The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)

by Suzanne Collins

Tigris had said to trust her, and he did. Only his cousin’s cleverness with a needle had saved him so far.

Everyone had learned to despise waste. It was creeping back into fashion, though. A sign of prosperity, like a decent shirt.

Dean Casca Highbottom, the man credited with the creation of the Hunger Games, was overseeing the mentor program personally.

“You know, Mr. Reporter, what might be nice? If anybody has any food to spare, they might bring it on down to the zoo. No fun watching the Games if we’re all too weak to fight, don’t you think?”

“If history teaches you anything, it’s how to make the unwilling comply.”

There was no point in lying. Lying had probably killed Clemensia. Obviously, he was dealing with a lunatic who should be handled with extreme care.

“I wasn’t alone,” he said. The morphling and the concussion made it hard to recall things clearly. “Lucy Gray was there. She saved my life, I think.”

“It’s just the kind of story that catches fire.”

The problem with group assignments is that one person usually does all the work,”