Clara's POV
The never ending blackness was finally coming to an end. I could feel it. I could feel it in my toes, fingers, head, everywhere. I could feel my body slowly coming back to life and it was truly invigorating. It just took forever.
I didn't want to see any more memories or relive the life I'd left behind when the creators...no...Chase and Thomas put me in here. My memories were slowly fading but I could still feel the emptiness and hatred they left me with.
Two things I knew for sure. Director Jansen is the devil reincarnated and he seems to absolutely hate me. And Chase, my twin brother, sacrificed himself for me. I never thought I'd think this but I had to get back to Wicked and see if Chase was still there and okay. I had to find my brother.
I could feel my limbs start to awaken now and knew my eyes would open soon. There were others in the room with me including Newt who still grasped my hand tightly. I could pick out snippets of their conversation and quickly figured out that Minho and Thomas were both present and talking about something they found in the maze. There was a shift in the atmosphere and everyone stopped talking.
"She still not up yet?"
"No clearly, Alby, she's not." Minho replied in a snarky tone.
"Get me when she wakes up. I have to talk to her." Alby's tone was fierce and it frightened me.
"We'll get you when she can talk." Newt replied.
What happened to make everyone so hostile towards Alby? I heard retreating footsteps and a sigh of relief throughout the room.
"I don't trust him. Especially with her. Not after what he said." Minho stated, moving closer to me.
"Me either. He's never acted like this before so we just need to keep an eye on him." Newt mumbled as he squeezed my hand. "Tommy, sit down you're driving me bloody crazy."
"She's been quiet for a while. Shouldn't she be up now? And who's Chase? Where is he if she's not supposed to be here?"
Chase? Had I been talking in my sleep? How did Thomas know all of that?
"Just give her time mate, she'll wake up when she can."
The feeling of longing took over me then after Newt spoke. My heart ached to actually be with him and I prayed my eyes would open. I just needed to see him...
"I just need to know who Chase is. I know that name."
"Thomas you shank, shut up! We all want to know what she's been mumbling about but she kind of needs to wake up for us to find out."
"Minho, calm down. How about both of you just step out for a while? I'll watch her." Newt spoke calmly but I could hear the stress in his voice.
I heard retreating footsteps and assumed I was now alone with Newt. He laid his head beside mine and kissed my temple lightly. His fingers brushed my hair back before his lips moved to my ear.
"Please come back to me love. I need you. I can't do this without you. Tommy and Minho are starting to drive me bloody crazy and Alby is....Alby is different. I need your help Clara." He spoke quietly, a whispered plea begging to be heard.
My eyes fluttered open, finally, and I brought my hand up to his cheek. His eyes met mine before he pulled me into him. His lips touched mine lightly as he cradled me close to him. "I missed you so much." He whispered, leaving a trail of kisses down my face.
I smiled before pushing him away so I could look at him. "I missed you too. Are you alright?"
He grinned and tilted his head slightly. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
I rolled my eyes playfully at him before struggling to move into a sitting position with his help. A small smile spread across my face as I stretched out my sore limbs. "Fill me in on everything I've missed."
He jumped up onto the table, sitting close beside me and grabbing my hand once more. "Well, for starters, Minho and Tommy think the way out of the maze is through some sort of hole by the cliff. They even went back out a few days ago to test their theory. They might be right, Clara. They might have found a way out."
My mouth dropped as I soaked up this information. I had noticed how odd the grievers fell off the cliff...as if they disappeared out of thin air...right before I got stung.
"And Alby is...different... after going through the changing. He's down, gets angered easier. He's lost his temper several times. He's actually been waiting to talk to you about something he saw during the changing. But..." He shook his head before glancing over at me. "He said something that makes us uneasy around him now. Something about you, love."
My hand tightened on his before I looked up to meet his gaze. "Just tell me."
He sighed and his eyes went down to our intertwined hands. "He said you were a mistake. That you shouldn't be here and we need to give you back. And that he'll do what it takes to get you back."
My eyes widened when Newt admitted this. It was one thing for Jansen to be threatening me but now if Alby is saying they need to give me back... that's something much more terrifying. Jansen has proven what he can do from where he is but if he could control the others too...especially Alby... chills shot down my spine and I eagerly jumped off the table.
"I need to talk to Tommy."
Newt nodded and jumped down after me, pulling me outside. We stayed in the shadows to not alert anyone else that I was up just yet but Chuck spotted us immediately.
"Clara!"
"Be quiet Chuck! Don't bloody tell anyone else that she's up yet, alright?" Newt said, trying to hide me behind him.
My arms wrapped around Chuck when he got close enough and his arms gripped me tightly. "Hey buddy." I murmured into his hair, kissing him lightly.
"I was scared you weren't going to wake up." His eyes met mine and I smiled down at him.
"I'll always come back to you, Chuckie. You know you're my buddy and I love you."
His cheeks reddened and he slowly released me. "Well, don't go running into the maze anytime soon because I don't know if we can go through that again."
"Sorry Chuck, we have to find Tommy now. She'll find you later, alright?" Newt pulled me away and I ruffled Chuck's hair as I passed him.
We rounded the corner of the shower house and spotted Thomas sitting under a secluded tree. "Hey, Tommy, come here will ya?" Newt yelled out, keeping me in the shadows of the shower house.
Thomas slowly made his way over. "What?"
"Slim it will you, there's someone who wants to see you." Newt said, gesturing to me.
Thomas walked closer to me and his mouth dropped when he saw me. "Clara, are you okay?"
I nodded and hugged him. "We have a lot to talk about Tommy."
He nodded and started walking with Newt and I back to our room. Newt stopped though and turned to me. "We need to keep you away from Alby for now. Let's just stay here for the moment."
"Who's Chase?" Thomas asked me eagerly.
"Jeez Tommy, give her a moment will you?"
I grinned and shook my head at Newt. "It's okay. Chase is my twin brother. I wanted to talk to you about him too actually. Tommy, you and Chase were best friends. You guys are the reason I'm here."
Newt's brow furrowed as he looked between us. "What do you mean they're the reason you're here?"
Thomas had a similar expression as he looked at me.
"They did it to protect me. Chase was supposed to be the one to come in when I did but him and Tommy got me here so I'd be away from Jansen."
"Jansen, that's the rat man you dreamt about right?"
I nodded to Newt before turning back to Thomas. "Tommy, you were always helping me. Helping to keep me safe from Jansen. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and Chase."
He blushed before looking down at the ground. "So, Chase is your twin brother and my best friend?"
I nodded and tears built in my eyes. "He probably got in a world of trouble for getting me here."
"Hey, we'll find him." Thomas said, reaching an arm out to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. "I knew I knew that name." He mumbled quietly.
"Yeah, you two seemed inseparable. Kind of like Newt and I." I grinned at Newt when I said the last part.
"We were?" Newt asked with a slight tint to his cheeks.
I nodded with a smile. "You were the first one to make me feel welcome at Wicked. The first one to try to protect me. We actually went through our first tests together."
Newt nodded with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Must be why we had the same dreams when you first got here."
"Clara, who is Jansen exactly?" Thomas asked, sending Newt an apologetic look before looking back at me.
"He's the director of the program that's putting all of us subjects through these trials. He's the one trying to find the right candidates for the cure." Just talking about him made my skin crawl.
"Clara. I need to speak to you." Alby announced, making himself seen from around the corner of the shower house.
His sudden appearance startled me and I jumped in response.
"Bloody hell Alby! How long have you been standing there?" Newt exclaimed, jumping back into me.
"Long enough. Clara, a moment please?" Alby smiled softly at me and gestured towards the homestead.
"You can talk to her with us here, Alby." Newt stated, his stance becoming protective.
Alby's expression fell and he looked back at me. "I don't believe I can. Look, we'll talk in a visible place so you can keep an eye on her but what I need to say is for her ears only."
I glanced at Newt before stepping around him to go with Alby. "I'll be right back guys. If you could please find Minho, I'd like to talk to him." I said, glancing at Newt and Thomas.
Newt nodded and he and Thomas both watched me walk away with Alby. He led me over to the lookout but we didn't climb up it.
"First off, I'd like to say welcome back. And thank you for helping Minho bring me back after I got stung. You risked everything to do that and for that, I'll be forever grateful." He smiled lightly but the light didn't reach his eyes. He took a deep breath and leaned against the post behind him. "Clara, I remembered the world as I'm sure you did. You know there's no way out of here. Not for us and not for them."
As he spoke I could feel how sad he was now and how heavy his words felt on him. There was now a tremendous burden on his shoulders and I felt myself willing that I could bear it instead. I looked up by the showers and my eyes met Newt's. He was standing by himself as Thomas and Minho walked towards him but Newt's eyes didn't leave mine.
"Director Jansen reached out to me while I went through the changing. He said you can stop all of this but you refuse to. That you refuse to cooperate. Why? Why would you do this to us?"
I looked up at him sharply, startled by the accusation in his tone.
"Alby, Jansen has it out for me. He's trying to do everything in his power to bring me back to him so he can continue torturing me. You can't listen to him. Everything he tells you is a lie."
His eyes held mine for a long moment before he sighed and looked away. "I figured you would say something like that. He showed me things. Things that prove that I can't trust you any longer. Things that prove that he's right. You need to go back to them Clara."
"You have no idea what you're talking about! What kind of things did he show you, Alby?" I took a step closer to him as the rage pumped through my veins. Was Alby really that easy to manipulate? Was the leader of the glade, the original glader, really that much of a pushover that he would just believe anyone?
"He showed me the truth! He showed me that you are the cure, Clara! You have the missing link they need and you refuse to let them test you!" He took a step closer to me too, visibly fuming.
We stared at each other angrily before I snapped. I laughed, a sarcastic laugh, and shook my head at him. "And here I thought you had what it takes to lead this place. You're nothing but a coward now Alby! What happened to what you said about how they can't have me back? How I was one of the gladers now? Do you really not remember that?"
"OF COURSE I DO!" He yelled back at me, right in my face. "OF COURSE I REMEMBER! IT DOESN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW!" He stopped suddenly and dropped to his knees with his hands on his head. He screamed out in pain and I crouched down over him.
"Alby! What's wrong?" I screamed frantically, my arms trying to pull him up.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I can't...I can't do it! You'll have to kill me!" He screamed as he started rocking back and forth with his hands still covering his head.
My eyes widened and I stumbled away from him, right into Thomas. Minho and Newt were suddenly there pulling Alby away from me as Thomas was pulling me back towards the medihut. He had his arm draped around my shoulder trying to comfort me but all I could think of was the pain on Alby's face.
"What did he say to you?"
I shook my head in response as Thomas sat me down on the bed I'd inhabited during the changing. "How long was I out?"
"Six days." Thomas replied quietly, staring at the opposite wall.
"And you've been here what, two weeks?"
He nodded absently not giving it much thought. "Longest two weeks of my life." He mumbled.
I laughed and shook my head. "Yeah, I bet it has been. You've had a harder first two weeks than I did."
Minho and Newt ran into the room then, both out of breath.
"Are you alright?" Newt asked me when he was able to speak again.
I nodded and smiled at Minho. "Hey, Monkey."
He returned my smile and pulled me off of the bed in a tight hug. "I missed you Poke."
"I'm sorry." I mumbled before releasing him and turning back to Newt. "What did Alby say?"
"Nothing that bloody made any sense. What did he say to you?" Newt replied, taking a step closer to me.
"He said that Jansen showed him the truth. That I'm the cure and I have the missing link they need to make it but I know he's just trying to get Alby to send me back to him. Alby isn't the only one who had that nut job in his head."
"What do we do now?" Thomas asked, the question on everyone's mind.
"Has anything else happened since the shake?" I looked around at the trio who all had a distraught look on their face.
"No, not really. We've tried going into the griever hole but there's no way to come back up. We don't know if that's really our way out and we don't have many people willing to sacrifice themselves for something we're not even sure of. Thomas tried climbing in but the stupid shank almost got stuck." Minho grinned at Thomas as he said the last part and we all laughed quietly.
"Well, let's just keep doing what we're doing and hope nothing happens." Newt stated, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the hut behind him.
I immediately saw the dark figure pacing along the back wall. "Is that Alby?"
"Yeah. Gone bloody mad. He said he just needs to walk it off and that he'd like to talk to you again when he can. Whatever that means."
I watched as Alby stopped suddenly and turned on his heel to face me. All of the previous anger had been sapped out of him as he slowly walked towards us.
"Something tells me we're about to find out." I muttered to Newt before Alby reached us.
"Clara, please, please accept my most sincere apologies for earlier. The changing really has me messed up but that...that wasn't me."
I smiled lightly at him, still not able to trust him, and nodded. "It's okay Alby. I get it."
"Can we have another word? There's just something small I need to tell you."
I glanced at Newt and nodded to him letting him know I'd be alright.
We walked a few yards away from Newt and stopped. Alby looked around us before speaking to me.
"You're right. Jansen wants you back and he's willing to do everything it takes to get you back. You can't go back to him. You can't. You have to stay here with Thomas and Newt, they'll keep you safe. I know you saw some things that will haunt you from the maze and your memories but those will only make you stronger. You are the one that's going to lead these boys out of here. You're the one they need, Clara. Someone will contact you soon to tell you what to do just stay strong and keep everyone else strong until then. Keep an eye on me. Don't trust me. They can control me so I'm not safe."
I nodded, taking in everything he said. Everything seemed to escalate so fast around this place it was hard to keep up.
"And Clara? Keep the maps safe." He turned and stalked off, leaving me bewildered and frozen in place.