Author stuff: I'm hungry again.

Oh, hey, look! It's Graham! Remember him? It's been a long while.


Chapter 27

In Which Graham Reappears (Dude, Where Have You Been?)

It didn't take long for the Creators to supply Newt with a pair of crutches and, shortly after that, he was mobile. True to his Runner nature, he couldn't sit still for very long. He ended up helping out in the Gardens where he could, which wasn't much, and he'd help the Runners by mapping in the evenings. They even created a new job just for him: Map-maker.

Flossy knew he was getting restless. She understood the feeling. She was starting to get restless just being in the Glade. She hadn't thought it was possible before then, but there she was watching the North gate to the Maze during her mid-afternoon break.

"What are you doing?" Graham said, tapping her shoulder. She jumped at his touch and voice.

"Oh, uh," she said, "hey. Long time no see."

"What are you doing?"

"Just… thinking."

"About going into the Maze?"

"What? No! No. Not that. Just… thinking. About what's out there, you know? What life beyond the Walls is like."

"Can't be too good if we're sent here." He placed a hand to his forehead, shading his eyes. He still squinted. Wherever they were, the sun was very bright.

"Maybe we're near the Equator," she said absentmindedly.

"What?"

"The Equator – the invisible line that encompasses the Earth, splitting into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres?"

"How do you know that – Why do you know that?"

"Don't know. I just do." She paused for a moment. "Do you think I'm right?"

"About what?"

"Being near the Equator."

He shrugged.

"I don't know anything about geography to give you an answer," he said. "You should ask Gally. Maybe he'd know."

"Why would I –"

"Have fun!"

He patted her shoulder and waved to someone behind her. She turned to look and see. Of course it was Gally.

"Oh, um, hi!" she said, wiping her hands on her cargos. She hoped that she didn't leave behind too many finger streaks. "What's, uh, what's going on? The Builders giving you a headache?"

He scratched the back of his neck and scuffed his shoe on the ground, his eyes not meeting hers.

"Just checking in," he said, shrugging.

"You saw me looking at the Maze, too?"

"You're not thinking about asking Nick if you can try out too, are you?"

"What? No. No! Just… thinking about what life is like outside of the Maze. Is it really that bad that they had to send us here?"

"It's bad out there," Gally said, glaring at the North door.

She frowned.

"How do you know?" she said, looking him up and down.

"I was stung."

"Stung?"

"Yeah."

"Like, by a Griever?"

"That's… that's kind of the only way here. Other than bees."

She crossed her arms.

"Why am I hearing about this for the first time?" she said.

He blinked down at her, mouth gaping.

"Archie didn't tell you?" he said.

"No? Wait, Archie knows?"

"Yeah, I figured… Shuck." He rolled up his left sleeve, showing off a horrific scar to her. The bump was raised, with vine-like trails spreading out and around. She hadn't realized she'd reached up to touch it until the pads of her fingers brushed his skin. She retracted her hand instantly.

"What," she said, wanting to turn away but not offend him, "what happened?"

"I didn't listen to the rules. And I went into the Maze and got stung."

She reached out and touched the scar again, purposefully this time. Her palm settled on it, fingers curling around his bicep. Goose flesh pimpled up, raising the hairs on his arm. He didn't seem to mind in the least.

"And it stung you."

"Yeah."

"How are you alive?" She turned her attention away from the scar and back to his face. She swore she heard him suck in a gasp of air. "I thought a Griever sting would kill you. Why do you remember things then? Does the sting do that, make you remember?"

"Bits and pieces, but it's really the Griever serum that does that. And I would have died if it wasn't for the serum. The Creators send it up every week with the medicinal supplies. Surprised you haven't noticed."

"No, I noticed, it's just… We don't use them very often. At all, actually."

"Because shanks don't go running off in the Maze unless they're Runners. Or slintheads, like Archie."

"Archie's always been a slinthead. I'm surprised it's taken you this long to notice." She gave him a little smile. He returned it.

She turned away the second she felt her breath hitch in her throat at his smile. No. Gally was just a friend, a friend. He didn't think of her in… that way.

She cleared her throat, hoping to dislodge her heart that had jumped up there and refused to budge on its own.

"Were we friends?" she said, picking at the skin around her left thumb. She couldn't look him in the eye. Although, when he didn't respond, she was forced to turn and see why.

There was a… well, she couldn't describe it as more than a 'look' in his eyes — distant and far away, sad and mournful, as if some great tragedy had taken over. As if he was reliving some sort of nightmare.

"Gally?" she said quietly, taking his hands in her own.

It took a few more tries of calling his name, but eventually she got his attention again.

"Sorry," he said, ruffling his hair with his hands. "I, uh, I have to go back to work."

She was left standing there until Zart found her, reminding her that she had a job to do.


She didn't see Gally until after dinner that day. Nick had pulled the Keepers away to talk about the Runner trials, and they hadn't returned until the near end of the meal. And then they and the boys who'd trained to be Runners and Adne were all called into the Gathering room in the Homestead.

With more than half of her dining buddies gone, she felt rather vulnerable at her table. Jeff tried to cheer her up by making his asparagus dance for her, but the humor of it didn't last very long.

"Wonder what's taking so long for them to decide who it'll be," she said, stirring her creamed corn into her mashed potatoes. Jeff looked at what she was doing in horror. She rolled her eyes. "No one can really replace Newt."

"They're giving everyone who wants to actually be a Runner a chance to talk."

She looked behind Jeff to see a Builder – she only knew he was a Builder because she'd seen him around Gally and Archie during the day. He didn't have a very memorable face. His hair was mousy, his skin was tan, and his eyes were dark.

"Hey, Ash," Jeff said. "How's the leg doing, any better?"

Ash sat down next to Jeff, nodding. She didn't know what was wrong with his leg, but since she knew his job she knew that he probably injured himself while he was working.

"Don't think we've ever had a proper talk," Ash said, holding out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Ash."

"Flossy," she said. She reached out and shook his hand, mostly out of politeness. Something in the pits of her stomach told her to be wary.

"Everyone knows who you are."

"Of course they do," Jeff said, "she was the only Girlie for months. Now we have Adne. So, two Girlies."

"I also flipped him over my back one time when he was retrieving a sock."

Ash chuckled. He looked at his hands and then up to Flossy.

"Speaking of Adne," he said, "what do you know about her?"


Author stuff cont'd.: So, Flossy knows Gally was stung now. But what was up with his reaction to her question? Did he actually know her before the Maze?

Hmmmmm…