Four months later, Thomas arrived in the Box.
The week before that, Pasty had a vision.
She hadn’t seen it that way at the time. It came to her in a dream. She dreamt of Thomas coming up in the Box. She remembered him from her experiences during the Changing, so it didn’t seem so strange. The girl was there too, the one she had thought most memorable in her previous “vision.”
She dreamed of a night in the Maze with Minho (Minho had started Running again, but Pasty was still doing training, and only went with him occasionally, and helped out around the Glade the rest of the time) which was a stranger thought, as no mention of staying out in the Maze overnight had been made. In fact, though no one said it, it was forbidden, and fear of the Maze was at its highest since latest victim of the Grievers, Ben, went a bit mad.
The final part of the dream. Total chaos. More Grievers together than Pasty had ever seen during her time in the Glade. She woke from the dream, covered in sweat. But she quickly reminded herself that it was only a dream.
Or so she had thought.
“Look at that shank.”
“How old is he?”
“Looks like a klunk in a t-shirt.”
“You’re the klunk, shuck face.”
“Dude, it smells like feet down there.”
“Hope you enjoyed the one way trip, Greenie.”
“Ain’t no ticket back, bro.”
Pasty was making her way to the Gates to greet Minho from his day in the Maze when she spotted the crowd around Thomas.
“Ah, the Greenie is here,” she muttered to herself, and went over to investigate.
Thomas’ confusion was clear to Alby. He, believe it or not, had once been in the same position. Though he talked tough, he had once stumbled out of the Box, having already wet himself in fear. Literally. He knew what Thomas must have felt like, but he still brought out the tough boy act.
“Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.”
“Look at the Greenbean,” Gally sniggered “Gonna break his shuck neck checkin’ out the new digs.”
“Shut your hole, Gally,” Newt grunted.
Pasty broke into a jog, not wanting to miss anything, but she was still only half way across the Glade. She arrived just in time to hear Alby say “New life begins tomorrow.”
Pasty pushed her way to the front of the crowd that had gathered around him. Alby was about to turn and leave, but she nudged him. Like Minho, she had gained a certain status that meant she communicated better with Alby than they had when she first arrived in the Glade. She pointed at Thomas with a quivering finger.
“I know him.”
Alby grabbed her by her shirt, his eyes full of fear “What?”
“I know him. You know when I saw him. The Changing. I’m not risking speaking about it again. But I do, I swear, I know him.”
“You had better not be shucking with me, Pasty. If this is a joke, it ain’t funny.”
“Can’t you take me seriously for once!” I growled, shoving him in the chest, so he stumbled slightly “I’m telling the truth. And I saw him, I saw him in a dream…”
Someone wolf whistled, and she turned to glare at them.
“Whichever klunk head did that can get lost right now! This is serious.” Pasty turned back to look at Thomas, who looked positively terrified.
“You play a big part in everything now. I just don’t know how yet.”
Alby sighed, rubbing his eyes and crumpling his forehead as though in pain. “Man, Pasty. I sometimes wonder if you are more trouble than you are worth.”
Pasty grinned at Thomas “Yeah, whatever. Just to see if my theory is right, your name is Thomas, isn’t it?”
“Yes…but how do you know that,” he asked.
“Well, she can’t have heard you say it, because she only just got here. Can you remember anything else? Without risking hurting yourself…you know what I mean.”
Pasty closed her eyes and massaged my head. This often helped her to remember the white rooms, but she had little memory of what happened when the pain started, so she only had half the memories to work on. Her eyes snapped open.
“Teresa,” she said to Thomas. He looked at me in a puzzled way.
“Who is Teresa? Does she live here too?” Thomas asked. Pasty sighed.
“Don’t give up, Pasty,” Newt said “What you know might have some significance in the future. Besides, what shank here has ever known more than their name when they got here?”
Alby nodded slowly in agreement, “I think you’re on to something there, Newt. But I want to call a Gathering right now. Wait for the tour tomorrow, Thomas.”
“Find Chuck. He’ll take care of ya,” Newt told Thomas sympathetically, patting Thomas’ broad shoulder.
“Back to work, you lazy bunch of shanks! Show’s over.”
Newt, Alby and the other council members began to make their way to Homestead, but Alby turned back to face Pasty.
“We can’t start til Minho gets back. Would you mind waiting for him, Pasty?”
“Course not. See ya in a bit,” she replied. She decided it would be a good chance to speak to Thomas, who was now heading off in the direction of Frypan’s kitchen.
“Hey, Tom! Wait up!” she cried, jogging up to him. He turned and smiled weakly.
“Sorry about before. Things are tough for Alby at the moment. Don’t worry if he sounded a little snappy. He’s a good guy really. Anyway, I’m Pasty,” I said, offering my hand to shake, which he took.
“Thomas. But you knew that,” he smiled “What are you, psychic?”
“Not sure. Maybe all females have it. We don’t know, coz we don’t know any other females. I’m stuck in this klunk hole, with only smelly boys for company. But hey, could be worse. Could be having a picnic with the Grievers.” Pasty laughed lightly at her own joke, but Thomas looked confused.
“Grievers?”
“Jeez. Erm. I guess I’ll leave Alby to tell you about that. But after that, feel free to talk to me about anything you don’t understand.”
“Thanks, Pasty. Is that your real name, or a nickname?”
Pasty laughed “Good question. I don’t know. It’s what my name has been known to me as since I got here though.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Four months today. Newbie’s arrive once a month. You were lucky. When I got here, Alby and the others thought I was a spy or something, simply because I am a girl!”
“Well, I can’t imagine you being a spy,” Thomas said kindly. Pasty wasn’t very good with compliments, and was unsure what to do, so just smiled in a way she hoped didn’t look insane.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Pasty. I’ll see you later.”
“See you. If you wanna find Chuck, he should be near the kitchens. Tell Frypan I sent you, and you can have something to eat.”
“Thanks. I will. Bye!”
Pasty watched as Thomas ambled towards the kitchens. He seemed nice, but there was a niggling feeling inside her that something wasn’t quite right. She was distracted from her thoughts when she heard Minho call her, and she forgot about Thomas for a minute.
“Pasty!”
Pasty grinned. It was always a relief when he got back. Minho reached her, and pulled her towards his chest.
“Any news?” he asked, kissing her nose.
“That was a Newbie, over there. We have things to discuss, Alby is holding a Gathering. We need to hurry in the Map Room, then get to the meeting.”
“Damn it. I was hoping to be able to relax this evening,” Minho groaned, taking Pasty’s hand as they began to walk.
“When have you ever been able to relax here?”
They quickly finished the Maps. Pasty had discovered a talent for drawing Maps quickly and accurately, and Minho was better at remembering the routes, so as a team, Minho dictated and Pasty drew. This teamwork resulted in them getting the Maps completed much faster, and soon again, Pasty found herself the centre point of a Gathering. After her brave display of saving Gally (without breaking any rules!) her good reports from Minho, Gally and Newt, her nursing skills on Ben, volunteering to help with jobs, and, of course, her psychic abilities, it was decided by the Council that she was worthy of joining their team. However, she felt like she had got nowhere since the day she arrived, while everyone in the room sat staring at her like she was an alien. She was suddenly in a bad mood.
“Alright. Here we go,” Alby sighed, shifting in his seat to get comfortable. “Right. Okay.” He seemed for once a little lost at where to begin. It was true that stress had been getting at him more lately, but he had always been sure of himself, and it unnerved Pasty to see him waver with uncertainty.
“Umm. Tell us about this dream you had.”
“I think it may have been a memory, but I’m not sure. I had seen Thomas before during the Changing, and he and this girl Teresa had some special connection,” Pasty explained, being careful not to give too much detail away in fear that she might try and bite her tongue off again. “I saw Teresa too. She looks a bit like me. Taller, though. From what I saw, I think smarter. Less caring, perhaps. Prettier. And…dark.”
“Dark?”
“I can’t explain. She had this…dark presence. But like I said, there was a connection with her and Tom. That leads me back to the dream. It was about a week ago. There was…”
Suddenly, she knew she couldn’t say anymore. A coldness had swept over her, as though warning her to keep the information to herself. She shook her head hopelessly.
“I can’t say anything else. Or that…thing is going to possess me again.”
This caused some whispering. All of them were afraid of Pasty and her gift, although they respected it, but some of them also thought she was slightly mad. They thought the “possession” was a figment of her imagination, caused by stress after her experiences during the Changing.
“Look,” Pasty said wearily “Stop whispering about me. I can hear you, ya know. Stop treating me like I’m not here. I’m not mad. If any of you shuck faces think so, say it to my face instead of whispering like bloody sissys.”
No one said anything.
“Didn’t think so. Anyway, I don’t think Tom is a bad person or anything, but there was something about Teresa…” she shuddered.
“Right. Okay. So you think that Tom and Teresa have a link.”
“Yeah, both of them mentioned each other’s name in…a part of the Changing. The future bit.” She looked around at everyone, remembering how some of them acted in the white rooms. Her eyes rested on Minho and Newt, the people she loved more than anyone else, and remembered how much pain they were in. Tears welled in her eyes.
“Pasty?” Jack asked, resting a hand on her arm. She smiled at him to reassure him that she was alright. She liked Jack. He was a decent guy. But then she thought to herself that the reason she didn’t see him in the white rooms might be that he was dead. She hadn’t allowed herself to think of the Changing since she woke up, and now all the feelings overwhelmed her, and she felt scared. She sucked in breath, rocking on her chair to stop herself crying.
“There was something more present,” Pasty continued with a sniff “I…I can’t say exactly but something to do with the Maze.”
“Pasty, everything is about the Maze,” Gally said, rolling his eyes. Pasty glared at him.
“You think I don’t know that, Gally? Isn’t the Maze the reason you nearly got your dumb arse and mine killed?”
“You didn’t have to come in after me. You could have left me to die,” he snarled in response.
“Enough! Shut your damn hole Gally, before I shut it for you!” Alby shouted “This isn’t about you.”
“Fine, I may as well leave!” Gally cried, knocking over his chair as he stood and left the room. Minho stood, cracking his knuckles.
“I’ll sort him out,” he muttered.
“Sit down,” Alby snapped “Know what? I can’t handle this today. Pasty, I’m sorry, maybe we can reschedule.”
With that Alby stood and left the room. His presence had always been calming, and with him gone, the room was silent and uncomfortable. It was clear the meeting was over.