Ember In The Flames ➳ Finnick Odair ¹ ✓

6 | Mentor

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Chapter Six
MENTOR
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When we arrive down in the training room again for the second day, my eyes scan the room, searching for what I can do today. I see Monty walking over to the bow and arrow station and notice that the bow is almost as big as he is. Everyone is busy finding something to do, preparing for the arena, and as the days draw closer to the Games, I become more and more nervous.

Finally, my eyes land on the spear stations and figure why not. Cautiously, I walk towards it and wait in the long line. The Careers are in the front of the line, showing off as they always do. Every time one of them throws the spear is either hits the dummy in the heart or in the head. I make a mental note in my head to not run into them in the arena. There is no way I could beat them. They have trained their whole lives for this moment.

When they grow bored of this station, they head off to one of the other ones, and the line becomes shorter. I am the next person in line when Calyptus walks up beside me, "Wanna work together again?" She asks me, and I turn my head to look over at her and smile before nodding my head. I like her company. It makes this whole experience a whole lot less lonely.

The person in front of us leaves, and I step up with Calypus going to the dummy beside it and pulling out the spear that the person ahead of us left. I stare at her and wish that if we become allies in the arena, one of us dies before we get to the final two. I don't think I would have it in me to kill her. I slowly pick up the spear and study it in my hands. I figure this will be similar to the knives. I watch as Calyptus throws her spear and hits the target in the leg. If she had just aimed a little higher, then it would have been in the heart. But still, hitting someone in the leg in the arena could still be an advantage. They wouldn't be able to run away.

I draw back the spear and try to level my arm with where I want it to hit the target, and I swing my arm forward. The spear strikes the shoulder of the target, not bad but still not good. I look over at Calyptus, who gives me an encouraging smile.

I leave the spear station and head to the next one, which has a trident. I seriously doubt that I will be any good at this weapon, but I still give it a try. I see the kids from 4 using it. They are probably used to it since they come from the fishing district. I quickly grab one and am shocked to see how heavy it is. I was expecting it to be light like the spear. It just means that I have to aim higher when throwing it.

I stand in front of the target and ready the trident the same way I did the spear. When I throw it, I am shocked to see that it didn't even hit the target. It hit the wall behind it. Embarrassed, I quickly walk away and search for anything else I can do before I start the survival skills. I see the bow and arrow station that Monty was at earlier and decided to head there. I grab one of the many bows and a quiver of ten arrows and step up to the target. There is a good distance between me and the target, and I fear that I will not hit it. I take one of the arrows out and nock it onto the bow before I pull back the string. The sting is hard to pull back, and it hurts my fingers, but I ignore it and focus on the target. At least on this weapon, you can somewhat see how to aim. I stare down the arrow and line up the tip of the arrow to the heart of the target and release the string. The arrow hits the dummy right below the heart, and I smile to myself. I take out another arrow and line it up the same way only this time, I aim a little higher, seeing as I dropped the bow a little when I released the arrow last time. Once I have it lined up, I shoot the arrow, and it lands straight into the heart of the dummy. I think I may have just found my weapon.

I then go around to all the different survival skill stations because I need to know how to do this when I am in the arena. I spend the rest of the day doing this, and when the day comes to an end, I slowly leave the station that I was at and head over to the elevator where Mica stands waiting on Monty and me. I see him leaving the knife-throwing station and heading our way. The three of us ride in the elevator silently, but I can tell that Monty wants to say something, but he never does.

When we arrive at our floor, Nolan and Willow are waiting for us at the dining table. The three of us take a seat at the table, and dinner is served. The mentors are quiet until everyone is done eating, and then they speak up, "Tomorrow, you will train for half the day, and then you will be called in for individual sessions. I want you to show them everything you got. The score that they give you will determine allies. Allies are good to have because they will watch you back." Nolan says, and me and Monty nod.

The individual sessions are what I'm the most nervous about. I'm not sure how good I am compared to the other tributes, or where I rank. I will probably get the lowest score. Willow motions for me to follow her, and then she gets up from the table and head out to the balcony. I quickly follow behind her. Once I am outside, I feel the wind hit my face, and I smile. "Did you test out the weapons," she asks.

I nod my head, "Yes, and I have found a couple that I like." I tell her.

She leans over the railing of the balcony, waiting for me to tell her. I let out a sigh and lean over the railing as she is and speak. "The sword, as you said. It has a good balance in my hands, and I was pretty good at training. And then the bow and arrow, I hit the target perfectly after the second arrow." I tell her as I look over the edge at the city below me.

The sun was beginning to set below the city skyline as Willow turned to face me, "That's good, Ember." She says with a smile on her face. "You have found two weapons that could help you in the Games!" says Willow excitedly. "Now, tomorrow during the individual sessions, I want you to use the weapon that you are the worst at."

I look at her, confused, "Why? I'll get a bad score." I tell her afraid that if I get a bad score, then everyone will start hunting me and that Calyptus will not want to be my ally anymore.

She sees my worried expression and explains, "The scores don't mean anything." she tells me. "It can be used as a strategy, play weak, and then when they have let their guard down around you, that's when you strike."

I think about it for a moment and consider it. This would be my one advantage that I have on the other tributes. I nod my head, "Okay, I'll go with the sword then." I tell her, and she smiles back at me.

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Hey guys, thanks for reading! I hope that you are enjoying the story so far.

And yes, I know that her weapon of choice is the same as Katniss but let me explain. I have actually done archery before, so I know how it works. It is the only only one that I am actually familiar with, so I'm sorry if you don't like that. I just wanted to pick a weapon that I know.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed and if you did then don't forget to vote and comment.

Thank you guys so much for 300 reads, it means a lot to me.