THIRD PERSON POV

"Okay, I don't understand why everything weird that happens here somehow connects to Thomas," Gally exclaimed. All of the Keepers sat in the Council shack, discussing the latest news.

"Octavia wasn't connected to him in any way," Newt suggested.

"I'm sure there's something," Gally fought. "He may be dangerous. We shouldn't have let Nick talk to him last night."

"Gally, he'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?" Frypan asked.

"Um, I don't know, Thomas will kill him? Did you not notice how Thomas freaked out yesterday? It was totally foolish for us to let him go!"

"Alright, if anything happens, we can lock Tommy up, but for now, we need to trust him."

"I won't ever trust him, Newt."

"Fine. How 'bout we all go and find Tommy right now. We know where his little spot is. That's where he always goes when he wants to be alone. It makes sense. Let's go." At that, the Keepers got to their feet and started out of the building. It was a quiet day. Nobody really spoke after yesterday's incident. The Keepers looked like outsiders-this big group walking in the middle of a deserted field, making their way to the dense forest.

"I wonder why it always has to be Thomas," Minho said, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" Gally asked, unnecessarily.

"Well, a girl shows up and she likes Thomas, none of us. She leaves, and then Thomas saves her. He's the one she lies to first, despite her feelings. And then Nick comes up and announces that he knows Thomas, ans then Thomas freaks out. It's always him."

"I agree, which is why I think he isn't safe. We need to find out why everything goes back to him."

"What do you think?" Newt asked Gally.

"I'm not sure. I don't think it's anything small, though." Newt nodded and looked ahead. The woods were near. He took a deep breath and whispered to himself, "Oh Tommy, who are you?"

"Guys, look!" someone yelled. Everyone stopped and stared at the forest. There was someone running. The figure was getting bigger as it got closer. No one could make out who it was until whoever it was until the figure was a few meters from them.

"Nick!" Gally shouted. The boy seemed to be out of breath. He skidded to a stop in front of the Gladers. He was panting harder than ever as he dropped to his knees.

"Gu-uys," he managed. Newt and Gally got onto one knee and Newt put a hand on Nick's shoulder.

"Nick, what's happened?" Frypan asked.

"Th-thom-mas."

"Thomas? Something about Thomas?" Gally questioned. Nick raised a hand and gave a thumbs-up to say 'yes'.

"Okay, um...did anything bad happen?" Newt asked, wanting answers. Something else happened with Thomas. Newt needed answers. Why was Thomas so important?

"He...he, uh..." Nick seemed to be getting better. His breathing stabilized, and he stood up, Gally and Newt followed. "He vanished."

"I don't get it." Everyone sat in a circle, listening to Nick's astonishing story. The scorching sun was slowly setting, and darkness sneaked on them. "Tell us again."

"Sure. Thomas and I were talking, figuring things out, and then he just disappeared into thin air."

"Just like that?" Newt asked with a raised eyebrow. Nick nodded. It was so crazy. Some Keepers were shaking their heads. They didn't believe that someone could vanish without a trace.

"Well, if we had doubts about Thomas being special, not anymore," Gally sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"It doesn't make sense, Nick," Minho admitted.

"What, you think I'm lying?" Nobody said anything. "Look, I am telling you what happened, okay?"

"Nick, just leave us and go relax for a bit. We need to discuss this." Nick jumped to his feet before Gally could finish his sentence. He walked away from the group with a smile on his face. Nick stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He opened it up, and read over and over again what it said.

Meet me in the spot after you did it to him.

-Octavia

Octavia sat against the wall of the towering maze wall in the woods. She laughed. From what Thomas had told her, this must have been one f the most visited places in the Glade. At least by him. Darkness was falling upon the Glade, and she was becoming worried. Nick wasn't anywhere to be seen. Had he not did what the letter asked? Octavia brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them as much as she could.

Something in her pocket pressed against her hip bone, and she brought her knees down to take whatever it was out of her pocket. Her fingers curled around something in the shape of a circle, and Octavia unfolded her fingers, pulled her hand back out. It was that rock that she had found. Memories rushed into her head like waves onto a sandy beach. That's when she remembered why she was really-

A rustle in the bushes snapped Octavia back to reality. She leaped to her feet and froze. The noises were getting closer. She didn't move. A shadowed figure appeared in the woods. Octavia understood who it was when she looked closer.

"Nick, come out," Octavia said, annoyed. Nick stepped out of the brush, roaring with laughter.

"I really scared 'ya, didn't I?"

"That took a long time, what the hell happened?" Octavia asked, grinning.

"Those guys wouldn't let me go. They made me repeat the story over and over again because they didn't believe me."

"So it worked?"

"What?"

"Thomas..."

"Yeah, I managed to do it to him. Everything worked out the way it was supposed to." Nick took small steps towards Octavia while they spoke.

"So, what now? Do we continue dong this, or do we get back to headquarters?" Octavia asked. She tried to ignore Nick getting closer to her every second.

"I don't know, I'm sure that they'll contact us soon. But after what you did, I think they will let us stay."

"...What I did?" Octavia wondered, cocking her head to the left slightly.

"Yeah. You kissed Thomas, told Gally that you worked for WICKED, went into the Maze, and jumped off. You're doing great."

"Okay, everything before the rock was real. I did have feelings for Thomas. After that, well-I'd say that was an act."

"Why'd you tell Gally you worked for WICKED? Nick asked. That wasn't part of the plan.

"It kind of just came to me, I didn't know what to say. The words flew out of my mouth. Besides, we'll have to get out of this place sooner or later, anyway."

"Well, control what flies out of your mouth. We can't let secrets like that escape. Not yet. But jumping off? You should be glad we healed you, or else you would have died."

"Thanks for that, by the way. Oh, and why didn't my memories stay with me when I got here? You remembered everything. It took some time for me to find that rock."

"Sorry. System failure. But you did good. You are such a great actress." Octavia smiled and kissed Nick. She waited for this moment ever since her memories came flying back to her.

"So, we just keep up the act, and we'll be good."

"Yup," Nick smiled. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Nothing else mattered at the moment. Nothing at all.