They Don't Own Me

Chapter 45

"I don't know what to do, Nicole," she whispered. "We've always had each other and now that we've been separated from each other for so long, it feels like I'm losing him. What do I do?"

"You stay close," Nicole replied, looking into Ivy's eyes with her own purple ones. "He's going to need you. You two are twins, you have a bond unlike anything else, you know that. He's going to want you around, but right now he's struggling."

"With what? I can sense something is wrong, but I can't place it."

"Ivy. Think about how he's acting. He's a little paler, he snapped at Thomas for almost no reason at all then immediately softened. And he has this look of fear in his eyes that he's trying to hide. I know you've seen that."

Ivy wouldn't deny any of that. She had noticed that her brother had been acting differently and it was worrying her beyond belief. She had a theory as to why he was acting the way he was, but she refused to believe it. She didn't want to believe that her twin had someone gotten the Flare, but she couldn't rule out the possibility. She just needed to stay vigilant and keep her eye on him.

"I don't want to lose him," she said in a weak voice.

"You won't," Nicole replied. "Eliza took everyone's blood samples before going to WCKD, remember? She's going to test all of it in hopes of finding a cure. She has to find something. We've come too far and lost too much to fail now."

Ivy nodded, giving Nicole a small smile.

"Thanks, Nicole."

"You're welcome, Ivy."

Ivy sighed again before walking out of the room, her hands buried in her hoodie pocket. She walked down the hall a short ways before stopping to lean against a wall, running her hand over her face again.

"Everything all right?"

Ivy looked up to find Graham approaching her. He had gone with Eliza to the wall to make sure she got there safely. Since they started working at WCKD, he had become a little more protective of both Eliza and Ivy.

"I'm not sure," Ivy responded. "Newt just blew up a little and I'm worried about him."

"Blew up how?" Graham came to stand beside his sister, leaning against the wall next to her.

"Thomas didn't approve of our ideas to get them into WCKD and Newt accused him of still having feelings for Teresa, but he was really angry about it. Which I kind of get, because I haven't liked Teresa basically since I met her, but his reaction was nothing like Newt. He's always been very calm."

"Do you think...?"

"I hope not, but we can't rule out the possibility. We just have to pray that Eliza can find a cure soon."

"Where is Newt now?"

"Outside with Thomas." She nodded toward the door that led to the roof. Graham walked over to the door before noticing a window next to it. He managed to quietly open it. "What are you doing?"

"Listening in. He's my brother too, Ivy. I want to make sure he's okay."

Ivy nodded and joined him so they could listen to what Newt and Thomas were saying.

"Did I ever tell you about when I broke my leg?" Newt asked. "It was way back in the Maze. I'd come up in the Box a few months before, just like all the other guys. Didn't know where I was, didn't who I was, you know? And even though all my memories were gone, I could still feel... that something was missing, you know? I felt empty. And I just... I couldn't hack that, couldn't take it. So one morning, I got up early just like I did every day since I was a Runner, and I went out into the Maze with the others. I went and I found the tallest wall I could. I climbed up there... and I jumped off it."