Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games)

by Suzanne Collins

Don’t let yourself panic. Don’t give the Capitol that. They’ve taken enough already.

“And that’s part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible.”

“Don’t let them use you, Sarshee. Don’t let them paint their posters with your blood. Not if you can help it.”

Merrilee’s featured a hummingbird and Maysilee’s a mockingjay,

I can only hope we leave the world together.

“She doesn’t belong to them,” snaps Maysilee. “Don’t just hand her over. Make them fight for her. Run!”

I run for Louella, but I run for Woodbine, too, because he’ll never run again.

Maybe this is where I paint my own poster.

You are on a high horse, mister. And someday someone will knock you off it straight into your grave.

“Well, you got the last word tonight, Mr. Abernathy.” “Did I? What exactly did I say again, Miss Donner?” “Don’t mess with District Twelve.”

“You snore,” I tell Wyatt. “No, I don’t. I was fake-snoring on the train.” “Bad news. You also real-snore.” “Like a bear,” Maysilee confirms. “I could hear you through the wall.”

“My father wants to meet you. He’s at the booth with the potato,” Ampert tells me, then scurries after her.

Maybe we’ll lose, but we’re sure making a lot of people proud back home.

Sometimes she cries because things are so beautiful and we keep messing them up. Because the world doesn’t have to be so terrifying. That’s on people, not the world.

I tell Ampert, “Wherever she is, she’s making trouble for the Careers. You can count on that.” When I hook Wyatt’s token around my neck, it’s like having both him and Maysilee with me.

Mags. Trying to reach us, to let us know we are not alone in our pain, to give us strength to go on. Tears fill my eyes, forcing me to admit my presence in the only world I know. Not an imaginary one. The one where I am in the Hunger Games for real.

clump of katniss,

“One of us has to be the worst victor in history. Tear up their scripts, tear down their celebrations, set fire to the Victor’s Village. Refuse to play their game.”

I don’t feel qualified to choose between fried or scrambled eggs.

A sister is someone you fight with and fight for. Tooth and nail.

Proserpina wasn’t born evil; she just had a lot of unlearning to do.

It’s okay to cry around Mags.