The train that takes them to the Capitol has become familiar, like a visit to a place you used to hate with a burning passion, but now only makes you feel hollow. ( Read )
Trains meant pain and suffering, meant watching those she loved picked off one by one as though they were flies. The Grittel family has never had any luck with Reapings--Perynne hears stories of her mother's sister, of her father's sister, of her father himself, of her older brother. They have a reputation. She's heard the whispers, the curse that must have settled upon her family. No one would imagine District 9 to be a superstitious bunch, but her family was the exception to the rule
( ... )
Despite herself, Airelle feels a small, humorless smile begin to tug at the corners of her lips. She had not managed to form an opinion on them from their Reapings, as she sometimes had, but it’s no matter-here everything becomes clear as day: Perynne Grittel tries too hard and Dever Cayle not enough, and this will not be a year for District 9. Neither of these children will leave the arena.
Her eyes narrow as they turn to Perynne’s defiant gaze, taking in the tension, the edges, the brittle hardness. The small smile is back, and this time, it’s tinged with just the slightest hint of disappointment.
“Are you ready, really? I do wonder,” she says at last, injecting her voice with more amusement than she truly feels, and ignoring the girl’s question. “He’s right, you know. I can only do so much for you-if you are simply determined to die, it’s hardly my fault, and no amount of mentoring is going to change that.”
She sinks deeper and hates herself further with every syllable she speaks. Years ago, before her victory and even shortly
( ... )
He cherishes his life far more now that he can feel its end approaching. Dever has no real experience fighting, no stories to boost his confidence at night. His parents are poor, harvesting crops for their small farm and the ones of the older couples who can't do the labour. He can wield a blade, knows fifty uses for a pair of scissors, but he thinks he has no chance when it comes down to it. He has seen Perynne use a scythe with vicious force, as though she was practising and it only dawns on him as he takes the steps numbingly to his scaffold
( ... )
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Trains meant pain and suffering, meant watching those she loved picked off one by one as though they were flies. The Grittel family has never had any luck with Reapings--Perynne hears stories of her mother's sister, of her father's sister, of her father himself, of her older brother. They have a reputation. She's heard the whispers, the curse that must have settled upon her family. No one would imagine District 9 to be a superstitious bunch, but her family was the exception to the rule ( ... )
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Her eyes narrow as they turn to Perynne’s defiant gaze, taking in the tension, the edges, the brittle hardness. The small smile is back, and this time, it’s tinged with just the slightest hint of disappointment.
“Are you ready, really? I do wonder,” she says at last, injecting her voice with more amusement than she truly feels, and ignoring the girl’s question. “He’s right, you know. I can only do so much for you-if you are simply determined to die, it’s hardly my fault, and no amount of mentoring is going to change that.”
She sinks deeper and hates herself further with every syllable she speaks. Years ago, before her victory and even shortly ( ... )
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