The Shadow Games

Chapter One

Prologue

Nina stood at the top of the mountain.

Her long white dress flew out behind her, and her wavy black locks whipped her face. Her gaunt cheeks felt the sting of the wind, but what did she care? Here she was, invincible, no longer a slave of protocol and enemies and pretending to be something she wasn't. A killer.

The games were over.

Here she was, and she would betray them. She would make them sorry. She would be the one to end the games, she would.

She leaped off the cliff.

Chapter One

The gates were creaking open before her. She had been summoned here because she was wanted or needed by the Armantï. They wanted her for the Shadow Games. That had to be the only reason. Why else would they call a starving peasant to the Capitol? She was either being executed or they were sending her into the Games. Either way she was going to die.

She took deep breaths to calm herself. It could only be so awful. In her whole life, she had not committed a single crime as far as she could remember. Most of her classmates could never say the same. In the Fell, there were great walls surrounding everything. There was a low brick wall around her house, one around the village. The wall was  slightly above her head all around the village. And around the realm, there was a thick concrete wall stretching as far as she could see.

Many of the children in the Fell had perfected hopping the walls. They would explore the outside. The outside was forbidden, though.

All Nina did was tend to the fields and attend lessons.

A shadowy breeze rippled her hair and she felt a cold, creeping chill oozing around her. She hurried her pace, gravel crunching beneath her feet.

Her shoes were scraps of leather tied onto the bottom of her feet by two strings. One up by her toes and one in the middle. They made a horrible flapping sound when she walked, but it was muffled here. 

Gravel pathways were not muddy streets.

She hoped that if she was here for the games, she would at least be given decent shoes.

She tried to imagine why they would ever consider her for the shadow games. Maybe because she was afraid of the outside. She would most defiantly fail because of that. She could not be tossed outside. 

Outside was against her nature. The realm had many walls to keep the outside outside. That was how it should be.

Her shoes continued flapping. She pulled her threadbare gray sweater closer around her shoulders. Her bare legs had goose pimples running up and down them.

All too soon she was at the door. No one was there for her. She could turn around and flee, but that meant certain death for Leanna and Jor.