III: POISON SUMAC FLAVOURED TEA CALMS MY NERVES.

[you ask me why the sky is always angry. and i ask you would you not, when the world has erupted in flames and lives in chaos?]

"Athene." With her hand outstretched she introduced herself to the blonde girl who was the only one so far who's words weren't utter rubbish.

The girl took Athene's hand, and Athene couldn't say she was disappointed. "Clarke."

"So, Clarke, I heard you were going on a little adventure, mind if I join?"

"It is not an adventure, it is our only way to food and shelter, but I don't mind if you join."

Athene smiled, "Sounds like an adventure to me."

Clarke rolled her eyes at Athene, but she saw a small smile tug at the blonde's lips. Clarke introduced her to Monty and Jasper, who we're also going to come with. And to her not so surprise, Bellamy and Octavia were bickering again, and if having siblings meant bickering twenty-four/seven, Athene was glad she was an only child.

"Come on, Bellamy, let the girl be free for once. A little adventure never hurt nobody." Athene gave Octavia a mischievous smile, which resulted into Bellamy's buttons being pushed even more.

Bellamy gave her a bitter sneer.

Athene waved him a kiss in response.

Laughing carelessly and freely, the six disappeared from the camp, the most way more excited to discover earth's secrets than to find food, and medicine, and all the other 'important' stuff that kept them alive. All but one. Clarke was hellbent on breaking some sort of record, because she was walking like she was practicing for a marathon.

"Clarke! Clarke, slow down! Why are you going so fast? Afraid that someone will beat you to the arrival at Mount Weather? News flash: we're the only ones on earth, and last I checked, mountains can't walk. It's not going anywhere, so slow down a bit, and enjoy the atmosphere around you."

Clarke rolled her eyes at Athene, and didn't slow down. She just sped up. Athene didn't know if she did so without knowing, or if she was trying to tease her. Either way, Athene shook her head, but didn't try to push Clarke any further. She knew her boundaries, at least how far she could cross them, and instead she skipped until she was next to Finn.

"How many days before Octavia gives in and kisses me?" Finn whispered to Athene.

"None," Athene said and Finn whipped his head sideways, surprised. "And with none I actually mean never, because soon she, like the rest, will realise that the Finn Collins is not who he says he is and that he bears a terrible, terrible secret."

Finn groans. "Of course you're not being serious, when are you ever? Just watch and learn Athene, it might come in handy with Bellamy one day."

Athene's mouth fell open in shock. "Finn Collins!"

Before Athene could recoil, Finn ran off grinning like a mad-man. He stopped at a bush with pretty, luminous, purple flowers, and pretended to take a long and thoughtful look at them before he picked one. He turned around and pushed Octavia's hair behind her ear; he placed the flower where her hair rested just moments ago. Octavia giggled while Finn shot her a playful wink.

"Now that, my friend, is mad game," Jasper directed at Monty.

Monty replied, "That, my friend, is poison sumac."

Octavia swatted the flower out of her hair, "What? It is?"

Athene grinned at Finn's pouty face before redirecting her attention towards Monty again. "The flowers aren't poisonous, it just how they are called. They are medical, and can be quite calming."

"I suppose I should take some then, for Bellamy and his posse. Maybe I can offer them some tea with poison sumac and ease the chaos the camp probably finds itself in as we speak, but then again, I don't think Bellamy drinks tea."

"He doesn't," Octavia answers.

"What! What kind of person doesn't drink tea?!" Jasper and Monty exclaim in unison.

"The Blake's, for starters," Octavia says while scrunching her nose up in disgust. "Tea is nasty."

Before Jasper and Monty can throw any accusations into the direction of Octavia, Clarke interrupts their brewing discussion, "Can you guys try to keep up? It is not like we have all day."

Athene opens her mouth to comment, but immediately closes it again when she sees Clarke's pointy look.

Finn, however, completely misses Clarke's harsh glare. "Come on, Clarke. How do you block all this out?"

Athene was sure Clarke was going to explode, but she contained herself. "Well, it's simple. I wonder why we haven't seen any animals. Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty, though."

Athene laughed at Clarke's answer. "Always the optimist, I see."

Eyes were rolled while Octavia said something about poison sumac Athene didn't catch. Athene left the four behind, and quickened her pace so she could walk next to Clarke.

"Another funny remark you would like to share with me?" Clarke questioned her, hoping for a negative answer.

Clarke did get what she was hoping for, but she wasn't sure if what followed was better or worse than Athene's quirky remarks. "No, not this time. This time I want to give you something nice. I will offer myself up as your tour guide for today!"

Clarke knit her eyebrows in confusion as she looked at Athene like she just grew another head.

Athene hummed. "While you are busy with tracking Mount Weather, I will offer myself up as your personal guide. I've realised that you aren't really keen on looking around you, and I think that it's a pity. We have been on earth, for what, three/four hours, and all you have focussed on is Mount Weather. And I get that, it's important, survival shit and all that, but what is around you is important as well. Have you noticed that for the last twenty minutes we have walked passed at least three different types of trees? All with different types of structures and colours, and it is quite amazing, because on the Ark we didn't really have trees. Or the sun. Have you appreciated the sun yet? For the first time in our lives we are able to feel the real sun tingling on our skin. No artificial light, just the sun in all its glory. It's magnificent, really. What I'm trying to say is that you should treasure what you have, because it can be whisked away before you realise the gold you had on your hands." Athene wraps her story up, and both girls stop walking to let the rest catch up with them.

"Did you know that you talk a lot? Like a whole lot?" Clarke stated rather than asked the girl, but she did pass Athene a smile of gratitude.

☙

Athene has withdrawn her previous statement about siblings and bickering, her now conclusion is that it is just Octavia who likes to bicker. Finn and Octavia are talking back and forth, with only nonsense sprouting out of their mouths. And again, Clarke is the one who interrupts them. And again, it is information of value. "The Ark is dying. That's why they sent us down here. They want to know if earth is survivable."

Athene's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she silently cursed the Ark, "Figured they didn't just grant us freedom. We are criminals, nobody is going to miss us." The bitter tone in her voice made Clarke flash Athene a look of sympathy.

"My dad was the engineer who discovered the flaw. We wanted to go public, but the council disagreed," Clarke continued.

"And Wells was the one who turned you in," Athene filled in the rest of the story. "That's why you keep on giving him looks filled with a burning hatred."

Clarke ignored her, which only gave Athene more evidence that she was right.

Monty turned to the group with a horrifying expression. "They're going to kill more people, aren't they?"

Clarke nodded, and that was enough to get Athene's heart to beat faster.

One of the six didn't mind that they were going to kill of people; Octavia sneered at the group, "Good. After what they did to me, I say float them all." Athene knew her words weren't directed towards them, Octavia just needed to blow off steam. Considering that the Ark was all the way up in space, the juveniles on the ground were the ones who had to endure her times of wrath.

Finn looked at Clarke helplessly, "We have to warn them."

Clarke cocked her head, and it was as if she saw Finn for the first time since the dropship had aired. "That's what my father said," Clarke said to Finn with newfound respect.

Finn didn't process Clarke's new attitude towards him; the only thing that spooked through his mind was Raven. Before he could fall into a spiralling black hole he called his thoughts, someone tugged at his sleeve. "She's going to be fine, they are not going to kill her off, just like they aren't going to kill Jeff. They are a valuable assets who are incredible darn smart, they need them."

Athene felt Finn's muscles relax. "Thank you," he whispered.

A splash of water disrupted the comfortable silence that had settled over the two friends. "What the hell?" Athene exclaimed.

A laugh bubbled from the river. Athene stood on her toes and craned her neck so she could see past the rocks; there lay Octavia, in the water, laughing and pointing at those on the side-lines. Athene was about to pull her shirt over her head when she saw the seriousness radiating off Clarke.

She left Finn ogling at Octavia; she hurried towards Clarke. "What's the matter?"

Clarke was shaking her head from left to right, making anxiety seep into Athene's bones. "There's not supposed to be a river here."

Most of the time, Athene liked to make fun of Clarke, but whatever was going on inside of Clarke's head was serious. Serious enough to keep Athene from opening her mouth.

Jasper was the one to break the silence, "Octavia! Get out of the water. Now!" The urgency in his voice was enough to strike the six teenagers with panic, and Athene looked at Clarke funnily, wondering how she always knew what was going on.

Athene's heart started beating loudly in her chest when she saw that, that thing, headed into the direction of Octavia. While the rest was running up and down the shore, trying to figure out how to help her, Athene was stricken with fear. It crept up her body like a layer of cold sweat as she stared at the really, really long kind of snake-type of monster. The beast swam at an alarming speed into the direction of Octavia, and for a minute, time seemed to be frozen, but then the beast sank its teeth into Octavia's leg and all hell broke loose.

A blood-curdling scream ripped out of Octavia, managing to shake Athene out of her daze. She ran over to Clarke who was throwing rocks into the water to distract the beast, and together, they lifted an enormous rock With a loud splash it hit the surface of the water; it distracted the beast enough to let go of Octavia's leg.

Octavia lay whimpering in the water, unable to haul herself towards the shore due to her injury. What happened next could only be described as heroic: Jasper jumped into the water.

A sound of disbelief escaped Athene's mouth, and she found herself – along with the others – urging Jasper to hurry up. The beast was zig-zagging into the direction of Jasper and Octavia, and although the beast should've been faster, they did make the shore in time. Athene didn't know if it was luck, or Jasper's sheer determination, but whatever it was, she was glad they made it.

"Note to self, next time, save the girl." Monty said to ease their panic, and nervous laughter passed among the group, the high of the adrenaline wearing thin.

☙

Octavia was still limping, but they had left the incident in the past. Because what lay before they was – not to be harsh – way more interesting and important.

They, or actually Clarke, had found the correct river, and Finn and Jasper were currently testing the strength of the liana they were going to use to swing to the other side. Although they might've left the incident behind, they were definitely not going to test their luck by crossing the river through the water.

Everyone had doubted Clarke's choice of direction, but the smug smirk on her face when they save a beaten down wooden plank with Mount Weather engraved on it was enough to shut everyone up. Athene was sure she was never going to doubt Clarke's abilities again. That girl had some mad skills.

"What are you waiting for Finn? I don't think that liana is going to break when you're taking a swing. Unless, of course, you are scared." Athene stuck out her tongue at Finn.

"If you're so sure, you can be my guest and take a swing." Finn smirked when he saw the alarm reflected in Athene's eyes.

"Wouldn't want to take your shine, Spacewalker."

Whether it was that Jasper had had enough of their talking, of if he were trying to make a point, he took the liana out of Finn's hands and said something Athene couldn't catch.

Jasper took a deep breath, stepped back, and ran off the cliff. Athene wished she could say his swing was very brave and heroic, but all that came out of his mouth were strangled cries.

None of them seemed to care that Jasper was probably scared out of his wits, because they – Athene included – cheered him on.  Jasper's feet touched the sand, and he pumped his fists into the air with a tremendous amount of ecstatic. Incoherent words were tumbling out of his mouth as a feeling of glee settled among the delinquents. The first good thing they had encountered since their landing on earth.

But like all good things, they must come to an end. Athene just didn't expect to already be at that end, and certainly not to have it experience so out of the blue.

The air around them changed, and a rustling of trees could be heard overhead. Clarke was about to join Jasper when a spear sizzled past them, impaling itself in Jasper's chest.

His eyes were wide open, and blood dripped down the left corner of his mouth, until he fell down. Athene hoped he was unconscious, but she feared he would be dead.  Just like that, the familiar feeling of panic had settled over her heart again. Whatever the hell just happened, they knew one thing: They weren't the first people on the ground in a hundred years. The earth was inhabited already, and whoever they were, they didn't want to join them for a cup of poison sumac flavoured tea, they wanted death. They wanted them death.