Persphyni : I am Death

52

I didn't leave room for discussion as I headed back to the forest, my mind set on building a fire to keep us warm. And to try and figure out what this piece of bark was.

I left the four of them and the journal behind as I held onto the long,
thin piece of bark. My eyes scanning the trees and ground of the forest as I reached it and began to look for firewood.

Slipping the piece of bark into my jacket pocket, I began to collect small logs in a pile that would work as the fire structure. Once I had about twenty, I started to look for sticks and other smaller pieces of wood for tinder to keep the fire going once we got it lit up.

"Need some help?" I turned around to see Jasper standing behind me awkwardly. His eyes anywhere but looking at me.

"Yeah, take some of the bigger logs and start working on the fire shape. You're going to want an a-frame with stability on the bottom where the flame will sit. Then you and Octavia start working on actually getting fire. My lighter is in my pack so we'll have to make do with what we have." I slammed him with instructions making him actually look up at me and nod as he digested the information.

"Heard that." He grabbed six of the small logs from the pile and began to walk away. My head turning back to the forest before I thought of something.

"Hey, Jasper?" His head turned around as he adjusted his grip on the logs. "Get Bellamy and Clarke to take the rest of these piles over. And set the fire in the center of the rocks. I'll be over to help shortly." As he walked back to the group I dropped the rest of the smaller tinder in a pile and walked deeper into the woods. The piece of tree back in my hands as I tried to find replicas or a source of it.

"Come on, Lincoln. Give me a sign." But my request was unheard as I spent the next thirty minutes of the day searching for something that wasn't even there.

With a slight air of anger, I trudged out of the first. The sky darkening even more so than before when the sun was high in the sky but blocked by the clouds. Perfectly describing my slowly darkening mood as I pocketed the bark.

"Don't touch that!" Octavia's demand reached my ears as I began to walk along the rock path. My eyes drifting to Bellamy who slowly stood from his stooped over position, disbelief on his face.

The bright fire blazing as it crackled through the silence. The brilliant flame warm as I reached the group.

"Via." I began as I reached the girl. "I need to see something." I watched her sigh before she reluctantly handed me the journal.

Bellamy's face said it all. He was dumbfounded, but I think he understood why. Making him kneel down to talk to his sister.

"Come on, O. How long?" I flicked open the journal to the page with the map.

"I don't know. I can't even look at you. Because every time I do, I see Pike putting that gun to Lincoln's head. I hear the gunshot. I see him fall." I slid the bark back in place for safe keeping as I shut the journal carefully.

"I didn't kill Lincoln." I blinked slowly, my gaze on Bellamy as he finished speaking.

"No, but he is dead because of you." Octavia's voice began to rise as she stood.

"I came to you." Her older brother's voice was calm as he too stood. My hand clenching the binding of the leather as I crouched to set it on the ground. "You didn't take my help. If you had just trusted me, I-"

I looked up as Octavia sat down and Bellamy cut his words off. His face held frustration as he stormed off. Clarke standing up to watch him, Jasper beginning to rise as he tossed something he had been playing with in his hands into the fire.

In a flash, the yellow-orange flames turned green before dying. The image made me think of Greek fire from the books.

"What did you just do?" Octavia asked standing, pulling me with her on my own account.

"Nothing, I just threw these." I looked at the small twig-branch thing in Jasper's hands, my hands opening to the map page to look at the bark. But it wasn't the bark piece at all. I flipped to the next page before handing it to Octavia.

"He drew it, here." I pointed out as she took the journal and flipped to a few pages in front of the map. To the portrait of a woman. And inside laying flat, was a portion of the plant.

"They are out there." I whispered as Octavia began to speak. My eyes on the horizon before I turned my gaze to the shore where my heart tugged and pulled.

My feet moving on their own accord as I left the three and headed down the beach side. The sky darkening in time with my steps as I finally reached the Dumbass.

"Let me guess, you came here to fix things. Wanheda, the peacemaker." He kept his back facing me as I stopped a foot away from him, my body freezing as he assumed that it was Clarke who had come to talk to him.

"No." I whispered, my hands in my jacket pockets as his shoulders tensed at my voice. "I came to join you." I kept my voice low as I turned to face the water. Bellamy's body turning to face me.

"Pers, I-" he sighed, his body facing my own as his eyes glanced from me to the group back at the fire. "I figured Clarke would come to give me her peacekeeping speech."

"I think she's passed that." I spoke, my head turning in the direction of the fire as well. "I think they're all passed that." I turned back around, this time facing Bellamy as he continued to stare at the fire that flickered green and yellow.

"I lost her."