Jasper laughs hysterically, one hand clutching his stomach as he listens to my random stories of being locked in my cell. I had just finished telling him and Monty about the time I had got fed up with the security and stole his radio, only to let the entire Ark know that I was hungry and if no one brought me some food, I wouldn't stop singing made up songs. Not only was the Guard angry and came back to take the radio back, but two guards thought I was hilarious and actually snuck me some food.
Monty chuckles a little, listening to the story, as well. I never really thought my stories would ever be told to anyone. I mean, I expected to be floated when I turned eighteen next year. There's no way I wouldn't be floated. I guess coming down to Earth is, like, my second chance at having a life.
"You are most definitely my sister." Jasper laughs with a smile.
I shove my hands in the my jacket. I step over a root in the ground, only to come to an abrupt stop when Jasper holds up an arm in front of me. I open my mouth to ask what he is doing until I notice him and Monty watching Finn place a purple flower behind Octavia's ear. I wrinkle my nose at the two.
"Now, that, my friend, is game." Jasper says to Monty, lowering his arm.
"That, my friend, is poison sumac." Monty points out, picking up one of the flowers as we continue on.
"What?!" Octavia freaks out. Her hand flies up to her ear to swat the flower away from her. "It is?"
I snicker, passing by her. I look over my shoulder at the three of them. "The flowers aren't poisonous." I pick one of the small, purple flowers up. I twirl the flower between my fingers. I spin around to walk backwards. "They're medicinal."
Monty raises a finger into the air. "Calming, actually." He adds.
I nod at him. "Exactly."
Jasper raises his eyebrows at this. He points to his friend. "His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark." Jasper points his finger at me, surprised. "But, how did you know that?"
I press my lips together. "The Chanchellor thought it would be best if I got a good education, in case there was that slim chance of me not being floated." I answer with a small shrug. I spin back around to have my back facing them.
Everyone turns really quiet behind me. I guess they don't realize how lucky they are for not being locked up for their whole life. Sure, Octavia was locked up, too, but she was able to see her family. I wasn't. I don't even know what my parents look like.
Clarke whirls around, fingers tightly clenched around the map. "Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?"
"Come on, Clarke." Finn holds his arm out. "How do you block all this out?"
"Well, it's simple. I wonder, 'Why haven't we seen any animals?' Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty, though. Come on." Clarke turns back around.
Okay, I get that Clarke wants to get to Mount Weather, but she doesn't have to be so emotionless.
"Someone should slip her some poison sumac." Jasper whispers under his breath at Clarke's retreating figure.
I giggle into my hand, bumping my shoulder into his. Jasper shoots a grin in my direction. The two of us continue on with our trek to Mount Weather. Clarke is further up ahead, leading the way for the rest of the us.
Finn looks over his shoulder at the three of us. "I got to know what you two did to get busted."
Monty glances at his best friend. "Which time?"
"What?" I peer up at my twin brother.
Jasper sheepishly smiles, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, technically, the first time didn't count. We got off with a warning."
I pat his arm. "What did you do?"
Monty walks up on my left side. "We hacked into the computer system."
"When I wanted to see what you looked like, I hacked into the system and found your file. One of the guards just happed to walk by when we were doing it and decided to let us go with a warning." Jasper flexes his fingers.
I slap the back of Jasper's head. "Idiot!" I try to stay serious, but a smile slips on my face. "Don't risk your life for mine."
"The second time, well, let's just say that sumac is not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean." Monty explains to us.
"Someone forgot to replace what we took." Jasper sends a playful glare in his friend's direction.
"Some has apologized, like, a thousand times." Monty shoots a glare back. He nods towards the back of Octavia's head. "How about you, Octavia? What'd they get you for?"
I slap Monty's arm as soon as the words leave his mouth.
Octavia stays silent for a second. "Being born."
I shake my head at him. "Honestly? That was the absolute worst question you could ask her." I push past the two of them to catch up with Octavia, who seemed to pick up her pace.
"That is so not game." Jasper whispers.
I catch up to Octavia and Clarke. I crouch down beside the two of them. I grin at the sight of a deer up ahead. I smile at the two girls. Maybe not all hope is lost. Finn walks up to us and I hold a finger to my lips. He crouches down beside the three of us.
Jasper crouches down beside me, his right hand on my shoulder to balance himself. I drum my fingers against his arm, happily.
"No animals, huh?" Finn crawls a little closer. A twig snaps under his boot.
The deer's head snaps up from where it was eating grass on the ground. Everyone flinches backwards at the other side of the deer's face. The face is morphed and looks as if another face was forming out of the side of it. I lose my balance and ends up falling against Jasper.
The deer takes off running.
Jasper's hands hold on to my sides to keep me stable. Something's not right here.
"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?" Finn speaks up after about ten minutes of silence. "Why send us down today after ninety seven years? What changed?"
I trail behind Finn. "I can't say that I really care." I admit, looking around at the forest that surrounds us. I smile back at Jasper.
"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell and, now, I'm spinning in a forest." Octavia grabs on to a tree to spin herself around it just as Finn passes by her. She looks defeated when Finn doesn't even look her way.
I half chuckle as I walk past her. "I think you're trying too hard."
Octavia rolls her eyes.
"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satelitte." Jasper spits off an idea of why we are down here on Earth now.
"It wasn't a satellite." Clarke states from behind all of us.
I come to a halt. I cross my arms over my chest. "And how do you know?"
Clarke keeps walking, not giving me a second look as she passes me. "The Ark is dying. At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe for now that we're gone."
"So, that's the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn stuffs his hands in his pockets and catches up to her.
I keep close to the two to hear everything that they are saying.
"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells..."
"What? Turned in your dad?" Finn guesses.
"Anyway, the guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time."
"So, we're basically sacrifices?" I realize.
Clarke ignores me and keeps on walking. Her silence answers my question, though. The Ark doesn't care about us. That's why they sent us down here in the first place. If the Earth is unsurvivable, then they know to stay up in space, but even with us down here, they still bought themselves some time.
"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" Monty asks.
Octavia jumps down from a cut down tree. "Good. After what they did to me, I say float them all."
I cut Octavia off, stopping her from walking any further. "How can you say that?" I cross my arms over my chest. "Yeah, I get that you hate them for locking you up, but that was the Councils' fault. Everyone else on the Ark doesn't deserve to get floated because you are heartless."
Jasper tugs on my arm. I give Octavia one last final glare before letting my brother pull me away. I fall back into step with him. I exhale out of my nose. Her comments just really annoy me and I am terrible at keeping my mouth shut.
"We have to warn them." Finn says to Clarke after glancing back at me.
I pass everyone else when I see some sort of body of water behind some rocks on a cliff. I smile down at the pretty water. My anger washes away quickly. I glance over my shoulder to see Octavia headed right for me. The look on her face makes it seem like she's about to tell me off, but when she catches sight of the water, she stops.
"Pretty, isn't it?" I ask her.
Octavia breaks out in a grin. Suddenly, she starts to pull her pants down to her ankles. My mouth falls open.
"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke shouts from the grass.
Octavia turns around to look at all of them before jumping off of the small cliff. Water splashes up, hitting my face. I laugh, enjoying the cool feeling. I've never went swimming or anything. My showers were twice a week and I was lucky to be in there for five minutes.
The others rush over to me to find out where Octavia had disappeared off to. Their mouths fall open at the water below. Octavia resurfaces, pushing her hair out of her face.
"We can't swim." Monty yells down to her.
Octavia, who only had her eyes showing above the water, stands up, making the water be at her rib cage. "No, but we can stand." She giggles.
"Wait, there's not supposed to be a river here." Clarke looks around.
"Well, there is. So, take off your damn clothes." Finn starts to shed his jacket off.
I bounce on my toes, debating if I'm really going to do this. Yeah, we agreed that Mount Weather was our number one priority, but this water is beautiful. I peel my jacket off, already decided. My hands fall to the buttons on my jeans, but I instantly stop when I see Jasper's body go rigid.
"Jasper?" I let my hands fall to my side.
"Octavia, get out of the water." Jasper orders.
My mouth falls open at the movement in the water not too far away from Octavia. "Octavia, now!" I shout at her.
Whatever is in the water, swims faster and Octavia is yanked under. I lurch forward, screaming her name. She's forced a good distance away before she disappears completely. I latch on to Jasper's wrist, terrified. The water is eerily calm. I scan the water as far as I can for Octavia. Oh, god.
Behind us, Octavia jumps out of the water, screaming for help.
"Octavia!" I shout, pushing away from everyone to run towards her without getting into the water. The others chase behind me. "What the hell is that?"
Finn throws his jacket to the rocks. "We have to help her."
"What are you going to do?" Jasper asks him.
"Try not to get eaten."
Clarke holds up a hand to stop him. "No, wait. If we distract it, it might let her go." She bends down to push a large rock over the edge of the ledge. "Help me!"
Monty, Finn, and I help her push the rock off. It makes a large splash in the water. I watch as the creature swims over to us in the water. I take a few steps back, afraid. It's long and skinny. That makes it easier to swim in the water.
"Octavia, get to the shore now!" Jasper races towards her, staying on the rocks. He suddenly jumps into the water.
"Jasper!" I scream, worried for his own safety. I make a move to follow after him, but Finn grabs ahold of my waist to keep me with them. "Let me go!" I wiggle around in his grasp.
"I got you." Jasper says as he reaches Octavia.
"Jasper!" I yell, nearly in tears when I see the creature quickly swimming back to them.
Finn's hold on me tightens, both of his arms now wrapped around my waist. "It's coming back." He warns them. "It's headed right for you, guys."
The two of them swim to the shore the best they can. I wiggle out of Finn's arms and race off of the ledge and over to them, just as they crawl onto the shore. Octavia has four gashes in her leg from where the creature latched on to her. I fling my arms around Jasper, tightly.
"You idiot!" I cry. "I just got you into my life. I can't lose you already."
Clarke rips part of his shirt to tie around Octavia's bleeding leg. "You're going to be okay."
Jasper wraps one arm around my waist. His chin falling onto my shoulder, tiredly. "I'm sorry."
"Thank you. Thank you." Octavia breathes, very relieved.
Monty pats Jasper on the shoulder. "Note to self, next time, save the girl."
I hold on tightly to my brother. My grip on him probably tight enough to cut off his breathing, but he doesn't seem to be complaining. I press part of my face into his shoulder. "I can't lose you." I whisper to him.
XXXXX
I really really love this story. Just wait until it gets further into the story line. It's going to get really good.
Wren is smart, badass, and believe it or not, she has a really big heart. She may seem like she hates Octavia, but honestly, she just annoys her. Clearly, she was worried when Octavia was attacked.
I really love Wren and Jasper. I'm glad they are reunited.
Question: What do you think of Wren?
So, yeah!