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The next morning, before the sun had fully risen over the towering Maze walls, Thalia slipped away from the Med-Jack hut, moving carefully through the waking Glade.
She had no real plan—only curiosity.
The Maze.
It had been scratching at the edges of her thoughts ever since she got here. The way the stone groaned at night, shifting like something alive. The way the Gladers talked about it in hushed voices, like it was both a prison and a death sentence.
And then there were the Runners.
The fastest, the strongest. The only ones allowed out. The only ones who truly knew what was beyond those doors.
Thalia wanted to know too.
So she snuck toward the training area, sticking to the shadows, watching as Minho and the other Runners stretched and prepared for the day’s run.
She crouched behind a stack of wooden crates, eyes locked on the massive stone doors that loomed ahead. They would open soon, revealing the unknown, and something inside her itched to see it up close.
Minho was giving instructions, pointing at a crude map scratched into the dirt. “Stick to the left path today. We’re tracking the shift patterns—if you see anything new, mark it and get the hell back.”
The other Runners nodded, adjusting their packs and checking their knives.
Thalia’s fingers curled into fists.
She wanted to ask questions, to know what they saw out there, what they found.
She wanted to understand.
But before she could lean closer—
A hand wrapped around her arm and yanked her back.
She whipped around, ready to fight, but her anger died the second she locked eyes with Gally.
His grip was tight, firm, but not painful.
His expression, though? Oh, he was pissed.
“What the shuck are you doing?” he hissed, dragging her behind the nearest hut, away from prying eyes.
Thalia wrenched her arm free, glaring up at him. “What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong,” Gally shot back, arms crossing over his broad chest. “Which, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, is a really bad idea.”
Thalia straightened, refusing to be intimidated. “I want to understand the Maze.”
Gally exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose like she was the most frustrating thing on the planet. “You don’t need to understand it, Thalia. You need to stay the hell away from it.”
