently towards the Peacekeepers who would escort her to the training room and viewing area. Like a prized pig or cow on their way to be slaughtered for fat and gristle.

When she entered the training room, she let her eyes roam the area. There was everything she could imagine. Bows and arrows, knives, swords, all with practice dummies and targets to hit. There were weighted balls to throw, along with spears, and even a little section to practice camouflage and survival skills.

To her right was a small balcony where the Gamemakers sat to watch. She didn't recognize anyone up there, she hadn't been focused on them once arriving or when she'd been subjected to watch the games in past years. They were all just mindless machines following a dictator's regime.

Keres tripped on her way to the knives, promptly spilling the paints across the floor in the camouflage station. Colors spilled over, blues and purples and greens and browns. She let herself take a false step and slip, falling back into the paints with a loud oof out of her lungs. The Gamemakers had stopped chatting and were watching like hawks. Bird eyes and beaked mouths, ready to peck her eyes out.

The paint was thick and gooey, her shoes and limbs gliding through it as she sat up. It was in her hair, she could feel it all over herself. When she stood, her backside was wet and dripping but she didn't stop herself. Allowing her breathing to be heavy and wobbly, she picked up the little knives. Leaving painted fingerprints over the handles, she stumbled to the targets. She did as she'd done the previous day. Focused, aimed, and happily missed by an inch or two. Aiming for specific spots on the board unbeknownst to the Gamemakers, she made every shot she threw even though all of which didn't touch the cut out dummy.

When her fifteen minutes were up, she did a silly bow and walked out, leaving colorful footprints in her wake. The look on Helios's face when she exited was priceless. He nearly started laughing if it wasn't for his own name being called. She was escorted back to District 10's floor and entering, she felt the eyes of Cloelia and the mentors.

"My god," whispered Dante. "What did you do to yourself in there?"

"I tripped," said Keres, hoping she was leaving big and ugly stains on the nice carpets.

Evander cracked a smile. "Go shower, they'll present the scores tonight sometime after dinner. But before that, we have to start prepping for the interviews."

The interviews they'll have to endure with Caesar Flickerman. Sitting in front of a live audience who will decide if they're worthy enough for sponsors and who's the best tribute to place a bet on. Who will die first? Who will win? Who will make it to the top five? All possible bets and things to be won. They would always be a trophy in their pockets.

Inside her bedroom, she switched the simulation to the forest. It'd been on the plains of her home but she wanted to get lost in the trees when she emerged from her shower. The water was warm and it took some heavy scrubbing to remove the paint from her hair and skin. The colors swirled by her feet and down the drain, the color of mud and moss.

Keres climbed the tree, bare toes squishing and gripping the moss covered branches. She turned and sat, her moss covered seat. From the branch below her, Elma climbed happily, and from above them both was Helios, still climbing and laughing with some boy from one of the neighboring houses. They were only twelve and ten.

"Pull me up," said Elma once she was directly below. Keres leaned down and gripped her hand, soft and so smooth, and lifted her up onto the branch as Elma used her feet to move her upwards. Her hands were uncalloused, as were her feet. The branches hurt Elma's skin.

They weren't nearly as high as the boys but they were a good few feet off the ground. Their feet could swing through open air and their hands could reach out and touch leaves.

"Big day for you tomorrow," said Elma. "Starting to work with the cows must be exciting."

Arlo had waited until Keres was old enough to properly handle the weapons and machinery. They had declared that night at dinner she was ready. She'd been practicing with Rayla in the fields, how to handle the bigger cattle and how to guide them to the slaughterhouse or back and forth from the barns to the pastures.

"It's the start of something brand new," whispered Elma, her fingers touching Keres's where they were splayed through the moss on the branch. "It'll be fun."

Keres wished she could dream and fall into those moments all over again. A time machine would've done her perfectly. An escape in general. To climb and climb until there was nowhere to go but down. To plummet.

Retreating back into her bedroom, she turned the television on and went through the old games she'd been watching. She'd been taking notes on the 71st games and notably Johanna Mason. Beautiful with brown hair and brown eyes like chocolate, Keres's heart skipped a tiny beat. She'd done what she was doing now. Only two years before and so elegant in the way she twisted the hearts of so many.

Pretending to be weak, crying through training, and hiding until it was time to strike. She was who Keres wanted to be during these games. She wanted to strife and bite and fang. How soon she'd begin attacking, it all depended on what the arena would be.

She watched Johanna ax another tribute, blood spraying through the air and across her face like artwork. There was an art to murder here, where it was all tactic and cunningness. To be overlooked so fiercely and then to come out like some beast unhinged, it was desirable. It was needed.

Keres knew she would never win while Helios was here. He'd be crowned winner and she'd have to push her agenda onto him. She'd never let herself live if he'd come with her, and of course he had. Where one sibling goes, the other would follow. She had plans for after the games but that would have to be put on hold until it was clear Helios would be crowned.

Or neither. God. It had all become so fucked.

Did she even have a plan? She wasn't sure now. There were people she didn't want to see die, there were children here. But weren't they all kids?

No. Not all of them. Because some had been built and stretched over monsters.

════☩══♛══☩════

When it was time to watch the scores, they all sat on the couch and in the lounge chairs while the screen displayed Caesar Flickerman in his best suit and tie. It was no surprise that Titus and Vita received scores of 10. Keres had expected them to be higher. Adonis and Bryn received a 10 and a 9, while Reiner and Isolde got 9s.

When it came to Phelia and Niko, Keres was surprised. Phelia scored a 7 and Niko an 8. It was high, for them and where they came from. Not a lot they could've done for the Gamemakers and they scored in the higher percentile. She'd yet to see anyone get below a 5. It worried her but she also knew, when it came time for her own score, there would be no hope. How can someone fumble that badly?

It made her wonder what Johanna did to perform so poorly. Did she wail and sob in the private training session? Or did she perform some wild act she couldn't execute?

"Now, on to District 10," reported Caesar. "First, we have Helios. Strong name, strong performance, with a score of," Caesar chuckled, "well, would you look at that. With a score of 10."

Dante clapped Helios on the back, muttering, "Well done, son."

"We have Keres, the darling sister," continued Caesar, "with a score of...4."

Keres had to hide her smile. There was a deafening silence in the room with the appropriate people playing the right roles. Evander was the first to speak, whispering only to her and out of Cloelia's earshot, "Way to go, kid."

"It's because you fell," snapped Cloelia with an exaggerated sigh. "They did this to be rude. Why are you smiling, Dante? Cut that out this instant. Our girl is screwed with a score that low. How will she get sponsors? How will she survive?"

"We'll get her sponsors through the interviews," said Evander with a shrug. "She'll come out as 'the darling sister.' We'll have Cypress dress you in something...babydoll-like. Or we can go for brown, subtle shades. You just need to smile and look helpless."

"Wha–what?!"

Evander continued, "The sponsors will feel back for you. They'll gift you food and tools, anything that might prolong the sister's life in favor of her brother."

Dante nodded with a little smile still on his face. "They'll want Helios strong if he's favored to win so highly as he is now. The Morning Line Odds showed Keres with 51–1 odds, and comparing that to Freesia's from 12 who has 60–1...well..." Dante shook his head, getting back on track. "Helios has odds of 9–1, with the Careers always having the highest odds. Titus has a 2–1 score currently. The betters have him marked as the prized victor as of right now." The look Dante was giving Keres meant that those odds were going to go down the drain, along with any money already cashed out.

Keres knew her odds would be low but that was expected. It was needed, actually. She felt triumphant. 60 to 1 and a training score of 4. She was one step closer to tricking them all. Her mask would fall once the gong sounded and they were free to roam the arena and take what they wanted.

That's all life has really been. A game of taking. You take and take and take until the greed is finally stanched only for it to be swallowed right back up again. The Careers were greedy but that need was in Kere's blood. She would kill and take and kill and take until she could feel what was taken from her again.

Relief. Peace. Joy. Something that didn't make her feel swallowed up and consumed.

She'd finally gain it but only with the help of a blade. There was no better way than that.

AUTHOR'S NOTE━━wow, another update SO SOON?!?! im applauding myself rn tbh 

also rip keres w that score LMAO bbygirl knows how to b awful and taking notes right from the queen herself (johanna)

what r your thoughts and predictions so far? pls pls lmk

everyone watching keres fight/throw knives/trip and fall:

pls vote/comment or keres will never meet her one true love <33