Following the Stars

Chapter Fourteen

Clarke has found a way to carefully fix my spine with metal nuts and bolts.

There were no sedatives or anesthetics, so I was awake for the whole procedure, and I felt everything.

But there was no better feeling than the pain of Clarke putting my spine back together.

"Take it easy," Clarke said, "You'll need the crutches for now, but you'll be able to run properly very soon."

"Just take it easy so you don't break your spine again," Jackson added.

Raven came to talk to me about some of the hardships of not being able to walk properly all the time, and how to partially fix it, or at least ease the pain.

After two weeks, something interesting started to happen.

"Octavia," the man known as Gabriel walked up to us, "I just saw this."

He told her to turn around so her back was facing us.

"The same spiral pattern as the anomaly, with a way to open it," Gabriel said, "So we can get to Diyoza."

Apparently, Diyoza hallucinated her daughter and ran through the anomaly. Octavia ran after her with something wrong with her arm.

A split second later, she had come back, her arm healed. Only Gabriel believed she wasn't gone for just a second.

"Come with me," he said.

We began to follow him, but I noticed Jordan wouldn't.

"Come on, Jordan," Clarke encouraged, "The anomaly awaits."

"We broke this place," Jordan said, "It may not have been perfect, but it was peaceful and we destroyed it."

I frowned, "What are you saying?"

"I'm staying," he said, "To rebuild."

Clarke nodded, "We'll let you know what we find."

Jordan nodded. He reminded me so much of his parents. He had Harper's graceful strength and stubborn determination, but Monty's heart and mind.

I missed them so much.

I pulled him into a hug. It wasn't awkward because, thankfully, I didn't need the crutches anymore.

"What's that for?" He asked.

"I just miss them," I smiled, "You remind me of them. They'd be so proud of you."

I couldn't believe I was getting all sappy and sentimental, but Jordan smiled softly, "Good luck."

Nodding, I walked behind Clarke and the others to Gabriel's secret tent hideout.

He opened a patch in the floor, helping us all down the ladder.

"This is the heart of the anomaly," he referred to the spiraling time storm of green light, the anomaly.

But this- it was levitating in the air, a spherical gold spiral covered in symbols like the ones on Octavia's back.

"This should do it," he tapped random symbols.

Then it occurred to me. They weren't random at all. They were the ones on Octavia's back.

When he reached the last one, he turned to Octavia, "Care to finish it?"

She tapped the last symbol, and nothing happened.

At least, not in the small underground cavern.

"Look," I jumped up through the trapdoor, into the exploding green light.

The anomaly was growing.

The light felt like it was blinding me, until it stopped, going back to normal.

A strange girl ran through the tent flaps, running to Octavia.

"I'm sorry," she panted, "He has my mother. I have to. I'm so sorry, Aunty O."

That was weird.

But then the strange girl stepped backwards, dropping the knife she was holding.

Octavia's stomach was bleeding, and she collapsed back into Bellamy's arms.

The anomaly opened up once more, taking Octavia with it as it vanished.

I glanced at Bellamy's blood soaked hands, his distraught face.

He ran outside, "Octavia!"

"Bell, I'm so sorry, she's gone," I tried to comfort him, but he pushed right past me, screaming her name.

"Octavia!" I couldn't stop him. I went back to Sanctum to watch the sunrise and to mourn.

So this was it. Every love, every loss, every horrible thing I'd had to do to survive, to keep everyone else alive, just to get here. To Sanctum. I hoped Monty was right, that Jasper was wrong.

This is how we do better.