ACT I SCENE XIII
PRIAM

   WHEN THOMAS woke up, he found himself lying on a bed in one of the rooms upstairs. Immediately, he went into a coughing fit with how dry his throat must be. Cassandra's eyes slid away from him and she scowled, muttering unintelligibly underneath her breath. After a long moment, she turned back to him indignantly and pushed a glass of water at his face.

"Alby made me stay here until you woke up to apologise," she told him sullenly. There was another awkward pause as they stared at each other. "I apologise."

Thomas opened his mouth then closed it again wordlessly. Cassandra continued glowering at him. To her, it was justifiable. She knew the boy and what he did, even if he had seemingly forgotten. Maybe she could try beating it out of him. That would be great.

"Who are you?" he finally asked. "And what is your problem?"

"You..." She inhaled sharply, which made him withdraw instinctively, and pointed a finger at him before letting her hand drop back to her lap. Then she raised it again. "You—" she started but she couldn't get the words out.

Cassandra had suddenly found herself tongue-tied and her temper flared up once again as she realised what was happening. They didn't want Thomas to know what had happened between the two of them in the past. The Creators, they probably did something to her so she wouldn't be able to say anything. Just like what they did to Nick.

She growled angrily before storming out of the room and leaving the boy on his own. Her furious footsteps thudded heavily against the floorboards as she descended the stairs to find Newt waiting for her at the bottom. He looked at her and sighed.

"Gally filled me in," he told her. "But seriously, Cass? You do know that one of our rules is never to harm another Glader, right?"

"Not for a shucking second," she hissed. "I'm not going to—especially when—he's one of them!"

"But they sent him here," he said. "That means they don't want him anymore, or maybe he's here to help us."

"What if it's a trick?" she questioned. "Maybe they sent him here to get us killed or something?"

"Cass, ya knocked him out with a bloody punch." He raised his eyebrows at her. "I think it's more likely that you're gonna kill him before he even decides to murder any of us in our sleep."

She paused and cocked her head slightly to the side, mouth twitching in agreement. He did have a point. "I'm still keeping my eye on him," she said before heading outside.

Ben let out an agonising shriek from upstairs and she stopped to look back. Worry took hold of her and creased her face with deep lines. She looked up the stairs only to find Thomas on his way down. His eyes were wide with terror and he froze in place when he saw her. Cassandra clicked her tongue and turned back around to get away. She couldn't handle seeing his shuck face for another second. That ominous feeling she had when Gally was stung returned in full force.

Things were going to change.

   The next day had started off normally. She had her morning shower, then breakfast with Minho and Newt before seeing Minho off to tell him not to have too much fun without her. Cassandra had opted to stay in the Glade for the time being in case something else happened. She had felt another pang of loss when she counted their number of Runners. She headed in the direction of the Gardens, spying Alby bringing Thomas out of the kitchen for The Tour. Gally waved at her from his stack of supply boxes and she went over curiously.

She could guess what he had to say though. He patted the spot next to him on the box and she took a seat. Just as she was settling down, she spotted something at the bottom of the crate and leaned down to pick it up. It was Nick's glasses. Gally glanced at her as she stared at it, dumbfounded.

"Nice souvenir," he commented.

"Well, it's mine now," she said.

He grunted in reply. She remembered hating these glasses so much that she wanted to break them into little pieces. Cassandra didn't think she would ever be a sentimental person but this was the only proof that Nick had been a living breathing person that she used to know.

"It's him, isn't it? I recognise him," Gally told her. "He's bad news."

"I'm certainly not ecstatic at seeing him," she grumbled.

"Hmph. Me neither," he responded. "What d'you think is goin' on?"

"I think we're gonna get shucked pretty soon."

She stared off into the distance and as if on cue, the alarm for the Box started ringing. The sound startled everyone in the Glade and she exchanged glances with Gally. They were on their feet in the next heartbeat and raced towards the Box hole. She had the worst feeling ever and it almost made her sick. Alby, Newt and the others met up with them half a moment later. She looked at Newt who wore a similar expression of worry on his face.

"This feels bad," she remarked. "This feels really bad."

"Maybe they forgot to send something up," Winston said hopefully.

"Yeah, doubt that," Gally replied.

They waited around for the lift to arrive, then Thomas and Chuck made their way over to them to check out the commotion as well. After what almost felt like an eternity, there was a loud bang as the lift reached the end of the shaft. Alby and Newt threw open the metal grates and Cassandra walked forwards to peer inside.

"Holy..." Newt said then looked at her with wide eyes.

She gave him the exact same look before turning their attention back to the Box. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was another girl. She was skinny and pale, with long dark hair that fanned around her as she lied completely still at the bottom. Cassandra couldn't tell if she was even breathing. Someone yelled for an explanation and Alby stood up.

"Two Newbies in two days," he muttered distractedly. "Now this. Two years, nothing different except for this shank and now this."

Then he turned to Thomas and demanded to know what was happening. She looked at the boy as well and Thomas merely stared back, his face a portrait of confusion. Cassandra could feel her own heart jump to her throat at what Alby was saying. She was sure now. Bad things were going to happen.

"Why don't you just tell us what the shuck is down there?!" Gally yelled.

"You shanks shut up!" Alby yelled back. "Tell 'em, Newt."

Newt took a moment to compose himself before turning to face the crowd of boys. His face was grave before he gave the announcement. "It's another girl."

All at once, the Gladers erupted into fervent chatter. Some of them yelled stupid things like calling dibs on the girl and it made Cassandra sneer at them in disgust. Newt shushed them before they got even rowdier.

"That's not all of it, though," he said. "I think she's dead."

A hush settled over them for a moment before Alby started barking out orders again. They got a rope to pull the girl out of the Box and Cassandra went down on her knees to help them hoist her over the edge of the hole to lie on the ground. She certainly looked very dead and she was cold to the touch too.

The more curious thing was that Cassandra didn't recognise her. At all. She had no memory of the girl, no recollection or even a hint of familiarity. Nothing. Looking up at the others with undeniably frightened eyes, she shook her head. "Who is she?"

Alby turned on Thomas again. "Why don't you tell us, Greenie?"

Cassandra was just about to open her mouth to speak when the girl gasped and shot up to grab hold of her. She screamed in a blind fright just as Newt and Alby jumped back while swearing loudly. The girl's eyes flew open to reveal bright blue irises that were dazed and out of focus. She blinked and looked up at Cassandra, mumbling something indecipherable under her breath.

Then she spoke in a clear voice, "Everything is going to change."

Her hand slid down Cassandra's arm as she collapsed back to the ground and a piece of paper fell out of it onto the ground. She leaned forwards to pick it up and unfolded the message.

"What is that?" Newt asked and she looked up at him with dread seeping across her face.

He took it from her and spread it across the ground so the others could see as well. Only five words were written in thick blocky letters.

"She's the last one. Ever."

Whoever likes Teresa, raise your hand. (raises hand)