Thank you to everyone for your continued support. I am overwhelmed by how many people still remember this story and sent me kind words. And hello to all the new readers! I'll do my best not to leave you hanging.

Special thanks to my love, my biggest fan, who comes up with the best ideas.

"Where are you taking me? I'm not 18 yet! It's not time!"

"Clarke! Clarke, calm down."

"Mom? What's going on?"

"They're sending you down, Clarke. They're sending the prisoners to Earth."

"They… they're finally listening to me? Wait. The prisoners? Mom. What did you do? Why aren't we all going?"

"Clarke…"

"Mom, where's dad? Why isn't he… WHERE'S DAD?"

When she woke up, groggy and immediately aware that there was no going back, Clarke felt her stomach heave and had to struggle not to throw up. It wasn't that she didn't want to go to Earth. She did. She was ready to meet her future head on.

It was that just before they'd stuck the needle in her to sedate her, the look on her mother's face had been one of guilt. Of shame.

Her dad…

Clarke swallowed back the emotion, trying to center herself with meditation the way she'd been practicing for the last year, but the roiling in her gut wouldn't go away.

"You're awake!"

The voice was enough to distract her. Next to her was Wells Jaha himself, strapped into his seat on the prison dropship like he'd paid good money to be there.

"Wells?"

"You didn't think I'd let you go alone, did you?" He continued, overly excited in an obvious attempt to cheer her up. "You probably wanted all the glory for yourself, but someone's gotta vet this soulmate of yours. Make sure they're good enough for you. Best friend duties don't stop just because you're being sent hurtling through space to a possibly radioactive world."

Clarke found herself smiling, despite herself. "You're terrified, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," he said. "Not that I don't believe you, just… nuclear apocalypse."

"How are you even here?"

"Would you believe by asking nicely?"

"If your dad wasn't your dad, then absolutely."

A hard jerk caused a round of cries to go up among the assembled teens.

"What was that?" Someone asked.

"The atmosphere."

Clarke's attention was caught by a familiar face across the aisle. Octavia Blake was beaming at her, warpaint in full splendor today. "Clarke! We're going! We're really going to see them!"

"We're going…" Clarke smiled back. They were going to Earth. She paused, brow furrowing. A TV screen flickered to life, Chancellor Jaha's face staring out at them, but Clarke ignored it for the moment.

"Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now…"

Clarke had weathered the last year on the hope that her dreams were real. She hadn't had many visitors in her time in lockup, but Octavia she'd seen more than most. The guards on the Ark could be downright cruel sometimes, but most of them were just people trying to survive. Her own regular guard had a daughter, and knowing that, she'd eventually managed to convince him that a young girl who'd just lost her mother and the only other person she had in world needed to have at least one friend.

Octavia was absolutely convinced that her dreams were real. She'd even talked Clarke into trying to pay attention to the "cool fighting stuff", and they'd been practicing. As much as anyone could spar in a cell. Octavia didn't have the dreams herself, but believing in them had done her just as much or more good as Clarke even being there did.

Clarke swallowed. It made sense, logically. They'd never found any evidence of rebels on the Ark. Clarke had dreams of life on Earth, with a culture that explained the markings they were getting. There was more reason to think people did actually exist on Earth than didn't.

But still… there were times that Clarke doubted.

"We have no idea what is waiting for you down there," Chancellor Jaha said. "If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others."

Her dad had believed her. He'd been trying to find a way to help. But the Council still refused to, and here they were. Not because they believed, but because the Ark was still dying, and these kids were expendable.

Clarke clenched her fist, looking around. They were either going to die, or they were going to finally have a chance to live. Whichever one it was, Clarke knew she had to try one more time to reach out to her soulmate.

There was no charcoal here. Nothing to make a mark with. Not that that had made a difference before. Her soulmate never responded, no matter what she did. Even in her darkest hour, the person on the other end of her tattoos hadn't so much as left an 'x', or even something as stupid as a check mark, to let her know that she was being seen.

She was really starting to wonder what sort of person she'd gotten saddled with, and if it weren't for the dreams letting her know that her soulmate was a real, feeling person, she wouldn't even bother going to look for her. Probably.

Well, maybe. Clarke at least wanted to see her once. Just to finally put a face to her markings.

Which meant that she was going to try one more time to contact her. There might not be any charcoal, but there was the jagged edge of a poorly welded piece of metal near her. She reached out to test it. It was sharp, but not enough to just prick a finger with.

"What are you doing?" Wells asked.

She swallowed back her misgivings, thinking of all the dreams she'd had of wounds and pain far greater than this. This was nothing. She could do this.

Clarke placed her wrist against the edge. One breath, two, and then she pressed down sharply, drawing her arm back and holding back a whimper as the metal sliced a gash into her skin.

"What the hell, Clarke!"

It felt like fire at her wrist, but as she pulled her arm back to look at it, the gash wasn't actually all that big. It bled bright red, though, and that was what she needed. She reached out with her other hand, dipping her fingers in the blood and drawing lines on her palm.

The image wasn't perfect. The blood smeared, finding the thin crevices in her skin. It didn't help that her nerves and pain were making her palms a little clammy as well. For now, though, she held her hand, palm open, and looked at the star she'd left for her soulmate.

"Catch me."

There was a moment, just after they landed, that everything was quiet. It was a rough landing, there were two people flat on the floor, and it wasn't clear whether things were really alright or the entire place was about to explode. Clarke swallowed, looking down at the red smear on her hand and the wound still trickling blood from her wrist.

It was hardly recognizable as a star anymore.

The restraints in the dropship released all at once, and like a coiled spring, the kids on the ship sprung up and swarmed the ladder down.

Clarke watched them go, taking deep, calming breaths. They were on the ground. This was all that she'd been hoping for for years. They were on the ground. They were…

"Clarke."

Wells bent down in front of her, hands halfway out to touch her. He grinned as she focused on him and stood up straight. "You okay?"

Clarke nodded. "Yeah. You?"

"I think I've got a little whiplash, but that's better than those guys over there."

Wells looked to the teens who'd taken off their restraints mid flight, only to literally crash down to Earth. At the reminder, Clarke couldn't help but stand up, shaky at first in the heavier gravity, and go over to rest her fingers at their pulse point. He was gone. By the angle of the other one's neck, so was he.

"I'm getting really tired of people not listening to me." Clarke closed her eyes. Despite her words, death wasn't something she thought she'd ever get used to.

"Get back!"

"He's got a gun!"

Clarke and Wells both snapped their attention to the ladder, and the audible growing panic below. Clarke was first to move, past Wells and halfway down the ladder before he had even made the decision to move. When she finally pushed her way through the crowds, she was greeted by the sight of Bellamy Blake with one hand on the lever to open the door and one hand holding a gun in the air.

Not a shock baton. An actual gun.

"What are you doing?" Clarke's words cut over the noise of the milling teens and immediately drew the former cadet's attention. His eyes widened as he saw her, face noticeably paling as he took in her face and expression/

"Stay back, Griffin," he said, sweeping the gun down towards her in a way that made the rest of the teens step back. Clarke folded her hands across her chest and stared him down. "I'm getting out of here and you can't stop me."

"Okay."

"I mean it, I… what?" The hand with the gun dropped about a foot.

"I mean that I want to get out of here too. Why are you here and why do you have a gun, though?"

"Bell!" Octavia Blake finally pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring any danger from Bellamy and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"O, you're okay. Look at you." He dropped the hand off the lever to return the hug fiercely, closing his eyes in the moment.

Wells, having finally made it down himself, stepped up and slightly in front of Clarke, obviously trying to shield her with his body.

"Wells, what are you doing?" Clarke's whisper was ignored.

"Get away from the lever. We don't know what's waiting for us out there." Wells said, putting all of his future diplomat training to use in keeping his voice steady. Bellamy finally noticed the audience again, and he pushed Octavia behind him as well.

By the look in her eyes, Octavia was just as pleased about that as Clarke was.

"Stay back, Jaha. Your dad's the reason we're all in this mess as it is." The gun was back up again, pointed in Wells' direction now. "I'm done taking orders from anyone. If I die, at least I'll get to see the ground before I go."

Wells curled his hand into a fist, clearly thinking about stepping forward. Of all people, though, Clarke knew that Wells had almost zero fighting experience. She put a hand on his shoulder and stepped in front of him again, putting herself within a few feet of Bellamy and his gun.

"Put the gun down, Bellamy. Jaha sent him down, same as the rest of us. We're all in this together." Clarke could hear the teens murmuring behind them, obviously getting antsy again, despite the danger. She made eye contact with Octavia, who grinned and reached up for the lever herself. Before Bellamy was even aware of what was happening, the door made a loud clunk and started to release the seal. The hand with the gun dropped as he whirled to face Octavia, and everyone skittered back away from the door in nervous anticipation.

"You were taking too long," Octavia said, and put her arms around his as they watched light begin to stream in through the crack in the door as it lowered.

Clarke tensed, watching the door go down. She had no idea what was on the other side. Were her dreams just dreams? Was everything she'd been waiting and hoping for a lie?

The light from outside got blindingly bright, bringing tears to her eyes, but she still refused to close them. She didn't want to miss this. Not a second of it.

When her eyes finally adjusted and the ramp hit the ground, Clarke found real tears streaming down her face. Everything was green and fresh and golden. Trees all around, wind playing in the branches. Blue sky above them, obscuring the black of space they'd lived with all their lives. The sun shone down through the branches, dappling the verdant forest floor.

There was noise and jubilation around her, kids streaming out of the dropship and into the forest. Clarke walked down the ramp in a daze and reached down to touch the earth, digging her fingers into the rich soil. She let it sift through her fingers, inhaling the mineral scent and recalling dreams of resting on this ground, growing things in this ground, falling to and getting up from this ground. She looked out at the forest and felt like if she could get high enough in one of these trees, she'd know exactly where she was.

It was exactly like her dreams.

She was home.

"Clarke. Claaarke. Future Mrs. Amazon!"

Clarke shook her head, but couldn't help but smile as Octavia waved her hands in front of her face. She'd been studying the map that the Council had given them, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't make sense of how it matched up with things she knew of from her dreams.

It was there, somewhere. Over the year or so she'd been in lockup, her dreams had gotten far more frequent. She'd been getting better at remembering them in her waking hours through sheer force of will and some meditation, but there were still so many things that were cloudy. As it turned out, information recall through dreams was not one of her better talents.

"Are you bored, O?" Clarke set the map down and reached up to rub at the kink in her neck. "It's been less than... " She looked up at the sky. "Maybe four hours. On Earth. There's nothing to do?"

Octavia made a face and sat down on a log next to her, nodding her head towards her brother. "He's being overprotective."

Clarke followed the gaze to see Bellamy watching them intently, hand on the gun at his hip as if someone were going to steal it at any moment. There was a crowd of boys around him, and it looked like he was holding some kind of court. Clarke glared, then pointedly turned to ignore him.

"Do you know what he's doing?"

"Doing?" Octavia frowned. "I have no idea. Sometimes he's the Bell I know, and sometimes... " She trailed off, looking over at him again.

"Sometimes he's smashing radios to contact the Ark and starting an actual rebellion?" Clarke looked back down at the map, trying to keep herself from taking it out on Octavia.

Octavia chewed on her lower lip and stayed silent. They both turned at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"I think that's it, Clarke," Wells said, plopping down near them. "I can't find any other supplies. Why wouldn't they send more than one radio?" He shook his head, looking up at the sky for answers.

"Because they hate us," Octavia said. Wells blinked and looked over at the younger girl, still not used to her presence. He'd heard about the other girl from Clarke in their rare visits, but he couldn't seem to adjust to her facial markings in the way he just accepted Clarke's now.

"They don't hate us," Clarke said. "They just don't believe us and think we're going to die anyway." The thought stung, even after all this time.

"Why waste the supplies?" Octavia rolled her eyes. "Or give us an actual chance, like, I don't know, sending an adult? Some weapons?"

Wells looked visibly uncomfortable. "They sent food and some survival gear. They're not…"

"Food?" Octavia laughed. "There are almost a hundred of us. And they sent two crates of rations. That's not even going to last a week. Your dad sent you to die with the rest of us, Jaha."

Clarke tuned them out as best she could and focused on the map. She didn't want to make Wells upset, but she mostly agreed with Octavia. The Council should know better. The fact that they still gave them practically nothing meant that they were deliberately ignoring evidence and not even looking for more.

"There's not a lot to go around as it is. Maybe this is all they could spare."

"When we're literally proving that everyone can come back down here and no one has to go without anymore?"

Clarke placed her finger on Mt. Weather on the map. Jaha had mentioned it as their best bet for supplies, but there was something niggling in the back of her head about the place. Octavia wasn't wrong, though. They didn't have enough supplies to last the week, especially with the way the teens were celebrating like they didn't have a care in the world. It was as good an idea as any.

Getting all one hundred of them to hike about 20 miles to get there, though…

Clarke didn't think that was going to happen.

She traced the path down to where she was pretty sure their drop-point was located. It looked straight-forward. But it was mid-afternoon now and she didn't want to camp in the woods tonight. She'd start out in the morning.

"Clarke!"

Clarke looked up to see Octavia frowning at her. "What? Wasn't Wells helping with your boredom?"

The younger girl scoffed. "If he wants to be wrong, then he can be wrong."

"You're not giving the Council enough credit…"

"Done now!" Octavia interrupted Wells, then stood up and put her hands on the table. "I want to go exploring. Say you'll come with me, Clarke."

"You can't just end an argument like that!"

"Did someone say exploring?" Finn asked, a carefree smile on his face and his hands in his pockets as he strolled up to them. "And no one thought to invite me?"

Octavia took a step towards Finn, immediately giving him most of her attention. "I was just trying to convince Clarke to come out on an adventure. You're welcome to join." Clarke watched as Octavia batted her eyelashes and struggled not to laugh.

Finn didn't even notice. His smile was was all for Clarke. "I definitely will. You know I was top of my class in tracking?"

"Theoretical tracking," Wells muttered.

"I can tell this is going to be a fun outing," Clarke said. She took another look at the map and tried to orient herself before packing it up and putting it safely away in her jacket. Wells made a face as she stood up, but followed her lead.

Octavia jumped a little in excitement. "That means you're in! Yes!"

"In for what?" Like a dark rain cloud, Bellamy's presence dampened the mood. Clarke took great pleasure in watching the way he faltered as she glared at him, his eyes roving over the fierce mask on her face. He had a couple of his lackeys beside him, though, and he drew himself up quickly to give them his best macho performance. "Have you realized that the Council is full of crap yet? Or are you still trying to find more non-existent supplies in the dropship?"

"What is it that you're trying to do, exactly?" Clarke asked. She waved her arm at the boys to either side of him. "Start your own empire with a child army?" The boy on the left with a wiry frame and a heavy brow bristled and took a step forward, only to be stopped by Bellamy's arm in front of him.

"It's fine, Murphy." Bellamy stared at her for a long second. "You're smart, Griffin. You know as well as I do that they're never going to get their heads out of their asses. All I'm saying is that we have a chance to make our own way. Find out what's really going on."

"We can do that without literally destroying our only method of communication with them," Wells said, voice cold.

Bellamy gave him an insincere smirk. "And risk their idiocy infecting our freedom even more?" He looked back to Clarke, offering a small shrug. "Look, I'm sorry that I destroyed it, but it needed to be done. I'll bet you're already thinking about running off to do their bidding, even after everything they did to you. Am I right?"

Clarke hesitated. Yeah, she wanted to go to Mt. Weather, but only because they needed supplies in the short term before they could figure out what they were going to do long term. She wasn't about to let all of these kids die like the Council seemed to think they were destined to. "We need supplies. It makes the most sense."

"What we need is to secure our perimeter." Bellamy nodded out towards the scattered teens running around without purpose. Clarke followed his gaze. None of these kids knew even a little bit about what it would take to survive out here. She could try her hardest to try to provide for them, but they might still get themselves killed anyway. "Plus," Bellamy continued, "unlike the Council, we know there are other people down here." Clarke's gaze snapped to his. "And they might not be happy to see us."

"What…?"

"Not everyone is out to get you, Bell!" Octavia walked between them and pushed at her brother's chest. "You'd probably shoot my soulmate on sight, wouldn't you?"

"He's got a point, though." Octavia looked at Finn as he spoke, wounded at the betrayal. "If there are people, and evidence is pointing towards yes, then I'm not saying they'd be bad people. But they don't know us, just like we don't know them. And we're kinda dropping in on them unannounced. They might not be happy with us."

"You can't judge people you don't even know," Octavia insisted. "They're not gonna do anything like that." She looked at Clarke. "Right?"

Clarke took a deep breath. She wanted to assure Octavia that no, the people down here weren't going to attack them. But what did she really know about who was down here? She had dreams, but she didn't remember all of them vividly. And Earth was a really big place. Who was to say they were anywhere near that group of people?

"They…" Clarke watched Octavia's face fall. "It might be a good idea to be careful. There's more than one clan out there, and they're not all friendly."

All eyes were on Clarke now.

"More than one clan?" Finn asked.

"You're in contact with them." Bellamy had tensed up considerably.

Clarke sighed. "Not exactly."

"Are you selling us out?" Murphy asked, taking a threatening step forward. "I saw you doing something before the launch." He pointed at her wrist, which she'd bandaged after they found the medkit her mom had left for them. "Did you tell them where we are? Are they coming to get us?"

Clarke scoffed. "Because I knew where they were going to drop us?" They were drawing a crowd now, some of the wandering teens scooting closer to hear what was happening. "I was dragged out of my cell same as you this morning. They even stuck a needle in me because I…" Clarke swallowed. She'd made a scene when they pulled her out.

"Because you what?" Murphy pushed. "It sounds like you're in league with the Council and these…. Grounders. They're probably on their way already, gonna finish what the Council started."

Clarke opened her mouth, speechless for a moment. "Do you even hear the words coming out of your mouth?"

"You need to explain yourself, Griffin." Bellamy pulled the gun from his waist, but kept it pointed at the ground for now. "I swear, if there's an army waiting in the woods for us, I won't hesitate to use this."

There were panicked murmurs from the crowd of onlookers, necks craning to peer out into the trees.

"She never said there was a floating army, Bell! Put the gun away."

"I don't think violence is the answer here," Finn said.

"I'm not going back in a cell!" Someone yelled. Others joined in, and soon there was shouting all around them. Clarke felt her heart race in panic for a moment, but she shook it off and stepped up onto the log she'd been using as a table earlier.

"SHUT UP!" she yelled, her voice carrying over the crowd of teens. Something in her tone of voice or expression must have resonated, because the volume quickly lowered. "I'm not in league with anyone, and nothing's going to get done if we're all fighting with each other."

She scanned the faces in the crowd. Most of these kids and teens she had never seen before, but she felt like they were her responsibility now. None of them had asked for this. Some weren't even old enough to start their apprenticeships. Regardless of what any of them had done to get here, they were still kids, and they were her people. She had to see them through this.

"I'll tell you what I know, but it's not a lot. It might sound crazy but… I firmly believe that we're not alone down here."

There were more murmurs. "Yeah, right! Like anyone could survive down here."

Clarke waved her hand around her face. "You've all heard the rumors by now. Rebels. People trying to go against the Ark and all it stands for. Some of you are here for no other reason than that you have one of these marks, and we sure didn't do it to ourselves." A taller boy with a full sleeve on his right arm and a swirling design on one side of his face nodded at her. "Where are those rebels?"

"Under the floorboards!" Someone shouted.

Bellamy took an immediate step forward. "Come say that to my face!"

There were jeers as someone jostled the heckler to go give Bellamy the fight he was looking for. Clarke held a hand high, projecting her voice over the crowd. "They're here!" Clarke paused, making eye contact with people. "The reason they could never find the rebels is because they never existed. Those people are here, on Earth, living their lives."

The teens hesitated, looking around at each other.

"There's a reason we went up to space, right?" Clarke looked out into the crowd to find the voice that spoke, recognizing the lanky brown-haired boy from somewhere, but not quite sure where. "Nuclear radiation. Murder death kill. Sure, we're down here now and things are okay, but how do you know there have been people down here for that long?"

Clarke nodded. "Just think about the…"

"And how do you know they're normal people?" He interrupted her, eyes wide. "Radiation is supposed to be some pretty high level badness, right? Maybe there are cat people or…" His voice got louder. "Oh god, maybe we're like that guy from Planet of the Apes and we think we're on another planet but really it's Earth and they've all turned into monkey people."

"This is Earth, Jasper," the teen to his left said.

"You know what I mean."

Despite the conspiracy theory tone of the question, the crowd began to mutter, considering what could actually be down on the planet.

"That deer… did you see it? It had two faces."

"Are we going to look like that?"

"What if there are people and they all have four arms?"

"... Actually, that'd be kind of badass. I want four arms. Think of all the juggling possibilities."

"Four arms and juggling is your first thought?"

"Shut up."

"I don't know exactly what's out there," Clarke said. "I do know that there are some people who are like us, though. They've just… had to learn to live differently." She wasn't sure how to explain what she knew. From her talks with Octavia, she knew that not everyone had this weird connection she did with her soulmate. She'd sound like a liar at best, and insane at worst. The best way to avoid the whole situation was to change the focus of the conversation. "But Bellamy is right, we need to be prepared."

Looking down from her perch, Bellamy looked surprised to be recognized. He took her opening as an opportunity, though, and stepped onto a lower log beside her.

"Whoever," he said, then paused. " Whatever is out there, we're an easy target right now."

Clarke nodded reluctantly. "Jaha made it clear that the Council wasn't exactly convinced we were going to make it down here." The crowd grumbled angrily. "I didn't come back to Earth to prove them right. What about you?"

"Bring 'em on, we'll kick their butts!" A scrawny kid in the back shouted from where he was standing on a log to see over people's head. There was some laughter, but some agreement as well.

"Yeah! Let's do this!" The crowd broke into energized discussion, ready for some direction.

Clarke turned to Bellamy. "You're in charge of securing the perimeter. We're probably going to need some of the older kids to help with construction."

Bellamy blinked, then scowled at the sound of an order. "And what exactly are you going to do? Is this where you go report back to your superiors ?"

"What exactly is your problem, Bellamy? You want the people up there to die?" Clarke snapped, clenching her fist. "Because that's what's going to happen if they think we didn't make it."

"Die? They can stay up there forever for all I care." Bellamy folded his arms across his chest defensively. "As long as they leave us the hell alone."

Clarke took a step toward him. "The Ark is dying. It's been dying for years. My dad was working on it, but he wasn't sure that it could be fixed." She paused to let that sink in, enjoying the look of guilt on his face before he tried to hide it. "And this is their solution. Send us down to find out if it's safe. The Council may be idiots, but this isn't them reaching a new height of cruelty. If we'd stayed up there we'd have died anyway. They are going to die."

Bellamy's mouth opened and closed a few times. Next to him, the teen he'd called Murphy shifted a little guiltily, then lifted his chin in defiance.

Clarke held a hand up to stop him. "Whatever you're about to say, I do not want to hear it." She looked around at the people close to her, getting a nod from Wells, and relaxing slightly at the sight of Octavia tense, brow furrowed, and obviously ready to fight the boys in front of her. Even if that included her brother. Finn was looking at her curiously, but immediately cracked a smirk when he noticed her looking. Clarke ignored him for now.

She stepped closer to Bellamy, lowering her voice but not softening her tone. "The people up there aren't the enemies, Blake." Bellamy looked down, his jaw shifting as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. Clarke stared at him for a long moment, then shook her head and turned away. He would either figure it out or…

Well, he'd be a problem. And while Clarke wasn't sure how she'd deal with that problem right now, she knew she wasn't going to allow him to jeopardize this opportunity for a new life. For all of them.

"Work on that perimeter!" Clarke called over her shoulder. "Octavia, Wells, you're with me."

"Hey!" Bellamy's voice interrupted her again. She rolled her eyes but turned around, only to see that he wasn't looking at her. "Octavia, you're not going out there."

Octavia shook her head and reached out for Clarke's arm to keep her moving. "You're not stopping me, Bell." He reached out for her arm but she ducked out of the way with an agility that made Clarke proud. She started walking backwards away, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. "I'm not a little girl anymore, and I'm done with hiding. Don't worry, I can take care of myself now."

"You have no idea what's out there!" Bellamy said, reaching up and running a hand through his hair. "At least take a weapon!"

Clarke gave him a sympathetic look. She could understand this, at least. "I'll take care of your sister," she promised. He glared. "You take care of the rest of them."

"I'm not a damn babysitter," he growled, but when they looked back, Octavia had turned away from them and was already headed into the trees. He cursed softly. "If anything happens to her, Griffin…"

Clarke shook her head and started walking again. "I've got this. Trust me."

She barely heard him as she walked away. "Not floating likely."

"And me, Chief?" When Clarke turned to look, Finn's face was a picture of mock hurt at forgetting him. He quickly brightened again, though, taking a few steps towards her and pointing to the jacket where she'd tucked the map earlier. "If you're going exploring, I was serious about the tracking. Let me help."

Maybe it was the nickname, reminding her of Raven in her greasy overalls giving her a roguish smirk. Or maybe it was the twinkling in his eyes, a hint of well-meant mischief that made her almost smile. Whatever it was, Clarke found herself nodding. Finn gave her a wider smile.

"Alright, Chief. Lead the way."

The back of Clarke's neck prickled at the feeling of being watched, and she took one last look back. She scanned the clearing, brow furrowed. The teens were starting to disperse, grouping up and gathering supplies, and everyone seemed to be more focused on their own tasks than on her.

Clarke extended her gaze to the forest on the other side of camp, staring out intently into the shadows. She slowed her breathing as she focused, feeling as though there was something there. The shadows shifted, and for a moment, she imagined two eyes looking back at her.

"Clarke!"

She blinked, turning to look at Finn, who had stopped at the edge of the clearing with Wells.

"Are we going to let her go off by herself? Because she's definitely not waiting for us."

Clarke bit her lip, glancing back at the shadows she'd been staring at. The trees waved gently in the breeze, light filtering through to a seemingly empty space. The feeling was gone. She blinked again, then shook her head with a smile. "Let's go catch up before she gets herself into trouble." She resisted the urge to look again, nodding at the boys as she passed them and stepped out into the forest.