Leo took in the diverse stations designed to prepare tributes for their battle to the death. Nyssa was next to him, and eyeing the snares station, he asked which one they should go to first.

To his dismay, Nyssa shook her head, "No offence Leo, but I'm not interested in an alliance."

Leo shoved his hands in his pockets awkwardly. He hadn't expected to be rejected. "Oh. Okay. Can I ask why? Am I too intimidating or...?"

She didn't even crack a smile, "No, joker boy. Alliances can only end with one dying or both. So what's the point? I'm not winning anyway."

He was stunned by her despair, "But if we work together, we could stand a chance. We made a freaking energy chariot together! I swear President Clair even stared at us a few seconds more than the others."

Nyssa shook her head, and some of her dark hair got loose from her red bandanna. "I'm sorry. I don't know if you can tell, but I've lost all hope already. You don't want to work with someone like that. It'd be like a curse." And before he could argue further, she walked away.

And to the weight-lifting station too, which he took as a personal insult since he'd once pulled a muscle while carrying a computer.

◼▲◼

"Do you want a four-way alliance?" Annabeth asked boldly.

The siblings swivelled to look her and Luke over. She remembered their names as Thalia and Jason from the recap of the reapings that she'd had to watch on the train ride. A sister volunteering to be with her brother seemed like a good sign to her.

Thalia frowned, "And what are we supposed to do when it's just us four?"

"It's not going to come down to that," Annabeth promised. "We'll break it off after, say, a week. And even if we're last, we'll avoid each other and see how the Gamemakers pick us off."

Thalia considered this, "That's pretty grim, but I guess it works. Are you in, Jason?"

Jason nodded, "Yeah, of course. What are your names?"

Annabeth introduced herself and Luke, and Thalia inclined her head in greeting. "I'm Thalia, and this is Jason. Why us, by the way?"

Luke answered, "The moment she saw you volunteer, she knew you were good people and wanted you on our team." Then he added, nudging Annabeth, "An alliance is a good plan, and she always has a plan. That's the one thing I can count on."

She blushed, "Stop it."

Jason pushed up his glasses, "So, Annabeth, what's your master plan?"

She smiled, leaning conspiratorially close, "Easy. Tomorrow Luke's going to join the Careers."

◼▲◼

"We should form an alliance," Rachel said, matter-of-fact.

Travis considered her merits. She was resilient and brave, and he was willing to bet she'd be great at camouflage. Also, she'd probably get gifts from their district in the Arena since her father was the mayor —

Right, she was the daughter of Mayor Dare.

What would it look like if he came home with her blood on his hands?

"Sorry, I'm going to have to say no. I know you're tough, but I want to get someone from a different district so we can bring more skills to the table."

Rachel scrutinized every part of his face. It made him feel like a defective car being disassembled, and he was quite certain she knew he was lying. "Fine," she said bitterly. "Have it your way."

Travis just nodded, and walked off to the ropes course, where he spent some time climbing back and forth, watching the other tributes. The girl from 8 was scaling along with him. He considered asking her to be his ally, then realized she already had some — the other tribute from 8 and the two from 5.

She was too sharp anyway. It unnerved him.

A boy with curly hair from 3 was twisting ropes and sticks together to make a snare for catching small animals. He clearly hadn't made one before, as he paid careful attention to what the trainer did, but he caught on fast. He had clever fingers, and was probably intelligent too, since he was from the technology district where education must have a bigger role.

Travis slipped off the ropes and went to his side, "Hey, I'm Travis from 6."

The boy raised his head, fingers still moving like clockwork. "Leo."

"Interested in an alliance?"

He grinned gratefully, "Since Nyssa blew me off, I'm very interested."

"We should make sure to try different stations," Travis proposed. "Then we'd have more skills combined that we can later teach each other."

Leo finished up his snare, "That makes sense."

"We should both do shelter-making next though. Then we can learn a bit about each other while we work."

Leo stood up, examining his hands, which had parts turned pink from the rough string he'd been using. "Alright, let's go."

◼▲◼

Upon arriving at the training room, the first thing Nico did was find his sister.

She rushed towards him, and they stopped a foot apart, searching each other's faces. Bianca's face was much tanner, and her hair was braided back now, but it was her. "It is you," Nico whispered. He couldn't believe it.

Bianca led him to the corner, where they were more hidden from the watchful eyes of the purple-robed Gamemakers on the elevated stands surrounding the gymnasium. Tears filled her eyes as Bianca whispered, "Nico, oh Nico, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to leave you, but I planned to go back to get you, I swear."

Nico nodded, too happy to ever blame her for anything, "It's okay, I know. I believe you." The day Bianca had run away, they only had enough spare food to last one person a week, so it was decided that he would stay behind and wait for her return. "What's it like in District 11?"

She shook her head, "Horrible. Completely not what we expected. Even though they grow the food, they can't eat it. They starve just as much as we do, and their punishments are so much more severe." She lowered her voice further, explaining how she'd met a group of kids in the forest, and how she'd taken on a fake identity.

Nico stared at her in awe, "I'm so glad you're okay. I mean, for now."

She laughed, stroking his hair, "Enough about me, what about you?"

"I stole what I could from the richer areas," Nico said, shrugging. "And...here." He pulled the figurine from his pocket. "A lady from the Hob gave it to me, because she saw me admiring it a lot. I'm not sure who it's supposed to be, but I think it looks...kind of like dad."

He figured he was maybe too old to feel so strongly about a toy — he was fourteen — but Bianca never judged him.

She took it, examining it. Bianca smiled, giving it back, "It really does. Hold on to it, okay?"

◼▲◼

On the second day of training, Percy watched his teammates chuck weapons at dummies, claiming he was tired. Clarisse and Silena were getting along well, and they continually hit the targets dead on with their spears. Piper threw knife after knife, all sinking into her dummy's head until it resembled a porcupine.

Bryce and Harley chopped into a row of dummies. The boy from 1 seemed very entertained by the young tribute. He asked him various trivia questions about the previous twenty-three Games, and Harley knew the answers to them all.

"Who won the 11th Games?" Bryce quizzed, slamming an axe into a dummy's chest. Percy personally thought his choice of weapon was a little impractical, but it fit his showy and sadistic personality.

"Mags!" Harley answered instantly, grinning with all his teeth, bright as his spiked mace.

Bryce laughed loudly, "Impressive! Kid, you are such a fanboy. I don't think I'd like killing you if it comes."

Piper snorted, yanking a knife out of her dummy's skull. "Because I'm going to kill you."

"No way," he argued, gesturing with his axe. "I'll be off way before any of us start to turn on each other. I'll slit all your throats in your sleep! How about that?"

"Not if I slit yours first," Clarisse shot back, waving her spear with a smirk on her face.

Silena scoffed, "Oh please, Bryce, all you've done is make sure you're never keeping watch. In fact, if I was on guard I'd be sure to slaughter you first."

"Of course I didn't mean any of it!" Bryce smiled genially, but unconvincingly so. "I love all of you guys like my own family."

"Pretty sure you killed your family," Piper sneered, twirling a throwing knife between her fingers.

He looked shocked. "Uh, I so did not! Don't even say that."

"What about you, Percy?" Silena asked, and goosebumps rose over his skin. "Which one of us would you kill first?"

He coughed delicately, trying to buy himself time. What kind of stupid morbid debate was this anyway? "I wouldn't like to take on any of you, actually."

Bryce cracked up, reaching out to ruffle his black hair that his stylist had spent ages fixing. "Man, you have zero confidence. Refreshing."

"I don't think I want to fight any of you either," Harley said, frowning worriedly.

Bryce rolled his eyes with blatant annoyance, "Well, kid, it's what you signed up for."

Their attention was ripped away at the sound of a blade shearing through a dummy.

The head of the plastic figure slid to the ground, and the blond boy from 8 stood behind it, casually swinging a steel sword.

Clarisse stared at him in shock, "Where you'd learn to do that in the textile district?"

"Hmm?" he asked, like he'd just become aware of their presence. "Oh, since I failed at weaving, I was in charge of testing the Peacekeeper uniforms. Making sure they were versatile and stitched correctly and all that. I got to swing batons."

Clarisse scratched her head with the hand holding her spear, her eyes narrowed with suspicion, "That's...convenient."

He nodded, "I'm Luke, by the way. I noticed that you don't have a sword-fighter on your team. I could join you guys."

Silena pointed at Percy, "He's one, actually. He's really good, just tired today."

"Tired, huh?" Luke smirked at him, and he was almost angry, too, like Percy had stolen something from him. Percy didn't like that face, but Silena seemed to be smitten. "Good luck being 'tired' in the Arena."

Percy grit his teeth, wanting to take the bait but knowing he shouldn't, for the sake of his mom.

To his surprise, Piper came to his defence, "Your stance was still wrong, Luke. We're not recruiting you just because you got muscles and can swing a sword. The rest of us combined have experience with all weapons. This is exclusive to only districts 1, 2, and 4 for a reason." She flicked a knife so it landed between his feet, the tip of it sunk into the rubber floor. "So beat it."

"Hey," Silena protested weakly, and they all looked at her, Clarisse particularly attentive. "It's always great to have another ally."

"Right you are," Luke said, winking at her. "Plus, unlike all of you who've learned how to throw things at dummies, I've been learning about other districts. When my people need to make clothes for all of Panem, it's sort of hard not to pick up a few things."

Percy wasn't sure how true any of Luke's words were, but his teammates seemed convinced. Clarisse sighed, "Fine. I guess that could help us."

Harley stared at Piper's blade with an unreadable expression, "I'm okay with it."

"Alright," Piper nodded, eyeing Luke distrustfully, "but you better stay in line and do what we say."

His cheeks dimpled, "Of course. You're the experts, after all."

Bryce looked flattered, "The votes have been cast! Welcome to the Careers."

No one had asked for Percy's input, but then, he'd already been replaced.

◼▲◼

"How did it go?" Annabeth asked anxiously. Luke had been training with the Careers all day, and she hadn't had a chance to talk to him again until they'd snuck up to the roof of the Training Center, where the winds masked their voices.

"I'm definitely in. My sword skills are rusty, but I got lucky when that Percy boy refused to practice and I looked good in comparison." He chuckled. "I had to use every last persuasive point you gave me."

Annabeth flushed with pride. "I'm glad they worked."

Luke's expression became serious. "So there's absolutely no way of escaping before the Games?"

She rubbed her face, having already gone through all she'd tried in her head a dozen times. "With enough makeup, a Capitol citizen wouldn't recognize us, but security here is too tight. Climbing down the side of the building is dangerous and a definite way for someone to see us. There are microphones everywhere. Ventilation shafts are electronically locked. Windows can't be broken even with a fire extinguisher. Every guard is armed. Every servant cannot disobey."

"Hey," Luke stopped her rambles, "listen, we'll find a way out. We have until they put a tracker in our arm, and even then, we could always cut it out."

Annabeth nodded, sighing. "I really hate the Capitol. And did you see the Head Gamemaker? He was eyeing us all like it was all a play, and we were actors with slave contracts and he was the director."

The sat in silence for a while under the night sky, watching the city of the Capitol, which was both dark and bright at the same time, so unlike the smog-filled scenery of their home. Luke turned to her, "You know, whatever happens, we won't let the Capitol break our spirits. We'll stay the same Luke and Annabeth we were before."

She cracked a smile. "I don't think that's possible, but it's a nice thought."

"We're family," he insisted. "And we'll stay that way."

She looked at him. "Promise?"

"Promise."

As they stood up to return to their room, Annabeth spotted something at the other end of the roof. "Is that...?"

She briskly walked to what seemed to be a white sheet of paper, a stark contrast to the dark grey of the building.

Luke came to her side. "Oh no..."

He picked it up with a shaking hand, and Annabeth, already knowing what it was, peered over the side of the roof. There was a black net strung a story down, but it had been cut open, leaving a gaping hole into the streets below.

Luke wordlessly gave her the paper. It was a note scrawled on a fancy napkin.

This isn't what I thought it would be like. Please tell my parents that I'm very very sorry, and that I do love them.

- Harley