Panic began to bubble up into Calypso's chest when the first announcement of a mandatory gathering was made. She was now entering the town square and while her body normally radiated with child-like joy, today Calypso felt as if her feet were made of bricks and each step she took was another nail on her coffin. As a Career, Calypso knew she was better prepared than possible tributes from the other eleven districts, but she still could not relax the slowly but surely tightening knot in her stomach. Even her two brothers, only three and four years old, seemed to feel the tension in the atmosphere as the microphone crackled and the voice of the head Gamemaker filled the otherwise silent square.

Calypso nearly cried out with joy when she realized that her worst fears were not true. She had been terrified that the unexpected gathering meant that the Reaping would be occurring earlier than usual. Her relief, however, was short lived. By the end of the head Gamemaker's speech, Calypso felt trails of tears slowly making their journey across her freckled-covered face. As the crowd dispersed, Calypso clung to her father's tunic and tried to calm herself with the familiar touch. She had never enjoyed the Hunger Games as much as some of her fellow, blood-thirsty Careers, but the this "Quarter Quell," as the Gamemaker called it, created an entirely new level of horror.

Calypso felt a violent sob shake her petite frame as she let her mind wander. She had always been horrified by the violent deaths in the Games and now the tributes would depend on killing one another in order to survive. With a sniffle, Calypso glanced up at her father and attempted to push all thoughts of the Quell to the back of her mind.