Conflate | Bellamy Blake ¹ ✓

※ | chapter four

❝hope is the only thing stronger than fear.❞

-president snow, the hunger games

♛

I'M FACE-TO-FACE WITH another river, and the only thing I feel is fear. The last time I entered water, I was attacked by a man-eating aquatic monster. I would not like to replay that scenario again.

Finn and Clarke are already in the water. Somehow he was able to coax her in, but she doesn't look happy about it due to her being so stiff, shoulders hunched and mouth dropped open in a gape. I can't say that Murphy or Bellamy will be able to do the same for me.

"I won't go in, either," Wells says as he points to his injured leg which he has propped up against a rock. He's sitting on the dirt by the trees, refusing to even get close to the river.

I examine the water, the sunlight's reflection making it shine and almost blind me. I can't deny that I'm trying to see if I can catch any sign of a beast lurking beneath. "That makes two of us."

"C'mon, Amazon!" Bellamy yells from where he has already jumped in, but far from where Finn and Clarke are. He's wading in the water, beckoning me in. His hair sticks up in all directions after he shakes the water out of it. Droplets of water are rolling down his skin while he smirks at me, and he looks really hot. Too bad he's a jerk.

It does look tempting, but I decline. "No thanks. I don't really want to be attacked by giant river amphibians again."

Bellamy rolls his eyes. "You can't seriously be worried about that." I purse my lips but don't reply. "C'mon, it's perfectly safe—"

Suddenly, he's yanked under the water with a scream, and my heart leaps into my throat. "Bellamy!" I run as fast as my injured leg can take me to the edge of the river, trying not to fall on the slippery rocks. "Bellamy?" The water is completely still. He's nowhere to be seen. Panic strikes me as I frantically look for any sign of him. "Bellamy!"

Without warning, Bellamy pops out of the water below me, sending an entire tidal wave onto me as I shriek and flinch back. While I'm distracted, he tugs on my arm and I tumble in. The cool water shocks my nerves as it soaks through my clothes and chills me to the bone. But I have to admit that it's refreshing.

Bellamy is laughing at me and so I splash him in the face, giving him a fierce glare with my lips pulled into a frown. "I thought you drowned!"

He smiles at me mockingly. "Aw, you do care."

I roll my eyes and splash him again. He splashes me back, and this starts a war between us, much like the one with me and Octavia. But Bellamy is stronger and therefore able to push tsunami waves onto me while I am rendered immobile.

"You ass!" I shout and blindly jump on top of him, pushing him down. He grabs my waist and I scream as he pulls me under with him. Bellamy holds us there for a few seconds before picking me up and tossing me up and a few feet away. I thrash around while I fly through the air and yell in surprise. The water stings as I land flat on my back, and I resurface and glare at him while he laughs. His smile looks good on him, and it doesn't help that his shirt is soaked and sticking to his muscles.

For a moment we just stand there in the water, laughing. This version of him is so different from the one that had threatened Clarke only hours ago that I almost forget he's the same person. He seems carefree, like our playful fight had been just the distraction that he'd needed. And as elation fills my chest for a brief moment, I wonder if I had needed it, too. 

"Hey!" Clarke calls from the shore, making us turn toward her. She and Finn are standing about a foot from the water, inspecting something and looking mildly disturbed. "If you two are done being five-year-olds, we found something."