Chapter 2

When a few minutes later the phone rang in the next room that served as the living room for three girls Clarke was already rushing through the house, frantically throwing one thing after another in the open bags. Crumpled blouses, jeans, skirts, jewelry, notes and some photos in simple frames, girl decided to leave almost all the shoes to her friends and travel light. The faster she gets to the Ark, the better.

"Clarke, it's your mother." - A sleepy face of her friend appeared in the doorway. - "And she has a very frightened voice. Did something happen? Why are you packing your bags? "

"I'm leaving, Tali." - Clarke finally stuffed blue jacket in a suitcase, zipped sharply and stood up, reaching for the phone. "Mom, it's me. What's wrong with Dad? "

The girl's face became pale gray, from the phone she could hear only quick convulsive sobs and undistinguished words, and then with a loud breath, Clarke sank to the floor, biting her lower lip until it became white.

"Hey ..." - another girl came into the room and stood near Tali." You serious?! We got a final test tomorrow, couldn`t you be a little bit quieter, it`s 4 a.m. already. "- She stopped her blaming speech, looking at Griffin.

"I`ll miss the test. All tests I suppose. "- Clarke's voice faltered, and the girl stood up lurching. Then she started talking to her mother, using some unknown language, quickly and abruptly; still holding the cellphone with the shoulder, Clarke dragged the suitcase and two small bags to the house exit.

"What happened?" - Tali could not wait anymore, looking at her friend anxiously.

"My father died. I have to go home to deal with everything. "

"Oh my God, that`s horrible, but Clarke... the studies and the documents ..."

I do not have time. I`ll ask to send them by mail. "- Despite of her trembling voice, Clarke seemed unnaturally calm, she opened the trunk of the car and shoved all the things quickly, then turned to the girls. "Take care of yourself; I'll call you in the morning. And ... I'm not going back. I`m so sorry. Say buy to everybody for me."

She sat to the driver`s seat and started the engine, for a couple of seconds she was looking at a photograph, pressed to the glass inside of the car, all four of their family are smiling, happy and alive, - girl wiped tears from her cheeks with a shudder and pressed gas pedal to the floor, leaving her friends standing in the lantern light and illuminated house she will never return to far behind.

At the crossroads, standing at a red light, Clarke surrendered and slammed the steering wheel with all the force she was capable of and cried aloud; little drops of water, speckled the car roof after the rain, started gathering into streams and lifting up at some unnatural angle from the sound of girl`s voice, trembling and flickering, they hang up in the air and then scattered on both sides of the road.

Aurora Blake, still a very beautiful woman, about her 40, but now deathly pale and covered with blood, dried streams of it descended from the ears down to the neck, leaned against the door jamb in front of her house. She had no strength enough to knock and breathlessly waited for the pain to subside.

The door swung open with force, and her son appeared, sleepy and messy, in only pajama pants, he ruffled his hair anxiously, and then called out, "Mom?" - He grabbed her up and almost dragged in the house because woman could barely stand on her feet.

"Bellamy" - said Aurora coughing, - "We have to hide Octavia! Do you hear me?! Where is she?"

"I'm here, what`s wrong again?" - Light footsteps came from the darkened hall of the first floor and short dark-haired girl appeared. She seemed to be about 16, and was rather angry.

"Octavia, immediately go down! Right now, and don`t leave the basement until I let you! "- Panic filled Aurora`s voice, and therefore the girl snorted, but obeyed and left.

"Mom, what happened?!" - Bellamy helped his mother to sit on the couch of the hall, disappeared into the kitchen, then returned with a wet towel, and knelt beside, wiping the blood off her face.

"Hunters, they found Jake Griffin and killed him. We knew it was dangerous to leave Ark, a fortiori alone, and now when they killed one of our Circle, nothing will stop them from exterminating everyone. "

Bellamy breathed, wrinkling his nose, and cogitated.

Thanks to Jaha`s Circle, watching over the Ark, the city was kept away from prying eyes. First of all, it was surrounded by forests of Washington State, and road signs could be seen right near the town`s entry, so to avoid curious tourists. Secondly, the city was under a strong defensing barrier and gave no possibility to trace the magic outside Ark. Third; the magic of the town was not a topic for everyday talks. It was something took for granted, but only within a close circle of the six families, for the rest people in Ark - it was like a fairy tale, harmless local legend.

"They used him as bait to get to his daughter, and they`ll follow her here, am I right?" - Tall guy clenched his fists and hit the floor with anger. "And now, because of that stupid girl, Hunters will come for Octavia as well?"

Aurora wiped face with the towel:

"We can only hope that Griffin`s child has enough brains to hide her powers until she gets here. You have to admit her to your Circle, do you understand that? Alone, she is uncontrollable. "

Somewhere in the back of the house, in the basement came long thunder strikes, beating one after another. Obviously, Octavia was in a bad mood.

"Not more than Octavia, really."

Bellamy sighed, got to his feet, escorting his mother upstairs to her bedroom, then grabbed an old T-shirt from his bed and went down to the basement. Now he had to calm down his angry little sister too.

That night another one house on that street was bright-lit; next to Griffins, almost identical, except for a different color of tiles and flowerbeds, black shadows were moving behind the curtains.

The Circle made sure that Abby is more or less okay, although they all were far from being okay, and other 5 families had to get outside Ark to check the totem pillars. These totems protected the town for centuries already. Marcus phoned Greens, Jordan and Blake, glanced at the pillar once more and turned his car home.

Several hundred years ago another Circle had enough power to put this spell functioning as an invisible network stuck to six pillars that were digged at the settlement borderlines. The protection would weaken, if the Hunters destroy just one totem. Then magic tracks could leek through the barriers, attracting unavoidable attention. But fortunately, Hunters had to destroy at least three totems to break the spell completely, that`s why six founder families took care of them. And now, while Abby was too weak, Marcus had to take care of Griffins pillar being the nearest neighbor.

Fortunately the previous Circle managed to hide these quite high and unusual pillars decorated with carved symbols with dozens of road signs nailed to a tree. Who could ever imagine these dreadful pillars, dazzling with multi-colored neon letters, being really important?

Kane`s house looked like a bright shining lantern in the darkness, and a young guy was sitting at the kitchen fully dressed, as if it was not a bedtime. He had a haggard face, messy shoulder-length dark hair and totally lacked of sleep.

"What the hell are you doing here? Go to sleep. "- Marcus waved his hand, dropped into a chair at the kitchen table and poured some whiskey, without ice. The desire to sip straight from the bottle became stronger.

Finn looked at the glass, but said nothing.

Marcus Kane was over forty, but still unmarried. According to the rules the Circle demanded the heirs of each founder's family to create their own Circle, and so Marcus had to take care of forty-second cousin of his sister. Thanks gods Finn Collins was not a complete idiot and quite a good witch.

Although Marcus has never been good at dealing with the teenagers.

"Griffin`s daughter is coming to town, yeah? Even if it`s the last thing she has to do? "

"Worthless plan, but yes. The only positive moment is that you can finally make your own Circle. Without all six members you cannot wield real power. "

Loud noise of an approaching car came from the street, and yellow light filled the window frames.

Marcus knew it was Clarke. She was the daughter of her mother, not hiding from threats and a brave girl. She came to revenge on her father`s death even if it was dangerous.

Finn went to the window, watching as slim blonde girl pulled things out of the car trunk, and disappeared behind the neighbor's door.

"Listen to me, Finn ..." - began Kane, swallowing whiskey - "My Circle takes care of Ark for about twenty years, but it won`t be forever, and there is something you should know. D`you know why Clarke was taken out of Ark at the age of 5? "

"I thought it was because her younger sister died, and parents sent the elder daughter to some far relatives, because there were children of her age."

"Nah, it's not that easy." - Marcus winced. - "It was all about the fucking prophecy. A female witch shall become the Head of your Circle and rule it. "

"But Bellamy is the leader now, he is the strongest of us ..." - Finn interrupted him, turning away from the window in surprise.

"Has been. Yet. This female witch shall have not only her own power, but of all the previous generations. All generations. That`s inevitable. See what I mean? "

"That's why Hunters are after her. They killed the youngest girl in Griffin family to prevent it. "

"Now the entire fucking Circle is in danger. Pillars shall protect us from the outside, but you must be careful. Extremely cautious. Because if I'm right, hunters will try to get into Ark by any means possible. "

"Bellamy?" - Finn held the mobile phone close to his ear, standing in front of the window that was located just in front of the window of a neighbor house and watched as sad, but very beautiful blonde pushed her suitcase and bags under the bed without even examining them, and then fell on the bed undressed. The lights went out.

"Fuck, you know what time is it?!" - Although it was almost morning, Bellamy's voice was not sleepy. Loud clicks of the lighter were heard somewhere on the background. Apparently he was completely pissed-off now. Bellamy and his lighter. Ugh, he didn`t even smoke.

"She is here,ยป - said Finn watching dark window of his neighbor.

"What? The hell are you talking about? And so what? "

"Marcus said she is going to be the next head of the Circle."

Various swearing and curses came from the phone, and Bellamy switched off.

At least one person was clearly against Clarke Griffin`s returning home.

And it certainly added even more problems in their already fucked up lives.