Here is Chapter Three! Let me know what you think! xoxo
"First you're up and you're down, and then in between. I really want to know what do you mean?" ~ What Do U Mean (Justin Bieber)
Clarke POV:
I spent the rest of the day preparing for my exit.
Around three, I had left my family, friends and Cynthia behind. They all had given me things to remind me of them as I would be gone for the next four weeks.
The journey there was much longer than I had remembered, or maybe I was just anticipating to arrive. Last time I was in no rush, and this time I was.
I wanted to discover The Grounder side of life. What their civilization looked like. I would be the first Arkian to travel onto that side of the fence in a century. I buzzed off the idea. When I arrived at the fence, I saw two Grounder guards waiting patiently.
"Uh, hello." I said peering through the window. They stared at me for a second, whispered to each other, and then proceeded to open a gate. I gave them a tight smile and adjusted the tiara upon my head. I guess the turmoil between our people was still strong, no matter what Bellamy and I had done.
I clenched my jaw and slowly crept through the wooded area. There was a winding path that seemed to go in circles, but I kept to it, until I saw the first sign of civilization. There was a slight trail of smoke puffing up from over a hill. I assumed they lived in a valley, so I pushed on the gas a little harder and slowly I traveled up the hill. Once I reached the top I saw a kingdom.
I felt my breath catch. There were log cabins of all sizes, hundreds of them. Sitting at the end of all the houses was a castle. An old fashioned brick castle, that I had read about in the Victorian era.
I felt my breath hitch as I traveled in through the village, I couldn't help my wandering eyes, I was entranced.
There were children all over, and animals. I believe they were dogs, siblings of the wolves. There were also big horses, they seemed majestic.
People stopped what they were doing and watched me pass through. I swallowed my pride and avoided their watchful eyes.
It seemed so colorful here, the people wore different clothing articles than what Arkians wore. They had boots on their feet and all seemed to wear the hats of cowboys. Even the women.
Eventually I made my way to the castle and I stopped at the gate for a few minutes. I didn't know what to do, so I just sat there. Until the gate opened, and I continued on my way into the castle. I stopped off the side of the road and got out of the vehicle.
I stood there for a while, and simply took in the beauty of the ancient era. It seemed as if the history book was brought to life before me.
That was all I did know, facts. History, mathematics, sciences, and language. Nothing more.
Suddenly an elderly woman walked out of the castle with a smile on her face. I smiled back at her and shut my car door.
"Hello young Princess." she said as she reached me. She had brown hair that was turning grey, she was already starting to gain wrinkles along her forehead and cheeks. She did however have more lines lingering along the corners of her eyes and lips, proving that she had smiled and laughed much of her life.
"Please, just call me Clarke." I said taking her outreached hand. She as well had small slender fingers, much like Cynthia.
"My name is Ella, but the Blake siblings call me Babushka, or Bushka for short." she said with a smile as I shook her hand.
"I am so pleased to meet you." I said with a genuine smile, one that shone. I was so happy to know that there would be at least one smiling face for me, and I tried not to think of Cynthia and how much I already missed her.
"Well dearie, let me show you around." she said turning around and leading me throughout the Grounder castle. "The Blake siblings apologize, but they are unable to be here at the moment, as they do have duties to attend to today." she said as she marched through the castle. It was nothing like my own.
The floors were a tan marble, and the walls a deep rich color. There were paintings all over the halls, and everything was so beautifully elegant.
Nothing like that of Arkia. There, it was modern. White. Empty.
The Grounder castle had long red drapes against that of tall extending windows that looked over the civilization. As I looked over the society as a whole it made me smile a bit. I could see the countryside, as well as the woods. I could see little people making their way through their neighborhoods, and it made me realize that this was definitely a different side of the fence.
Ella showed me the castle in its entirety, and at the end of the tour, she showed me my room. It was in an enclosed tower, away from everyone else. She said it was so I could have my own space. As she opened my room I had discovered that all my things had been moved into the room already.
"Ella?" I asked.
"Yes dearie?" she asked.
"How did all my things arrive?" I asked as I saw a painting that I had been working on was set up on an easel, and several of my trinkets were around the room, on a vanity, a nightstand, a chest and so forth.
"Oh it must have been the gophers." she said smiling and shaking her head.
"Gophers?" I asked confused.
"Bellamy and Octavia have little admirers. They come by the castle often to help with daily tasks, and twice a week, they each run an activity for them." Ella explained waving her hand in dismissal.
"Where would I find these gophers? I wish to thank them." I said smiling. It was the most adorable thing I had heard in months. I wish I had admirers, but then again, I never went out. I suppose that was a normal thing for them to do here. Go out and see their people. Only my mother and father were allowed out to see the people, I on the other hand, was forced to stay inside and grow my intellect before I became Queen.
Ella gave me a grin.
"I bet they would love to meet you, they were so excited to hear that you were coming." she said as she bounced along down the steps. I smiled and followed her. So the whole civilization knew. I followed Ella's quick footsteps, for an elderly woman, she sure knew how to maneuver quickly throughout this castle.
"Prince Bellamy had this room re-furnished for the gophers to spend their time in. Every night he stops by and says hello to whomsoever may be in the room." she explained.
I swallowed and forced a smile. It was hard to hate someone who was kind to children.
Ella swung open the door to complete chaos. There was about ten children running about the room.
"Oh my." she said as one of them threw a plastic cup across the room, and three more ran to catch it. They seemed to have made a game about it. Ella cleared her throat and glared into the room. They all stopped what they were doing immediately, and it was dead silent. I could hear the plastic cup drop and roll across the floor. I gave a slight laugh at the sight. They all looked guilty.
"What have I told you children about roughhousing in the room?" Ella said pursing her lips, and squinting her eyes at them.
"Sorry Bushka" was chorused among the small children. The youngest seemed to be only four, teetering along with the big kids. Ella shook her head and smoothed over her dress.
"I have a guest here for you." she said giving them all a pointed look that I knew meant that they were to play nice. All their eyes switched over to me. "This, is Princess Clarke Griffin, of Arkia." she said with a smile. I smiled at all of them and waved to them. They all grinned and walked over to me.
"Hello!" they all said, and before I knew it, they were all telling me their names, and I tried my very best to remember things about all of them. How a boy named Darren had glasses, and a girl named Arabella had vibrant red hair. The oldest one of all was a boy, his name was Hunter.
"Will you play with us?" the youngest said gripping onto my leg, looking up at me with a smile. She was missing a few teeth and had her hair up in two ponytails. I smiled and nodded my head.
"Of course I will." I said smiling. Ella said her goodbyes and I was left with the children. They had us play hide and go seek, and I was often found, or the one that would seek. They had me color with them, but when one of them asked me to read a book I was confused.
"Why would you want me to read you a book?" I asked. They all widened their eyes and ran to a shelf on one side of the wall that was filled to the brim with small slender books. None like the thick ones I read from everyday.
"I like this one!" one of the boys yelled as he swung it up above his head.
"No! No! This one!" a girl pronounced. They eventually all had stacks and were sitting on the floor in anticipation. I sat down on a chair and looked at them questioningly.
"What? Haven't you ever seen a fairytale before?" Hunter asked. I shook my head no.
"I like this one." the youngest, Jerica, said with a lisp. I picked up the book from her pudgy fingers and looked at the cover. It had a picture of a princess and prince, dancing. It was titled 'Cinderella'.
"What on earth is this?" I mumbled to myself. I opened the book, I had never seen such a thing. Pictures in a book, that was filled with not facts, but a story. As I read the book I slowly started to see the purpose for these things.
Entertainment.
I smiled at their faces as I showed them the pictures and read about how a girl named Cinderella, turned from rags to riches as she and a prince fell in love.
"Prince Charming is so dreamy." one girl said sighing as I showed a picture of them at a ball.
"Liza that's yucky." one boy said sticking out his tongue in disgust.
"Yeah, boys have cooties." another girl said. Pretty soon they all broke out into an argument over which gender had the cooties. I wasn't sure what it was, but I was pretty sure it wasn't a good thing. I sat there with my mouth open a bit and my eyes widened as I watched them begin to get physical.
"Hey now." I said sternly and they all stopped and stared at me.
"Come now." I said motioning them closer.
"Do you have cooties Princess Clarke?" one of the boys asked me with wide eyes. I bubbled with laughter and pulled Jerica to my lap and motioned them to sit back down.
"No, I don't have cooties." I said smiling.
Jerica touched my tiara and quickly removed her fingers.
"You are beautiful Princess." she breathed into my face. I smiled at her and removed my tiara from my head.
"You, are a beautiful Princess." I said placing it on her head. She grinned and turned to her friends who looked at me in disbelief. Pretty soon all the girls wanted to be a Princess for a few minutes, and I smiled and let them all have a turn.
"Yes, very beautiful Princesses." was said, and I looked up to find Bellamy leaning against the doorframe with a small smile. He was in a long sleeve dark checkered shirt that was tucked into a pair of grey jeans. He had his black crown upon his head.
"Prince Bellamy!" all the kids screeched and ran to him, trying to jump on him and hugging him. He laughed and swung one of the girls around in a circle and ruffled the head of a boy.
"Well, what do we have here?" he said as he picked up Jerica, who was still in my tiara.
"Princess Clarke called me a beautiful Princess!" she shrieked. Bellamy smiled at her and removed my tiara from upon her head.
"Yes, you all are beautiful." he said looking over at where I was sitting. His dark eyes looked me over, and I felt my face burn.
Remembering what he said the night before had me burning.
He placed Jerica down and walked over to me. I stood up and cleared my throat. He placed my crown on top of my head and looked down at me.
He was much bigger than me, it was a normal Grounder thing to be large, but he was huge. His muscles had been tight throughout his shirt, and he stood a good foot over my head.
He cupped my chin again and forced me to lock eyes with him again.
"Very beautiful." he said softly. All the kids giggled and we both glanced over to them and smiled. We turned towards him to find them trying to stifle their giggles.
"Prince Bellamy! Girls have cooties!" Hunter said sticking his tongue out.
"Not Princesses Hunter, and it seems this room is filled with them." he said sternly with a smile.
"Yuck." Darren yelled and soon it was madness again. I laughed as one of the boys yelled and ran from a girl.
"Oh my." Bellamy said watching.
"Kids, come now." I said, and they all calmed down. "Why don't you tell Prince Bellamy what we did today?" I said trying to redirect their attention.
"We hid and Princess found us!"
"And we colored!"
"And she read stories!"
"She never read a story before!" Jerica said waddling up to me and gesturing that she wanted to be held. I picked her up and she smiled. She looked at Bellamy with wide eyes. "She read Cinderella, for the first time." she whispered. Bellamy smiled but looked at me quizzically.
"Is that so?" he asked. I nodded my head with a small smile. "Well, what do you think?" he asked me.
"It's beautiful. All the stories are. Just one problem though." I said putting Jerica down.
"The Princess always falls for the Prince, but even Princes have cooties!" I yelled and ran away from Bellamy causing massive chaos of all the boys chasing the girls, with the girls screaming and running away from them. I laughed as Bellamy jumped over a chair and tried to reach me. I laughed and turned around the corner, gathering as many girls as I could. Soon Bellamy caught up to me though and locked me into his arms. I burst out laughing and turned into him as the girls kept running.
"That may be true Princess, but as you said, the Princess always falls for the Prince." he said smiling and breathing heavily. I felt my laughter slow and before I knew it we were standing there, in each others embrace. It was dead silent. I was looking up into his eyes, and he seemed to turn his head to the side a little, almost as if he was about to- "Are you gonna kiss?" one of the kids asked. I smiled and looked over to find them all looking at us with cocked heads and smiles.
"No. Never." I said with crazy eyes, and ran after them, causing them all to scream and run away from me. Bellamy laughed and watched me chase after them, tickling them when I caught them.
Soon the door swung open again, only this time it was Octavia. She looked exhausted and all the kids switched gears and screamed and ran to her. She gave a tired smile and patted them all on the head as she moved to me and Bellamy.
"Hello Princess," she said walking over to me, opening her arms.
"Hello Princess." I said as well, as I hugged her. She gave a small laugh and looked at me with happy eyes, despite the tired look upon her face.
"I am so glad to see you here." she said looking back and forth between her brother and I. She also had a tiara upon her head, only hers was black to match her brothers, and was a bit smaller than mine.
"I'm glad to be here. I came to thank the gophers for moving me into my room." I said smiling at all their faces.
"Princess Octavia, we like Princess Clarke." one of the kids said as they pulled on her pant leg. She smiled at the child and patted their head.
"We all do hun." she said.
"Are you gonna stay here?" Arabella asked me. I looked from their faces to the Blake siblings, back to them.
"I'm going to stay for a long while, but then I will have to return to my home eventually." I said smiling.
"Do you miss your home?" one of them asked, and soon they all sat down and looked at me expectantly. I sighed.
"A bit, I miss my best friends, and my caregiver, her name is Cynthia." I said with a sad smile.
"I'd miss my kitty."
"Do you have a kitty?" they asked. I smiled at them.
"No, but I would love to meet yours." I said. Soon all the children had to leave, and Octavia showed them the way out for their parents. I was left alone with Bellamy. Once more.
"I'm glad you made it here safely." he said gruffly.
"Thank you." I said raising my chin a little higher.
"I'm assuming you met Ella?" he said straightening his posture and puffing out his chest a little bit.
"Yes, I have. She is very kind." I said softly.
"Yes, she is the main caregiver around here, if you need anything you can go to her." he said stiffly. "Feel free to roam about wherever you please, you will have granted access to anything you wish." he said blankly and then proceeded to leave the room.
I huffed.
He couldn't decide what character to play. Frankly, it was becoming irritating. I straightened my tiara and left the room. I walked about the castle, it was strange to be able to go wherever I wanted. I didn't know where to begin.
My stomach gave a small growl, and I shrugged. I went with that. I walked about the castle until I heard a continuous ruckus of plates, and utensils banging up against things. I assumed this was the kitchen.
I curiously opened to door to find three people working very quickly on something. I stepped in and watched them, they were speaking another language.
There were two men and one women. I was entranced in watching them work. It was like art. Suddenly one of the men noticed my presence.
"What do we have here?" he asked, the accent was one I was unsure of.
"It seemed we have a stray Princess looking for a nibble?" the woman said with a smile.
"Come, come, sit." the man said as the second one pulled up a stool for me next to a counter.
"What are you in the mood for madam? Tonight we were going to make pasta for you." the second man said with a smile. I grinned.
"Anything you have made would be absolutely wonderful." I said shyly.
"Aww, look at this cheeky little pup. She is so cute. My dear, we must feed you immediately." the woman said whipping her head around to the men in the kitchen.
"Let's work." she declared and they went back to frantically running around. I smiled as they seemed to have been putting on a show for me. Soon enough I was eating the most delicious pasta with a meat sauce, along with several handmade breadsticks.
"This is delicious." I said around a mouth full of food. I soon learned that the three cooks were named Joelle, Costas, and Remy.
"Thank you my dear, you eat like a true woman should." Costas said with a smile as he gave me a glass of ice water. I smiled sheepishly, but didn't apologize. It was the best food I had ever eaten. Everything in Arkia tasted the same, and it had no scent like this. It was beautiful. Suddenly Bellamy burst into the kitchen looking worried.
"What, are you doing in here?" he asked me, with his eyes narrowed.
"Um, eating." I said gesturing to my plate.
"Dinner, is served at seven o'clock around here." he said sharply.
"I'm sorry, my stomach isn't on your timetable yet." I snapped back.
Joelle, Costas, and Remy quickly busied themselves with the dishes, leaving us alone once more.
"What are you eating?" he asked picking up my plate.
"Hey." I snapped taking it back.
"A Princess should not eat that whole thing." he said looking at me with disgust.
"Sorry, but heads up," I said standing up. "I may be a damn Princess, but I do not follow your rules of how to be one." I said sharply, standing my ground. He stared directly at me. I narrowed my eyes at him and he backed away.
"See where that gets you." he said, and exited the room. Once the door was slammed shut behind him I felt myself breathe, and I didn't want to eat anymore.
Remy came back into the kitchen and sat next to me.
"Don't worry cherie. He hasn't met anyone like you yet. He doesn't know what to do." he said taking his hands into mine.
"Thank you Remy, for everything. I should probably retire to my room now as I have upset Prince Bellamy." I said sadly. I smiled at him and squeezed his hands. "Tell Joelle and Costas that I thank them graciously." I said with a serious look in my eyes.
"Of course, anything for you madam." he said with a smile. I stood up and went back to my tower. This did not seem like something that I was meant to do. I didn't want to play this part anymore. I had to remind myself that I only had to stay here for a few more weeks. Then I could go home, and convince my parents that the Grounders are still not to be trusted. I felt so stupid to once more be fooled that Bellamy would be nice to me. He was only that way for show, around the kids.
I sighed and decided I was allowed to do what I wanted. I left my tower, and then exited the castle.
I decided I would explore this place on my own.
I walked along the path that led throughout the civilization, and I smiled. Everyone here was talking, laughing and singing. They all moved with power, and had purpose. While everyone at Arkia kept to themselves, and walked with Grace.
I watched as the kids played in the street, and I saw another dog run past, following the kids. They were much bigger up close I soon realized, I cocked my head as I watched one of the kids rub it's stomach. Was that something that was meant as praise or punishment? I furrowed my brows, but soon came to the conclusion that it was praise as when the child stopped, the dog licked the child on the face. The child screamed with delight and laughter as it hugged the face of the dog. I smiled and continued on my way.
People here seemed to just be filled with passion. They all talked loudly, and seemed to have something to say.
I saw a few people riding on horses, and I quickly moved to the side of the path and watched in wonderment as they laughed and rocked back and forth upon the big animals.
Soon I was walking back to the castle, and a few people had even smiled at me. I didn't know what to do, so I simply smiled back at them.
Eventually I had made my way back to the castle, just as dark was starting to arrive. I walked into the castle, and as I shut the door I heard yelling voices. Prince Bellamy was one of the voices. The other one was a different man.
I quietly tip toed closer to the voices. I peeked around the corner to find Octavia leaning up against a door, eyes shut and concentrating. I was taken aback at this. She opened her eyes wide and gestured for me to be quiet. She then gestured me closer. I tip toed over to her and leaned my ear against the door as well.
"What do you want me to do?" Bellamy asked.
"I want you to win her over." the voice yelled.
"What the hell, I'm allowed to pick and choose who I fall in love with. Maybe I do want to love her, but it won't be on account of you forcing me to." Bellamy snapped. I felt my breath hitch.
"You will do what I say son. You must get the Princess of Arkia to fall for you, this is our opportunity. She only has so much time here. When this month is over, she could go home and this opportunity to bond our civilizations could pass so quickly, and we would have to wait yet another generation." the King said. The King. The King was forcing Bellamy to fall in love with me. Had this whole thing been a masquerade?
"I'm going to do what I damn please. I am the Prince." Bellamy roared at his father.
"And I am the King." his father yelled right back. "I know you already have feelings for the girl. I'm not stupid. I know where you were last night." the King said, his voice slowly turning devilish. "Tell me. Did you get inside her?" he asked with a menacing tone.
"It wasn't like that." Bellamy said weakly.
"Please. Son. I know how you work. You want to get her." the King said, and suddenly there was a sound of skin on skin and Octavia and I jumped at the sound.
She quickly gestured for me to follow her. We ran into her room and we both were breathing at an unusual pace.
"You have to understand. He would never-" Octavia began, but I put one of my hands up to silence her.
"I know." I said. That must have been why he was so moody.
"He may be unstable sometimes, but you should have seen the way he was looking at you today. That's something he would never be able to fake. I don't know what happened last night, and frankly I'm too scared to ask. However, I know that if it's Bellamy, he means it." she said standing up straight, adjusting her tiara.
"What do you mean?" I asked her.
"For a while now, he hasn't been interested in spending time with anyone. He's been so damn lost in the woods, and yesterday, and today. He seems to have lit up again. He never had had interest in a girl, ever. He's been admired for years, sure, but he's never admired anyone back." she said softly.
"I don't know what to do Octavia." I said softly.
"I don't know what to tell you either, because quite frankly honey, you've got two whole civilizations counting on your answer." she said shrugging her shoulders. I knew she was right. And I knew that she wouldn't lie to me about this, I could tell my the look in her eyes.
"Tell me more." I said standing up. She smiled and we sat on her bed, and she began to tell me story after story that she could remember about Bellamy. I smiled and laughed at these memories.
"Our mother, she died after giving birth to me, and then Ella became our closest thing to a mother. Bellamy respects her so much, and I know that he would do absolutely anything for her." she said at one point. My mind drifted back to Cynthia.
"I have someone like that at home too." I said with a small smile.
"Are you going to be okay, staying here for the next few weeks?" she asked me with a questioning look on her face. I sighed and nodded my head.
"I just don't know what I'll be doing." I said.
"That's easy. You'll make new friends, you'll go exploring, and we'll show you this side of the fence." she said with a grin. I smiled back at her and nodded my head. Suddenly we heard a soft knock on the door.
"Come in." Octavia said hesitantly, locking eyes with me. Her long brown hair swished from side to side gesturing me, that I wasn't to tell what we were discussing. Bellamy entered the room and smiled at both of us.
"I'm glad to see you have found a friend." he said to the room in general, neither of us nodded because we weren't sure who he was speaking too.
"I'm going to bed. Goodnight to the both of you." he said blankly, then exited the room.
"Is he always like that?" I asked quietly. Octavia nodded her head.
"He almost never shows emotion. When he does, he's usually mad. No one knows what he gets so mad about all the time though." she said shrugging. I sighed and bid her goodnight. As I exited my room I saw Bellamy was waiting for me outside in the hallway.
"Well Princess, how was your first day here?" he asked.
"Different." I said standing a little taller.
"That's an interesting adjective you choose to use." he said smiling.
"Well, I find it a sufficient word in this case." I said crossing my arms. He smiled.
"So the Princess has never read a storybook?" he asked looking down at his feet.
"No, I have not." I said.
"Why not?" he asked curiously.
"To be honest, I'm not quite sure. I guess I've never had them before." I said furrowing my brows.
"Interesting." he said crossing his arms.
"Yes well, alot of things about this place are interesting." I said also crossing my arms.
"Have you ever read poetry? Playwrights? Novels?" he asks me furrowing his brow.
"I couldn't even tell you what those are." I said softly. He walked towards me and slowly slid one hand down my arm, and then enclosed his large hand around my small one.
"I have something to show you." he said softly. I nodded my head, and he led me down the hallway and around the corner. He opened up a large door and inside was a huge, beautiful room. It had books lining every wall, with ladders and chairs everywhere.
"This is the royal library. It has every book ever written inside it." he said smiling. I walked in and let myself be entranced by this for a minute.
"Pick any you would like to read." he said with a smile.
Soon enough I was darting throughout the whole room gathering book after book that I had never read, nor heard of. Soon enough I had a stack of at least twenty and walked back to him. He laughed, and I just smiled sheepishly at him.
"This is exciting for me." I said shrugging. He shook his head and grabbed half my stack. We walked back to my tower together and he helped me place them around my room. I smiled at him.
"Thank you." I said genuinely. He nodded his head.
"I am sorry about earlier." he said looking at the ground. I felt myself be taken aback.
"It's nothing." I said.
"No. It was rude of me. I should never tell you who to be or what to do." he said looking at me seriously. I gulped and looked at my feet, rather than the way he was staring at me.
"Forgive me?" he asked me softly. I looked up at him, and he looked genuinely apologetic.
"Yes. I forgive you." I said quietly. He smiled.
"Tomorrow, I would like to show you around more. I would like to do things with you." he said standing up straighter.
"Yes, I would like that." I said smiling.
"Well, goodnight then." he said promptly and left me to be.
I sighed and changed out of my clothes, and into sleeping clothes. I slid into my bed and opened a book, which was filled with poetry. It was beautiful. I fell asleep with the words in my head, and my heart in my hands.
Unsure of what to do with either.