Mara had only gone through a few more minutes of her job after giving out the runners' food when a booming siren blasted though the air. Everyone froze, this time Mara knew what that siren signaled.

Another greenie.

Threre was another Glader? What was going on in that place? Would there ever be a quiet day in the Glade?

Everyone in the kitchen immediately stopped what they were doing and bolted for the door, wanting to see this new kid when they arrived. Mara was the first out of the door, pushing towards the box but she was interrupted.

"What's going on?" Thomas asked, pulling her away from the crowd.

"The box. The thing you came up in, its bringing someone else up." Mara told him, wanting to get to the box. It could be another girl, someone she could talk to about anything, sure she had the boys but having a boy best friend isn't the same as having a girl best friend. She could remember that at least.

"So why is everyone freaking out? Isn't this how you all got here?" Thomas sighed in frustration as Chuck wandered towards them. The noisy siren cut off after Thomas spoke, only the chattering of the Gladers could be heard.

"I don't know - guess its always been real regular-like. Once a month, every month, same day." Chuck told him, not mentioning Mara's entrance to the Glade. But that was a good thing, they weren't supposed to tell Thomas, and assuming the next newbie, anything about Mara and how she had apparently changed the Glade. Maybe whoever's in charge realised you were nothing but a big mistake, sent someone to replace you." Chuck giggled, Thomas elbowed him in the ribs.

But it was different for Mara; she knew she was a mistake. She had never meant to go to the Glade. All she could do was pretend she was meant to be there.

"You're annoying. Seriously." Thomas said, but Mara wasn't paying much attention, her vision lingered over the crowd surrounding the box. She was curious, she wanted to know who was coming up in half an hour. But for some reason, she felt like something bad was going to happen.

"Yeah, but we're buddies, now, right?" Chuck asked, sort of snorting with laughter as he spoke.

"Looks like you're not giving me much choice on that one."

"You may be buddies, but Tommy here still likes me more." Mara winked, breaking her thoughts from the box.

"Okay buddies, at least one of you calls me by my name." Thomas smiled at Mara, who reproduced the smile on her own face. "If ya don't, Chuck, I'll throw you down the hole after  the box leaves." Thomas paused. "Wait a minute, have you guys ever-"

"Tried it," Chuck interrupted before Thomas got the chance to finish his sentence.

"Tried what?"

"Going down the box after it makes a delivery." Chuck answered. "It won't do it. Won't go down until it's completely empty."

"I already knew that, but what about-"

"Tried it." Chuck interrupted yet again, causing Thomas to sigh in frustration. Mara didn't blame him, the poor newbie couldn't get a sentence out without Chuck saying 'tried it'. She would've been pretty annoyed if that had been her too, but the box still held her attention. It was her focus, with Tommy and Chuck's words floating around her.

"Man you're hard to talk to. Tried what?" Thomas asked, again sighing in frustration.

"Going through the hole after the box goes down. Can't. Doors will open, but there's just emptiness, blackness, nothing. No ropes, nada. Can't do it."

That changed her thoughts. Nick. He had been the one who had 'tried it'. He had died because of that emptiness, but it hadn't been his fault. Mara knew he hadn't been himself when he jumped down the hole.

"How could that be possible? Did you-"

"Tried it."

"You know what? I'm gonna go look at somethin' interesting and let the two of you keep  yapping on about tryin' stuff." Mara spoke up, but by the time she had finished speaking she was already walking towards the box.

The doors to the box were shut, it hadn't arrived yet. Newt stood on its edge, waiting to yank the doors open when given the signal to. He was the only one there, everyone else was milling around nearby or had gone back to work. It beat waiting around the box for half an hour.

"Hey." Mara smiled as she approached him.

"Hey yourself."

"What'cha think's going on? If they keep comin' up this fast we'll be over capacity by next shuckin' week." Mara said and Newt chuckled.

"Then let's hope that doesn't bloody happen."

"I had another dream last night Newt. And this time, it wasn't jumbled up." This caught Newt's attention fully. He looked up into her light brown eyes, urging her to continue with a slight nod of his head.

"What about?"

"Me and you as kids. Guess who else was there too." Newt shrugged his shoulders. "Tommy."

Newt's head jolted towards the boy himself, who was still near the Homestead talking to Chuck. "What happened? Run me through it bit by bit."

"We were in a back garden, I was drawing and you were playing with a tennis ball. My drawing... you looked over and asked me what it was, and I told you it was called the Glade." Mara told him, his eyes widening. She had lied, but it was to protect him. If Newt knew that he had named the Glade he would have been distraught.

"Bloody hell." He ran his had through his messy blond hair. "How does Tommy come into it?"

"My mother came out with Tommy behind him, said she was introducing him to us. Then she took the drawing and walked off with it. I think that was their inspiration for the Glade. Although this place and my drawing aren't symmetrical, they must've changed bits. Maybe-"

Newt interrupted Mara by placing a finger to her lips, politely telling her to shut up. People had started to walk back over to the box, and it definitely wasn't a good idea to talk about the dreams with nosy Gladers listening in.

Thomas and Chuck walked over to join them but Alby was still in the Homestead, he had gone in there to see Ben. Thomas tugged on the sleeve of Mara's top, making her turn to him.

"Is it really true that one boy got cut in half?" He asked, gulping at the thought.

Mara looked down at the floor. Chuck must've told Thomas about Nick, how else would he have known? She didn't need to answer, Thomas understood by the way she reacted to his question.

"He does not like either of you, man." Chuck shook his head. Mara looked up to see who he was talking about, but instead was greeted by a cold, hard stare from Gally who was standing on the opposite end of the box.

"Yeah, figured that out already." Thomas said.

"Why don't you go ask him what his problem is?" Chuck asked, then he turned to Mara. "Or you could give him a big ol' punch in the face again Mara."

"You punched Gally?" Thomas asked, raising his eyebrows and showing off his smile. He seemed surprised but impressed at the same time.

"Yep, right in the gob."

"But she was punished. Keep that in mind when ya start pickin' a bloody fight with Gally." Newt warned him, Chuck rolling his eyes. He was just trying to look out for Tom, didn't want him punching one of the stronger guys in the Glade on his second day.

A moments silence overthrew their convocation. Gally kept staring in anger, Mara staring back at him as he did.

"Chuck, man, you gotta tell me what this whole changing business is. What have they been doing in there with that poor Ben kid?" Thomas whispered to Chuck, but it was loud enough for Mara to hear him. Judging by Newt's face, he hadn't heard anything. Mara didn't interrupt, she wanted to hear what Chuck had to say, she wanted to know more about the changing.

The boy shrugged. "Don't know the details. The grievers do bad things to you, make your whole body go through something awful. When it's over, you're... different."

"Different? What do you mean? And what does it have to do with grievers? Is that what Gally meant by 'being stung'?" Thomas asked, confusion over his face. Mara had to step in, he couldn't know too much.

"Done with twenty questions yet Tommy?"

A Glade-contained eruption blared out, announcing the box's arrival. Everyone exchanged looks as Newt and Alby took their positions either side of the doors. They both took a hold of the simply made handles on the doors and grunted with effort as they ripped them from their position. A puff of dust and smoke rose from the stone the doors landed with a bang on.

The Glade had gone from slight chatter to complete silence and anticipation, the only noise was the movement and bleating of the goats and other animals from the farm area. Newt leaned over the box to get a better look, as did everyone else, but he was the only one that saw. He jerked backwards, looking straight at Mara.

"What?" She asked, trying to see the greenie from where she stood. Something was wrong, she could feel it.

Newt didn't answer, but by Alby's reaction he had seen inside the box too. A choir of voices suddenly broke into questions as everyone tried to push forward and look inside the box. Who was down there? What was down there? Fear passed through Mara, if it wasn't bad Newt would of told her.

Newt placed his right hand on the small of Mara's back, pulling her closer to him. He leant down to reach her height until he was so close Mara could feel the trace of his lips on her earlobe.

"It's another girl." He whispered to her, no one around able to hear him. "And she looks dead."