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IVY'S EYES WERE BLOODSHOT AND TIRED. She had barely slept since they were put in the room, despite Octavia and Echo trying to help her. But Echo was grieving too. She had loved Bellamy as well, and she had had him for six years, which, sadly, was longer than Ivy ever did.
"Something's different. There's plenty of cells, but they put us together," Octavia pointed out, taking a break from the book she had been reading out loud to Ivy to stop the blonde girl from thinking about the amount of rage and sorrow that she was feeling. "They're feeding us. We have blankets. Why?"
"Do you know why Azgeda warriors scarred their own faces?" Echo asked, and both of the other women sat up to look at her because her voice was low and shaky. She was facing away from them, but she looked like she was shaking with rage.
Octavia climbed to her feet. "Echo?"
"We do it to symbolize that the pain is over," Echo informed them, and she stood up and turned around, a shard of glass dropping from her hand. Ivy's eyes widened when she saw thick, dark blood dripping down both sides of the woman's face. "The wound is healed, so that we never forget."
"Sit down and let me call you a—" Octavia started, but the older woman cut her off.
"No. Orlando told us that all they care about is their last war. They want us to fight with them. That's why it's different. We're not prisoners. We're recruits." She turned toward the door and shouted, "We're ready to fight with you!"
The Blake girl glanced back at Ivy for help, but her eyes had darkened once again. Becoming a soldier again did not seem too bad. Octavia sighed, "Please, this is crazy."
But Echo raised a hand, and the door slid open. Ivy slowly climbed to her feet then, and the three of them walked out of the room and down the hall, meeting up with Diyoza and Hope at the end of the hallway.
Anders, the leader of the cult, approached them from another direction, scanning the scene in front of him, his eyes lingering on the woman leading them with blood dripping down her face.
"This is how my people show they're ready to go to war," Echo told him.
"I'm glad to hear that," he responded, a small smile spreading across his face as he examined the expressions of the others, who seemed unsure. "Do the rest of you agree with Echo?"
