4. The 98th Annual Hunger Games

I hadn't realized I had slept in so late when Sienna barged into my room, chirping to me that breakfast was ready. I groaned, throwing a pillow over my head. The bed felt so comfortable, I didn't want to leave it. I considered begging Sienna to have somebody bring me breakfast in bed, but then I didn't bother. She probably wouldn't do it anyway.

Lazily, I picked my head up, blinking the goop away from my eyes. I had fallen into a deep sleep that I either dreamed but forgot what I dreamed about, or I didn't dream at all.

I dragged myself into the bathroom to throw water on my face to wake me up. My eyes were less bloodshot, so that was a good sign, yet my body still felt tired. Tired? From what? Doing nothing since two days ago, I reminded myself. That was the last time I trained with Dad.

With some of my hair a little damp, I went in a regular t-shirt and sweats. I did not want to be caught in that fancy nightgown from last night in front of Bane or Ross. The last thing I needed was comments on it.

Still not fully awake, I walked into the room where Sienna was setting my plate next to Bane, who looked slow when eating. Wonder how long he stayed up until last night. I also wondered how many more Hunger Games tapes he watched last night, too.

Ross sat across from me, Sienna on the end of the table. I lightly picked at my food. Shockingly, I wasn't really hungry today. It was weird. I usually ate a lot a home but never gained weight because I was constantly training.

Ross finished before us; Bane seemed to finish last when eating.

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask," Sienna whimpered. "Bane, did you not get enough sleep?"

"I don't think I did," he mumbled tiredly, yawning hugely. I almost yawned because of him—seeing people yawn often made me do it even though I never felt tired.

"What were you doing last night?"

"Watching past Games," I said. Bane nodded. "I only watched one with him." I looked at him. "How many more did you watch?"

"At least two more." He rubbed his eyes. "Watching past Games and taking notes really wears a guy out."

"If you felt tired then you should have gone to bed earlier," Sienna said quietly, wiping her fingers off with a napkin.

"I couldn't. I wasn't sure how much time we'd have today because we're going to be in the Capitol." He shrugged. Bane looked about ready to pass out.

"Bane, go back to bed," I suggested. "It's not worth you trying to stay up when you're exhausted. You need to be at your best, like all us Careers do." I hated saying that I was a Career, but it was the truth. I still wouldn't accept being in the pack, but I would slowly warm up to acknowledging myself as a Career.

"What happened to the Crystal I saw yesterday?" Ross chuckled.

"She's still here, don't worry," I grumbled.

"Crystal's right, Bane," Sienna chirped, "go back to sleep."

"I'll watch the last two Games and take notes," I told Bane. "If taking notes means that much to you, I'll take over."

"I'm with Ross, what happened to the sassy girl from yesterday?" Bane chuckled tiredly. He rose, sluggishly leaving the room. I felt kind of bad for Bane.

"If you're watching the other two Games, I might as well watch, too," Ross said. Yay, just what I want to do, I thought bitterly. "I can give you additional tips as well."

"Okay."

We abandoned the table, and I put in only Ross's Games—the other tape apparently wasn't worth watching according to him. The Games was recent so I took his word for it, because as many Games as I'd watched, I couldn't remember what happened in all of them and when.

Sienna left to go check in on Bane—her way of excusing herself from having to watch the tape. I didn't mind that she left; I bet she wasn't a fan of watching the Games, let alone of her job. Of course, I was just assuming. For all I knew, I could be wrong.

Ross's Hunger Games was the 97th. He made me skip the reapings and interviews, just like Bane had with the Games we watched last night. Ross was younger in those Games, no facial hair. He looked desirable, I hated to admit it. I bet he had had a lot of girls dying to become his girlfriend or future wife back then. It made me wonder if he was still a bachelor or not now. Of course, the last thing I wanted to talk about with my mentor would be his marital status.

The Gamemakers made the arena one huge hedge maze. The spot where the Cornucopia sat was large enough to put twenty-four tributes evenly around the horn. District 13 hadn't been put into the mix yet—that was three years after Ross's Games.

The bloodbath itself wasn't as interesting as what happened in the hedge maze. There was no out for the tributes; they were all trapped in an endless maze that hid horrors, like huge spiders that made the stickiest webs that, once caught, tributes couldn't escape. Or that if they stepped on a certain part of the ground, poisoned darts would fly out at them, or a spear or knife would instead. There were no traps that beheaded the tributes, though that one attack with the spider, it ripped off the tribute's head...

Very few tributes encountered each other. A lot of times when they encountered each other, they had to deal with the trap the Gamemakers placed in that part of the maze. They would try and attack each other if they had the chance to while trying to evade the Gamemakers' traps.

When it came down to the final three tributes, Ross and two others, they worried more about what lay in the maze than their tribute enemies, which, to me, was a smart thing.

Ross's enemies had found each other and fought, one killed the other. They were hot on Ross's trail, so he fled. A tree root had tripped him, and the girl had run right past him, not bothering to stop because she hadn't realized she had passed him. She tried to stop once she noticed but tried too late. There was an invisible electric fence, and she ran right into it. Ross watched as she convulsed and fried. Her entire body was roasted; the worst damage was the front of her. The look on his face told me that he was so relieved that he hadn't continued running, because he knew he would have been in that girl's place, frying.

I was so in-awe by Ross's Hunger Games that I didn't take any notes. In fact, I hadn't noticed that he had stolen the notepad and pen from me, jotting down notes for me. How could I have not watched this?

Wait. I was six then, and Mom didn't let me watch the Games when I was that young. Damn. One of the most interesting Games happened when I was younger, and I never got to watch them when they were live. Seeing it now made me realize just what a memorable Games I missed.

"A lot of people called that one of the most memorable Games to have ever been televised," Ross said proudly. "They also deemed it the most creative. It beat city ruins or a desert by a mile."

My mouth was slightly open. He chuckled.

"I wish you had told me what we were going to be watching so I could have had some preparation," I sputtered, still replaying almost all of the events in Ross's Games. "I didn't expect your Games to be so...interesting."

"'Interesting'? That's the best description you've got?"

"Best word that comes to my mind." I shrugged. "I can't imagine how it must've been—to be in that maze. There couldn't have been a way for any of you to know what the Gamemakers had around every turn..."

"It really tested a lot of us. Most of the little ones didn't make it the first day. Honestly, I had thought I was going to die. And this was coming from an eighteen-year-old, determined Career boy who was positive he'd win hands down."

"I bet that changed once you saw what you were put into."

"Hell yeah, it changed. My pack alliance was short-term because we got picked off, just like the other tributes, one by one. I was the lucky one."

"I'll say." I gave a low whistle. "Did you ever go insane in there?"

"At times, I did. I began to think of ridiculous things that the Gamemakers would put in the maze. I wasn't the same after I was crowned victor. That boy was gone and replaced by a man, scarred by his experience in the maze of horrors."

Ross was talking pretty deep here. Yesterday, he and I would have never talked like this. I would be getting sassy with him as he would try and make me pay attention to him.

"Wow..." I took in a breath. "I know we got off on the wrong foot yesterday, Ross, but seeing what I just did today—you've earned some respect from me."

"I'm glad to hear it, because I thought I never would."

"Bane would have loved to have seen this!"

"If he wakes up before we arrive at the Capitol, we can do an encore showing." I heard the smile in Ross's voice.

"I would wake him up, but he really needs the sleep," I murmured. I ran a hand through my red hair. "What do you think they'll put in the arena this year?"

"Nobody knows but the Gamemakers," Ross said solemnly. "If there's two things I've learned from being in the Games, it's that you expect the unexpected, and sometimes even the most ridiculous ideas you think of might be true."

"Hmm, so be prepared for anything, whatever it may be, and in order to survive, think outside the box," I summed up.

"Couldn't have put it better myself."

I grinned, proud that Ross and I were starting to get along now. I didn't know what I was talking about when I said I didn't need Ross's help. This man had gone through one of the most grueling Hunger Games and lived. If anybody was going to be my mentor, it would be him.

Ross tossed the notepad onto the coffee table, telling me about his life after the Games. Apparently, he had been scarred, of course, mostly mentally because of what he saw in the arena. I couldn't blame him. I bet anybody would be unless they had no emotions.

His brain was stuck in Hunger Games mode still, very flighty and alert. His parents got worried about him and had almost considered putting him in an insane asylum. I doubted Ross got a girl if he was dealing with his insanity issues. If a woman had found him attractive, she had to be insane on some level too, whether on his or worse.

His insanity had died down by the Victory Tour, so he was able to trudge through that. As many solemn smiles as he gave, most were faux. He admitted that there was a genuine smile or two. Some deaths had hit him hard because they were so brutal. He'd felt so depleted of energy mentally that he'd felt like he was in pain, going to every district. It was rule (almost practically law, if you thought about it) that, on the Victory Tour, the victor went to each district just to rub it in the other twelve's faces, saving the victor's district for last. Ross was glad that he was done after the Victory Tour, but he wasn't fond of the idea that he was the mentor for future District 1 tributes.

Ross took the ten year period of slowly recovering, trying to forget his past. I couldn't see how he could forget it. If I was in his shoes, a decade later, I'd still have nightmares probably of spiders coming to eat me or a hundred knives flying from a hedge to stab me.

We had been chatting about that for at least an hour when Bane came back, looking a little better than before. Ross and I looked at him. I told Bane in a rush about how amazing Ross's Games were. I guess he was tired still to where I was talking too fast for him. Ross sat Bane down and rewound the tape so they could watch.

As much as I wanted to watch the Games again, Bane needed the personal time with Ross. I had had my time with our mentor, Bane needed his. I retreated to my room, standing by the window, feeling our arrival at the Capitol coming closer and closer.

"I'm living the dream," I murmured to myself, drumming my fingers on the windowsill. "I bet Dad would love to be here with me."

When I thought of Dad, Mom's face came into my mind. How was she doing? I knew Dad was going to do everything he could to make sure she stayed sane. Oh, if only I could make a phone call home, but I doubt I could, no matter where I would be. I worried about my mom most, because the one place Dad couldn't watch over her was at work. If he's smart, he'll convince her to take a long vacation.

I was beginning to like Ross more now. Bane I still wasn't too fond of, only because he seemed too Hunger Games obsessed. I mean, my mind was in the Hunger Games mode too, just not as extreme as his was. When the actual Games start, that's when I'll get into that mode. I needed to save the extreme mind set for when I was actually in the arena.

At least I could tolerate being next to Bane, whereas yesterday I couldn't stand to be near Ross. Bane was lucky I didn't despise him that much. Even if he was my district partner, I still had to be wary of him. It wasn't like if one district still had both its tributes that they would become victors. The Gamemakers had never done that. They attempted to do it once, only because of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark and their star-crossed-lovers-of-District-12 thing. It never actually fell through, but still the two ended up alive in the end. If the rule wasn't permanent then, I had no doubt it wouldn't be now, or in the long run.

I began to wonder what arena the Gamemakers had for us this year. This was no Quarter Quell, so there was no special twist. The arena could be anything. It could be a lot of landscapes, or just one, like a mountain range or a frozen wasteland. There could be various dangers, some obvious and some hidden so that tributes would least expect it.

Ross was right: in the Hunger Games, you had to expect the unexpected and think outside the box. Trying to think like a Gamemaker would give me an advantage.

Deciding that an hour was a good amount of time to be cooped up in my room, I went back into the cabin to find Bane and Ross finishing up Ross's Games. They were at the final chase. Bane was hunched forward, looking intently up at the TV.

I heard Sienna click in behind me. "Ross's Games?" she whispered.

"Mhm," I confirmed, once again becoming deeply interested in the TV. "How did you know?"

"He hasn't changed much in ten years, Crystal." She giggled quietly.

I heard Sienna jump as the girl ran into the invisible electric fence. I saw Bane flinch and stiffen up. He, like me, was too in-awe of the brutality of Ross's Hunger Games to take notes. Ross laughed. My head tilted to the side, confused.

"Crystal looked the exact same way you do when she watched," he sniggered.

"She watched these Games?" Bane asked. Ross nodded. "How come she didn't get me in here?"

"I wanted to let you sleep," I called. Bane looked over the loveseat at me. "I'm not that ignorant."

"So...what can you both learn from watching past Games?" Ross probed us.

"To be aware of everything around us, question everything, be prepared for anything, and to assume that the arena is not a safe place for us," Bane listed.

"Don't forget trying to think like a Gamemaker when in the arena," I piped.

"It looks like you two have hit all the key points," Ross mused, smiling. "Good. That's just part of our talks. The next step is finding your skill—or skills, if you're that good. That will have to wait until after the opening ceremonies."

"How far are we from the Capitol anyway?"

"Not far," Sienna said. I hadn't even noticed she had slunk behind me to stand at a window. "Actually, we're here."

Bane and I looked at each other, and then we both floated to the windows. The Capitol resembled District 1 in a sense, with its cleanliness. It was vast, and so was the population. My heart pounded. I'm seriously at the Capitol. This isn't a dream, this is real. I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but I felt it wasn't necessary.

I knew where I was: a place I had dreamed of going to.

"You both might as well stay there," Ross said. "People will want to get a quick glimpse of you while they can. Some can't wait to sneak a peek."

Bane and I were too engrossed by the Capitol, its people, and their ridiculous fashion trends to even think about pulling ourselves away from the windows of the Tribute Train.

**Hopefully, you understand why the title is what it is. No, I know which Games Crystal and Bane are participating in. I figured I'd give a little insight to Ross Cray.**