I tap my fingers against the wooden desk. I throw back my shoulders and sigh, ready to get this over with. The meetings with the Gamemakers are never fun, and the only pleasure I take in them is making the men and women alike tremble with fear.

Propelled by this sudden thought, I flick my fingers, and the scarlet-clad avoxes bow their heads and proceed to open the double doors.

Two men walk in. One is short, skinny, and bald, while the other is enormous stretching twice as high and wide as the average man, with a thick, full head of black hair. Neither of them are to my taste. I much prefer the simple, rugged handsomeness of the Head Peacekeeper.

"President Teriba, it is I, Florian, your ever humble servant and Head Gamemaker!" The fat man gives a sweeping bow, his booming voice echoing through the room. The short man gives a cough, and looks pointedly towards Florian.

"And this," says Florian, in a bored tone. "Is Sabinus."

Sabinus smiles and fixes his rather watery eyes on my gorgeous (cosmetically created) violet eyes. "So glad to meet you Teriba-"

"President. President Teriba," I interrupt him. "We, my good friend, are not on a first name basis. Did you know that disrespect is punishable by becoming forever silent? Would you care to say, join this young lady over here?"

I glide to the corner of the room and grip the avoxe's thin arm. She makes no reaction, but I can feel her trembling with fear. I drag her over to my desk and sit down. She dutifully stands by my chair, chin nearly touching her collarbone.

"Oh no my dear," I pat her chin and force it up with two perfectly manicured fingernails. "You must let this disrespectful man see what I inflicted upon that tongue of yours!"

Sabinus is sweating, a look of pinched fear stuck to his pointed face. Florian has stepped back a bit, his jolly grin frozen to his face. I can sense that neither of these men are fond of each other, but neither of them want to lose their partner. No partner means more work, and there isn't often a scapegoat for the things you do wrong when you work alone.

The young girl looks straight into my eyes and opens her mouth wide. I can see a bloody, mangled mess of skin back there. Her openness was defiance, and I cannot have defiance in my Capitol.

With a snap of my fingers, two peacekeepers march in. They look from Sabinus to Florian to me to the avox, bewildered.

"My friends," I smile. "Today we are learning about defiance. This young lady," I gesture to the avox. "Has tried to defy me with the proximity of her gaze and openness of her mouth."

The avox's eyes widen.

"This young man," I gesture to Sabinus. "Has dared call me by my name." I level my gaze at the peacekeepers. "Do you think this is acceptable?"

They say, in unison, "No ma'am. It is not."

"Good answer," I smile. "Take this avox back to where she came from. The Underground."

The avox screams and the peacekeepers grab her. She collapses in their arms, sobbing.

"And Sabinus, you shall remain here, as a reminder of my generosity." Sabinus sags with relief.

The peacekeepers leave the room, and I am left with one avox, Sabinus, and Florian. I gesture at the two chairs in front of me, and the Gamemakers sit down.

"Now," I lean forward. "I am a young woman, and naturally, I am curious. Show me what's in store for the tributes of the 112th Hunger Games."

Florian regains his composure and fumbles with the transportable hologram. He lays it on the table and presses a button. Then, in his deep, resounding voice, he says, "Meecal Florian, Head Gamemaker."

The hologram clicks, and all of a sudden, an arena appears.

"A-a-as y-y-y-ou can s-s-see," Sabinus stutters. "The a-a-arena w-w-will be quite interesting this year."

He too regains his footing, and he begins to speak in a more confident tone. "There are four sections. The first will be made of rock. It will be hilly, but not mountainous. There will be many caves formed of rock. Fog will be abundant, and it will obscure a lot of the land from view. Also in that area will be the arena's only water source. There are streams, lakes, and ponds that appear to be fire, but if you touch them, they are ice cold and have the consistency of water."

Florian presses another button, and I see another section of the arena. "For the second section," Florian booms. "There will be a regular forest. Many of the tributes will be drawn here, since it appears most safe and typical. However, once three tributes set foot on that section of the arena, it will dissolve, and they will fall into a different rooms, where they will be forced to face their worst fears. The only way to get out is to face all of them, with no breaks in between. If they succeed, there will be a ladder which they can climb up, and will then be in-"

"The third section of the arena," says Sabinus. "Will be an abandoned prison. It will be dirty, stink of the flesh of the dead, and have over one hundred cells. There is a food source here, but no water. The room where deaths were carried out is in there, and if a smart tribute can figure out how to fix it, there may be some action. Tributes are predicted to go insane in there."

"And the fourth and final section," Florian presses another button and begins to speak. "Will house most of the mutts, and be a giant field of wheat. Many think that food can come from here, but only from one plant, or the others will trigger a swarm of lethal spiders, flesh-eating grasshoppers, snakes that will suffocate you, and mice that bite on a particular piece of your skin which releases a fatal amount of blood. The tributes will face many animals here."

They both turn to me.

"Hmm," I lay my head in my hands and sigh. "You didn't disappoint me. A bit unorthodox. Different. Exciting. Clever. I predict a fine year."

They beam, pleased with themselves, and I shoo them off.

"Now leave me. I have much more important work to do than mess around with you idiots." I stand and rest my hand on my chair. The two men bow their way out, and I am left alone. I allow the smile to creep over my face, and eventually, a cackle of mad laughter fills the room.

This will be a wonderful year.