"No. There's got to be another way in."
Ivy groaned, running her hands through her hair at Thomas's words. The group had spent the last two hours going over possible plans, and the only good one they had come up with was that they use Teresa to sneak a few of them inside while Erin and Ivy get in like they normally did. Thomas, however, apparently thought that the plan wasn't good enough, even with all of the maps on the large table before them.
"Like what?" Wolf said with a slight growl, crossing his arms.
"You've seen the building," Gally added. "She's our only way in."
"You really think she's gonna help us?" Thomas retorted.
"I don't plan on asking for her permission."
"Am I missing something here?" Brenda said. "This is the same girl who betrayed us, correct? Same dick?"
"I like her," Gally and Ivy said at the same time.
"What's going on?" Brenda asked Thomas, her voice softening ever so slightly.
"What, are you afraid your little girlfriend's gonna get hurt?" Newt suddenly questioned, looking up at Thomas. Ivy glanced at him from her seat beside him. "Because this has obviously never been just about rescuing Minho. Has it?"
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Thomas said, looking at Newt in confusion.
"Teresa. She's the only reason that Minho's even missing in the first place. Now we finally have an opportunity to get him back." As he spoke, Newt's voice rose in volume. He was almost face to face with Thomas, who was slowly backing up. "And what? You don't want to because of her? Because deep down inside you still care about her, don't you? Just admit it." By now, Thomas was almost entirely to the wall and Newt was still in his face.
"Newt, I-"
"Don't lie to me!" Ivy jumped when her brother suddenly shouted, grabbing onto the front of Thomas's shirt to push him against the wall. With a quick glance at the others, she could tell that they were shocked as well. "Don't lie to me!" Ivy watched as Newt's shoulders suddenly dropped and he took a small step back. He murmured something to Thomas before looking back at everyone else. "I'm sorry."
The blond slowly started to walk away.
"Newt?" Ivy called.
He glanced back at her, and she noticed that he was trying to hide his pain.
"I'm sorry," he said again before walking out of the room.
Ivy went to stand and follow him, but her arm was grabbed. She turned to find that Nicole was the one holding her back.
"Let me go," Ivy said.
"Ivy, he needs a few minutes," she replied.
"He's my brother. I need to see him."
"Maybe that's exactly why you don't need to see him. You two haven't seen each other in months; he's been with Thomas and the others that entire time. I know you two are close, but I think right now he needs some space, or someone else to talk to."
"Someone other than his twin?" Ivy was starting to get irritated.
"Ivy." She turned to look at Thomas, whose eyes were soft and showed worry for his friend. "Let me talk to him. I'll see if I can figure out what is going on and if he wants, I'll come and get you. But Nicole is right, he needs space. I promise I'll come and get you after, okay?"
Ivy took a deep breath but nodded. Thomas tried to give her a reassuring smile and left the room to talk to Newt. Ivy sighed, running her hand through her short hair. Nicole let go of Ivy's arm so she could wrap her own arms around her friend. Ivy returned Nicole's hug, burying her face in Nicole's white hair.
"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."
Ivy saw Graham flinch at Newt's words. He glanced at her to see if what Newt was saying was true. She nodded slightly, bowing her head with a sad frown as she remembered that day.
"Course, I got completely tangled up in all the ivy," Newt continued. "Snapped my leg in three different places like a proper shank. Landed hard on the floor. I thought that was it. Then Ivy found me. Somehow. She picked me up and took me back to the Glade, literally carrying me on her back. I scared her, and everyone else, bad that day. Ivy even apologized to me for not noticing how I was feeling, like she was the one at fault." He chuckled a little at that. "She practically refused to leave my side. Then there was Minho. When Ivy went off into the Maze to do her running, Minho stayed with me. He helped me get used to my legs again and basically helped me walk again. Of course, now I have my limp, but without them, I either wouldn't be walking at all or wouldn't be here. I owe them both my life. Now Minho needs us. So if there is even the slightest chance that we can save him... we can get him out of there, then we have to take that. No matter what the cost."
"Okay," Thomas said after a minute. "I hear you."
The two sat in silence for several minutes. Ivy glanced at her older brother, who was looking down at his feet. He shifted a little and seemed to flinch, but quickly tried to conceal it. Ivy wanted to question it, but chose not to. She trusted her brother to tell her if something was wrong, but it didn't stop her from worrying.
"Ivy wanted to come and check on you," they suddenly heard Thomas say. "Would you be okay if I went to get her?"
"Yeah. I need to apologize to her again. Just... please don't tell her. She worries enough as it is about us and I don't need her worrying about anyone other than Minho right now."
Graham and Ivy's eyes snapped to one another, fear flashing across their faces as they heard his words. They both immediately feared the worst.
"All right. But you'll need to tell her at some point."
Graham quickly shut the window as quietly as he could and pulled Ivy a little ways down the hall. She was about to question him when he pulled her into a hug, murmuring for her to not say anything. She returned his hug, holding him close to her. A minute later, she heard the door down the hall open. She pulled back and her eyes found Thomas.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
"Yeah. He wants to talk to you."
"Mind if I join?" Graham asked. "He is my brother after all."
Thomas's eyes widened in surprise but he nodded. Ivy chuckled slightly; guess they forgot to tell Thomas that the three of them were related.
"Thank you, Thomas," Ivy said. She took Graham's hand and pulled him down the hall toward the door. The two stepped outside, finding Newt sitting on the edge of the building. Ivy exchanged a quick glance with Graham before letting go of his hand to approach her twin. "Newt?" she said.
He glanced over his shoulder at her.
"Hey," he greeted quietly. "Listen, I'm sorry about what happened back there. I guess I just lost it a little."
"It's okay, Newt," she replied, sitting down on his right. "I understand."
Newt gave her a small smile before looking up at Graham.
"So, Ivy tells me your my brother."
Graham smiled at him as he sat down.
"Do you remember me?" he asked.
"A little," Newt replied. "In the past, I've had small glimpses of my past. Of someone taking care of me. And after Ivy told me about you, I actually remembered more. I remember being taken from you and I remember a few other things, but they're blurry. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Newt," Graham said, wrapping an arm around him. "Stop saying you're sorry. All that matters is that you're here now. I have you back. We'll figure this out together, I promise."
Newt smiled a little wider than before.
"He's right," Ivy agreed. "We're family. And nothing is going to keep us apart again."
~
Eliza sat at her desk, samples of everyone's blood in front of her. She was using a sample of Graham's blood as the one to be tested if the cure worked; Brenda's blood was being used as a reference. Eliza had already gone through several trials, and each one came up negative or caused the Flare to react even more violently. She had sadly discovered that Jocelyn had the Flare and that several of the others' blood only slowed the Flare, but did not stop it.
Eliza sighed heavily, running her hands over her face in frustration. She could feel slight rage boiling inside of her, but she knew that she couldn't release it. Getting mad would only make the Flare react more.
"Everything okay?"
Eliza's head snapped up, her eyes quickly finding Torri's, one of her co-workers. Eliza have a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just stressed."
"I feel that right now. Paige has us working nonstop to find this cure."
"No kidding."
"How's your work coming?" Torri approached and looked over Eliza's work and notes. Before Eliza could say anything, Torri's eyes widened and she looked at her with shock. "You found it," she breathed.
"What?" Eliza said, confused. "What are you talking about?"
"The cure to stop the Flare. You found it."
"No I haven't."
"Bria, then what is all of this? You've never had this many blood samples and work, even with everything provided to us by Paige." Torri looked through the microscope Eliza had to look at the sample she had been working on. "It looks like you almost have it completely." She looked at Eliza. "How did you do this? And why now?"
Eliza stared at Torri knowing she had been caught. Torri wasn't dumb. She was going to know if Eliza was lying. At least Torri was one of the very few people at WCKD that Eliza trusted. The woman disliked WCKD almost as much as they did; Torri had lost her siblings to the Flare, some of who were diagnosed by WCKD guards long before showing signs. Eliza also knew that Torri hated the work that WCKD did with the kidnapped teens. She was one of the scientists who would test them; she hated her work.
"If I tell you everything, are you going to tell Paige? Or Janson? Or anyone?" Eliza's eyes held fear as well as complete and utter seriousness.
"Is it really that bad?" Torri questioned.
"This could change everything," Eliza replied. "This could end WCKD entirely, or kill everyone."
"Tell me. You have no idea how much I want to see this place burn to the ground."
Eliza studied her for several minutes, searching for the truth. When she found no lie in Torri's eyes, she took a deep breath.
"My name isn't Bria, it's really Eliza. I work as a spy for the Right Arm, the group of rebels outside the City wall, and I'm trying to find a cure to save me and my friends."
"Correction: you've found the cure. We just have to finish it."