The Reason

Another Banishment

Alby woke up Thomas before everyone else the next day and had a talk with him. He recognized that Thomas was different than most boys who showed up there, he was curious, but he needed to respect the importance of order. After that he spent the day in the gardens with Zart and Newt, the latter assuring the curious boy that all his ideas had been tried already. Twice. He convinced him that the only way to be useful was to pull his weight around the glade.

Nikola was still locked in her room. She wasn't surprised or even that upset about it at first, but then she had to pee.

"Hello!" She called loudly, banging on her own door to no avail. She turned around and looked at the window. "Oh, Nikola, you idiot," she mumbled before making her way over to it. It stuck at first, the wood old and warped as the house settled in the warm climate of the glade, but with tremendous effort she got it open far enough to shimmy out of it, falling ungracefully to the ground below.

She didn't want anyone to catch her until she'd at least gone to the bathroom, so instead of going around the house and back in to the one inside, she snuck off behind the house and into the woods to use one of the outhouses instead. They were absolutely vile and she hated them, but she had to go. She reached them without anyone noticing her, maybe they had no idea she'd been imprisoned and therefore didn't care even if they did see her about.

Finally relieved, she decided to sneak to the kitchen for some food, and maybe talk to Frypan. He was the only one she could talk to about what happened. She couldn't talk to Gally, that was for sure, and she got the feeling Newt wouldn't appreciate hearing what she'd done. That left Fry and Chuck, and Chuck would be out of his depth in matters of the heart. As she made her way toward the kitchen, something unexpected happened.

Shouts came from the woods behind her and she stopped, turning to see Thomas running full speed toward her. He was screaming for help as Ben pursued him. When he spotted her it was too late to lead Ben away so he grabbed her arm and dragged her along with him as he ran. Ben tackled Thomas from behind and rolled on the grass.

"Ben!" Nikola yelled as she grabbed the straps of his runners pack and pulled with all her might. "Stop!" She wasn't able to budge him an inch but she finally noticed the black veins under his skin as he attacked Thomas with a feral rage. She kept trying to talk to him and pull his arms away from strangling the new boy, earning a harsh back hand from him that knocked her on her butt in the grass.

"I'll kill you!" Ben yelled as he choked Thomas, other boys running from every direction.

Newt came with a shovel and hit Ben across the face with it, knocking him off of Thomas, and then Gally was there, holding him down and telling him to calm down. He gave Nikola a brief but sharp look.

"What happened?!" Frypan cried as he helped Nikola up and pulled her away from the commotion.

Chuck was by Thomas's side as he coughed and fought to catch his breath. "I don't know!" he gasped. "He just attacked me!"

Alby walked up and Ben's demeanor changed. "No, please, no," he begged pitifully, a far cry from the death threats he'd spat at Thomas just seconds ago.

"Lift his shirt," Alby demanded.

His pale skin was exposed along with a circular wound that had black tendrils branching off from it. Nikola covered her mouth in shock and Gally shared a bewildered look with Newt.

"He's been stung?" He said to Newt before turning to Alby who crouched by his side. "In the middle of the day?"

Alby was silent for a second before he stood up. "Put him in the pit."

"No!" Ben yelled as Newt and Gally fought to hold him down still.

"Calm down, Ben!" Gally said as he fought to grip his arm. It took four others to help him and Newt pick up the thrashing runner and carry him off to the pit. He caught one fleeting glance of Nikola as Frypan checked the mark Ben had left on her frightened face. He wondered how she had got out and how she had the worst timing in the world.

She followed after Alby, Chuck and Thomas, desperate for answers as to what just happened. She sat by Chuck as Alby explained the changing that happens after someone gets stung. An infection spreads in their body making them dangerous. No one had explained this to her before, they figured it would never affect her so why scare her unnecessarily.

"What did he say to you?" Alby asked him.

Thomas was hesitant and nervous, but he told him the truth. "He said he...saw me. That this was my fault...How could this be my fault?"

Alby didn't answer him, just patted his shoulder and told him to get some rest before he got up and walked away.

"Alby!" Thomas called. "What's going to happen to him?"

Nikola was there for another banishment. At least this one wasn't her fault. Ben was pleading with Minho as he hauled him toward the maze doors, the Keeper's eyes were not the happy crescents she was used to seeing. Gally saw her standing a ways away and caught her eye. He nodded toward the house, silently telling her to leave, not wanting her to see this. She stayed rooted to her spot.

She watched as her friends, Newt, Gally and even Frypan as well as the others ushered Ben through the closing maze doors, his screams echoing across the glade before the doors sealed him on the other side. Such was the price of order. Gally stared at her as he walked past, the keepers going to mark Ben's name off the wall. He had been worried about her safety before, and now it was only getting worse. Especially since she was acting out against everything he did to protect her.

For her part, she tried her best to console Minho who'd just lost his running buddy, and then willingly locked herself back in her room till the next day.