That was not okay. That woman could do anything she wanted to Mara, torture and kill, but she wasn't going to lay a finger on Newt. If she did Mara was going to make it her mission to make the woman's life hell.

"Mara?" The girl turned to see Adam gradually getting closer to her, covered in sweat and mud. He must have been busy at work all day with the crops. "It's gettin' late. Best to get to bed."

"I would if this shank would move out of my bloody way." Mara replied, gesturing at Gally who raised his hands as if innocent, and stepped out of the way to leave the door frame empty and free to pass through. "Thank you."

Mara stepped through the door, Adam followed behind but Gally stepped in front, stopping him from entering the Homestead.

"Where are you going shuckface?" Gally asked with a snide smile.

"With Mara. Make sure your shuck ass stays down here and leaves her alone." Adam replied, pushing Gally out of the way to get to Mara. She smiled as he reached her, making sure to look back at Gally and laugh before she turned to go upstairs.

"She was talking to me shank." Gally called out as Mara and Adam stepped up the crooked staircase.

"How come I'm always saving you're ass from Gally?" Adam asked with a laugh, turning back to look at Mara as they reached the top of the stairs. Even though he was laughing, there was something in his eyes that made him come across as sad but Mara couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Because he's always got some way he thinks he can wind me up with." Mara said, reaching over to her bedroom door and pushing it open. She wanted to check in on Ben, but she couldn't do that with Adam there.

Mara walked inside leaving Adam to close the door behind him as she walked over to her bed and sat down. Then she pushed herself backwards to look at the ceiling. It was something she did whenever she was in her room; it helped her think then clear her head before she went to sleep at night.

"How've you been anyway?"

Mara sat up to look at Adam who was leaning with one foot on the wall opposite her and his arms folded. She took a few seconds to process the question that had come out of the blue. How had she been? Wasn't that pretty obvious?

"Uh, you mean aside from being the cause of most of the problems here? Aside from everything else? Just bloody dandy." She said, looking away from Adam as she spoke. She was trying to be playful and friendly, but it didn't seem like Adam took it that way at all.

"Shuck Mara, just making conversation. We've hardly spoken at all." He shrugged

"I've been here a few days, how much can I talk to you in that time span?" She didn't understand, did he expect her to stay around him all the time? Sure, she hadn't grown as close to him as Newt and Minho, but they were still friends. She still knew him better than a lot of the Gladers.

"More than you have." He mumbled, rolling his eyes at her as he lowered his foot from the wall.

"Adam, you're one of my friends here so if you're feeling ignor-"

"You know what, I think I left some crops unattended." He interrupted, leaving no time for Mara to say anything as he pried the door open, but what he didn't expect was to see Newt standing in the doorway. He apologised and stepped aside, letting Adam leave before he walked into the room and shut the door quietly behind him.

"What's his problem?"

"Ah, Adam? Poor kid went through the changing last year, gets angry real quickly. It's not his fault." Newt told her; he always had something nice to say about everyone, even Gally, which Mara didn't understand at all. "Speaking of the changing, Ben's better now. Alby and Minho are gonna go look for some grievers in the maze tomorrow, see if they can find out why everyone's been gettin' stung."

"But what if it happens to one of them? What if Alby or Minho is stung?" Mara asked, two of the most important people were going into the maze together to look for 100% alive grievers who could ruin their lives with just one sting.

"Mara, they're gonna be fine. Stop bloody worrying 'bout it." He shook his head but a slight chuckle came from his throat as he sat down next to Mara.

A loud crash came from below them, but it wasn't from inside the Homestead. It came from the direction of the toilet, followed by Gally's voice. "I'm gonna kill you shuckface!"

Mara stood up and was about to make a bolt to the door but Newt held her back. She furrowed her brow and turned back to him, why didn't he want to help? Someone was downstairs on the receiving end of Gally, and that was never a good sign.

"Hey- hey, leave it." He exclaimed, pulling Mara back to sit on the bed. She pulled herself onto her bed and sat cross legged facing Newt. "Alby's down there, he can deal with the shank."

"But-"

"Shh." Newt chuckled, holding a finger to Mara's lips. His touch was soft and gentle against Mara's lips, making her smile a little. "Go to sleep. You need to try to get some rest. You look bloody knackered love."

"And you?"

"I'll be right here." Newt said, gesturing to the room around them. "Need to stay up and check on Ben through the night. Oh, and by the way, we put your box of things under your bed."

"Thanks." Mara smiled, reaching under her bed to pull out an opened crate. It contained everything she needed. Sifting through the items she found a small wooden hairbrush with black bands wrapped around its handle. She removed one band and kept it on her arm as she brushed through her tangled hair.

Newt sat down and watched Mara pulled all of her hair to one side and plaited it down to it's tips. It took her a few minutes to reach the end of her extending hair but eventually she tied the band around the bottom. Mara looked up at Newt, who was still staring, and smiled.

"Goodnight Newt." Mara said, climbing into bed after she had taken off her combat boots and fitted them into the crate, which slid back under the bed. For a change, Mara felt herself falling asleep as soon as her eyes shut. She could still feel Newt's eyes on her, but it comforted her. Anyway, her day had been enough to make her just want to sleep.

-

This time Mara's dream was different. She was there with Newt, both of them looking about six or seven years old. They were sitting in a small grass-covered area with a stone pathway surrounding the area as well as tall wooden fencing that encased the area.The stone pathway reached a similar wooden fence gate, where it went Mara didn't know, but the place they were in seemed fake.

Mara and Newt sat with their backs against the wooden fence on the opposite side of the gate. Newt was holding a small baseball, throwing it into the air and catching it every few seconds while Mara sat with a notebook and pencil in her lap.

"Where's that?" Newt asked, a higher pitch voice than what he had now. He was peering over Mara's shoulder at the notebook, at the pencil markings covering the page. She looked up to him.

"I just draw what I see. It's just in my head." Mara smiled, looking back at the sketch.

"Have you named it yet?"

"Not yet. What could I call it?" Mara asked, turning to Newt. His features were still the same as the older Newt she knew but his face was more baby-like, if that was possible. Even the Newt she knew had a baby face.

"The Glade." He said, looking proud for his answer.

"Why?"

"A glade is an open space in a forest. You drew gaps here," Newt pointed to the maze entrance, but instead of the maze there were thousands of trees dotting the outside area. "They lead to a forest. It makes sense."

Mara took hold of her pencil in her left hand and scribbled the words 'The Glade' across the bottom right hand corner of the page. Underneath that, she wrote both Newt and her own name. "Now it's ours."

Both of their attention was snapped away by the gate being pushed open, two figures stepping into the small garden area.

"Great." Mara mumbled under her breath.

"Marie, that is no way to speak." The woman spoke, a woman Mara recognised as her mother. "I would like you both to meet Thomas, he will be joining us at W.I.C.K.E.D." She walked over to the two of them who stood, a small Thomas stood slightly behind her with swelled up eyes. As she did she noticed the sketchbook in Mara's hand and snatched it from her hands, looking down at the drawing. "What's this?"

"It's The Glade. An open space in a forest."

"Interesting." The woman said, ripping the page from the book which she handed back to Mara, keeping the drawing in her hands. "Go on Thomas." She pushed the boy forward.

"But my drawi-"

"It was useless anyway." Her mother interrupted, crumpling the page into a ball and sticking it into her pocket as she walked off, closing the gate behind her.