ACT III SCENE LI
ATALANTA

"There is no pain so great,
as the memory of joy in present grief."

   THE complete blank space surrounding Cassandra was both restrictive and expansive at the same time. It played with her spatial awareness, making her think that the room stretched on forever all around her. Somehow, it reminded her of the Scorch; except for the stark difference that she was trapped with nowhere to go. Her mind buzzed with everything and nothing at once, neurons firing and tangling together at the same time to create a web of chaos.

She laughed out loud.

Everything seemed too absurd to be real, though their current circumstance didn't really come as a surprise. WICKED built its foundation on lies and deceit.

Minho attempted to poke her telepathically. She guessed that was what he was trying to do by the strange nagging sensation in her cerebral cortex. All those times back in the Glade when they had joked about his brain being broken made her want to laugh again. It had been fine all along and now they were actually talking into each other's minds. She wasn't used to the feeling—as if it was somehow taboo and forbidden.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked.

"Oh, you know, the usual," she replied wryly. "Trying to stay sane."

"Where are you anyway?" She could feel him frowning.

"I don't know. I'm on my own in a white padded cell."

"Yeah, me too."

Everything that WICKED did made absolutely no sense to her despite the fact that they kept insisting that it was for the 'greater good'. They had told them to listen, that they would understand once everything was over. Cassandra didn't think any of this would ever be over unless it resulted in her death.

"How long has it been since we've been separated?" she asked.

"No idea," Minho replied. "I just woke up in this place a couple of hours ago and one of those slintheads told me to talk to you. I thought they were being crazy at first but I started hearing Brenda in my head. It was pretty weird."

"Brenda?" She frowned. Apparently, the girl had more secrets than she was letting on.

"Teresa and Thomas send their regards too," he told her dryly. "So I'm part of your mind gang now, huh? 'Bout time, sheesh."

Cassandra grinned at his attitude. She was glad that he was still able to act so nonchalantly about their situation. It made her feel less anxious knowing that he wasn't going ballistic with their newfound predicament. She could feel Thomas and Teresa were nearby but it was difficult to reach out to them. They were either out of her range or their connection was being dampened again.

She had absolutely no concept of time in that white-walled room. Neither she nor Minho knew exactly how many days had passed since they were all separated from the Berg. Teresa had clued him in briefly before she mysteriously vanished and Thomas was in no better position than them.

Eventually, there was only one thing that kept her cognizant of the time she spent there. Someone would slip food into her room through a small opening at the bottom of the door. It came three times a day, though irregularly as if they were doing it on purpose to confuse her.

Most of the time, she would simply talk to Minho until one of them fell asleep.

She was already starting to yearn for physical contact by the sixth day when the door to her cell opened. The sound of the bolt turning in its lock had instantly woken her up from her light nap and she was scrambling to her feet by the time the intruder stepped into the room.

It was the Rat Man.

Cassandra scowled at the sight of his stupid face, though she didn't feel surprised at seeing him there. He gave her that same mendacious smile before lifting his hands up in the air as a gesture of peace.

"How have you been, Cassandra?" he asked amicably with his strange lilting accent.

"Readying myself to kick your ass at the first opportunity." She smiled back in the same affected tone.

He chuckled. "Now, now, there's no need for those theatrics."

"You didn't come to see me to have small talk," she snapped. "What do you want?"

"Always so forthright," he mused. "We thought you might like to see someone."

Her senses perked at his statement and she instinctively looked towards the door. She hated how he was still able to manipulate her but there was no way she was going to pass up an opportunity to see Minho or the others again.

"Fine," she said at last.

Rat Man's expression grew smug before he turned around to step out of the room. Two armed guards were waiting in the hallway outside as Cassandra stepped through the door. Rat Man stood outside the room right next to hers and opened it with his keycard. He peered inside while Cassandra waited with bated breath.

"Follow me," Rat Man ordered at whoever was inside.

"No hugs and kisses?" A familiar voice called out. "I've missed your ugly face."

Cassandra immediately broke out into a wide grin. "Minho!"

He stepped through the doorway, eyes widening when he caught sight of her. "Cassie," he breathed out. The urge to hug him was strong but the armed guards made her hesitate.

"Follow me," Rat Man instructed them. "Don't try anything or else you'll be fired upon."

He started to march both of them down the familiar corridors of the WICKED complex. Cassandra found them to be far too familiar. She could feel her heart beating nervously inside her chest, trying to find some kind of security to ease the trepidation she felt. Even though she could put on a brave face if she wanted to, she was still ultimately afraid of what WICKED could possibly do to them. It didn't seem like they would spare any quarter to get what they wanted.

After what seemed like an eternity, Rat Man stopped in the middle of a hall with rows of numbered doors on both sides.

"Minho is in room number eight," he announced. "Cassandra is in room number seven."

They exchanged glances with each other before crossing their arms and scoffing at the man. "Oh, really?" Minho asked. "And what are we supposed to do in there?"

"A simple test," the Rat Man answered. "Nothing like the Trials before, I assure you. This will probably be the easiest of all the tests we've created, and I think the shortest. You will be asked one question and one question only, and the answer will consist of exactly one word. Sound simple enough?"

Cassandra narrowed her eyes at him. "There must be a catch."

"You actually think we could ever trust you, shuckface?" Minho asked.

"Excuse me?" Rat Man raised an eyebrow at his choice of vocabulary.

Minho shook his head in annoyance. "I swear to God that if you do one more thing to Cassie or me, or our friends, I won't quit fighting until I'm dead."

A smirk spread across the man's face and Minho was outwardly bristling with anger. Cassandra felt apprehension take root. The man hadn't specifically said that this would be the only test they would have to take.

"I give you my word," Rat Man started in a placating manner. "That your response alone will dictate what happens. Everything from this point on is voluntary. The Trials are over."

"I never volunteered," Cassandra said quickly.

He regarded her with an almost venomous look. "Fine, you can leave. Although your participation would have greatly helped your friends."

"You're lying," she hissed back.

She hated him so much, she could feel her entire body tremble with red hot anger. Rat Man nodded to the guards to take her away but she pulled away from them.

"Cassie, what if he's really telling the truth?"

"That's what I'm afraid of."

They looked at each other again and she could see grim uncertainty in Minho's eyes.

"Fine, we'll do it," she huffed begrudgingly.

"Excellent." The Rat Man smiled and gestured towards the doors once more. "Now if you're ready."

With a heavy sigh, Cassandra parted ways with Minho as they went to their designated rooms.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

this is so overdue but welcome back to the story whooo!! i hope you're excited because i am totally excited (for chapter 4 muahahaha).

btw i highly recommend that you read "the maze runner files" (you can find it online and it's very short!) because you will understand the next few chapters SO much more, like no kidding. the test they'll be going through is connected and if you read the files, you'll understand how. plus a lot of cassie's backstory is based around the files, especially for chapter 3 where she learns more about the trials. and the tmr universe will make a lot more sense too lol.