because I have learned the hard way how deadly these beauties can be.

Plants are tricky. Many are edible, but one false mouthful and your dead

But Gale is not one to keep secrets from me. "Katniss, there is no District Twelve."

I'm going to be the Mockingjay.

Something keeps me moving forward, though. A lifetime of watching the Hunger Games lets me know that certain areas of the arena are rigged for certain attacks. And that if I can just get away from this section, I might be able to move out of reach of the launchers. I might also then fall straight into a pit of vipers, but I can't worry about that now.

The pain over my heart returns, and from it I imagine tiny fissures spreading out into my body. Through my torso, down my arms and legs, over my face, leaving it crisscrossed with cracks. One good jolt...and I could shatter into strange razor-sharp shards.

I guess there isn’t a rule book for what might be unacceptable to do to another human being.