148 SEVENTH ECHORE

His father was already in the Capitol, but so far as Alessio knows, he hasn't done anything about it. If he had, Melinda would be there, to stroke his hair back from his brow and tell him it would all be okay.

He misses her so much. But he needs to do better, if he ever wants to find and free her.

Alessio is jerked back to the present when a woman walks up to the front. She claps her hands, and the sounds of chatter die down to silence.

"Well hello there!" she says cheerily. "My name's Avarette de la Lune, and I'm Head Gamemaker as of now. You might be wondering what that is..." She glances around, and is met with a sea of confused faces. Alessio doesn't meet her gaze. "That's the purpose of this dinner! We're going to talk about exactly what the Hunger Games are, and how you'll be preparing for them throughout the next few days."