CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
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     THE RED MARKER TRACED along the board easily, where Taylor marked the spot she and Clarke had emerged from the dam.

     "I think you know more than you give yourself credit for," Raven was saying, glancing at the map from behind her. Taylor was explaining why it would only take more time to build tone generators if she helped. "They trained you in mechanics for a reason."

     "A few years ago," Taylor pointed out, shrugging as she finished her mark. "So this is where we came out, from the mines. The system is extensive, no question."

     The sound of footsteps ushered in the arrival of Clarke and a towering Grounder guard that followed her blindly without question.

     "Has he checked in yet?" she demanded immediately, looking at both Raven and Taylor in question.

     "No," Raven responded, accepting the marker that Taylor handed to her causally. Her eyes drifted toward the man who stood behind Clarke. "Worried someone's gonna try and take a shot at you in the Ark?"

      Clarke blinked for a few seconds while the both of them turned back to the various diagrams set up on the boards. Taylor could hear Clarke ordering him to wait outside.

     It was hard for her to be at ease with her, since she had changed so rapidly within such a short span of time. She knew loss could do horrible things to people, and she felt like she might be able to finally understand where Clarke was coming from.

     "Lexa's orders," Clarke explained flatly. Neither Taylor nor Raven looked back at her.

     "Whatever, Clarke," Raven dismissed nonchalantly.

      "He's late. What if something's happened to him?" Clarke questioned aloud, her eyes drifting back to the radio. Taylor turned around from the board and glanced between the radio and Clarke.

     "He'll be fine," Raven assured.

     Taylor took a few steps toward the radio and nodded, reasoning, "He said things were unraveling there. It's not certain death if he's a little late."

     "It might be," Clarke snapped, a cloud of regret consuming her features as soon as the words left her mouth. There was a moment of silence as she glanced around the room. "You've been busy. Why are you focusing on the dam?"

     She approached a map that lay out on the table and the diagram above it where Taylor had just marked their exit point. Whipping around, Raven was her target.

     "I told you acid fog was our priority," Clarke scolded harshly.

     "Until Bellamy gets eyes on their dispersal system there's only so much I can do," Raven defended, her tone guarded.

     "Fine. Tell me about the dam. Can we cut off their power?" Clarke inquired, looking up at the board.

     "Maybe," Raven answered, fiddling with the marker as she eyed what they were working on before Clarke arrived. "I'm still playing with a few things."

     "And the problem with power arises when we consider what Bellamy said," Taylor spoke, Clarke shooting her a confused look as she idly picked up one of the completed tone generators. "A plan that involves not killing everyone."

     Disregarding her point entirely, Clarke pressed the button on the tin generator, seemingly pleased at the replication. "How many of these have you made?"

     "Only two so far but—" Raven began, the loud slam of Clarke slamming the device the the table interrupting her.

     "Two? That's not enough. There'll be Reapers everywhere," Clarke said incredulously, brows furrowed in frustration.

     "Would you rather try yourself?" Taylor asked, going unanswered as Clarke stared at the floor in thought.

     "High frequency tone generators don't grow on trees, Clarke," Raven rebuked, stepping a few steps closer. "We've been scrounging for parts and it's only us —"

     "Raven. I am about to leave for Tondc. Lexa and the heads of all twelve Grounder clans are waiting for me to tell them we're a go. Only we're not a go. Because they still have acid fog and we only have two tone generators," Clarke ranges without taking a breath, the pressure cracking at her falsely composed expression.

     The desperate look in her eyes almost frightened Taylor. Raven understood just as well as Taylor why she was snapping left and right.

     "Hey, we'll be ready. We will," Raven assured. The radio crackled and Bellamy's voice could be heard through the connection. Taylor's head snapped up and her feet immediately started for the table.

     "Ark Station do you read me?" he said through the radio. "Is anybody there?"

     Clarke picked up the radio and wasted no time in laying into him, worriedly telling him, "Bellamy, you're late. Every three hours means every three hours."

     "Are you through?" Bellamy responded quickly, whatever had made him late clearly out of his control. Clarke looked back at Raven and Taylor, annoyed and a little guilty. Taylor grabbed the radio from her hands momentarily, pressing down the button herself.

     "She is. How's the acid fog search coming?" Taylor asked, Clarke nodding slightly nervously. They had all hoped he had found it, but with everything going on, the chances were more slim.

     "Haven't found it. It's going to have to wait," he reported back. Confusion washed over Clarke's face, the girl immediately grabbing the radio again.

     "What? No, nothing is more important than that," she told him earnestly.

     "Our friends are. They started taking them from the dorm, one at a time, every few hours," Bellamy explained, Taylor feeling sick at the thought. Jasper, Monty, everyone they knew slowly dying for their blood.

     "Taking them where?" Raven questioned.

     "I don't know," he responded. "We tried to follow them, but they went to a classified level. Maya borrowed the schematics of the vent system from her boss. We're still trying to find a way in. Her brother's gone missing too."

      "What would they want with her brother?" Clarke asked, not pushing down the button, the question more rhetorical than anything.

      "We're going to make him mobile so he can talk to us from anywhere," Raven announced with a nod, an assuring bonus in the bleak situation.

      "Bellamy, you have to find them," Clarke said, this time into the radio.

     "That's the plan," he confirmed.

     "If you don't, all of this is for nothing."

__________

      "Clarke, wait!" Taylor called out, finally stopping her in the halls in front of the door where the council usually convened.

     "I'm not going to Tondc," Clarke told her, gesturing to the door. "I'm asking Kane to go in my place."

     "I'll go with him. I know Lexa, we both do. It can't hurt to have someone else there," Taylor suggested, Clarke furrowing her brows but nodding slowly. The lack of cooperation thus far made her proposition far more confusing.

     They both entered the room and Clarke wasting no time informing Kane, "Plans have changed. I'm staying here."

      "But the Commander's expecting you," he countered, rolling up a map that was laying on the table.

     "Our people inside Mount Weather are in trouble," Clarke explained, her voice much more clear and less angry that it had been before. "I'm not going anywhere until I know they're okay."

      "And what can you do for them from here?" Kane asked hesitantly, eyes flickering to Taylor in puzzlement.

     "You'll go to Tondc in my place," she said with finality. Clarke looked at Taylor. "You both will. Lexa respects you. Taylor, you're right. I need someone I trust there."

     Clarke turned away in means to leave, but Kane caught her arm before she could. The guard she had brought along immediately drew a knife.

     "Put it away," Clarke commanded, the man complying quietly.

      "Clarke," Kane started, looking at her directly. Taylor stared at the ground from a few feet away. If Clarke was right and the Grounders were that expectant, they needed to do something to maintain their relationship. Taylor needed to do something. "Being a good leader means knowing which battles to fight."

      "And which to delegate, I know," Clarke finished for him with a certain nod. "Please. I need you to go to Tondc."

__________

      The arrival in Tondc was marginally less threatening than it had been the first time. The Grounders there seemed to have accepted that they were working together.

     "I still don't understand why you brought him," Taylor whispered, shooting a backwards glance at Myers.

      "You have Clarke's trust. He has mine," Kane responded simply.

     "He shouldn't," she warned, looking at him in complete seriousness. Kane opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the man in question.

     "Talking about me?" Myers questioned jokingly.

      Taylor didn't respond. There was no time to argue, not at a war council. And Taylor was lucky enough that Clarke even let her take her place.

     The village buzzed with activity. Their weapons had been stripped from them, but the groups gathered to chant at them were no longer.

     "Taylor," someone said, her eyes darting over to find Octavia walking toward the exit of the village.

     "Octavia," Taylor greeted with a smile, exchanging a quick hug. She hadn't seen her in a few days since she had been so busy with Indra.

      "I'm going to be on watch," she explained, gesturing to the gates and Taylor nodded, watching her as she went.

     She supposed everyone had changed. Octavia, herself. Now she could barely fault Clarke for it.

     Taylor and Kane moved forward to where Lexa waited outside to greet the members of the twelve clans outside of the council room.

     "Marcus, Taylor," she greeted, her gaze drifting from them to see if anyone else was there. "Where is Clarke?"

      "She's going to try and make it as soon as possible," Kane told her in an attempt to gloss over her absence.

      "We have news of our people in Mount Weather and it isn't good. She's staying until she knows they're okay," Taylor elaborated, Lexa nodding, but still looking unimpressed with Clarke's failure to show up.

      There was a lot of waiting around while the other clans arrived and a lot of downtime for Myers to attempt to be as uncomfortable as ever.

      But not even that much later, Clarke was rushing to where they stood with Octavia in tow, looking urgent.

      "Clarke of the Sky People has honored us with her presence," Lexa commented dryly, not entertained by her sudden decision to appear. Taylor looked at her in puzzlement, shooting Octavia a questioning look. She shook her head. She didn't know why Clarke was there.

      "I'm sorry I'm late, Commander," Clarke apologized, her front clearly disguising something else that was wrong.

     "You made good time," Kane interjected, his attempts to spin things positively clear. "I assume the kids at Mount Weather are okay?"

      "And Bellamy?" Taylor added on hastily, concerned that was her reasoning for being there.

      "For now," Clarke confirmed before turning to Lexa. "Can we talk in private?"

      "Yes. This way," Lexa agreed, nodding her head to the doors of the council room.

__________

     Hours had passed and Clarke and Lexa hadn't emerged from the room and the meeting still hadn't begun. Night had fallen and the torches that surrounded the village illuminated their every move.

     "This doesn't make any sense," Taylor finally said, looking at Kane who was still waiting patiently. "You have to admit that whatever they're talking about in there isn't good."

     "Taylor, I understand but — Elara?" he stopped mid sentence as his eyes drifted past her and focused on her mother.

      "Mom? What are you doing here?" she fired off in confusion.

      "I came here with Abby, though I don't know where she went," Elara explained easily. But she looked at her daughter questioningly. "What are you doing here?"

      "At least now it's a party," Myers mumbled boredly from his spot on the ground. "I'm taking a walk."

     "I'm supposed to be filling in for Clarke," she answered, glancing back at the door and ignoring Myers as he walked away. Her eyes reached Kane again. "Something's not right, Kane."

     Indra approached, looking tense. "Where's the Commander? Where's Clarke?" she inquired, glancing between the two.

      "We don't know," Kane replied. "Last time we saw them, they were headed downstairs."

      "They're not there now," Indra revealed, Taylor turning to face them immediately. "Dria is searching for them inside of the village."

      "We should search the woods," Kane finally agreed, looking at Taylor uneasily.

     "I agree," Indra said with a nod.

     Taylor shook her head, making her way toward the council room. "There must be a way out of that room, but why they're gone doesn't make any sense," she thought out loud, not paying as much attention to the two behind her.

      Throwing open the door, there was no one there when she strode into the room.

     Suddenly, that was blinded by a fiery boom and everything around her crumbling into rubble.