CHAPTER NINE: FOUR DOORS

Athena sat in the chair at the front of the theatre, just a few feet away from the movie screen, and crossed her legs. She scanned her eyes over the text for a few moments before reading the words aloud, her voice much more formal and loud than the others'—a voice you would want to listen to.

     After a quick break to catch their breaths, the three Runners got to their feet and began rushing through the different paths of the Maze—twisting and turning and keeping their thoughts on what had just happened.

It didn't take long for them to make it back to the Glade, which surprised Layla because of how exhausted she was. Perhaps she was just lost in her thoughts again, but it didn't even matter because either way, she had made it back. That's all she cared about.

The three Runners carelessly stepped in a puddle as they made their way over to Gladers who were crowded around the Maze doors. "What the hell's going on out there?" Newt raised a brow at the trio, quickly following them as they pushed through the small crowd.

"The hell you done now, Thomas?" Gally seethed, walking in step next to Layla, much to her annoyance.

     Ares and Thalia glared at the screen. "Him again?" The daughter of Zeus muttered. Ares grumbled curses in agreement, narrowing his eyes at Gally on the screen.

     Layla glared at Gally. There were times where the boy had been kind to her—very, very few times, but it had happened. She had seen his respect for Thomas after they'd fought in the circle during the night of the bonfire, too. She knew Gally could be kind if he cared enough to do so, but he typically wasn't, and that frustrated Layla more than she cared to admit.

"Still hate him." Ares huffed.

"We found something," Thomas turned to face Newt, completely ignoring Gally's comment. "A new passage. We think it could be a way out."

Newt looked shocked at the news, his brows shooting up in surprise. "Really?"

"It's true." Minho confirmed, just as out of breath as Thomas and Layla were. "We opened a door, something Layla and I have never seen before. I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day."

"Wait!" Chuck ran forwards, trying to catch up after he heard what Minho said. "Whoa, whoa, whoa... wait, you're saying you found the Grievers' home? And you want us to go in?"

Thomas nodded, "their way in could be our way out, Chuck." He explained, as patient with the boy as usual.

"He actually is pretty smart." Clarisse shrugged, nodding in approval. She appreciated that he could handle himself in an argument if he wanted to, and put up a decent fight, but it was nice to see that he was using his brains too.

"Yes—he—is." Drew nodded slowly.

Damon and Stefan stared from a distance. "Is she in love with him?" The former asked.

"I don't think she's aware that she doesn't have a chance." Stefan hummed.

"Quiet, she'll hear you!" Demon shushed Stefan, his voice carrying across the room.

Athena paused in her reading, glancing up at the two boys. Multiple heads turned in their direction. Drew frowned, "who will hear you?"

"Nothing." The brothers said in sync.

Athena stared for a moment longer before beginning to read again.

     "Yeah," Gally said sarcastically, completely disagreeing with the idea. "Or there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side. The truth is, Thomas doesn't know what he's done, as usual."

Thalia stood from her seat, angry "did he just—"

Slowly, Malcolm (a son of Athena), who was sitting the closest to her, pulled her back down. At her harsh glare, he turned to face his mother once again as she read.

Thalia huffed. Was he right to pull her back down because Gally wouldn't hear a single one of her insults? Possibly. Did she care? No; she wanted to cuss him out.

Ares' eyes grew brighter, like an angry fire was boiling behind his sunglasses. Conner and Travis began making bets on whether they would melt off or not.

Layla was about to make a comment about how she and Minho had been there too, and Thomas hadn't done a damn thing wrong, but with one look to Thomas, she knew he could defend himself.

A few people smiled at that. Not only did they like the friendship between Thomas and Layla, but they couldn't wait to see Thomas put Gally in his place.

     Thomas scrunched up his face in anger, whipping around to face the boy. "Yeah, well, at least I did something, Gally. I mean, what have you done? Huh? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time?"

Piper stared at the screen thoughtfully. "He doesn't like change." She said.

Leo leaned over, setting his now-empty can of Pringles on the floor. "Hm?"

"Gally." Piper elaborated. "Every time Thomas does something to help, Gally gets mad. I don't think he wants things to change, because he's scared of what that could mean for them."

Leo slowly nodded. "Makes sense."

It was interesting to think that the root of Gally's anger was a fear that he would never speak of.

     Gally squinted his eyes, "let me tell you something, Greenie." He held up three fingers, "you've been here three days, all right. I've been here three years!"

     "Yeah, you've been here three years and you're still here, Gally!" Layla bit back a smile at the comment, fair enough. "All right, so what does that tell you? May— maybe you should start doing things a little differently."

A few people laughed at the look on Gally's face. The boy was getting angrier by the second, his face going red. Not only that, but Thomas had surely won that argument. There was no room for debate. If Thomas could help out so much in three days, then why should Gally be mad?

     "Guys." Teresa suddenly called out, standing off to the side, but the boys kept arguing.

     "Maybe you should be in charge, Thomas, what about that?"

"Fantastic idea."

"The only smart thing he's said the entire movie."

     "Hey!" Layla turned to face Teresa as she raised her voice, "It's Alby! He's awake." Layla's eyes widened in surprise, and she immediately rushed off to Alby.

     "Has he said anything?" Minho asked softly as he brushed past Teresa, walking closer to Alby, who sat on his bed in silence. Alby kept his gaze forward, and his shoulders slouched. Tears were clear on his face.

Instantly, people began to worry for the boy. The faraway look in his eyes was unnerving, and heartbreaking all at once.

"No." Teresa sighed. Layla frowned as she looked at the state that Alby was in, but she was relieved to see that the black veins had faded—and that he no longer felt like death.

Relief spread through the theatre. Based on Layla not sensing death, it was easy to guess that the serum had worked completely, and that Alby was no longer sick. Still, he looked worse than he should've. He was too sad for anyone to feel happy about his recovery.

"Alby..." Newt mumbled, sitting down next to the boy, who didn't even bother to look over at him. "Alby, are you all right?" He was met with silence.

Thomas decided to make his way over to Alby, crouching down on the ground next to him. "Hey, Alby." He paused. "Alby, we might have just found a way out of the Maze." Tears pricked at Alby's eyes once again, threatening to fall. His bottom lip began to quiver slightly. "Do you hear me? We could be getting out of here."

Alby shook his head softly, sniffling as he did so. "We can't." He whispered. Layla frowned, tilting her head. She was trying to figure him out, or guess at what he had seen. Guess at what he had remembered. "We can't leave." He continued to look at the ground in sadness. "They won't let us."

The Gladers weren't aware of who Alby meant, but the theatre full of demigods and gods were—and they were angry. To think that people would test on children like this was unbelievable.

Thomas frowned in confusion, "what are you talking about?"

"I remember." Alby muttered.

"Like Ben." Somebody muttered.

Thomas pursed his lips before sucking in a deep breath, "what do you remember?"

Alby finally turned to face the boy, "you." Thomas' jaw dropped, he didn't dare to say a word.

It didn't come as a surprise. Ben had made it very clear that he saw Thomas too. The contrast, however, was interesting. Now that Alby had his own mind back, it was worrying to see him so upset as he spoke about it.

"You were always their favourite, Thomas. Always." Then, Alby finally seemed to notice Layla, and a look close to fear was suddenly painted on his face.

Hazel frowned. "Why would he be scared?" She wondered.

Nico could only frown at the screen. He didn't want anyone to be scared of Layla.

"You were never like the others." He muttered even softer, as if he didn't want Layla to hear him. "You just wanted to go home. Why are you here?"

Those close to Layla felt a pang of sadness hit them like a truck. Those scientists had kidnapped her while she was probably scared out of her own mind, in another world, and they wouldn't let her go home.

He began to mutter more words under his breath, so quiet that Layla couldn't hear them at all.

Why am I here? Layla thought. The question hit her harder than she expected it to.

Nico barely noticed the tears gathering in his eyes.

Before she could dwell on it, the group of Gladers took notice of people shouting outside, but Alby continued speaking despite the noise. He turned to Thomas again, "why did you do this? Why did you come here?" A tear rolled down his cheek.

Thomas stood up as Alby put his head in his hands, glancing around when he began to take in the sounds of the Gladers outside. Thomas ran for the door, and Layla was quick to follow him, glancing at Alby once more before she left.

Suddenly, Winston rushed by, stopping when Thomas called out, "hey, Winston, what's going on?" Thomas glanced around as the Gladers began to run around the Glade in a panicked fashion.

"Shit." Percy cursed. It was clear to him and everyone else that something bad was about to happen.

Winston held a torch firmly in his hand. "It's the doors." He breathed out, "they aren't closing." He quickly ran off, leaving the others behind as they hastily took in the news.

Leo stared at the screen, wide-eyed. "Shit!" He repeated, even more stressed.

Layla's heart rate picked up slightly, but she tried not to let her nerves get the best of her. She watched as the Gladers ran towards the Maze doors with torches in hand—they stayed wide open.

Nico and Hazel shared worried glances as the thought of their sister getting hurt kept them on edge.

Layla quickly ran after them, the sounds of the other's footsteps were right behind her.

When she reached the doors, she could hear the sounds of clicking from inside the Maze, which made her hands begin to shake. She clenched her fists as a way to stop the shaking, so she could focus on the dark entrance to the Maze up ahead.

Layla and the Gladers stood in silence as they waited for something to happen—anything—even if she wanted nothing more than to run away. She let her instincts take control, analyzing every detail she could so she knew how to act.

Despite their worry, the demigods and gods nodded. Layla had always been a good fighter, a warrior. She knew how to handle scary situations better than most (unless it involved heights). Even whilst lacking her memory of demigod training, the instincts were still there.

A loud booming sound echoed across the Glade, causing her to jump and cover her ears as she searched for the source. Her jaw dropped open at the sight of another set of doors opening from across them.

"Oh no," Frank put his head in his hands. "It's happening."

Jason frowned, "what?"

Leo tapped his arm, "the dream she had, man."

Jason's eyes widened in realization, and he slowly turned to look at the screen in slight panic. Oh.

Layla, despite the chaos, recalled a dream from a few days earlier—a dream of each set of doors opening in the Glade.

Now, everyone was panicking. The realization that there really were four entrances to the Maze was horrifying.

Four. There should be four, she recalled.

Suddenly, another set opened up on the right, then the left. Now, all four openings for the Maze were open wide, perfect entrances for the Grievers.

Frank peaked through his fingers, but he was still very clearly nervous. Everyone else had their eyes wide, staring at the screen.

There was nowhere to go, so Layla knew that she had no choice but to fight.

Athena folded the corner of the page and looked up. At the looks on everyone's faces, she sighed. "I know we agreed to a break, but given the cliffhanger, would you—"

"Read the next chapter!" Apollo shouted. A few people found themselves laughing when they looked to him. His hair was disheveled, and his knees were held closely to his chest.

Athena blinked at him.

Then, she opened the book once more. "All right." She muttered, flipping to chapter ten.

—————
lizzie speaks...

lol cliffhanger oops // how are u guys doing? i genuinely love posting here so much bc everyone is so active and i can actually talk to you. mwah mwah ur my favourite readers, shhh don't tell anyone

btw i love gally, but in the first movie... not so much