Then Key enters with what I assume is my dress, but I can't really see it because it's covered. "Close your eyes," he orders.

 

I can feel the silken inside as they slip it down over my body, then the weight. It must be forty pounds. I clutch Yura's hand as I blindly step into my shoes, glad to find they are at least two inches lower than the pair Yoona had me practice in. There's some adjusting and fidgeting. Then silence.

 

"Can I open my eyes?" I ask.

 

"Yes," says Key. "Open them."

 

The creature standing before me in the full-length mirror has come from another world. Where skin shimmers and eyes flash and apparently they make their clothes from jewels. Because my dress, oh, my dress is entirely covered in reflective precious gems, red and yellow and white with bits of blue that accent the tips of the flame design. The slightest movement gives the impression I am engulfed in tongues of fire.

 

I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun.

 

For a while, we all just stare at me. "Oh, Key," I finally whisper. "Thank you."

 

"Twirl for me," he says. I hold out my arms and spin in a circle. The prep team screams in admiration.

 

Key dismisses the team and has me move around in the dress and shoes, which are infinitely more manageable than Yoona's. The dress hangs in such a way that I don't have to lift the skirt when I walk, leaving me with one less thing to worry about.

 

"So, all ready for the interview then?" asks Key. I can see by his expression that he's been talking to Soonkyu. That he knows how dreadful I am.

 

"I'm awful. Soonkyu called me a dead slug. No matter what we tried, I couldn't do it. I just can't be one of those people he wants me to be," I say.

 

Key thinks about this a moment. "Why don't you just be yourself?"

 

"Myself? That's no good, either. Soonkyu says I'm sullen and hostile," I say.

 

"Well, you are. around Soonkyu," says Key with a grin. "I don't find you so. The prep team adores you. You even won over the Gamemakers. And as for the citizens of the Capitol, well, they can't stop talking about you. No one can help but admire your spirit."

 

My spirit. This is a new thought. I'm not sure exactly what it means, but it suggests I'm a fighter. In a sort of brave way. It's not as if I'm never friendly. Okay, maybe I don't go around loving everybody I meet, maybe my smiles are hard to come by, but I do care for some people.

 

Key takes my icy hands in his warm ones. "Suppose, when you answer the questions, you think you're addressing a friend back home. Who would your best friend be?" asks Key.

 

"Yuri," I say instantly. "Only it doesn't make sense, Key. I would never be telling Yuri those things about me. He already knows them."

 

"What about me? Could you think of me as a friend?" asks Key.

 

Of all the people I've met since I left home, Key is by far my favorite. I liked him right off and he hasn't disappointed me yet. "I think so, but  - "

 

"I'll be sitting on the main platform with the other stylists. You'll be able to look right at me. When you're asked a question, find me, and answer it as honestly as possible," says Key.

 

"Even if what I think is horrible?" I ask. Because it might be, really.

 

"Especially if what you think is horrible," says Key. "You'll try it?"

 

I nod. It's a plan. Or at least a straw to grasp at.

 

Too soon it's time to go. The interviews take place on a stage constructed in front of the Training Center. Once I leave my room, it will be only minutes until I'm in front of the crowd, the cameras, all of Panem.

 

As Key turns the doorknob, I stop his hand. "Key. " I'm completely overcome with stage fright.

 

"Remember, they already love you," he says gently. "Just be yourself."

 

We meet up with the rest of the District 12 crowd at the elevator. Luna and her gang have been hard at work. Taeyeon looks striking in a black suit with flame accents. While we look well together, it's a relief not to be dressed identically. Soonkyu and Yoona are all fancied up for the occasion. I avoid Haymitch, but accept Yoona's compliments. Yoona can be tiresome and clueless, but she's not destructive like Soonkyu.

 

When the elevator opens, the other tributes are being lined up to take the stage. All twenty-four of us sit in a big arc throughout the interviews. I'll be last, or second to last since the girl tribute precedes the boy from each district. How I wish I could be first and get the whole thing out of the way! Now I'll have to listen to how witty, funny, humble, fierce, and charming everybody else is before I go up. Plus, the audience will start to get bored, just as the Gamemakers did. And I can't exactly shoot an arrow into the crowd to get their attention.

 

Right before we parade onto the stage, Soonkyu comes up behind Taeyeon and me and growls, "Remember, you're still a happy pair. So act like it."

 

What? I thought we abandoned that when Taeyeon asked for separate coaching. But I guess that was a private, not a public thing. Anyway, there's not much chance for interaction now, as we walk single-file to our seats and take our places.

 

Just stepping on the stage makes my breathing rapid and shallow. I can feel my pulse pounding in my temples. It's a relief to get to my chair, because between the heels and my legs shaking, I'm afraid I'll trip. Although evening is falling, the City Circle is brighter than a summer's day. An elevated seating unit has been set up for prestigious guests, with the stylists commanding the front row. The cameras will turn to them when the crowd is reacting to their handiwork. A large balcony off a building to the right has been reserved for the Gamemakers. Television crews have claimed most of the other balconies. But the City Circle and the avenues that feed into it are completely packed with people. Standing room only. At homes and community halls around the country, every television set is . Every citizen of Panem is tuned in. There will be no blackouts tonight.

 

Leeteuk, the man who has hosted the interviews for more than forty years, bounces onto the stage. It's a little scary because his appearance has been virtually unchanged during all that time. Same face under a coating of pure white makeup. Same hairstyle that he dyes a different color for each Hunger Games. Same ceremonial suit, midnight blue dotted with a thousand tiny electric bulbs that twinkle like stars. They do surgery in the Capitol, to make people appear younger and thinner. In District 12, looking old is something of an achievement since so many people die early. You see an elderly person you want to congratulate them on their longevity, ask the secret of survival. A plump person is envied because they aren't scraping by like the majority of us. But here it is different. Wrinkles aren't desirable. A round belly isn't a sign of success.

 

This year, Leeteuk's hair is powder blue and his eyelids and lips are coated in the same hue. He looks freakish but less frightening than he did last year when his color was crimson and he seemed to be bleeding. Leeteuk  tells a few jokes to warm up the audience but then gets down to business.

 

The girl tribute from District 1, looking provocative in a see-through gold gown, steps up the center of the stage to join Leeteuk for her interview. You can tell her mentor didn't have any trouble coming up with an angle for her. With that flowing blonde hair, emerald green eyes, her body tall and lush. she's y all the way.

 

Each interview only lasts three minutes. Then a buzzer goes off and the next tribute is up. I'll say this for Leeteuk, he really does his best to make the tributes shine. He's friendly, tries to set the nervous ones at ease, laughs at lame jokes, and can turn a weak response into a memorable one by the way he reacts.

 

I sit like a lady, the way Yoona showed me, as the districts slip by. 2, 3, 4. Everyone seems to be playing up some angle. The monstrous boy from District 2 is a ruthless killing machine. The fox-faced girl from District 5 sly and elusive. I spotted Key as soon as he took his place, but even his presence cannot relax me. 8, 9, 10. The crippled boy from 10 is very quiet. My palms are sweating like crazy, but the jeweled dress isn't absorbent and they skid right of if I try to dry them. 11.

 

Joy, who is dressed in a gossamer gown complete with wings, flutters her way to Leeteuk. A hush falls over the crowd at the sight of this magical wisp of a tribute.Leeteuk's very sweet with her, complimenting her seven in training, an excellent score for one so small. When he asks her what her greatest strength in the arena will be, she doesn't hesitate. "I'm very hard to catch," she says in a tremulous voice. "And if they can't catch me, they can't kill me. So don't count me out."

 

"I wouldn't in a million years," says Leeteuk encouragingly.

 

The boy tribute from District 11, Kai, has the same dark skin as Joy, but the resemblance stops there. He's one of the giants, probably six and a half feet tall and built like an ox, but I noticed he rejected the invitations from the Career Tributes to join their crowd. Instead he's been very solitary, speaking to no one, showing little interest in training. Even so, he scored a ten and it's not hard to imagine he impressed the Gamemakers. He ignores Leeteuk's attempts at banter and answers with a yes or no or just remains silent.

 

If only I was his size, I could get away with sullen and hostile and it would be just fine! I bet half the sponsors are at least considering him. If I had any money, I'd bet on him myself.

 

And then they're calling Tiffany Hwang, and I feel myself, as if in a dream, standing and making my way center stage. I shake Leeteuk's outstretched hand, and he has the good grace not to immediately wipe his off on his suit.

 

"So, Tiffany, the Capitol must be quite a change from District Twelve. What's impressed you most since you arrived here?" asks Leeteuk.

 

What? What did he say? It's as if the words make no sense.

 

My mouth has gone as dry as sawdust. I desperately find Key in the crowd and lock eyes with him. I imagine the words coming from his lips. "What's impressed you most since you arrived here?" I rack my brain for something that made me happy here. Be honest, I think. Be honest.

 

"The lamb stew," I get out.

 

Leeteuk laughs, and vaguely I realize some of the audience has joined in.

 

"The one with the dried plums?" asks Leeteuk. I nod. "Oh, I eat it by the bucketful." He turns sideways to the audience in horror, hand on his stomach. "It doesn't show, does it?" They shout reassurances to him and applaud. This is what I mean about Leeteuk. He tries to help you out.

 

"Now, Tiffany," he says confidentially, "When you came out in the opening ceremonies, my heart actually stopped. What did you think of that costume?"

 

Key raises one eyebrow at me. Be honest. "You mean after I got over my fear of being burned alive?" I ask.

 

Big laugh. A real one from the audience.

 

"Yes. Start then," says Leeteuk.

 

Key, my friend, I should tell him anyway. "I thought Key was brilliant and it was the most gorgeous costume I'd ever seen and I couldn't believe I was wearing it. I can't believe I'm wearing this, either." I lift up my skirt to spread it out. "I mean, look at it!"

 

As the audience oohs and ahs, I see Key make the tiniest circular motion with his finger. But I know what he's saying. Twirl for me.

 

I spin in a circle once and the reaction is immediate.

 

"Oh, do that again!" says Leeteuk, and so I lift up my arms and spin around and around letting the skirt fly out, letting the dress engulf me in flames. The audience breaks into cheers. When I stop, I clutch Leeteuk's arm.

 

"Don't stop!" he says.

 

"I have to, I'm dizzy!" I'm also giggling, which I think I've done maybe never in my lifetime. But the nerves and the spinning have gotten to me.

 

Leeteuk wraps a protective arm around me. "Don't worry, I've got you. Can't have you following in your mentor's footsteps."

 

Everyone's hooting as the cameras find Soonkyu, who is by now famous for his head dive at the reaping, and he waves them away good-naturedly and points back to me.

 

"It's all right," Leeteuk reassures the crowd. "She's safe with me. So, how about that training score. E-le-ven. Give us a hint what happened in there."

 

I glance at the Gamemakers on the balcony and bite my lip. "Um. all I can say, is I think it was a first."

 

The cameras are right on the Gamemakers, who are chuckling and nodding.

 

"You're killing us," says Leeteuk as if in actual pain. "Details. Details."

 

I address the balcony. "I'm not supposed to talk about it, right?"

 

The Gamemaker who fell in the punch bowl shouts out, "She's not!"

 

"Thank you," I say. "Sorry. My lips are sealed."

 

"Let's go back then, to the moment they called your sister's name at the reaping," says Leeteuk. His mood is quieter now. "And you volunteered. Can you tell us about her?"

 

No. No, not all of you. But maybe Key. I don't think I'm imagining the sadness on his face. "Her name's Seohyun. She's just twelve. And I love her more than anything."

 

You could hear a pin drop in the City Circle now.

 

"What did she say to you? After the reaping?" Leeteuk asks.

 

Be honest. Be honest. I swallow hard. "She asked me to try really hard to win." The audience is frozen, hanging on my every word.

 

"And what did you say?" prompts Leeteuk gently.

 

But instead of warmth, I feel an icy rigidity take over my body. My muscles tense as they do before a kill. When I speak, my voice seems to have dropped an octave. "I swore I would."

 

"I bet you did," says Leeteuk, giving me a squeeze. The buzzer goes off. "Sorry we're out of time. Best of luck, Tiffany Hwang, tribute from District Twelve."

 

The applause continues long after I'm seated. I look to Key for reassurance. He gives me a subtle thumbs-up.

 

I'm still in a daze for the first part of Taeyeon's interview. He has the audience from the get-go, though; I can hear them laughing, shouting out. He plays up the baker's son thing, comparing the tributes to the breads from their districts. Then has a funny anecdote about the perils of the Capitol showers. "Tell me, do I still smell like roses?" he asks Leeteuk, and then there's a whole run where they take turns sniffing each other that brings down the house. I'm coming back into focus when Leeteuk asks him if he has a girlfriend back home.

 

Taeyeon hesitates, then gives an unconvincing shake of his head.

 

"Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?" says Leeteuk.

 

Taeyeon sighs. "Well, there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping."

 

Sounds of sympathy from the crowd. Unrequited love they can relate to.

 

"She have another fellow?" asks Leeteuk.

 

"I don't know, but a lot of boys like her," says Taeyeon.

 

"So, here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" says Leeteuk encouragingly.

 

"I don't think it's going to work out. Winning. won't help in my case," says Taeyeon.

 

"Why ever not?" says Leeteuk, mystified.

 

Taeyeon blushes beet red and stammers out. "Because. because. she came here with me."