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ㄒ尺卂丨几丨几Ꮆ

Thalia clenched her jaw. “You don’t get to decide that.”

Gally’s eyes flashed, his usual smugness replaced with something dead serious. “Yeah? You think this is a game? You think you’re gonna sneak off, become a Runner, and figure everything out?”

She didn’t answer.

Because… yeah. Maybe she did.

Gally took a step closer, his voice low. “You don’t get it. The Maze? It kills people. You think you’re different? Think you’re stronger than the ones who came before you?”

Thalia’s stomach twisted at the warning in his tone, but she refused to back down.

“I don’t want to sit here and do nothing,” she muttered. “I’m not just some helpless Med-Jack—”

“No,” Gally cut in, his voice sharp. “You’re not helpless. But you’re not a Runner, either. And if you go messing with things you don’t understand, you’re gonna get yourself killed.”

His words shouldn’t have mattered.

But something about the way he said them, the way he looked at her, sent an unfamiliar feeling crackling through her chest.

Like he wasn’t just warning her as a Glader.

Like he was warning her as something else.

Someone who didn’t want to see her name scratched off the wall.

Thalia swallowed hard but kept her expression neutral. “I can take care of myself.”

Gally stared at her for a long moment, then shook his head, muttering something under his breath.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

Then, before she could argue, before she could demand to know what the hell he meant by that, he turned and walked away.

Leaving her standing alone, the distant sound of the Maze grinding open filling the silence between them.

---

Gally wiped sweat from his forehead, his muscles aching from a morning spent hauling heavy beams and reinforcing the North side of the Glade. The clang of hammers, the murmur of Builders calling orders, and the occasional curse when something went wrong filled the air.

He should’ve been focused on the work.

But his eyes kept drifting, searching for her.

Thalia.

He hadn’t seen her all morning.

Normally, she was easy to find—either at the Med-Jack hut bossing Clint and Jeff around, or arguing with him over something stupid. But today?

Today, she was nowhere.

A weird feeling settled in his gut.

Not worry. Not yet.

But something was off.

Gally set down his hammer, scanning the Glade. Newt was talking to a group of Track-Hoes, Minho was gearing up for another run, and Frypan was yelling at some poor Greenie about burning food.

Still no sign of Thalia.

“Shuck it,” he muttered, wiping his hands on his shirt before heading toward the tree line.

If she wasn’t in the Med-Jack hut, she was probably in the woods.

And Gally had a feeling he knew exactly why.

---

He didn’t know why he always ended up looking for her, but Thalia had a habit of disappearing when she wasn’t supposed to. And after yesterday’s little stunt with the Runners, he wasn’t about to let her do something stupid again.