Cold

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Within two days, I start to control the violent bursts of ice that shoot from my fingers, but I still can’t stop frost from spreading everywhere; whatever I touch, or the walls of any room I’m in. It’s irritating, and the doctors have told me that my abilities are attuned to my emotions, which I must learn to keep in check.

So I practice.

It comes with a lot of leisure time, though. I tire so quickly that I despair ever regaining enough strength to be fit for the Games. During my long breaks, I do what I have always done best: I think.

How effective is my power? In most environments I can think of, it’s not a very good one. For example, if arena was a desert, ice would practically be useless. Same for a forest, or lake, unless I wanted to spare myself a bloody death and freeze myself. But as time passes, I find that even suicide is not an option. Gaining this ice ability has made me invulnerable to ice. I suppose, then, that if the arena were to be a cold place, I would have a great advantage. What are the chances, though? The odds are not usually in my favor.

Despite my initial doubts, I improve quickly enough after a number of days. The white robed assistant who brings me my meals informs me one day that the other tributes are progressing well, too, and that ‘official’ training will begin the next day. What he means is we’ll get two days in the real training room, testing out abilites on dummies and the like. Separately, of course, to prevent any foul play or unfair advantage. And then the evaluations, on the third day, are also separate, although they do broadcast scores publicly.

So the next day, I’m led down into a small room that leads into the training room. It’s everything I expected: all cold shiny steel and deadly weapons everywhere you look. Two days really isn’t a long time, so I try out every station quickly on the first day, deciding to leave my powers to the second day.

By the end of the second day, I’m starting to feel a little more confident. Ice is no small thing. I can stop a dummy in its tracks by freezing its feet, or shoot ice shards from my hands and fingers. I’m sure that if it were to snow in the arena, I would have no problem navigating that either. Somehow, I’ve grown much fonder of the cold, because it’s just a part of me now.

To say I’m nervous for the evaluations is an overstatement. In fact, I’m eager to get it over with, and don’t particularly care for my score. In the arena, I’ll be working alone (I’ve decided against Yixing), and only I will know the extent of my own abilities.

The steel door opens with a dull thud, and I walk in, heading straight for the dummy simulator as Gamemaker eyes trace my path. I haven’t exactly decided what to show them yet, but in my mind it involves a lot of ice. I’ll probably just freeze them all in their tracks.

It goes as planned. I turn on the simulator and start freezing all the orange figures that come running at me. If they throw spears, I just freeze the spear too. It’s easy, untiring, and entirely boring. I take a bow after the last of them is encased in a block of ice, and walk back out. I’m sure I must have had the most uneventful show and tell, though the Gamemakers can’t deny that I do know a little something about my ability.

The results for the night are quite interesting. I score an average six, which is basically what I’d hoped for. Nothing too flashy, and very demure. To my great surprise, Yixing scores a nine. I wonder what he could have possibly done to get such a high school, before I chide myself for underestimating him. I keep forgetting that we all have powers now, and who knows? Yixing might be able to shoot lasers from his eyes for all I know. I note his score down, though. Then Kyungsoo scores a seven, which is pretty good, while Jongin ends up with an eight. Joonmyun gets a six, same as me, and Jongdae a seven. When Tao gets an eleven, I start to wonder if maybe I should have tried a bit more. Kris is next, an impressive ten popping onto the screen, and Luhan follows with an eight. However, my doubts settle down when Sehun somehow scrapes by with a five. Then Chanyeol and Baekhyun end the broadcast by bringing in sevens.

The scores this year seem unusually high. Nobody got below a five, and there’s usually always somebody who gets a one or two. Either the Gamemakers are judging easier, or there has been an impressive crop of abilities this year. With my luck, it’s probably the second one. But I’ll stick to my strategy for now of staying in the middle of the pack. So far, I’m doing pretty well. At this point, sponsors are probably focused on Luhan and Kai for their good looks, and Tao and Kris for their high scores. That’s good for me, because I don’t need to worry about drawing attention. I plan to grab some low quality stuff from around the Cornucopia and take off to some hidey hole. And I’ve just realized a huge advantage my ability gives me: I will basically never have a shortage of water, because I can just create ice. It doesn’t make sense, but I’m not going to complain.

My nerves finally kick in that night, and I sleep restlessly, frequently waking up and then drifting back off into a half-sleeping, half-awake state. As a result, I’m totally exhausted and disheveled the next morning. This is not a great start.

My outfit, for once, has been laid out for me. It’s a black tank top and leggings, study tennis shoes, and, curiously, a fur jacket to go over. I puzzle over this as I pull it on. It’s almost as if the clothes were designed for multiple different kinds of weather at once.

“Sir. It’s time.” I look up; the door is open, and a servant stands in the doorway. I nod, suddenly queasy, and stand up.

“Let’s go.”

I’m led through a confusing maze of twists and turns, and finally into a waiting hovercraft. As I step through, I feel a sharp prick on my arm and look down to see the tracer being inserted.

Everyone else is already there, waiting. This is the first time we’ve been together since the night of the interviews. I look quietly at my old friends, but can’t deduce what they are thinking. If they like their power, or hate it, or feel nervous... there is no way to tell. I don’t see any tokens from home, either. I take the empty seat on the very end, next to Yixing. He doesn’t smile at me today.

The captain speaks an order cooly, and the craft lifts off in silence.

My ears are popping, but I don’t want to speak out. I don’t think anyone would answer.

It seems like only a short time later that we set down gently. Once again, aides lead each of us off down a different tube to the launch room. My aide is a quiet boy of maybe thirteen, with a head of dark hair and solemn face. He motions towards the clear tube, and then steps back. When the sliding door clicks shut, I feel a strange sense of closure. What will happen next, I have no control over. It’s really the waiting that’s the worse, and the butterflies have melted down to a dull ache. The tube starts to rise slowly, whirring and spinning. When sunlight filters in and the tube clicks to a stop, I can only stare at the most beautiful, and bizarre, place I’ve ever seen.

It’s a land of four seasons, and our uniforms instantly make sense. I look around wildly, drinking everything thing. To my upper right, there’s an incredibly bright green jungle, draped with purple vines and exotic plants. I rule that out immediately; it just screams toxic at me. To the lower right is flat grassland of pale tan-purple wheats. I see a few gnarled trees scattered here and there, but otherwise it looks like it doesn’t hold much cover. I turn away from that to the lower left, where heat suddenly starts cooking my face. I’m staring at an immense desert, so dry and hot that the heat is rippling in waves off the ground. The desert is my enemy. I cannot go there. But finally, finally, the upper left is a soft snowland with a white forest looming in the distance. It feels cool and wintery and welcoming. My sense of relief hits so hard, I almost step off the plate and blow myself to pieces. I know exactly where I need to go. And, of course, the Cornucopia sits in the center of it all, a gleaming mass of bright gold.

But the countdown, the countdown has begun, and this is all I take in before a little voice in my head starts screaming.

Calm down, Minseok, calm down, I tell myself. There’s the snow. There’s the cold.

And all around me are my friends - no, not my friends, but my enemies, their faces bared in concentration, ferocious, ugly expressions. They will not hesitate to kill me, I know that now. And I know that I will not hesitate either. I’m ready. I’m ready. I’m ready.

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

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