When The Canary Sings

Eyes of Stone, Skin of Stone

I made sure he was sleeping before I fell asleep, I also made sure Trixie knew where all the weapons were.

The only cannon that night was for Sammie Shippe.

The moment before I fell asleep, Chip's arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me close to him. He was mumbling and smiling, so I let him have the moment, and I fell asleep.

The next morning, I was the first to wake, but I couldn't even move because of the death grip Chip had on me. I wondered what the Capitol was thinking, I also wondered what my grandmother was thinking. She was either laughing at her screen, telling me to 'go get 'em!' or, she's sleeping.

"Mornin'" I mumbled, and Chip stirred, I sat up, and realized that nothing hurt, the cream really did work.

"Morning." Trixie said, "I already got started on rewiring the mines, and I even found a way to hook them up to a remote so we can control them." She smiled, holding it up, and Chip finally got up.

"Hey, pretty lady," he mumbled, rubbing his face. "I'm thirsty." He mumbled. He crawled towards the bags and the five mines that Trixie had rewired while we slept. "We can plant these around the arena today, how many did we manage to get?" Chip asked Trixie.

"Six, I'm on the last one." She said, shivering a bit.

"I think they lowered the temperature." Chip said, zipping up his jacket. I nodded and picked my bloody jacket off the floor and pulled it over myself.

"The sun rose one hour ago, we might still have a chance to get going before everyone wakes up."

"Shall we?" I asked, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

"We shall!" Chip laughed, springing up, Trixie laughed as she pulled canteens out of a bag and handed one to each of us. We each gulped our share down, but made sure to save some for later. Then, we left.

When we left the building, the sky was orange, the sun just waking up. Just like the tributes.

"Where are you planning on planting these things?" I asked, sharpening a knife, "just anywhere?"

"Anywhere, but staggard." Trixie said, "we needed to make sure they are equally spaced around the arena, and equally spaced between each other."

We kept walking, none of us talking. I started to get bored. I can't stand silence, so I started to talk.

"Have you guys ever heard the story of Medusa?" I asked, Trixie did, but Chip didn't. "She is a lady who was beautiful, then she was cursed for something she had no control over. The curse was that she could turn people into stone if they looked into her eyes." I said, " She also has snakes for hair."

"I think it's more of a gift," Trixie said.

"How?" Chip asked, "snakes for hair? People-to-stone eyeballs?"

"She could use it to protect herself," Trixie said, "If Becca had People-to-stone eyeballs, she would have already won." Trixie said. Chip laughed, but that made me think.

We kept walking, Trixie carrying the bags with the waters and food, Chip carrying the mines, and I had the knives. I hummed a tune as we walked, wishing for a way home.

By 5 in the night, we had five of the mines placed and wired, ready for explosion. We were looking for a place to plant the last one. I still had no idea why we were scattering them so randomly, or why we needed the remote. I mean, if the mines were controlled by a remote, how would we know who is near the mines? Or if anyone was near the mines? I didn't want to ask because they'd probably think I was just another dumb kid from 12.