𝙄'𝙈 𝘼 𝙎𝙐𝙍𝙑𝙄𝙑𝙊𝙍³ ➣ 𝐵. 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒✔

24 | Solitary Confinement

I gasped loudly as I surfaced, my breathing heavy. I groaned quietly as I looked around. Why did the other side of the Anomaly have to be in a lake? All I could see were trees surrounding us. Nothing else in sight. An enormous ring could be seen in the sky above us.

"Welcome to Skyring," Hope said.

"Creative," Echo commented, causing the girl to give her a look.

"I named it when I was three. What do you expect?"

I spit out a bit of water that had gotten into my mouth as I looked at Gabriel and Echo.

Gabriel had a smile on his face. "She remembers."

The four of us swam to shore.

"My gun-- I lost it when we went through," Echo announced behind me.

"Let's hope you don't need it," Gabriel shouted as we followed Hope through the woods. Where the hell is she going?

After a few seconds, we came upon an old wooden house. A trail led up to it and on either side of the trail was a small garden.

"What is this place?" I asked confused, pushing my wet hair out of my face. "Did you live here?"

A small smirk formed on the girl's lips. "Octavia said you were smart."

I furrowed my eyebrows slightly as I exchanged a look with Echo. Hope turned on her heel and ran to the house, going inside. The rest of us followed, looking around the small area. All of the furniture was wood and a lot of the utensils were as well. Hope had gone into a small room in the corner of the house. I knew this because I could hear clanking coming from it.

Hope suddenly burst from the room, holding a bag, causing my eyebrows to furrow as she speed-walked to the opposite wall.

"Hope, what are you doing?" I asked.

I heard Gabriel speak beside me. "Interesting taste in toys."

"That's not mine."

"Is this your house or isn't it?" Echo asked, beginning to get frustrated as she took her jacket off.

Hope began mumbling to herself. "I was with you on Sanctum for, what, a day? Given the time differential, I haven't been here for hundreds of years."

I glanced at Gabriel as he mumbled. "It's incredible."

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Hope once again, who was looking along a shelf on the wall. I shook my head. "Enough! We need answers, starting with where the hell is Bellamy?"

I walked toward Hope, stopping a foot or so away as she answered me. "Once they got here, they used the bridge to take him to Bardo."

"Bardo?" Gabriel asked.

"They?"

Hope let out a sigh. "Yes. The next stop. They are the disciples, the guys that were chasing us in the woods. Anders said if I tagged Octavia, he would let my mother live."

"And Anders is?" Gabriel asked, just as confused as me.

Hope looked at him. "Head of the disciples." I watched as the girl grabbed a small vase and grabbed some square device from it before looking at us. "Now, I'm gonna go to Bardo, and make sure he kept his word."

Hope turned and began walking away when Echo called out to her. "Hey. You traded Diyoza's life for Octavia's?"

The girl scoffed, shaking her head. "No. I was not trying to kill her. I told you. It was a locator tag. I didn't have a choice. She understood."