“Bellamy took Clarke’s hand, then leaned in and whispered, “Should we go check on your parents?”
She turned to him and tilted her head to the side. “Don’t you think it’s a little early to be meeting my parents?” she teased. “After all, we’ve been dating less than a month.”
“A month in Earth time is like, ten years in space time, don’t you think?”
Clarke nodded. “You’re right. And I suppose that means that I can’t get mad at you if you decide to call it off after a few months, because that’s really a few decades.”
Bellamy wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her close. “I want to spend eons with you, Clarke Griffin.”
She rose onto her toes and kissed his cheek. “Glad to hear it, because there’s no going back now. We’re here for good.”
“Endings and beginnings are inseparable, like the moment before dawn and the moment after.”
“That was the worst part about losing someone—finding a place to store all the thoughts and feelings you’d otherwise share with them.”
“The connection we feel to other people isn’t bound by geography or space,” Wells began. Although Clarke could see him trembling, his voice was strong and clear. “Sasha and I grew up in two different worlds, each of us wondering and dreaming about what was out there. I watched from above, never knowing for sure whether humans had survived here on Earth. I didn’t know if we’d ever set foot on this planet again or if it would happen in my lifetime. And she looked up”—he pointed at the fading stars, still faintly visible in the dark blue sky—“and wondered if there was anyone up there. Had anyone survived the voyage into space? Had people managed to stay alive up there all these hundreds of years? For both of us, getting answers to our questions seemed so unlikely. But a million tiny forces moved us toward each other, and we got our answers. We found each other, even if it was just for a moment.” Wells took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Sasha was my answer.”
“That was the thing about heartache. You never could erase it. You carried it with you, always.”
“I want to spend eons with you, Clarke Griffin.”
“He wanted to show her how to live, even after he was gone.”
“I'll say that you were so beautiful, you made me do ridiculous, reckless things.”
“They were going to drag the boy she loved into the clearing, point a gun at the kindest, bravest person she'd ever met, and end his life with the twitch of a finger.”
“I was broken, and you put me back together.”
“The realization came to her slowly, as if through a thick haze—as if the hands belonged to someone else, and the blood was part of a nightmare. But they were her hands, and the blood was real.”
“Nature was beautiful in a way he'd never imagined, but this...this was life.”
“Clarke stared at the crash scene, eyes straining in the dark, waiting for the inevitable moment when her training would kick in, when her instincts would anesthetize her panic. But hovering at the edge of the wide expanse of debris, absorbing the destruction, all she felt was horror. It”
“Remember, there is no peace without peaceful exchange.”
“Adrenaline pumped through her body as she stopped in the cabin entryway, just a few inches from Scott. His intense expression made her nervous—he looked suspicious. Was she coming on too strong? Flirting was not her specialty. She’d always been much more comfortable using scalpels and microscopes than smiles and sauntering strides. Scott’s”
“As they helped Max clear the few dishes they used, he told them the plan for tomorrow. “It’s our custom to bury our dead at sunrise,” he said. “We believe that dawn is the time of renewal. Endings and beginnings are inseparable, like the moment before dawn and the moment after.” “That’s”
“The camp suddenly felt light-years away, as distant as Earth used to look from the Colony. “You make me feel legitimately crazy. You know that, right?” Wells whispered, running his hand down her back. “Why? Because I’m seducing you in a tree?” “Because no matter what else is going on, being with you makes me perfectly happy. It’s crazy, switching gears that fast.” Wells ran his hand along her cheek. “You’re like a drug.” Sasha smiled. “I think you need to work on your compliments, space boy.” “I’ve”
“Bellamy wasn’t used to sitting on his ass, doing nothing. He didn’t like feeling helpless. Useless.”
“Welcome,” Max said. The guards were stony-faced and silent, their eyes darting around the room, strategizing and assessing. “Please make yourselves comfortable and tell us why you’ve come.” The guards exchanged glances. The eldest, a middle-aged man named Burnett who Bellamy recognized from the prison cabin, stepped forward.”
“Although the guards typically didn’t interact with the doctors and apprentices unless there was a security issue, Scott had been an expert at making his presence known. He wasn’t much older than she was, and there was something snide and officious about him.”
“That’s really sweet of you, O,” Bellamy said. She shrugged. “No big deal. The little kids aren’t the ones we should be pissed at. It’s their parents who locked us up.” She was trying to sound blasé, but Bellamy knew that growing up in the Colony’s care center had given her a soft spot for orphaned kids. “Come on, Leo,” she said, reaching out for his hand. “I’ll show you where the bunny lives.” She looked at Bellamy. “You going to be okay out here?” she asked. Bellamy nodded. “It’s just for today. Once things settle down, we’ll come up with a plan.” “Okay… be careful.” She smiled and turned to Leo. “Let’s go, kiddo.” Bellamy stared after them and felt something in his chest twinge as he watched Octavia hop down the slope, pretending to be a rabbit in order to make Leo laugh. She”
“Luckily, the injured had all been triaged in another area, but there was too much smoke in the air to confirm that the others had moved to safety. Wheezing, Wells ran forward, coughing and wiping his eyes with his sleeves as he called out for anyone who needed help. There”
“She forced herself to turn back to Luke, who’d closed his eyes but was now gripping her hand with renewed intensity. “I love you,” she said, but her words were swallowed up by the screams all around them. Suddenly, with a bone-shaking crack, the dropship slammed into Earth, and everything went black. In the distance, Glass heard a low, guttural moaning, a sound full of more anguish than anything she’d ever heard. She tried to open her eyes, but the slightest effort sent her head into a sickening spin. She gave up and allowed herself to sink back into the darkness. A few moments passed. Or was it a few hours? Again, she struggled against the comforting quiet, fighting her way toward consciousness. For a sweet, groggy millisecond, she had no idea where she was. All she could focus on was the barrage of strange smells. Glass hadn’t known it was possible to smell so many things at once: There was something she sort of recognized from the solar fields—her favorite spot to meet Luke—but amplified a thousand times over. There was something sweet, but not like sugar or perfume. Deeper, richer. Every breath she took sent her brain into overdrive as it struggled to identify the swirling scents. Something spicy. Metallic. Then a familiar scent jolted her brain to attention. Blood. Glass’s”
“You not only survived on Earth, you thrived. And it has come to my attention that surviving on Earth is hard enough.” He glanced down at his many wounds. “To really live, well, that requires something more than intelligence. That requires will.”
“She needed to stand, but her body felt strangely heavy, as if invisible weights were tugging on her limbs. Gravity here felt different, harsher—or was she injured? Glass placed her hand on her shin and gasped. Her legs were wet.”
“It won’t take long. And you know what you can do in the meantime? You can tell my friend here all about your doll.” “What?” Bellamy shot her a look. “I’m coming with you.” “No extraneous activity for you. Doctor’s orders.” Bellamy rolled his eyes, then sighed and turned to the little girl. “So…” she heard him say as she hurried off. “What’s your doll’s favorite way to hunt? Does she like spears or bows and arrows?” Clarke grinned to herself as she imagined the look of confusion on the little girl’s face, then took another flight of stairs down and turned in the direction she assumed led to the bedrooms, but the layout of this floor was different than the one above. She backtracked and tried going the other way but ended up even more turned around. The”
“The corridors looked different in this wing. It had fewer doors and seemed more utilitarian, like it’d been built for equipment or supplies. Sure enough, the first door she reached had a sign reading PHYSICAL PLANT OPERATIONS: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Since anyone authorized to open the door had been dead for at least a couple hundred years, she figured there was no harm in sneaking a peek. She jiggled the handle. It was locked. Clarke”
“She’d spent so much of her life seeing the world as black-and-white, separating right from wrong as confidently as she sorted plant cells from animal cells during a biology exam. But the past year had been a brutal crash course in moral relativity. Clarke”
“I clench my fist around your stiffness, and your breathing quickens as I draw it back and forth. After your warm, sticky release, I lick my hand clean. Then I bury my face in your wild, stinking hair and hold you. To hold you is to be at one with you. To be at one with the starry cosmos of ancient gods above. As I hold you I will the night never to end. For our oneness fades with the disappearing stars. And by daylight you are other again.”
“We have no right to children if despair is all we bring with us.”
“No road will bring us together."
"Don't speak like that."
"I'm serious. We are not meant to come together, not any more than sun and moon were meant to come together, or sea and land. We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other's opposite and complement.”
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”
“You’re not supposed to smile at me like I’m a little kitten that stupidly thinks it’s a jungle cat.”
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