"I think he's waking up." Sadie whispered, climbing out of her chair beside Thomas's bed to peer down at his face. Chuck rushed over his eyes wide and hopeful as the two leaned over the Glader. "Chuck go get someone, tell them Thomas is waking up." The boy nodded and trotted off, casting another glance back before leaving the two. Thomas looked like klunk. Similar to Alby and Ben, thick veins lined his arms and chest, but they were fading and his color was coming back.

"Thomas? Hey Thomas you awake?" Sadie asked poking his cheek and tapping his forehead as she leaned in closer. Thomas groaned and his eyes shot open to see the too close and pissed looking face of Sadie.

"Sadie!" He yelped jumping up and accidentally head-butting her forehead with his.

"Ow! For shucks sake Thomas!"

"Why were leaning in so much? It's your fault!"

"My fault?" Sadie hissed her eyes narrowing. "I was just checking to see if you were awake shank." She rubbed at her forehead wincing at the growing ache above her eyebrows. Sadie felt simultaneously relieved and angry to see Thomas awake. He'd been out for three days, and just like Gally promised one Glader had been taken each day. Including Zart. Stupid shank and his stupid idea. Could've gotten himself killed.

"Jeez you have a thick head Sadie." Thomas complained as he pulled himself into a sitting position and rested his back against the headboard.

"Says the guy who tried to crowd surf in a group of Grievers." Thomas gave a weak chuckle and nodded. Sadie wanted to ask him what he had seen. If he knew what he had done to all of the Gladers, what him and Teresa had done to her. But instead she asked, "Are you talking to Teresa? You know, in your head?" with a small tap to her temple.

"Yeah. I saw a lot of things Sadie. We, Teresa and I, we did some bad things." Sadie shrugged and punched him gently in the shoulder. So he had seen what she had. So what? So what if him and Teresa helped Wicked.

"Doesn't mean you're a bad person." Before Sadie could do something crazy, like hug or punch Thomas Newt walked in. The two looked up as the Glader stalked in his blonde hair a tangled mess from the stress of the past couple days.

"Newt, we need to call a gathering."

"Well it's good to see you too Tommy." Newt limped over and pulled a seat out next to Sadie's before leaning in on his elbows. "I gotta say Tommy that was one of the stupidest and smartest bloody things you've ever done." While Thomas was out Minho and Sadie had had to search the Maze without him. They'd still found nothing, but now that Thomas had gone through the Changing, well that might have changed.

"It's all a test Newt, they're throwing everything they've got at us to try and get rid of the weaker ones. They're trying to see if we'll give up."

"What like a bloody experiment?" Newt mumbled looking from Sadie to Thomas.

"Kind of. They want to try and weed everyone else out until they have the best. All of their variables, even Teresa and Sadie are a part of their plans, their analysis. There's only one test left."

"You know how to get out, don't you?" Sadie mumbled as they all exchanged serious and determined glances. By the tone of his voice Sadie could tell that whatever he was planning, it wasn't pretty. But the way she saw it was, they didn't really have a choice.

They made Sadie sit beside Thomas in the same chairs they had questioned them in before. The Keepers all sat in a semi-circle around them, all of them present except for the two empty spaces that belonged to Zart and Gally.

"Like always, we don't got a lot of time, so get talking." Alby instructed from his seat in the center of the ring of Keepers. Yep, same old Alby, bossy and good as new.

"Okay," Thomas stood up nervously and looked around. Sadie gave him a thumbs up and motioned for him to talk. "During the Changing, I saw some things. All of these memories went through my head like a movie on fast-forward but some things stuck out about the Maze. It's all a test. This whole thing. It's a trial, the Maze was never meant to be solved, and the Creators they want the survivors to-"

"Wait, what?" A gangly looking Keeper called out, the others echoing their confusion as well.

"We were selected when we were little. Something went wrong with the world and the Creators decided that we had a higher intelligence and something the other adults didn't have. So they took as and taught as and built the Maze. And gave us stupid nicknames like Alby is Albert Einstein, Newt is for Isaac Newton and so on. Then they stuck us in the Maze."

"Wait so these ain't even our real names?" Alby called out his face a mask of confusion as the other Gladers began to talk over each other.

"We don't even know our names."

"We're just orphans raised by scientist."

"We're lab rats."

"Shut it!" Sadie yelled stomping her heavy boots against the ground to regain everyone's scattered attention. She could tell they were all scared, a group of boys and all of them had no idea what to do or if they'd survive. Sadie was scared too, but she had to help Thomas she had to make them see what they were up against, why they were here. "There's more to these experiments. There are two Mazes, one with boys that we're in now, and another full of girls. The Creators are testing us and them to see who will give up, to see who can survive. We're more intelligent than other teenagers, there's something different about us, and because of that they're analyzing us."

"How do you know all this?" Winston called out, his voice quiet and disbelieving as leaned forward to stare at Sadie. Sadie felt her fist clench and her hair stand on end as every boy turned to look at her, even Newt. "How do you know about this other Maze and about the Creators too?"

"Because I was apart of the other group. Something went wrong… and they moved me over here with Teresa. I'm a variable." Sadie tried to keep her voice low and calm as another wave of whispers passed through the group like a tremor.

"Sadie, how can you remember that?" Newt asked pulling himself to his feet and walking across the room to stand in front of Sadie. His hazel eyes squinted in confusion as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Why can you remember these things? Why can you remember your dad?" Sadie shuddered and rested her forehead against Newt's chest, the memory of her father and the mess she had become after remembering him all too clear in her head.

"There's no way she can know that stuff not unless she-" Sadie's eyes snapped open and she lurched toward the crowd of boys, Newt's arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from lunging at them as her anger boiled.

"Because I've been through the Changing!" She spat her body tense against Newt's as she glared into the face of each Glader. "I went through it way before any of you, and you know what the Changing does? It ambushes you. More and more memories will keep resurfacing throughout your whole life. But you'll never get them all back! All you get are bits and pieces of painful information but you'll never complete the puzzle!"

"Sadie." Newt whispered holding her closer as the anger leaked out of her. Sadie had no idea where it came from. All of a sudden it had just come spilling out like a tidal wave. They had to understand, thay had to believe them, she was tired of this "don't trust her" bullshit, if they wanted to find a way out they'd have to listen, whether they trusted her or not.

"Sadie's right." Thomas interrupted drawing the attention away from her, much to Sadie's relief. "The Creators have done all of this. It's sick, and it's twisted. They've been throwing these things at us, the girls, the Grievers, the freaking Maze. Its all some stupid test to see who's will can be broken. The Maze can't be solved, it was never meant to be solved, but because we're different we can't understand that there's a problem we can't solve. And that's what they want." The Keepers broke into chaos, all of them yelling angrily, at each other, at Sadie, at Thomas.

"We better hear about this escape plan Thomas, because I don't want to be apart of this crap anymore." Frypan yelled as he jumped up and sent his chair toppling.

"Shut it and let the Shank talk." Minho ordered from his seat in the far right corner. Sadie hadn't heard him speak once during the meeting but she was glad for it now, and he gave Thomas just enough confidence to keep talking.

"Before I tell you the plan, I need to tell you the truth about me and Teresa. So you'll believe me." Thomas quickly explained everything to the Gladers, and Sadie's memories were right. They had helped build the Maze. The boys took all of this in silence as he told them about the Creators, about him and Teresa's telepathy, and about the design of the Maze. In the end it was Minho who spoke up first.

"We're all in the same boat man, the Creators did this to us not you and Teresa. And to be honest I don't really give a klunk about all of that, all I care about is that you're with us. So get on with the escape plan already." Thomas looked like he was about to explode in relief. The other Gladers seemed to agree with Minho and waited for Thomas to say more.

"There's a computer that we need to enter the code in. It's in the Maze, in a place we've never been before."

"What do you mean, we've searched that damn thing hundreds of times." Alby interjected his eyebrows rising in confusion.

"Not this place." Thomas said his eyes scanning the room. "It'll be suicide, and all of the Grievers will come at us but it's the only way… We have to go into the Griever Hole."