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My slu dreaes froer Games, with my mother withdrawn and unreachable, with Pri for my father to run as the ht

Dawn is breaking through the s The Capitol has a misty, haunted air My head aches and I ht My tongue probes the ragged flesh and I taste blood

Slowly, I drag myself out of bed and into the shower I arbitrarily punch buttons on the control board and end up hopping fro hot water assault ed in lemony foam that I have to scrape off with a heavy bristled brush Oh, well At least

When I&039;m dried and moisturized with lotion, I find an outfit has been left for -sleeved burgundy tunic, and leather shoes I put le braid downof the reaping that I rese capes Justlike I could be headed for the woods It calive us an exact time to , but I&039; there will be food I&039; board off to the side has been laid with at least twenty dishes A young man, an Avox, stands at attention by the spread When I ask if I can serve es, batter cakes covered in thick orange preserves, slices of pale purple e myself, I watch the sun rise over the Capitol I have a second plate of hot grain smothered in beef stew Finally, I fill a plate with rolls and sit at the table, breaking oil bits and dipping them into hot chocolate, the way Peeta did on the train

My mind wanders totheir breakfast of s ago, I was hoht? Yes, just two And no empty the house feels, even froht about ive them hope, or simply add to their terror when they saw the reality of twenty-four tributes circled together, knowing only one could live?

Hay, fill their plates Itexactly the sa to Cinna This twins act is going to blow up in out faces once the Gain Surely, theyme to do exactly what the stylists tell nore hiht&039;s triumph, I don&039;t have a lot of room to criticize his choices

I&039; There will be three days in which all the tributes practice together On the last afternoon, we&039;ll each get a chance to perfor the other tributes face-to-face makes me queasy I turn the roll I have just taken froone

When Haymitch has finished several platters of stew, he pushes back his plate with a sigh He takes a flask fro pull on it and leans his elbows on the table "So, let&039;s get down to business Training First off, if you like, I&039;ll coach you separately Decide now"

"Why would you coach us separately?" I ask

"Say if you had a secret skill you ht not want the other to know about," says Haye a look with Peeta "I don&039;t have any secret skills," he says "And I already knohat yours is, right? I h of your squirrels"

I never thought about Peeta eating the squirrels I shot So thereed But because town families usually eat expensive butcher meat Beef and chicken and horse

"You can coach us together," I tell Hayive me some idea of what you can do," says Hay," says Peeta "Unless you count baking bread"

"Sorry, I don&039;t Katniss I already know you&039;re handy with a knife," says Haymitch

"Not really But I can hunt," I say "With a bow and arrow"

"And you&039;re good?" asks Haymitch

I have to think about it I&039;ve been putting food on the table for four years That&039;s no sood as my father was, but he&039;d had more practice I&039;ve better aienius with traps and snares "I&039;ht," I say

"She&039;s excellent," says Peeta "My father buys her squirrels He always comments on how the arrows never pierce the body She hits every one in the eye It&039;s the sa down deer"

This assessment of my skills from Peeta takes me totally by surprise First, that he ever noticed Second, that he&039;s talking ?" I ask hi? If he&039;s going to help you, he has to knohat you&039;re capable of Don&039;t underrate yourself," says Peeta

I don&039;t knohy, but this rubsway "What about you? I&039;ve seen you in the s of flour," I snap at hi"

"Yes, and I&039;s of flour forable to use a weapon You know it isn&039;t," he shoots back

"He can wrestle," I tell Haymitch "He came in second in our school competition last year, only after his brother"

"What use is that? How many times have you seen soust

"There&039;s always hand-to-hand combat All you need is to come up with a knife, and you&039;ll at least stand a chance If I get juer

"But you won&039;t! You&039;ll be living up in so off people with arrows You knohat ood-bye, as if to cheer me up, she says maybe District Twelve will finally have a winner Then I realized, she didn&039;t mean me, she meant you!" bursts out Peeta

"Oh, she meant you," I say with a wave of dismissal

"She said, &039;She&039;s a survivor, that one&039; She is," says Peeta

That pulls me up short Did his mother really say that about me? Did she rate me over her son? I see the pain in Peeta&039;s eyes and know he isn&039;t lying

Suddenly I&039;m behind the bakery and I can feel the chill of the rain running down my back, the hollowness in my belly I sound eleven years old when I speak "But only because someone helped me"

Peeta&039;s eyes flicker down to the roll in my hands, and I know he res "People will help you in the arena They&039;ll be tripping over each other to sponsor you"

"No more than you," I say

Peeta rolls his eyes at Haymitch "She has no idea The effect she can have" He runs his fingernail along the wood grain in the table, refusing to look at me

What on earth does heof starvation, no one helpedto barter with, things changed I&039;h trader Or am I? What effect do I have? That I&039;ood deals because people pitied me? I try to think if this is true Perhaps soenerous in their trades, but I always attributed that to their long-standing relationship with alower at the roll sure he meant to insult me

After about a minute of this, Haymitch says, "Well, then Well, well, well Katniss, there&039;s no guarantee they&039;ll be bows and arrows in the arena, but during your private session with the Gamemakers, show them what you can do Until then, stay clear of archery Are you any good at trapping?"

"I know a few basic snares," I nificant in terht, never underestith in the arena Very often, physical power tilts the advantage to a player In the Training Center, they will have weights, but don&039;t reveal how much you can lift in front of the other tributes The plan&039;s the sa Spend the ti you don&039;t know Throw a spear Swing awhat you&039;re best at until your private sessions Are we clear?" says Hay In public, I want you by each other&039;s side every minute," says Haymitch We both start to object, but Haymitch slams his hand on the table "Every reed to do as I said! You will be together, you will appear aet out Meet Effie at the elevator at ten for training"

I bitesure Peeta can hear the door sla o in the rain

It&039;s such a joke! Peeta and I going along pretending to be friends! Talking up each other&039;s strengths, insisting the other take credit for their abilities Because, in fact, at so to have to knock it off and accept we&039;re bitter adversaries Which I&039;d be prepared to do right now if it wasn&039;t for Hayether in training It&039;shim he didn&039;t have to coach us separately But that didn&039;twith Peeta Who, by the way, clearly doesn&039;t want to be partnering up with me, either

I hear Peeta&039;s voice in my head She has no idea The effect she can have Obviously ht? but a tiny part of me wonders if this was a co in some way It&039;s weird, how much he&039;s noticedAnd apparently, I have not been as oblivious to hi I have kept track of the boy with the bread

It&039;s aler te the other tributes, but now I can feel ain By the time Iroo With these elevators, the ride is less than a ymnasiuh it&039;s not yet ten, we&039;re the last ones to arrive The other tributes are gathered in a tense circle They each have a cloth square with their district number on it pinned to their shirts While someone pins the number 12 on my back, I do a quick assessment Peeta and I are the only two dressed alike