Ark Kingdom: The Magic Within (Bellarke)

Chapter 27

Clarke’s POV

“Ow!” I yelp as we crash to the hard ground. Bellamy’s hand flies to the back of my head to keep me from cracking it on the hard ground. I open my eyes and see that we are back in the cave. The jar of the fall also pulls me out of the haze that I’ve been in. What are we doing? We can’t waste time playing house. We need to get out of here.

I sit up abruptly and pull away from Bellamy. He looks hurt, but I know he’ll be fine. He said he loves you. The thought keeps bombarding me. It wasn’t real. He just said it because I did. He said it so we could get home. He married you. Yes, to get home. It’s not like it was real, right?

“Princess? What’s wrong?” He scoots closer to me. He’s on his knees. He reaches out to me and I stand up. I can feel his eyes burning into my back as I walk out of the cave without responding. I just need to get everyone together so that we can plan to get out of here. When I step out of the cave I can’t see or hear anyone. It’s completely silent. I look around and see a spark of light glint off of something in the distance.

I follow the light to a bush a couple of meters away just outside of camp. When I get there I can’t contain my scream.

Bellamy’s POV

As we tumble in the cave I cover Clark’s head to keep her from hitting it like I just did. I can’t contain my joy at the fact that we have finally done it. We kissed. I told her that I love her and she said it back, actually, even better she said it to me first. I can’t hide the smile forming on my face. She married me! Sure, it’s not exactly real and she did it to get home, but I saw the real her in that moment. I saw her soul. Our magic and souls combined in that moment and I will never forget how whole I felt in that moment.

I frown when she suddenly pulls away from me. I instantly feel cold and shudder. When I see the expression on her face my spirits drop.

“Princess? What’s wrong?” I ask as I feel my world start to crumble. I reach for her to stop her, but she rushes off away from me.

She regrets it. She really did all of it to just get back. I slump down and lean against the cool wall of the cave. What can I do to prove that this is real? Sure, it has happen faster than you’d expect to fall in love, but I know I have fallen for her. I will not lose her. And I have a little help seeing how I’ve seen that it works out for us. The warning hits me again: You’ve changed enough already.

She saved me from my worst fear. She was able to pull me out of that prison. The moment before she pulled me out hits me again. I can see the dungeon and the man in front of me. I hear his voice like acid crawl over my skin. “You will die, but first I need to take care of the others. Tell Raven to go forward with the plan at first light. Leave no witnesses.”

How could I be so careless? I jump to my feet and rush to the exit of the cave. I let myself get distracted. As I step out into the morning air I can see the sun starting to rise. Whatever is going to happen it will be soon. I hear Clarke scream and I see red. Before I can even take a step I shift and end up stepping on her foot. I’m somehow in front of her. I grab her shoulders to steady us both.

“Bellamy? How did you get here?” Clarke asks through already tearful eyes.

“I don’t know. What happened?” I ask as I wipe away a tear that has escaped.

She doesn’t answer; just looks behind me. I turn to see what has caught her attention. When I see it I am crushed. We’re too late. Whatever Raven was going to do has already happened.

“Clarke, we need to run.” I try to lead her away from the scene in front of us, but she won’t budge. “Forgive me.” I say as I grab her hands and think of the meadow, praying to the spirits that this will work.

We shift for a second before it halts. “No, we need to help them. There’s worse coming.” Clarke’s voice sounds distant.

“How do you know?” I ask her.

“You have to get out of the crack. You have an hour at most to get out before you’re all dead.” The voice is in my head, but it is not my own.

“What is happening? Who are you?” I ask out loud.

“It’s a trap. They don’t want to leave Ark Kingdom. They are just working on getting rid of all of us with magic. They plan to kill you all. We thought we were helping, but they lied to us. You have to run.”

“We can’t go out. There are people on the other side. They will try to kill us. When need time to plan an attack.” Clarke says in a whisper.

“We don’t have time for it. We just have to hope that we can survive. We need to get the others.” I grab her hand and we shift, but not far. We end up at camp and see a group of scared people.