Preface

Expertly Trained. Ruthless Efficient. Merciless. Lina Bloom is the perfect assassin; her mission? Bring down The Capitol that destroyed her world. But will her love for an enemy boy cause her to fail the one mission that would mean justice for millions?

     "This is for my parents." I c**k the gun, making sure it's fully loaded.

     "And for all the other's...that never found justice." I aim the gun at the dummy and fire away as a stream of bullets flies out from the barrel.

     I love the rythemic way the bullets leave their shells and the sound they make as they inflict damage of the poor dummy.

    I learned to love the sound of death, death to Caps, supporters of the Capitol. Not many people have the skill or the desire to learn to kill; but I do.

    And I'm sure Seven would have wanted to know what I'd done with my time since The Leave, but Seven is with Group 9, out scooping the land, setting traps for Cap infultraders. I don't like being away from her, it makes me anxious to think of what could happen to her, but then, I always have to remind myself that she has Sparks, and she'll been fine with him.

    She's only sixteen anyway, she's been trained well enough to handle herself. And I trust Sparks. He's 18 and understand the concept of our mission, hiding out here, in the woods. In Arcadia, one of the last safe, Rebel hiding places.

   I place the gun down on the table and pull the drawer open. I reload the weapon and mount it back on the Weapons wall with the others and pull out a silver bow and sheath filled with arrows and headed back to the table. I prefer training with more classic weapons, it will help me more in the long run. I adjust the strap of the sheath before mounting it on my back and push the red button on the table.

   The destroyed dummy is replaced with a new one.

   I load my bow, aim it square for the forehead and let it loose. I lodges directly in the forehead.

   "Perfect," I whisper to myself.

   I've been in the Training Center for over an hour, I know Clove will come looking for me eventually, wondering if I'm off in the woods again like I always am during the Festival time.

   I don't want to be courted by of the boys here in Arcadia, our refuge. I don't want to fall in love, because here, with the war going on, love is only a liability. Though I'll never tell that to Seven, I know she knows. She and Sparks are different though, but are stronge and willing to die. Not that I'm not but, I have to live long enough.

   Long enough to see Claudius Everthorn die, and long enough to be the one to kill him. Long enough to see him beg for his life, just my parents begged for theirs. I still remember that day in The Lower City, my original birth place when the heavily armed soldiers burst through our front door and shouted at everyone to get on their knees.

   I remember being 7 years old and Seven herself only 4. I remember our mother telling us to hide in spice cabinet, where we wouldn't be found even if they brought dogs. I'd grabbed Seven and told her to be quiet as possible as we climbed inside. The spice cabinet was in the kitchen that led to the front door. It was at the exact moment I'd closed the cabinet door that Cap Soldiers burst through the door.

   "You," I remember Claudius shout. I'd heard my mother's scream half a second before the shots of an automatic filled my ears.

   "No, please," she screeched. I dared myself to be brave and open the door just a crack, just enough to she what was going on. I've never regreted that desicion a day in my life. I watched as a man dressed in a full black attire with shiny bleack leather yank my mother up by her hair and then pull her head back. He wore a helmet.

    I looked around though, and that, I did regret. I saw my Father laying face up, blood spilled over from his mouth and dripping onto the drit floor of our small shack.

    I watched in horror as she looked my mother over, tugging at different limbs before he finally removed his shiny helmet.

    That's when I saw his face.

   "Claudius," she spit. She knew him. 

   "I told you I'd be back Myra," she murmured, removing his gloves and caressing her cheek. 

   "You're a sick man," she spat at him. He locked his fingers in her hair again and twisted them, hauling her up from her knees until her face was inches from his. I felt adrenaline shoot through me but I did my best to control it.

    I could do nothing now; I was useless.

   I watched as he pulled a gun from his waistband and point it at her temple.

   "I loved you Myra, but you chose him over me. That filthy picec of garbage over me. You could have had me, been rich, and live in the Capitol and you would have loved it there."

   "Yes, but I would never have loved you," she hissed. Claudius grounded his teeth and his pressed the barrel harder into my mother's temple. I fought back a scream.

   Look away, Look away, I told myself but I just couldn't find the strength in me to do it.

   Then he pressed his lips to hers. I almost threw up. Everything then happened so fast. My mother's screech of hatred, the sound of a shot being fired and then silence.

   "Lina!" A hand clamped down on my shoulder hard, making me jump. Clove.

    "You scared me," I said breathlessly, turning around to face her.

    "I know," she said, "you were spacing again."

    "Sorry," I apologized.

    "It's fine," she assured me, but there was an odd twist in her features that made me wonder.

    "What's up," I said cautiously. I looked her square in the eye and could see something was troubling her.

    She sighed. "No point in hiding it now," she muttered.

   "No point in hiding what," I asked suspiciously.

    "It's...Armon. He's courted you."

Author's Note

Ignore all spelling errors.