Grace and Newt led Thomas and Minho towards the Map room, Thomas looking at the burned down building. ''What happened?''
''Everything's gone. The giant map, the trunk with our drawings of the Maze.'' Minho sighed. ''Everything.''
''Who do you think did it?''
''Maybe Gally, he seems to want to stay here? The Grievers, who knows? I don't care.''
''Now who's the one giving up?''
''That's not what she meant, shank.'' Thomas frowned as he turned to the two, ''what did-''
''Just shut your hole for now.'' Minho put his fingers to his lips, his eyes darting around to see if anyone was around them. ''Just shut your hole. You'll find out soon enough.'' Thomas nodded before looking at the others. ''I need to tell you guys something, and we need Teresa's help.''
The other three followed Thomas towards Teresa, looking at the girl as Minho stood with his hands on his hips. ''How can we trust her?'' He asked. ''Soon as she woke up, the whole place fell to pieces. She even admitted she triggered something.''
''He's got a point.'' Newt said as Thomas gestured to her. ''We can trust her. Every time I've talked to her, it's something about trying to get out of here. She was sent here just like the rest of us - it's stupid to think she's responsible for any of this.'' Newt grunted as Grace tilted her head towards the Brit. ''Then what the bloody shuck did she mean by sayin' she triggered something?''
Thomas shrugged, ''who knows - her mind was doing all kinds of weird stuff when she woke up. Maybe we all went through that in the Box, talking gibberish before we came totally awake.'' He turned to Grace, ''she did that before too right, when she was in a coma?''
''I guess, but so did Ben, Gally and Alby during the Changing, so I wouldn't say it was a good sign.''
''You guys understand that I can hear everything right?''
''Real sweet girl you picked up, Tommy.'' Grace had to stop herself from chuckling, seeing Newt turn to his girlfriend, taking her hand. 'All right, talk. What's so important?'' Thomas and Teresa looked at each other as the girl lifted her eyebrow.
''What? You talk - they obviously think I'm a serial killer.'' Thomas turned his attention to the three before him. ''Okay, when Teresa was first coming out of her deep sleep, she had memories flashing through her mind. She um - she told me later that she remembers that the Maze is a code. That maybe instead of solving it to find a way out, it's trying to send us a message.''
''A code?'' Minho turned to Grace and Newt. ''How is it a code?'' Thomas shook his head at them. ''I don't know for sure - you are more familiar with them. But I have a theory. That's why I was hoping you would remember some of them.'' Minho glanced at Newt, asking him silently. ''What? You guys are keeping something from me.'' Grace let her eyes dart between the boys, trying to figure their silent message out.
''We hid the Maps. Thomas. We hid them all in the weapon room, placed fake ones in their place. Because of Alby's warning he gave you when you talked in the Medjack hut.'' He nodded at them. ''They're all safe and sound.''
''Take me to them.''
Grace had never seen any of the Maps and it was overwhelming to say the least. There were hundreds of paper sheets and Minho easily pulled them out. ''Okay, you and the Runners have always compared the maps day to day, right?'' Minho just nodded, his arms crossed over his chest. ''You even said you didn't really know what you were looking for, but you kept studying them anyway. Well, what if all the wall movements had nothing to do with a map or the Maze. What if instead the pattern spelled words? Some kind of clue that'll help us escape.''
''I'm so glad I was never a runner.'' Grace spoke as she looked at the maps as Minho interrupted her. ''Dude, you think we would've noticed if it were spelling out freaking words?'' Grace looked at the maps, putting a few of them next to each other as she let her brain do the work, an idea popping into her head.
''Can someone get me wax paper and scissors?'' She looked again before nodding. ''And black markers.''
Thomas caught on really quickly as they started working, cutting rectangles about the size of the Maps. ''Grace, you're a genius.'' She smiled as she thanked him, the others around them staring at the two. ''Am I the only one who still doesn't understand?'' Newt questioned as Minho shook his head. ''It'll be easier if we show you.'' Thomas continued. ''If we're wrong, we're wrong and we'll go back in the Maze running like mice.''
After cutting at least fifty sheets into triangles, Thomas grabbed a marker. ''All right, everybody trace the last ten or so days onto a piece of this stuff. Write down the info so we know what is what.''
''What-'' Minho began. ''Just bloody keep cutting.'' Newt ordered him, a small smile on his face as he looked at Grace. ''I think I'm finally understanding it.'' They got to work, Minho being the fastest as he knew all the Maps. Box by box, section by section, they continued on. ''I've had enough.'' Newt announced, breaking the quiet in the room. ''My fingers are bloody burning like a mother. See if it's working.''
Thomas nodded as he grabbed the last few days of the Maps and sections. ''Make piles along the table, in order of the Sections. One here,'' he pointed to the end of the table, ''to Eight here.'' He pointed at the other end. They did, and Grace could see her plan working out. The lines combined crossed in the middle, up and down. It was subtle, but there it was, the letter 'F' in the middle of the page.
Minho jumped over to Grace, hugging her as he jumped up and down. She laughed silently as she allowed him to be happy. ''You are a genius! A freaking genius! OH I should have made you a Runner!'' He finally put her down as she turned to Newt, laughing at the Asian boy.
''I don't think I've ever seen him this happy.''
''I haven't either.''
''Could be a coincidence,'' Teresa spoke. ''Do more, quickly.'' And so they did, and soon enough, there were more letters scribbled down. After the F was an L, then an O, then an A, and a T. ''Float?'' Grace questioned before they went on. Then C ... A ... T.
''Float cat?'' Newt questioned as well. ''Doesn't sound like a bloody rescue code to me.'' Grace raised her shoulders. ''We need to keep going.'' Thomas said. Another combination combined more letters, CAT was actually CATCH. ''Definitely not a coincidence.''
''We need to go through all of them - all these boxes in here.'' Teresa gestured towards the storage closet. ''We can't help.'' Minho spoke, all eyes towards him. ''At least, Thomas and I not. We need to go out into the Maze.''
''What?'' Thomas asked as he looked at him. ''This is way more important!''
''Maybe.'' Minho answered calmly, ''but we can't miss a day out there. Not now.'' Thomas looked at the boy before pointing to the letters. ''Why, Minho? You said the pattern's basically been repeating itself for months - one more day won't mean a thing.''
Grace jumped at the sound of Minho's fist hitting the table. ''That's bullcrap, Thomas! Of all days, this might be the most important to get out there. Something might've changed, something might have opened up. In fact, with the freaking walls not closing anymore, I think we should try your idea - stay out there overnight and do some deeper exploring.''
''But what about this code? What about - ''
''Tommy.'' Newt spoke with a consoling voice. ''Minho is right. You shanks go out en get Runnin'. I'll round up some Gladers we can trust and get workin' on this.'' Grace smiled at him, seeing him grow into the leadership role even more.
''I'll help, we could probably get Clint and Jeff on this, they want to get out as much as we do.'' Grace spoke as Teresa agreed. ''Me too.'' She spoke, turning to Newt. ''I'll stay and help Newt.''
''You sure?''
''If you're going to decipher a hidden code from a complex set of mazes, I'm pretty sure you need a girl's brain running the show.''
''If you say so.'' Thomas said as he too folded his arms, staring at the brunette girl with a smile. ''Good that.'' Minho nodded and turned to go. ''Everything is fine and dandy. Come on.''
The Runner started walking towards the door until he realized Thomas wasn't following him. ''Don't worry Tommy,'' Newt said as he looked at the other Runner. ''your girlfriend will be fine.'' And so, without saying goodbye, Thomas followed Minho.
For those who didn't read the books, the sequence of the maze wasn't the code, instead it were the words the Maze was spelling out. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, please leave a vote, comment and add this book to your reading list to stay updated! See you on wednesday!
-X Violet's-library