Snowdrop

Chapter 5

"Up, come on darling, get up! Today's a big big day, and you need to have breakfast before training starts."
Maximus hammers on my door, shouting for me to wake. I roll over and stare out the window for a moment. Despite the horrible circumstances, I have to admit that the Capitol is beautiful in the morning. Light spills over the buildings, casting gold threads across the city. It's far more colourful than the dreary grey of District Twelve.
District Twelve. My second day away from home. Is Mother holding out? Are Kaitlynn and Burnet looking after Posy and keeping the household together like they promised?
"Come on, Melia! Everyone's waiting for you," Maximus calls, sounding exasperated.
"Just a minute!" I haul myself out of bed and dress in the outfit Spindle has laid out for me. A simple black shirt and trousers, with boots similar to those I wore last night.
My lips curl up in a small smile as I think of the crowd, screaming my name. Melia Cressview, Panem's favourite sister. I like that.
When I reach the dining room, everyone is already seated. Bailey beams at me as I slide into a chair beside her and an attendant piles my plate high.
"If we're going to die a horrible death, kudos to the Capitol for giving us decent bedding," she says.
Acacia takes a swig of coffee, then speaks. "Right. You lot, training starts today. That means that everyone's going to see what you're made of. This will determine who wants you as an ally, and who doesn't. Of course, since you've had no training whatsoever before today, you'll look pretty weak. It's your job to show the rest of the tributes, that just because you're from District Twelve, it doesn't mean that you'll go down without a fight." She gives us all a hard look. "I'd recommend today, work on weapons. Long range weapons are best, of course, but you can't be sure that there'll be things like bows and spears in the arena. So work with a variety. Knives, spears, axes. It's best that you spend as much time on weaponry as possible. While I waited and hid for the majority of my Games, I had to kill at some point. Understood?"
We nod as Acacia tips the rest of her coffee into her mouth, then pours herself another cup. She doesn't speak again, so we start eating.
"What're you gonna work on, Ember?" Bailey asks, between mouthfuls of grain.
He thinks for a moment. "Maybe spears or scythes. They look cool, and it means I don't have to get in too close if I end up having to fight someone."
"They look cool? You can't base your choice of weapon on how cool they look!" Bailey snorts.
"Yeah I can." Ember grins. "Why, does your weapon of choice look like a dog's hacked it up?"
She goes silent and shoots him a look. I stifle a laugh, but quickly wipe the smile from my face. My family won't be joking around like this. They'll be sitting silently around the table, eating their unattractive brown mush and preparing to watch us die. Burnet might take Posy out to the old tree in the Meadow to play. Posy won't understand what's going on. She might question the absence of Ember and I, but Burnet and Kaitlynn will just protect her with lies.

When breakfast is finished, Maximus takes us to the elevator. All the way down to the training room, he babbles about what gems we are, about how he can't wait to tell his friends that he's our escort, that he just knows we'll make him proud.
I chew my lip. What's there to be proud of us for? It'll be his friends who are betting on how long we'll last, who will kill us in the end. They'll be the ones who visit the arena in the coming years and reenact our gory deaths. We won't mean anything to him next year. We'll just be another set of tributes who fought and died for the honour of our district. Nothing more than names.
When we reach the training room, all my annoyance fades and is replaced by nervousness. We step out into a large gymnasium that holds obstacle courses, tables of plants and ropes and wood, and of course, weaponry. As a Capitol attendant pins a cloth square with my district number onto my back, I notice a small circle of tributes already assembled in the centre of the room.
There's only twenty four tributes here so far, and I hear Maximus mutter something about how "the lack of punctuality of the other escorts never ceases to amaze" him. I can't help noticing how half of the tributes here are from One, Two and Four. A girl from One nudges the boy next to her, and just like clockwork all twelve of them turn and sneer at us.
As we join the circle, the girl points at me and whispers something in the boy's ear, and they laugh. I feel the blood rush to my cheeks, and Ember tenses up beside me.
"If you're gonna say things about my sister you might as well tell all of us," he says.
"No, don't," I whisper. "It's fine, just leave it."
But it's not fine, and the Careers know it. Even though other tributes start to trickle into the gym, most of them keep their gaze on me. They're just trying to intimidate you, I think. Just because you're from Twelve. Don't let them. You're stronger than they think you are.
I keep whispering this to myself as the head trainer, a tall, muscly woman called Calixta, starts to explain the schedule for training. We are not to spar with one another; there are assistants to help with that if we wish to practice with a partner. We can move around the stations as we like, and we can ask as many questions to the trainers as we feel necessary. Don't just go to the weaponry, we are more likely to die of natural causes than of another tribute. Well, that might be true, but we have to listen to Acacia.
When Calixta finally finishes her spiel and lets us go, the Careers make a beeline for the biggest, deadliest-looking weapons. I shiver, wondering which one will end my life.
"I'm going to the blades station," announces Haymitch, and saunters off without paying any attention to the other tributes.
"I might look at the long-range stuff." Bailey goes in the opposite direction to Haymitch. I watch her flash a smile at the boy from Two as he picks up a spear and weighs it in his hands. For a slight girl who's nearly fifteen, she certainly tries to get around.
"What about you, Mel?" Ember murmurs in my ear. "What do you want to try?"
I think for a moment. "Erm... what about knives?" When I was little, before I had to actually worry about the Games, I would always watch the Careers with awe as they handled the blades with expert skill and ease.
Ember agrees and we wander over to the same station as Haymitch. He doesn't even acknowledge us, instead listening studiously to one of the instructors.
We're told that there are different kinds of knives for throwing and cutting. The instructors show us how to hold the blade properly, the proper stance for throwing, little things that I never would have thought of.
Then they finally allow us to hit one of the targets. My first knife misses the target completely, but after a few tries I manage to hit two rings from the edge. I'm absurdly pleased with myself until I look round. The girl from District One, the one who laughed at me earlier, scoffs and balances the tip of her knife on her finger. I wince, expecting her to cut herself, but then she just gives me a superior grin and hits one of the practice dummies right between the eyes.
"Nice job, Rouge," one of the instructors says, nodding at her in approval.
Despite Acacia's advice, I tell myself I'm going to practice with these knives until I can hit my target every time. I'll show Rouge.