ACT I  SCENE IV
ALAEDAE

     THE RIVER stretched wide between them and escape. Soyun frowned as she turned to the boy beside her for answers. He blew out a breath, steeling himself before glancing back at her with a hardened glint in his eyes that looked out of place on his young face.

"Take my hand," he told her. She did as he said and they took a step into the freezing water together.

The sun dipped beneath the horizon, taking some of the day's light with it. An orange fire seared through the thin clouds, making the sky look ablaze. They were halfway across the river when they heard screams behind them. Refusing to look back, they picked up their pace until she lost her footing and plunged into the current. His grip on her hand tightened and he went after her, trying desperately to bring her back up to the surface. Her head broke through the swirling depths and she took a deep breath.

"Hold on to me!" he yelled, kicking his legs out behind him.

She clung to his shirt as they swam towards the opposite bank just as the maniacal shrieks grew louder behind them. Her fingers dug into the mud to haul herself out and she was barely on her feet when he was already grabbing hold of her wrist. He glanced back to the other side of the river and there was fear reflected within his eyes. "We have to go. Run!"

They ran and ran until they could run no more before taking refuge in a burrow under a dead tree, collecting dried leaves to pile at the entrance of the gap. Night fell around them and it grew eerily silent. Only the drumming of their own hearts filled their ears. They held onto each other and waited for another dawn to arrive.

     Someone was lightly tapping on her shoulder. Cassandra slowly opened her eyes and saw Minho smiling beside her with the dimples in his cheeks showing. A faint morning glow surrounded them, catching the highlights in his hair and making his brown eyes a shade lighter. She yawned sleepily and rolled onto her back while rubbing her face at the same time. The Glade was still and quiet, interrupted only by a couple of snores from nearby. She turned back to Minho who was still smiling and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked.

"I found something yesterday," he said in a whisper, "in the Maze."

She blinked several times and slowly sat up, eyes now wide with curiosity. Then he held up his hand to show her a bright yellow flower between his fingers.

"Where did you find it?" she asked in an equally hushed voice.

He shrugged. "It was growing out of a crack so I took it. Thought you'd like it. Girls like that, right? Unless my memory's totally shucked up."

He placed the flower in the palm of her hand and she beamed happily at him. There wasn't much she could do with it but it was pretty and it made her feel warm inside. It would most likely wilt by the end of the day, but it was something—something that wasn't horrible or depressing like everything else in that place.

"Thanks, Minho," she said gratefully.

"Take care, alright," he told her before standing up and making his way towards the Wall.

That day Cassandra joined Newt in the Gardens, since it was her turn to work with the Track-hoes. Their Keeper was a huge guy named Zart, with a long face and droopy eyes that made him look helplessly bored all the time. The boy was quiet with a brooding demeanour that made him seem unapproachable but she could tell that he had a soft side with the way he handled the plants. He taught her the basics; weeding, seeding and watering. That was about it. She immediately set off to work on a patch of tomato saplings after that.

Newt stopped by to have lunch with her, bringing over a plate with a mountain of sandwiches balanced on it. He'd been working on the other side of the Gardens helping to till the earth there for a new patch of crops.

"So what was it like being the first one to be sent to the Glade?" she asked him.

"There were thirty of us," he told her. "Me, Alby, Minho, the other Keepers, Nick—"

"Nick?" she started. "I haven't seen him around the Glade at all."

"Nick is... a peculiar fella," he said carefully. "But he has a good head on his shoulders. A lot of us owe our lives to him, and he's the only person in this shuck place that can make a decision and we'll all go along with it."

"So he's—what? The real leader around here?" she asked.

Newt shrugged. "Somethin' like that. He always knows what's the best thing to do."

She was a little intrigued about the boy and why he was being so elusive. The flower from Minho had already started to wilt and hung limply in her hair. She plucked it out and thumbed the now dull petals with a thoughtful expression.

"Hey, Newt..." she started. "Alby told me I was gonna be a Runner. I heard that you used to be a Runner too...can I ask how you got your limp? Was it from the Maze?"

"Yeah, I got into an accident with a Griever," he told her.

Her eyes widened at him in awe. "Was it scary?"

"I was bawlin' my eyes out," he said softly.

"But you survived a Griever," she went on. "How did you do it?"

"I dunno. Just sheer dumb luck, I guess."

"Oh, wait a minute," she started and patted her pockets. "We can put requests in the Box, right?"

Newt raised his eyebrows at her. "Yeah, what d'you need?"

"Well, since I'm going to live here now, might as well make the most of it," she looked at him with a wide beam. "I thought maybe the place could do with some cheering up."

He chuckled. "You're like that fairy tale," he told her. "The one with the princess and the group of little men."

She remembered vaguely about listening to a story like that when she was a child, but it was beyond her mind's reach now. They finished what was left of their lunch and went back to the fields. At the end of the day, Cassandra was putting away some spare rags in the infirmary when Minho stepped into the room. It seemed like he had just came back from the Maze.

"Hey, Greenbean."

"Hey." Her eyes immediately went to the gash on his arm and she gasped at the sight of it. "What happened?"

"Saw the tail end of a Griever." He shrugged. "Almost slammed my face on the shucking wall. But then I tripped on a dumb vine and fell down. Scraped myself."

"You saw a Griever?!" Her eyes widened considerably.

He chuckled at her reaction. "I see 'em all the time, Greenbean."

"I-I'll help you clean it up." Cassandra turned around to raid the cupboards for medical supplies. She found bandages and disinfectant in one of the drawers then headed back to Minho, forcing him to sit on the bed and hold his arm out for her. He watched as she poured some alcohol onto a cotton ball and started dabbing it across the wound.

"I don't know why, but I feel kinda special." He smirked smugly.

She narrowed her eyes at him but didn't have the heart to retort sarcastically. He just looked like a little puppy sitting there, all content with dimples showing. Cassandra turned her attention back to the task at hand, discarding the cotton and starting to wrap his arm with bandages. She could see numerous scars criss-crossing his skin—his arms, his face, his neck. It reminded her of Newt and his limp.

"Have you been injured a lot while out there?" she asked quietly, clipping the bandage in place.

"Nah," he answered. "Not by the Grievers, anyway. There were a couple of close calls, but I've been a lucky shank so far."

So far, she thought grimly. After she finished dressing his wound, they went down to the kitchen for dinner. For some reason, everyone had decided that they'd rather sit inside that day and the kitchen was crowded with boys trying to converse over each other. They found Newt crammed in a corner with a Runner named Lee and another pale boy with dark hair. She remembered his name was Andy and that he was a Bagger.

"Hey," Newt greeted them as they sat down. "Think it's going to rain tonight."

"Peachy," Minho commented dryly through a mouth full of spaghetti. "Sleeping side by side with you smelly shanks makes my day."

"As if, you love us," Lee gushed back. The boy never failed to make her chuckle with his vibrant attitude.

"What about her though?" Andy cocked his head at Cassandra.

She looked up in surprise and blinked. "What about me?"

"Obviously, she'll sleep with us upstairs," Newt said.

"That ain't a little bit of special treatment?" Andy sneered.

"Well, she is the only girl if you hadn't realised," Lee pointed out.

"Hey, dude," Minho started. "I don't give a shuck about what you think. Greenbean's staying with us."

"Yeah? What, you gonna sleep on the bed with her? Have her all to yourself? She's nothing but a shucking ta—"

"That's enough!"

Minho stood up, pushed his chair back roughly and grabbed the boy's collar like he was about to throw him out of the kitchen. Andy, acting on sheer blind instinct or whatever it was that possessed him, wrenched Minho's hand free and jumped him. They toppled to the floor with a loud crash, struggling angrily in a confusion of limbs. Andy threw out a punch but completely missed so Minho took the opportunity to grab his arm and twist it around his back, pinning him to the floor.

"Apologise, you shucking shuck-faced shuck," he growled.

"Why? Cause I'm speaking the truth, aren—"

Minho whacked the back of his head with more force than was necessary. Everyone stared at them incredulously, not really knowing what to do or just too surprised to move. Minho pulled the boy up by the collar so their faces were just inches apart.

"Give me just one good reason," he seethed.

"Okay, alright, I'm sorry!" Andy finally whimpered. "Let me go!"

Minho shoved him backwards and his body slammed down onto the wooden floorboards. The Keeper stood back up and brushed himself off. He looked around at the rest of the Gladers in the room. "What?" he snapped. "You got something to say too?"

"Whoo, Minho, my man!" Lee cheered. "Hero! Hero!"

Newt buried his face in a hand with a groan of annoyance. "Slim it, man, and Minho, get back here."

Minho stalked back to them and sat down. He glanced at Cassandra who was still staring at him in awe and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Sorry you had to see that," he mumbled.

"Are you okay?" she whispered back, leaning forwards in concern.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. There was something behind his eyes that she couldn't quite place. "Told you to take care of yourself."

"That shank was askin' for it anyway," Lee said. "Him and his ugly friends, always talking klunk about other people."

Cassandra felt put off. She figured that some of the boys had trust issues with her, like Alby, but she didn't think anyone would hate her like that. The rest of the evening was a dull affair in comparison and then the rain came pouring down. She was crammed into one of the rooms upstairs with all the Keepers.

There was a crack of thunder from outside but it sounded off to her, felt hollow. The boys slept in two rows on either side of the room with the bed pushed against the left wall. There was a small mismatched table next to it with an old-fashioned lamp sitting on top looking quaint and even more out of place.

Eventually, everyone nodded off to sleep. Cassandra felt as if she was slipping slowly into a dark haze as consciousness slowly ebbed away from her. Just at the last moment, she heard a faint whisper, almost indiscernible yet distinct at the same time. It swirled around like poison, twisting into every crevice of her mind. A girl's voice that sounded unfamiliar to her yet filled with spite and contempt. She said only four words.

"You were a mistake."

Each vote and comment is used to buy lots of rolling pins to beat the crap out of Andy for being an asshole.