1 + 2 | EMBERS TO FIRESTORM | THE 100 | JOHN MURPHY

EIGHT

E I G H T

Althea could not comprehend how such a small girl was sent to the ground as she watched Charlotte walking through the camp. She looked so fragile and scared, but she put on a brave face whenever Bellamy stalked past her with Murphy hot on his tail.

Bellamy was a boy who held his head high, thought himself a leader or a king of sorts. As Althea craned her neck forward to watch more closely, she bit her lip. He was a tough one to figure out. Bellamy's aura was all over the place: rough and ragged around the edges but, somewhere down there, there was a good intent. An intent to protect his beloved sister Octavia with his life.

"You stare at him like the rest do, Althea," A voice beside her says. Althea leans back against the tree and looks to her side. Octavia is crouched beside her with a smirk on her lips, even her eyes smile.

"No, I- I wasn't," She murmurs, looking down at her hands. Her fingernail picks at her wristband absent mindedly.

"You don't have to pretend. Most of the girls here look at my brother with adoring eyes." Octavia lowers herself onto the ground, crossing her legs. She pulls at the grass roughly.

"And that bothers you?" Althea asks as she looks over to the girl. Her appearance took on one of annoyance.

"He walks around like he owns the place and controls me like I'm the small girl I used to be." She looks away from Althea to where Bellamy saunters around the camp, giving out orders. "He's going to get himself killed."

"No, he won't. He's got followers, Octavia, and they would fight for him with their lives." Althea leans her head back against the solid trunk of the tree. For once her mind was quiet, the waves had subdued and the screeching of the crows had died down to the occasional burst of sound, but even that was more of a distant echo through the valley of her mind.

Her lips had formed what Octavia took as a smile. She took it with happiness, this was the first time she'd seen Althea smile and she had to admit that she hoped it would not be the last.

Althea looks away from Octavia, her smile still brimming at her lips. It didn't hurt her, but she wished it did. Smiling at such a time was not ok. When her gaze met Murphy's from across the camp, her smile fizzled from her cheeks and her analytical expression resumed.

His aura alone made her bones quiver, but his piercing stare was something else. It made her blood freeze in her veins, her throat dry up and her heart thump in her chest at a speed that seemed inhuman.

When Murphy saw her smile he saw someone new. The girl with the smile was definitely not Althea Barnes because Althea Barnes had a constant look of fear and distance to her. But, this girl showed a new side and appeared comfortable, bright, like a new born flame in the night.

Althea couldn't stand the stare any longer. She turns her head away to face Octavia who sits beside her with her own knowing smile and amused eyes. "What was that?" She asks as her smile grows in to a smirk.

And with that smirk, Althea knew exactly what she meant. "It wasn't anything," She responds firmly, but Octavia didn't care for sternness.

"It was obviously something," She laughs, pushing Althea's upper arm slightly. "Spill, I saw him leave your tent earlier." It was like they were careless once more, but that was far from the truth. Althea cared. She cared more than she let on.

"It wasn't anything, Octavia," She says again. Her forced smile, with the intent of getting Octavia off her back, only looked misplaced.

"Then why was he in your tent?" She persists. Althea lets a breathless laugh escape her lip as she remembers.

"He needed something from me," Althea responds honestly and Octavia leans back on her elbows; the grass tickles at her arms.

"And did he get what he wanted?" She asks with a raised eyebrow. Althea presses her lips thin as she looks over to where Murphy stood, his arms crossed across his chest and his shoulders squared.

"No, of course not."