Enigma Fenn (13) D1F

I had to be safe for a while. I had to be able to sit in the cave and chill for a while. I had killed a Career and taken two of my allies down with him; the Capitol couldn't find me boring. I was banking on that. I knew the Gamemakers well enough to know that that was enough excitement for a while, but I didn't know exactly how long that while was. Our Gamemakers were weird. They sent a bear after me once, not long into the Games at all.. I was never going to drop my guard.

Except for a small break. For a couple of minutes, I stayed in my cave, hoping all of the Careers would be too dumb to find me there. Some of them were dumb, and their leader was definitely Tiger, so it seemed like a safe bet. I lied down all the way in the cave, on my back, looking up at the entrance. That way I could lunge if I had to, but I was practically invisible, which was more important. Hopefully even someone smart wouldn't be able to notice me, and with any luck, they wouldn't notice the cave, either.

Only one small thing put a blip in my plans: A sponsor gift. It contained a knife, which I was very grateful for, and a crown. The crown was a cute touch, but I saw no purpose to it. It was the right size for me, silver and rose gold, designed to look like delicate tendrils spindling above my head. There were some dark red flowers on it, juxtaposing the rest of the coloration nicely and sticking out vividly. I loved them all. I put the crown on carefully, making sure I didn't break it, though I doubted I was capable of it, and smiled.

The roses on the crown lit up, making little beams of red shoot across my cave. I flinched away from the light and hid it for a second, then put the crown back on. It lit up again. I almost had to glare at whoever sent me the gift. I couldn't use the crown. It was just an annoying temptation, there to tick me off since I couldn't wear it. I left it on the ground, unwilling to touch it again, and noticed something out of the ordinary.

Four spiders were crawling out of holes in the wall toward me, and toward the crown. They were about the size of my hand, large enough to be intimidating but not terrifying. They settled around the crown politely, stopping their motion once they reached it, and waited. I couldn't say how I knew for sure - spiders weren't humans, so I couldn't read them like I could most people - but I could tell that they were waiting for something. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe it was an order. Whatever it was, the spiders were waiting for it, and they were expecting it from the crown.

I decided to take a chance. I put the crown on, watching as the spiders watched the crown. There was no reason for them to watch it. They had eight eyes, and yet they followed it with their whole bodies, not just their eyes. I was supposed to be able to tell that they were watching it. The crown lit up, and they shuffled around excitedly, doing what seemed to be a dance. Their legs kept moving around, and while they didn't make any noise, they looked as though they would have been chanting if they were loud creatures. I took a guess.

I stood up. The spiders watched the crown. I sat down. The spiders watched the crown. I walked around the cave. The spiders followed me. As fun as it was to see what the spiders would do, it didn't seem to be useful. Spiders weren't good for much, except the fact that some people didn't like them. They were too slow to bite most people, especially since these were easily visible. Wow. I wish these spiders could do something, like at least jump.

The spiders jumped. I had to gather myself for a second, considering what they had done. That was impossible. They couldn't have heard my thoughts. Jump. I thought again, a command this time. They jumped with a purpose, reaching more than their height vertically. I was amazed. That couldn't be happening. It didn't follow any logic. Why would there be rebellion if the Capitol had mind control? How could this exist?

What does that matter? It didn't matter. The whys and hows didn't matter at all, I realized. They existed somehow, in some way, just like this spider mind-control thing. Somehow I could mind control these spiders, and that was all I needed to know. I was going to settle for less information than the maximum I could achieve, just because I realized it didn't matter. I didn't need to know everything. I needed to know enough.

Just like the spiders don't need to kill people. They just had to do enough. I left the cave, searching for another tribute. I didn't want to find one of the four Careers that were left. One boy, Two girl, Four boy, Four girl, I reminded myself, keeping count. I wanted to find one of the six non-Careers. I could fight them if my grand plan didn't work, which it probably wouldn't. Most people weren't dumb enough to be stopped by spiders.

It didn't take long for me to see signs of life. I went upstairs, noting that the Careers had to be hunting. A cannon fired, and there were ten. Soon to be nine. I followed a simple trail - opened doors, disturbed carpets, bits and pieces of displays missing. Nothing was perfect, the way the Capitol would have left it. Everything was leading back to my room.

I better not have followed myself here. I sent one spider into the room and heard a scream. Whoever it was definitely didn't like spiders. I could see them from where I was, since I knew where to look in the mirrors. They were distracted by the spider. I ran in and slid under the bed, pretending not to see the spider. "Calm down, calm down! He can't hurt you. The bigger ones hurt less," I said, not knowing whether it was true. It didn't matter. The girl looked at me, and I stabbed her in the throat.

Someone asked for spider mind control. I gave them spider mind control.