38 Dawn

"You have to admit, it is a bit suspicious."

Smoke pillows out of the oven, and I cough as I try to grab the pig out from inside the inferno. I shrug, though from the loud chopping behind me, I know Frypan isn't paying any attention to my gesture. There are currently too many people in the kitchen for me to acknowledge what he is saying.

Dave has come to help out, since the new room of the Homestead is almost done. Then there is that prankster Frankie, who is responsible for the pig head in the oven when I first started working here. And Joe, who is in the kitchen almost as much as Frypan, but who has never said a word to me.

"I don't," I correct, struggling not to choke on the smog.

We normally have two more people in here helping out around dinner time, but apparently other people are busy. Which doesn't actually make sense to me, except for that they just are moving slowly. Before he was a Runner, Stephen was a Bagger who helped out in the kitchen sometimes. I think the boys are trying to avoid the kitchen as best as they can.

Mourning is a funny thing. I couldn't even imagine what it taste like, but it sends shivers up my spine regardless. And not the good kind.

"Fry-"

"I'm serious," he cuts off Dave as he tries to speak. "You know it too Dave. Things haven't been the same."

I grab hold of the pig with my oven mitts, moving in on to the island in the middle of the Kitchen. "And what exactly was it like before, huh Fry? Was it better?"

"Well it sure as shuck ain't worse." He notes, not glancing up from the orange carrots at the tips of his fingers.

"I'm sure you believe in coincidences Fry." Dave rationalises with the boy, from where he smashes potatoes to mush.

Dave seems to be pretty strong from working with the Builders. How Michelle manages to keep her eyes off of him and do her work astounds me. I mean, he doesn't look anything too impressive. Regular cropped sandy brown hair, and a straight toothed smile. Strong build but average height, and freckles across his cheeks. Maybe attractive isn't her type.

His eyes are blue though, and they couldn't compete with Minho's.

"You're kidding," Frankie shakes his dark black hair. He has darker skin, and a crooked smile that fits his goofy demeanor. "No offense Dee, but you did have a nasty run in with a Griever the first time you stepped in the Maze, so forgive me if I'm a bit suspicious."

"Yeah, no offense Frankie, but you did put a giant pig-head in the oven on my first day, so forgive me if I'm a bit suspicious." I snap back.

Frankie's face tinges pink, but his eyes flush with a grin when he hears Fry laughing behind him.

"Dawn's got it in her, ain't she?" He looks up from the carrots, and I realise he wasn't trying to attack me. All he needed was a bit of reassurance that I was on his side. And I am. Until the end I will be on Frypan's side. And that includes everyone in the kitchen.

"What do you think Joe?" I ask, glancing over at the boy as he shucks corn. "Think I'm a menace to society."

"Joe doesn't think," Frankie jokes, sticking his tongue back at the boy. "He just grunts and shuffles."

Joe scrunches his nose up, before shooting Frankie a glance.

"Careful Frankie," Fry warns, "last guy to cross Joe-"

"-got food poisoning or some other klunk, I am well aware of your idle threats Fry, but believe me when I say I am not afraid to start a prank war."

"I am afraid of you starting a prank war," Dave drops the mashed potatoes in a large pot next to Fry, before shrugging. "Anyway, duty calls. Someone ruined the drywalling today, so I want to finish it before somebody else shucks it up tomorrow."

"Please, you'll finish it tonight and a Builder will still manage to shuck it up." Frankie takes hold of the potatoes before he moves them elsewhere.

I shake my head from side to side, but a smile plays on my lips as Dave exits the door. The kitchen is my home, and all of the people in it. I never thought I would actually enjoy working in this place, but it is a sort of thrilling. We get so many different people in and out every day; it is like exploring the world from this small corner. Of course, in a few weeks I am going to try my hardest to get off my feet and into the Glade.

I am nothing if not an adventurer, and that Glade is at my fingertips.

"You're good too, Dawn." Frypan tells me. "So long as that pig is done."

I nod, dropping the oven mitts off my hand, and turning around to turn off the oven. "So dinner in what, an hour?"

He turns his head, looking over at Joe. Joe silently nods, before Frypan turns back to me.

"Half that time."

"Ooh, look at that," I head to the door as I hear Frankie laughing. "Dinner might actually be served lukewarm tonight instead of frigid. Frypan, you-"

I head out the door, escaping the last of Frankie's joke.

Frankie got kicked out of the Blood house after a prank gone wrong. Now, no one will tell me exactly what it was, only that it was awesome and that Winston is still itchy. Dave only joins us to get out of building early, and if you ask me he is both way too nice and way too kind to be a Builder. And I know as much about Joe as I do about trigonometry, which is to say nothing.

When I close the door, I see Leo leaning over the box hole, staring down at the metal that covers it. Odd as Curly, I can't help but wonder what she is doing. In a few short steps, I am next to her, leaning forward.

"What are you up to?"

She flinches at my voice, before she looks over at me. Her mouth opens, and then closes as her brow furrows. She turns back to the box hole, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Remember how I said I would talk to Minho?" She asks.

Of course, I couldn't forget. Did she already? I was trying to get to him before her, but it's been hard to find him. He's been more than distant since Stephen's funeral. Is it because she said something.

"I realised I need to trust you more," she begins, glancing from the box hole to me. "Because, right now I'm not being a good..." Leo trails off before she sighs. "I'm not being good for you. Whenever I try to tell people what to do it only seems to backfire."

"So you're condoning-"

"I am not condoning anything," she looks back at me, her eyes wet as the wind whips through our hair. Why does everything seem so serious for her? "Trust me, I think what you and Minho are doing is so very stupid. I, however, am accepting that you have just as much agency as me, and I can't stop you and Minho from doing whatever you want. Just tell him that Newt knows that something is up, and that you need to be more careful."

My head spins around until I am looking at Minho and Newt. "Newt knows?"

"Klunk, I didn't..." Leo trails off again as she forms her idea into a sentence. "Newt doesn't know that it is you and Minho, but he knows that it is a girl and a boy. Don't let him puzzle it together, alright? For his sake as much yours."

"Sure," I brush her off, because all I can think about is Minho. His eyes and his smile, and his thoughts.

He glances up at me, before he smiles.

My feet are moving towards before I hear Leo calling out my name, and before I hear her feet shuffling after mine.

"How's your day been?" I ask, looking up to Newt and Minho.

Leo huffs behind me, as she catches up, placing a hand over her chest.

Newt gives us an odd glance, before he huffs out a smile. "Pretty good. A couple of accidents. I see you've heard the news."

"The news?" I ask.

Minho looks from Newt, to Leo to me, and that back at all three of us again. As if he is deciding whose side he is on.

"Yeah, news." He speaks begrudgingly, which makes Newt send him an odd look, and then me an odd look.

Woah, there is way too much going on right now. Especially in all these glances going around. So I know that Newt knows something is up. Leo knows that I know, but she also knows that Newt and Minho don't know. Minho thinks only Leo is on to us, and has no idea, as far as I know, that Newt thinks something is up. As far as I can tell, Newt is suspicious, but then again so is Frypan and so is everybody. This is too exhausting to think about.

Basically, I need to tell Minho about Newt, but I can't. It also seems that Newt and Minho know something that I don't know.

"What's the news?" Leo asks, cocking her head to the side.

Newt squints at her, before looking down. "Right, I was going to tell you today, but then a couple disasters later-"

"Disasters?" Minho and I say at the same time.

Minho is just to the right of me, and he and I both look at each other as we say it, before glancing away. I feel his hand reaching behind me, and slipping something in my back pocket.

"A Builder fell, and a Runner twisted his ankle," Leo tells us, glancing at me. "I thought Newt would've told you Minho."

"I did," Newt begins. "That's why we have news."

Newt cast Minho a glance, with furrowed brows and eyes that squint in a "Why Are You Being So Weird" glance. Minho responds by widening his eyes and huffing out a breath of air in a "I Am Not Being Weird, Why Are You Making This Weird By Asking Me Why I Am Being So Weird" look. Leo bites her cheek in a "Dear God This Can't Be Happening, What Have I Gotten Myself Into, And Why Is It Always Me Who Gets Involved In These Terrible Situations" way. I can only imagine my face sports a "What The Shuck Is Going On" expression that no one notices or answers.

"There is-"

"Going to be a new Runner," Minho cuts off Newt, and looks straight at me as he says it, but still grimaces at the words.

Why didn't he want to tell me? Is this what they've been hiding?

"Yeah, so we are going to be looking at candidates soon," Newt continues. "As soon as we fly it by Alby. There's already a few people we have in mind. We'll bring it up at the next Gathering anyway."

"More Runners?" I ask.

Newt's shoulders fall. "You're not still hung up on that are you?

"We don't take on new Runners until they've been here at least a month, and we don't have the time to wait for you to get there." Newt gives Minho another weird look after he speaks, but I pay it no mind. I can tell that Minho isn't telling me the entire truth of the matter. So what exactly is he hiding from me?

I nod, before the bell rings. Dinner already? Not even half an hour it seems.

"Well, that's dinner." Leo drags me off a little too quickly, which makes Newt send the two of us a weird glance.

I turn, shrugging myself out of her grip, as I look back at Newt and Minho.

Minho lowers his hand to his pocket, as he bites his lip.

Right, he gave me something.

When I reach inside, I find a strip of paper, coiled up. I unroll the sheet, to reveal in scratchy handwriting:

Tomorrow night in the Map room.

~~~~~~~

Fun game: drink every time someone gives some one a weird look.

This is going to get interesting.