The door to my cell slides open, and a guard says, "Prisoner 3-1-3, turn and face the wall." As I comply to the order, I ask, "What's going on? I don't turn eighteen for another few days." "Plans have changed, Harmony," comes the familiar voice of my mom's friend, Abby Griffin, "You're not being reviewed, and you're not being floated. They're sending you to Earth, Harmony, all one hundred of you." A cold metal cuff locks around my wrist, multiple pinpricks sending sudden jolts of pain through my arm. I gasp at the pain, smiling as it slowly fades.

The guard gives me a few moments to shove my few belongings (a well-worn book, a notebook, a couple writing supplies, a blanket, a couple spare clothing items) into a small bag, per instruction of Dr. Griffin, before leading me outside my cell. All around me, I see the other prisoners being pushed down the stairs, through the passages outside the cells, all headed to the dropship taking us to Earth. "Keep her bag with her at all times," Abby instructs the guard, as she discreetly slips something into the pocket. She stands behind the guard and winks at me, mouthing, "Good luck." The guard nods, saying, "Yes, Councillor Griffin," and injects something into my neck, causing everything to go dark...

☯

I open my eyes to see a room full of other juvenile convicts, most of whom are talking. I look down to see the straps of my bag carefully looped around my leg, as I groan, "Damatte kudasai," which is "please shut up" in Japanese. Yes, I know Japanese, though not very much. My friend, Crystal, taught me. I mostly know insults, and a couple compliments. "Harmony?" a familiar voice asks, and I raise my head, turning it to my right. There, standing next to me, are my two best friends, Jasper and Monty. "Harmony!" comes another voice, this one from across the floor of the dropship, and as I look to see who called me there's a sudden jolt and the lights flicker. When it becomes bright enough to see, I lock onto the shocking blue gaze of my cousin, Melody.

"Holy shit," I say, then make my voice louder, "Melody!" "Melody?" Jasper asks, "As is "Little Miss Perfect" Melody?" Monty looks around the level of the dropship, following my gaze, and his gaze locks onto her, eyes widening. "Yep," he says, "Definitely her." I laugh at their reactions. Don't they know every angel has a little bit of devil in them? "Your dad's a dick, Wells!" someone calls out, and I notice two things.

One, that there's been a video playing, Chancellor Jaha talking about being pardoned for our crimes and our one responsibility being to survive. I snort, rolling my eyes. With what I did? As soon as the guard gets to the ground, I'll be right back where I started: sitting in a cell. That is, if I'm still alive. The second thing I notice is that Wells Jaha is sitting next to Clarke Griffin on the opposite side of this level of the dropship.

"Why would the Chancellor send his own son down if they don't even know if it's survivable?" Jasper asks. "I have no idea," I say, "And I honestly don't care. As soon as this thing lands, I'm finding Crys. I've missed that crazy girl." "She's that girl from Factory Station, right?" Jasper asks. "Crystal Rivers," Monty interjects, and I shoot him a grateful glance, happy that he actually paid enough attention to remember my best girlfriend's name. "The one you used to always hang out with?" Jasper questions. "Until she got herself arrested three years ago," I mutter, casting another glance around the dropship.

"Spacewalk bandit strikes again!" someone calls, laughing, and my head snaps around, my gaze locking on the one and only Finn Collins, Spacewalker. He's managed to unbuckle the straps holding him in place, and is now floating towards Wells and Clarke. A couple boys near me start to unbuckle their straps, but one glance from me, and they think better of it, choosing to tighten the belts, instead. "Stay in your seats if you want to live!" Clarke yells, and I see a couple boys on the other side of the dropship didn't get the memo.

"Tighten your seatbelts," I whisper to Monty and Jasper, suddenly getting a really bad feeling. I gesture for Melody to do the same, and she nods, hastening to tighten the straps holding her to the wall of the dropship as I rush to tighten my own. It seems I pull the last one taught just in time, too, because the dropship lurches, throwing Finn, along with the two boys who didn't listen to Clarke and followed him into the air, against the walls. The lights flicker dangerously as a white gas fills the air, and then the flickering stills.

No one moves a muscle until Monty, unable to keep quiet any longer, says, "Listen, no machine hum." Well no, duh. The engines died in the crash. "Whoa," Jasper says, shocked at this revelation, "That's a first." Also a true fact. Growing up on the Ark, we were always surrounded by the constant drone of machinery. It was the one thing that remained the same, no matter where we were on the Ark.

☯

The seatbelts unbuckle themselves, freeing me to lock my arms around Monty and Jasper for the first time in two years. It isn't the first time I've seen them, since they always came on visiting day, before getting themselves arrested about 8 months ago. And I've seen them since then, but I haven't been allowed human contact, unless I was sedated, in two years, because of what I did to the doctor who had experimented on me my entire life, along with the guard who was protecting him. "Let's get out of this thing," I say, looking around the metal dropship, which is starting to look more and more like a cage.

I carefully unwrap the straps of my bag from around my leg, wincing as I graze a cut that had appeared during the rough landing, and sling it over my shoulder. I shove through the crowd of people surrounding the ladder, Jasper, Monty, and, I believe, Melody on my tail, and climb down the ladder, a couple rungs above Clarke. "Wait," she calls, yelling at on older guy standing by a lever, which I'm guessing opens the door, "We can't just open the doors!" She jumps to the floor, shoving her way to the front, and I hear something that shocks me as Jasper, Monty, Melody, and I follow her.

"The air could be toxic," comes a familiar, accented voice, and I spin around, spotting the light brown hair and chocolate brown eyes of Anthony Kane, Melody's best friend. "If the air's toxic," I shoot back, "We're all dead, anyway." "She's completely right," says the guy Clarke was yelling at, and I roll my eyes as I notice that he's got his gaze fixed on me, an oddly familiar look in his eyes. My own eyes widen in shock as I register the fact that he's wearing a guard's uniform. Why would a guard agree with me?

"Bellamy?" another familiar voice, though this one less familiar that Anthony's, calls out, causing the guy to snap his head around, breaking his eye contact with me. I turn around, sighing in relief, my gaze locking on a dark-haired, tan-skinned girl descending into the room. "That's the girl they hid under the floor," someone whispers. I know who the girl is. Prisoner 3-1-4, the girl in the cell next to mine. Real name, Octavia Blake. I've actually seen her maybe five times, but we'd talk through the loose wall panel between our cells every day. "Look how big you are," the guy remarks, as the girl jumps off the ladder and shoves her way through the room, running towards him.

"What are you wearing?" she sneers, pulling out of the hug and plucking at the jacket he's wearing, "A guard's uniform?" "I borrowed it," the older guy says, his voice oddly familiar, "To get on the dropship. Someone has to keep an eye on you." "And I could've done that perfectly fine," I say, rolling my eyes, "Ain't that right, Tavia?" She spins around, a smile on her face as her gaze lock on me, but Clarke just has to go and ruin the moment, asking the guy, "Where's your wristband?"

"Do you mind?" Octavia snaps, rounding on Clarke, "I haven't seen my brother in a year." If the guy is her brother, that means his name is Bellamy. Octavia told me all about him while we were in the Sky Box. "No one has a brother," someone in the back calls out. "Not true," I voice, "I have one, somewhere... And I count my friends as my siblings." "It's Octavia Blake and Harmony Wolfe," a girl calls from behind me, "The girl the found hidden in the floor, and the human science experiment!"

Bellamy grabs Octavia's arms, holding her back as she lunges at the girl, but no on thinks to grab me. I take a couple deep breaths, slowly letting the inhuman, animalistic ferocity take over my eyes, as I turn towards the girl. "Say that to my face," I dare her, and she shrinks back, cowering behind someone who looks more intrigued, rather than terrified.

I turn back around to see Bellamy slowly releasing Octavia's arms, and hear him say, "Let's give them something else to remember you by." "Like what?" Octavia asks, curious, but confused, and I walk over. "I'm with her there," I say, "Nobody's gonna forget our pasts." "Like being the first two people on the ground in almost a hundred years," he responds, pulling the lever, and the door to the dropship opens, sunlight pouring in and temporarily blinding us all. I blink away the white spots, and see Octavia standing in the doorway. "Go on," I say, walking the three feet between me and the door and gently nudging her onto the door-turned-ramp, "Nobody deserves this freedom more than you."

She flashes me a quick smile, nodding, and slowly walks down the ramp, looking around. I follow her, remaining a few feet back, letting her have the honor of touching her feet to the ground, the first person in 97 years to have done so. I take in the trees, smiling, wondering. What it would be like to run between them, to climb through the branches, to sit up there and talk with Melody, or kiss Monty in the seclusion of our own secret place... Wait, where did that last thought come from? He's my best friend! I hear the crunch of grass and leaves, pulling me from my thoughts, and snap my head towards the sound, just in time to see Octavia punch the air and scream, "We're back, bitches!"

☯

Her words break the invisible dam, releasing the ninety-six teenagers still on the dropship. The number is ninety-six because Bellamy is not a teenager, two guys died on landing, and Octavia and I are already outside. The others run past us, screaming, laughing, celebrating freedom, and I turn my mind inwards, searching for any reason I would've thought about kissing Monty. As I search my thoughts, I notice that there's a strange presence in my mind, almost like an animal. And it's locked itself onto the memory of Monty and I at the Unity Day Masquerade dance when we were fifteen, and a strange emotion is emitting from the presence.

"Amazing, right?" comes a voice from beside me, and I turn to see Bellamy. "It's beautiful," I say, turning back to look at the surrounding forest. "You don't remember me, do you?" he asks. "You seem familiar," I say, "But it's probably just the fact that you're Octavia's big brother." "You met me the day before you were arrested," he says, "You threatened to turn Octavia in, if I turned you in. I tried to make it so you got away, when my unit searched the room you were in, but then you ran when we left." "Thanks for trying," I say, starting to walk down the ramp. "I never got to thank you," he says, making me pause, "You could have turned her in when we were chasing you, and you didn't." "Whatever," I say, "I have people to find."

I step off the ramp, looking around for Monty and Jasper, and I spot them, Jasper talking to Clarke. As I approach, I hear him say, "They got a bar in this town? I'll buy you a beer." I roll my eyes as Wells grabs his arm and pushes him backwards, knocking him into me. "Hey," some guy calls, and I turn, seeing the guy my ferocity had intrigued, "Hands off. He's with us." "Actually," I say, "He's with me."

"Relax," Wells says, holding up his hands, "we're just trying to figure out where we are." "We're on the ground," Bellamy calls, causing heads to turn towards him, "Isn't that good enough for you?" "We need to find Mt. Weather," Wells says, "Didn't you hear my father's message?" "Screw your father," Octavia says. "He's the reason we're down here in the first place," I join in. Melody places her hand on my shoulder, and, as I turn my head to look at her, taps the chain around her neck, signalling that she agrees with me, but that I really should shut up.

"He's right," Clarke says, "We have to get to Mt. Weather. Without those supplies, we'll starve. We're looking at a twenty-mile trek, so if we want to get there before dark, we've got to leave. Now." I look around at the other juvenile delinquents, searching their faces, and many of them seem to agree with Clarke, and then Bellamy opens his mouth.

"I've got a better idea," he says, "Why don't you two go? Take Kane, Jr. with you, and let the privileged do the work for a change." At that statement, I shrug off Melody's restraining hand, handing her my bag, and step forward. Anthony Kane may not be my favorite person, but he's Melody's best friend, so it makes him worth my time, and it makes him my friend, too.

"How is Anthony privileged?" I ask, "How is he "Kane, Jr." as you call him, when he is nothing like his father? Do you even know why he was thrown in lockup? No, you don't. So don't go and assume that just because he's the son of a Council member that he's privileged. Because, if you face the facts, Anthony, along with Clarke and Wells, is stuck down here, just like the rest of us."

I give Bellamy a hard glare, then raise the corner of my mouth in a smirk at his surprised expression, which quickly morphs into whatever it was before, and turn back to my friends, my expression softening when Melody mouths, "Thank you." I walk back over, taking my bag, and say, "Just because he's not my favorite person, doesn't mean I hate him."

"Look," Wells calls out, realizing that I've finished my little rant, "You're missing the point. We have to get to the mountain." "Look everybody," calls the guy who had called Wells out on his treatment of Jasper, "It's the Chancellor of Earth." "Back off, Murphy," Anthony warns, stepping forward.

"Wow," Wells says, stepping in front of Anthony, "So funny." The guy, Murphy, Anthony called him, kicks out his leg, connecting with Wells's ankle. "But that was," he says, as Wells falls to the ground, moaning in pain. He quickly pushes himself back up, however, and gets into a fighting position. He's got a really bad limp, and stumbles when Murphy feigns a punch. "Come on," Murphy says, smirking.

Wells goes to throw a punch, but someone drops to the ground in front of him, and when they straighten themselves out, I see that it's Finn. "Kid's got one leg," he says, "Why don't you wait until it's a fair fight?" Murphy looks Finn up and down, a smirk forming on his face, then turns and walks away. "Hey, Spacewalker," Octavia calls out, running over, "Save me next."

A smirk forms on my face as I sit down by her feet, leaning back against her legs. "Nice choice," I say to her, as Finn walks off. "What?" she asks, seeing the look on Bellamy's face, as her walks over, "He's cute." "He's a criminal," Bellamy says. "We're all criminals," I say, deadly serious, "Finn's one of the good ones. Let her have her fun."

☯

I push myself off the ground and try to remember what direction Finn headed in. "So," he says, as I manage to catch up, "Mt. Weather. When do we leave?" "Right now," Clarke says, then turns to Wells, saying, "We'll be back tomorrow with food." "How are the two," he begins, then catches my eye, "Sorry, three, of you, going to carry enough food for one hundred?"

Finn and I turn around, and my eyes land on Monty and Jasper. I grab their shoulders, spinning them around with me, and Finn says, "Five of us, can we go now?" "Sounds like a party," Octavia says, clapping her hands together, "Make it six." Jasper turns to me and Monty, and he has the strangest expression on his face. I think he has a crush on my green-eyed friend.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bellamy asks, grabbing Octavia's shoulder and turning her towards him. "Going for a walk," she answers, pulling out of his grip. He shoots me a glare, like I'm the cause of her sudden rebelliousness, and I just roll my eyes. "Can't blame this on me," I say, "I'll look after her, but I can't promise she won't come back unharmed. We have no clue what's out there."

"Were you trying to take this off?" Clarke asks Finn, grabbing his wrist and turning it to get a good look at the silver cuff locked around it. "Yeah," he scoffs, "So?" "So this wristband transmits your vital signs to the Ark," she explains, "Take it off, and they'll think you're dead." "Should we care?" I ask, noticing that Bellamy is staring at the wristband, a familiar look in his eye.

"Well," Clarke says, "I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't, if they think we're dying!" Guilt takes over Finn's features, and Clarke can tell she's gotten through to him, because all she says next, is, "Okay. Now, let's go." "I'll catch up in a second," I say, "Just need to tell Melody something really quick." "Hurry up," Clarke says, "We won't wait."

I turn to where I had pulled Jasper and Monty from, and sure enough, there are Anthony and Melody. "Anthony," I say, "Keep an eye on Bellamy. He's up to something. Melody, I need you to keep an eye on Wells, make sure nothing bad happens. He may not be my friend, but I don't want him dead. And if both of you could keep an eye out for Crystal, and her boyfriend Matthew, that would be great." They both nod, and Melody says, "Harmony, just one thing." I turn back, meeting her electric blue gaze, and she says, "Come back safe." I nod, asking, "When do I not?" I then turn and take off, trying to catch up with the other five teenagers, already having a bad feeling that one of us might not come back from this.