Ada was frozen.
She couldn't move, both feet rooted firmly to the floor, her arms hanging uselessly at her side.
She didn't know if she was physically incapable of movement or if it was merely fear that kept her in place but she knew she very badly wanted to move.
In front of her was a door, a door with a small round window.
On the other side of the door, face pressed up close to the window was a boy.
Newt.
Her brain supplied a name for the face though its meaning didn't fully register in the moment.
It was strange. It felt as though she both knew that was the boy's name and yet knew no such thing at the same time.
It didn't make any sense so she pushed the thought from her mind.
Instead she focused all her energy on moving her feet, on carrying her to the door and the boy beyond it.
Nothing happened.
Newt frowned. He seemed confused by her presence. His mouth moved in meaningless patterns after that and Ada knew he was saying something.
She couldn't hear him nor could she comprehend his silent communication.
He frowned again, seeming to realize how futile his attempts at conversation were.
Instead he simply pressed his palm to the window.
Ada wanted to meet his palm with her own, even with a glass barrier her instinct was to seek out that semblance of contact.
Her body still refused to cooperate but she wasn't sure he was seeking contact anyway.
There was something written on his palm.
The words looked fuzzy as though she were viewing them through an out of focus microscope. She knew the words were there but her mind couldn't seem to decode their meaning.
He was trying to say something again and this time sound was bleeding through.
"Wake up, Greenie."
Ada woke with a gasp, sitting up so abruptly that she almost smacked her forehead against the form hovering over her.
"Whoa, careful," The voice that had woken her warned and this time Ada was able to identify it as Newt's.
"Sorry, I...what's wrong?" She asked shakily, the pounding of her heart slowly returning to its normal pace.
"Nothing's wrong," Newt reassured her. "It's time to get up though. I've got to show you something and it's got to be now."
"What is it?" Ada found herself feeling torn between intense curiosity and a creeping sense of fear.
Perhaps it was the unsettling dream she'd just had but Ada had to fight the urge to tell Newt she wasn't going anywhere.
In the end she simply nodded and stood stiffly from the makeshift mattress where she'd spent the night, a night that now felt incredibly short. She winced slightly as her muscles stretched and ached. Her little stunt with Gally last night better have worked or she was going to be in mild agony for the next few days for nothing.
Newt for his part didn't comment on her obvious soreness just led her out of his room, through the main living area weaving in and out of hammocks full of sleeping gladers, and out the front door.
Ada was surprised to see that it was still completely dark outside, though Newt seemed to be having no trouble navigating his way across the Glade. Clearly this was a trip he'd made many times under similar conditions. Ada stuck as close to him as she dared, her elbow bumping up against his occasionally as they walked.
"How did you even know it was time to get up?" Ada questioned eventually, her voice though quiet seeming to echo in the emptiness of the Glade. "Do you guys have alarm clocks or something?"
Newt made a small sound of amusement, probably at the priorities her questions were taking.
Still. It was a valid inquiry.
"No," He answered. "You just get a pretty good internal clock after awhile. Besides, I wasn't sleeping that deeply to begin with."
Ada felt another stab of guilt move through her.
"Because I took your bed," She stated on a sigh. "Sorry about that."
"No worries," Newt countered dismissively. "I've slept in worse situations than that."
Ada was just contemplating whether Newt would be inclined to answer if she asked what worse sleeping arrangements there were than the floor of the Homestead when Newt stopped short.
"What's wrong?" Ada asked again, echoing her words from earlier.
She saw Newt frown in the minimal light.
"Nothing's wrong, Ada," He sounded slightly exasperated with her constant assumption that something terrible was happening.
To be fair it had been less than a week since she had woken up in a box with no memories and a debilitating condition of some sort so she felt it was justified to jump to the worst case scenario occasionally.
"We're here," Newt continued, gesturing towards a spot on the wall a few feet in front of them that didn't look particularly different to Ada than any other spot.
Ada shot Newt a questioning look but if he was able to discern it in the low light he didn't acknowledge it. Instead he simply gestured for her to follow him and stepped forward to pull aside the vines covering the wall.
Ada eased forward cautiously, instinct telling her there was no pleasant reason why Newt would have woken her up before dawn to examine a spot on one of the walls that kept them prisoner.
A moment later she was close enough to see that this spot was not in fact just like all the others. The stone of the wall was interrupted by a window, a rectangle of glass just wide enough for one person to observe out of it comfortably.
"What..." Ada trailed off, taken aback by the appearance of a design element so incongruous with everything else she'd seen in the Glade.
A window.
Why would there be a window?
"I don't see anything," Ada finally found her voice, peering out into the ever so slightly lightening darkness. "What am I looking for?"
"Shhh," Newt raised a finger to his lips and gently nudged her head back in the direction of the window. "Just watch."
Ada forced herself to swallow the hundreds of questions swirling through her mind and instead turned her attention back tot the scene beyond the window. The view revealed included nothing more than a long corridor, the kind she supposed you might expect to see inside a giant stone maze.
If anyone out there in the normal world ever expected to see a giant stone maze.
Then without warning something emerged from the end of the corridor, slowly at first making its way around the corner and into her line of vision.
Ada couldn't make out many details but it appeared to be a living creature of some sort. It was big, bigger than any animal she could pull out of her limited memory. It also didn't behave like any animal she knew of. It clicked and rolled and dragged itself slowly towards them with what appeared to be metal limbs,. However, once it got a little bit closer she could make out an oozing body that was definitely biological.
It was horrifying and yet Ada couldn't help but lean even closer to the glass in an effort to examine it more closely. A creature lived in the maze? A creature that was part machinery and part living animal? Her horror was matched only by her burning curiosity.
She reached out and placed both palms against the glass, resting her weight fully against the glass with a bump that echoed dully in the silence.
"Don't..."
Ada barely had time to register the beginning of Newt's warning before the hideous creature whipped it's bulbous form in their direction. Before she was able to react it was barreling straight toward her, faster than should have been possible.
Against her will Ada gave a shriek that built into a full fledged scream when the creature made hard impact with the glass she had been leaning against.
All rational thought fled from Ada in that moment and she jumped backwards, eyes closed sure that certain death was only moments away.
She expected to make contact with the ground and very soon after with the pointy end of the monster before her but instead she felt her back collide with a solid presence behind her.
"You're ok," A steady voice breathed almost directly into her ear as an arm snaked its way around her waist to keep her upright. "It can't get through."
Newt.
He had been just behind her as she looked through the window and now he had caught her.
And perhaps sensing the shaking that rattled through Ada involuntarily, he wasn't letting go either.
Ada forced herself to open her eyes, one popping reluctantly open after the other.
It was true the creature had not broken through the glass.
Somewhere in the back of her mind Ada registered that it must have been extraordinarily thick in order to endure the onslaught the creature was still unleashing upon its surface.
Ada shuddered, shrinking away from the sight in front of her again slightly.
The arm Newt had wrapped around her gave a gentle squeeze at that, and Ada turned her head searching for his face.
Her nose brushed gently along his cheek inadvertently, and Ada realized fully for the first time just how close they really were in that moment. She pulled back slightly, just enough so that she could meet his eyes and waited.
She wasn't sure what she was waiting for.
Answers, maybe?
Answers about what the creature was that still struggled to reach them.
Answers about what exactly she was supposed to do with the information of what lay in wait in the maze.
Answers about why he her heart was still beating just as fast even though she no longer believed she was about to die.
When he finally broke the silence it was only to whisper, "You alright?"
Ada let out a rush of air all at once as though she finally had permission to breathe again.
"Yeah," She answered shakily. "I'm good."
She wasn't sure she was though. She was confused. She was scared.
And worst of all was the simple fact that neither of those feelings were stronger than the unnamed rush of nerves that was surging through her.
She was very aware of the warmth where Newt's arm rested against her stomach.
It felt good. Comforting, safe, a steady, calming weight keeping her from losing what was left of her dignity.
Then again she was staring into the eyes of a boy she had just met while a nightmare creature did its level best to murder them mere inches away.
So, really, dignity was relative.
Newt seemed to come to a similar realization at the same time because he released her and stepped back, one hand immediately going up to tug at his hair while the other yanked the vines back over the window.
His actions gave Ada the moment's reprieve she needed to snap out of her stupor.
"What the hell is that?" She asked, taking another couple of tentative steps back from the now hidden window.
Now that it could no longer see them the creature seemed to be struggling less but she could still hear the dull banging as it bumped against the glass.
"We call them grievers," Newt explained, his voice husky, his face illuminated in the first ray's of light that infiltrated the Glade. "We don't know what they are, or where they come from, or what the shuck they're doing other than keeping us here. They live in the maze and usually they come out at night but they can show up any bloody time they want. That's why no one but the runners can go in the maze."
Ada took in the information Newt had imparted silently.
"Ok," She finally stated, her tone carefully flat.
"That's it?" Newt asked incredulously. "You don't have a million questions?"
Ada shrugged.
She did have a million questions. Of course she did. But she trusted that if Newt knew any more he would have told her. She would have to gather information and answers as the opportunities presented themselves. The first one that sprang to mind being to seek out someone who had spent time in the maze.
The second being to somehow investigate the maze herself.
Ada tried not to visibly shudder at the thought.
She wasn't particularly brave, at least she didn't think so based on the limited evidence of her past few days in the Glade. She was however curious and determined to make sense of the senseless set up of their world here.
Newt watched her carefully for a few more moments before shaking his head ruefully.
"Come on Greenie," He sighed. "Let's get some grub."
Newt spent most of breakfast trying not to stare at the girl seated across from him.
He had a lot on his mind.
Why did the creators decide to send up a girl all of the sudden?
Why was her well being tied into her ability to stay close to him?
And the question taking up the much larger and more mortified portion of his brain, why exactly did he think it was a good idea to more or less give her an extended back hug?
It hadn't been something he'd though about at the time, just an urge to comfort someone experiencing a terrifying moment he remembered experiencing all too well.
Not that he'd felt the urge to comfort last month's greenie in quite that way.
Newt groaned internally.
Leave it to him to be a total pathetic shank when confronted with a member of the opposite sex.
Without the pauses for conversation breakfast passed quickly and Newt led Ada out into the Glade.
"Right, well we'll be doing some work with the track-hoes this morning," He told her, keeping up a brisk pace toward the gardens. "We'll start with the basics and then..."
Sensing that she was no longer next to him Newt whipped around only to see Ada still standing a few feet behind him.
Newt rested his hands on his hips.
"What are you doing, Greenie?" He called back, exasperation seeping into his tone. "We've got work to do."
"I need to make a stop first," Ada said, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
Newt rolled his eyes.
"It's your first day of work, Greenie, being late isn't the best first I mpression. Not to mention if you're late then I have to be late and that's not happening."
He was vaguely aware of a few other gladers hanging around for the last few minutes before work started but he tried to ignore their obvious interest in Ada and by extension, him.
"I need to go to the...what do you guys call it? The klunker?" Ada questioned matter of factly.
Newt could feel his jaw drop and was aware it wasn't exactly the most attractive look, especially not when combined with the heat he could feel rushing to his cheeks.
Knowing he looked like a slinthead didn't make one bit of difference though.
"You...uh...what?" He stuttered.
"I need to use the facilities," Ada stated. "For a bowel movement."
That was it.
Newt strode forward and grabbed Ada's hand, dragging her towards the Deadheads as the disbelieving laughter of a few gladers who had overheard her statement filled the air.
Newt didn't pause until he had reached the aforementioned klunker, practically shoved Ada inside and took up a position outside the door.
He wanted to be anywhere but there but it wasn't like he had much choice. He was accurately aware that if fled due to his inability to deal with knowing what she was doing then he would leave her doubled over in pain.
It wasn't like he had a lot of favorite parts so far when it came to being locked in physical proximity with Ada, but one thing that definitely wasn't in contention for that title was the need to figure out a way for them to each have privacy for moments like these.
At first it hadn't been much of a problem.
Ada has spent much of her first two days in the Glade unconscious or asleep allowing Newt to slip out and relieve himself quickly without adversely effecting Ada too much.
After she woke up Newt had even managed to stand a respectful distance away while Ada speedily "made water" or whatever other stupid names could be given to that activity. She'd always managed to get back to his side before the pain become unbearable and he'd very studiously not discussed the whole process they had just gone through.
But something in his shucking mind drew the line at dealing with everything else that had popped up in the last few days and accompanying the first girl he could remember knowing to her bowel movements.
Shucking hell.
Before he had too much time to sink further into his own humiliation, the door behind him opened and Ada stepped out her expression now as stricken as his.
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," Her cheeks colored slightly. "It's just...a biological process, totally normal but now I realize I probably shouldn't just announce things like that."
"Good that!" Newt agreed, probably a little too enthusiastically.
"Yeah," Ada seemed to grow another shade redder if that was possible. "I guess I was just thinking about it practically not...uh, how it would effect boys who might be tethered to me."
Newt cracked a smile despite himself.
"There many of those, are there?" He asked, one corner of his mouth rising up in amusement. "Here I thought I was special."
"Aww, don't be jealous," She teased, his positive reaction seemingly giving her permission to recover from her own embarrassment. "You're the only boy I let take me to the klunker."
"Ughh," Newt groaned, turning on his heel and striding away despite the fact that he knew Ada could only follow closely behind him.
She did just that, muttering under her breath, "It's a perfectly natural biological process."
Newt smiled in spite of himself.
Bloody shucking girl. Nobody that pretty should be that comfortable discussing klunk.
Somehow he found himself finding her oddness disturbingly enduring.
"Bloody hell," Newt thought as she stomped along behind him. "I'm in trouble."