Chapter 5
When they find the boy, he's standing on the window ledge about to jump from the looks of it and Bellamy immediately tries reasoning with him. However it's of no use because the boy simply shakes his head and says "I've failed her so I'm dead anyways" before jumping to his death.
Bellamy suddenly gets a flash of something similar happening except instead of a boy it's a girl and instead of a window it's a cliff. He shakes his head and hopes that Roan didn't notice but when he looks at Lincoln he can tell that he definitely did.
"Well that was unfortunate." Roan says seemingly just as indifferent to the child's death as he was his guard's.
"And it looks like A.L.I.E. is here after all." Bellamy says condescendingly, not caring if he found it disrespectful or not.
"So it would seem. Let's hope we'll have better luck with the girl." Roan states without so much as an eyebrow raise.
They turn to head back towards the great hall when a guard comes around the corner looking a bit spooked.
"Echo found the girl but there's something blocking us from entering her room. It's like some sort of magical wall." He says slightly out of breath and visibly shaken.
"Show me."
When they reach the girl's room Bellamy can see the wall of shadows blocking her door but he can also see a tiny crack where the wall is weakening. If they concentrated their magic in that spot they might be able to destroy it. Before he can say anything, though one of the guards tries to get through and is thrown back into the wall.
"What do you see?"
"What?" Bellamy says turning to look at Lincoln.
"What do you see? I know you see something. I can tell by the way you're focusing on one particular spot." Lincoln repeats and Roan turns to them curiously.
"There's a crack in the wall here. If you concentrate all your magic there then you should be able to break through it."
"Do what he says. All your fire magic here, now." Roan orders.
They do what he says and as soon as the wall is down Bellamy is the first one in the room. The girl begins to open her eyes and when she sees Bellamy she smiles.
"I knew you'd come for me. I knew you'd figure it out." She says in a small and slightly horse voice.
"You should rest. You've been through a lot."
"I don't need to rest. I've rested enough. She needs more power. She.. Something is wrong with her. I think she's dying. The shadows need more power than what she has. She almost has enough but she needs you and Roan and Murphy." The girl says sitting up.
"What does she want with Murphy?" Roan asks and if Bellamy didn't know any better he'd say The King was actually concerned for the kid.
"She wants to control him. Use his anger and pain to turn him to darkness so that he's like her and then drain his magic."
"What about the ones she's already taken? Has she drained them yet?" Bellamy asks panicking about what could be happening to Octavia.
"I don't know but I don't think she can drain them until she has everyone."
"How do you know all of this?" Lincoln asks voicing the skepticism that the others seem to be over looking.
"My brother talks a lot in his sleep and when I asked him about it, he did this to me." She says and Bellamy can tell she feels betrayed but is also saddened like she knows he's gone.
"You know he's dead, don't you?"
"Yes. His death is what caused the crack that you saw and allowed you to free me. He gave his life so I'd live."
"I'm sorry."
"Echo, get her some food and make sure she's checked out. I also want you to stay with her at all times. Don't let her out of your sight. Do you understand?"
"Yes, my King."
Echo takes the girl who follows without protest but before she's left the room she touches Bellamy's hand and tugs him so that he's bending down in front of her. Once he's at her level she whispers something in his ear that causes him to smile. Roan notices the exchange while talking quietly with one of the other guards who nods and leaves when he's finished speaking to her. He then focuses his attention of Bellamy.
"What did she tell you?"
"Her name."
Roan simply nods and then says "gather your things. We leave tonight."
"Wait, so you're gonna take us to him? Why?" Bellamy questions skeptically.
"She's a threat to my people as well now and I have a feeling that you and Murphy are the key to stopping her completely." He replies cryptically.
"What makes you think that?"
"If what I'm thinking is correct you're far more powerful than you realize. Besides Murphy won't try and kill you if I'm with you." Roan says like it's obvious.
Bellamy guesses he should be happy Roan is coming with them but then he remembers that he was gonna send them to Murphy knowing he would try killing them once he saw them and he's furious again. Roan must know this because he smiles at Bellamy and shrugs his shoulders like it's no big deal as he mounts his horse while him and Lincoln follow. They ride through the night and day, not stopping until night begins to fall again. They make camp for the night and while Lincoln is cooking the rabbits he caught, Roan focuses his attention on Bellamy.
"We should arrive by midday. It's not much farther. How were you able to see the crack and what did she mean by knowing you'd find her?" Roan says getting straight to the point of what he wanted to know.
Bellamy is silent for a bit trying to figure out how much to tell him and how much to leave out. He decides to start with the dreams in hopes of bypassing the shadows altogether.
"Ever since A.L.I.E. attacked Polis and the Ark I've been having strange dreams. I'm not even sure they could be called dreams because they feel like memories but not my memories, someone else's. In every dreams so far there's been a little boy with blue eyes and shadow magic but when I was at your home it was different."
"Different how exactly? Was the blue eyed boy still there?" Roan asks curiously.
"At first he was but then it was like I woke up but I was still asleep. The girl was beside my bed and when I woke up or at least I thought I had woken up, she lead me to her room where her and her brother were arguing. I'm not sure about what but something happened and I was suddenly in immense pain. It was like my head was on fire and apparently I was screaming but I thought it was the girl instead of me. The only reason I knew it had all been a dream was because Lincoln had woken me up."
"And it's because of that dream that you knocked the glass the boy had given me out of my hands?"
"Yes. There was just something about him after the dream that didn't feel right. I could tell something was off but I wasn't sure what and when he showed up without the girl who he had been so protective of earlier, I immediately thought he'd hurt her like in the dream."
"The blue eyed boy, what do you see him doing in these dreams?"
"I can't really remember everything. It's mostly fragments when I wake up but I remember feelings more than details." Bellamy says vaguely not really sure he wants to talk about what he's seen the boy do because Roan just seems a little too interested for his liking.
"How were you able to see the crack?" Roan asks picking up on Bellamy's desire to drop the dream subject.
"I honestly don't know. I know no one else could see it but I saw the wall clearly and the crack was just as obvious." He replies skipping over the part about the wall being shadows because he knew from Lincoln that it looked like a wall of ice or glass.
"Well, we better get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow is gonna be a long day because Murphy isn't known for his hospitality."
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Murphy not being known for his hospitality was an understatement because as soon as they were in sight of the small cabin a wall of fire and ice surrounds it. Then a small rift or hole of some kind opens up in the ground in front of the wall preventing them from going any farther.
"John, it's Roan. Let us pass, we need to talk about something."
"I told you not to come here again, Ice King." A distorted voice from behind the wall says.
"And you know I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. Please John, we need to talk."
There's a long pause that makes Bellamy nervous and just as he's about to say something, John speaks.
"Stop calling me John and you can have 10 minutes but only you. The two with you have to stay where they are."
A small hole opens up in the wall and the ground comes back together but once Roan is through the hole it closes up and the ground opens again. It all happened so quickly that Bellamy didn't have time to try following Roan in or jumping in front of him to get through to Murphy.
"Is it just me or does this feel like a huge waste of time?" Bellamy says while they wait for Roan.
"He's our only chance at getting everyone back, let's just see how this all plays out."
"You think Roan can get him to help us?"
"I think he'll at least get him to listen to us which right now is the best we can hope for."
Meanwhile in Murphy's cabin, him and Roan are having a very heated discussion.
"Who the fuck are they and why the hell did you bring them here? No one is supposed to know that I exist less more where I live and you bring two strangers to my door! What the fuck, Roan?!" Murphy shouts, his anger boiling to the surface threatening to explode.
"Something's happening Murphy and we need your help. She's back and she's taken the dark haired one's sister. She won't stop until she has you."
"All the more reason for me to stay hidden and away from this fight."
"I thought the same thing but she infiltrated my home using a little boy who killed himself to save his sister. She'll find you Murphy and then there really will be no stopping her."
"What difference does it make? It isn't like the four of us can do anything to her?"
"Actually, I think we can. The dark haired one, there's something about him. He sees shadows. I think he has shadow magic but it's not strong. I think it's only recently manifested and I think he may be a dream walker." Roan says cautiously looking at Murphy who looks shocked and unsure.
"Dream walkers are myths. Everyone knows that." He replies with a scuff.
"You and I both know how real they are."
"You're wrong! Dream walkers don't exist. Take your friends and leave before I lose what little control and patience I have left." He says ending the conversation.
Roan wanted to push him farther but saw tiny wisps of shadows coming from his fingertips and figured it was time to go. As he opens the door he pauses and without turning back to Murphy says "he saw you killing your mother in a dream before he knew you exsisted and he felt everything you felt as if it were him. Thought you should know."
Roan makes it past the wall and hole in the ground before Murphy loses control completely and the shadows take over. Bellamy sees them coming and just as they wrap around Roan he releases some of his own only instead of black his are white. They engulf him, Lincoln and Roan causing the shadows wrapping around to retreat as if burned. There's a howl of pain and suddenly Bellamy is screaming as he collapses to the ground unconscious again.