OUT OF MIND² ━━ Bellamy Blake

𝐗𝐕𝐈: The River of Styx

     His deep eyes soften and he kneels right then and there, wrapping her in an embrace. His voice is a low rumble deep in his chest. "It's you."

     "Your friends fought well," says Alie, hovering just over his shoulder. "They've wounded me. I give you all full marks for that. But like Octavia Blake said, what doesn't kill me. . . makes me stronger."

     "Is the floor secure?" Clarke asks.

     Bellamy pulls back from Lyra reluctantly. "For now. Jaha and the guards are tied up in a bedroom. Your dad's in there, too."

That brings little comfort to Lyra ━━ her dad is still chipped. What brings her even less comfort is the fact that Pike stands by Bellamy's side, rifle in hands. His horrible acid-brown eyes glint with trepidations as he eyes her warily. His finger curls over the trigger.

     Bellamy moves closer to her side. "She's not a threat."

     "She's still chipped," responds Pike irately.

     "I can keep her from making me do things right now," Lyra gasps out exhaustedly.

     Cold beads of sweat like her forehead as she slumps further against Bellamy's side ━━ she had not realized how exhausting just keeping Alie at bay would be. She wonders how Raven had managed to do it for so long; after all, Lyra's only been doing it for, like, ten minutes collectively. Then again, Raven Reyes is easily one of the strongest people Lyra has ever met.

     Pike looks mutinous, but even he must know that time is of the essence. "We took out the elevator and the ladder as we climbed. The stairs are collapsed. No one's following us."

     Clarke nods curtly. "Good. Then we have time."

     "What we don't have is a way down," Murphy points out dryly.

     But Bellamy frowns at Clarke. "Time for what?"

     "An Ascension Ceremony."

     "I do not understand," announces Alie. She's risen from Lyra's crumpled form, stalking Clarke in circles like a lion would stalk a sheep. "Ontari is brain dead thanks to Thelonious. There are no other nightbloods."

     Lyra supposes it's a good thing that Alie is so distracted. It means that she cannot continue to thrust her way into Lyra's head like a parasite. But there is something so deeply unnerving about being able to see someone that no one else can that even now Lyra is fighting the urge to talk to Alie. She doesn't need anyone to think she is crazier than she already is.

     Murphy seems to be thinking along the same lines as Alie.

     "Ascension? You just said Ontari wasn't an option. Besides, she's still chipped, and we've only got one EMP left. We've already agreed to use it on Spacewalker over here."

     "We're not putting the Flame in Ontari's head," explains Clarke shortly. "We're putting it in mine."

     Lyra blinks the haziness from her eyes as she tries to wrap her mind around what Clarke is implying. Alie has gone rigid once again, her blood red lips pursing as she studies Clarke with the closest thing to surprise that she can muster.