Whirlpool | The Scortch Trials- Newt

Trust No One

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ADELAIDE

"Uh.." Wallace looks uncomfortable as his gaze flickers from me to my trainer- or Aislinn. "Do you guys know each other?"

"No." I say, calming my wobbly voice. "I just ...thought she looks like someone I used to know." Aislinn knows that I'm lying. Her dark brown eyes narrows bit but she immediately straightens her facial expression.

"Who is she Wallace?" she asks, in her husky voice, not removing gaze from me.

"Found her in the perimeters. By the three by seven row. She said she that she and her group were attacked my Cranks. And remaining who survived, had bite marks or scratches. So she killed them all and now she's all alone."

"So what do you want...."

"Eclipse." Aislinn's eyebrow rises slightly at my new name. Obviously she knows that it is fake .

"What do you want, Eclipse?"

"Basic human necessities- food, water. And a place to spend the night in."

Aislinn hums. She crosses her arms in front of her chest. "Wallace? You may leave. I wanna talk to her alone." Wallace nods and leaves us immediately. Aislinn smirks and motions me to follow her but I stay put.

I can't trust her.

"Don't you want to know?" she asks me as she notices that I didn't follow her.

"What?"

"That how is it that I am here and not at that place where you thought I should be." I walk towards her.

"How do you know that I remember you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She rolls her eyes. "Darling, I still master in study in expressions." She makes a quick circle along her face with her finger. "Who do you think taught you how to fake expressions?"

"Well, what I care about is having some food, water, a bath and a place to sleep."

"Yeah, okay." She nods. I wait for her to guide me to food but she just smiles at me, slowly taking in my appearance. I notice her eyes get moist. "Florencia." She smiles softly, her hand reaching my cheek, but I take a step back. Hurt etches on her face but she quickly composes herself.

"It would be convenient if you helped me. Or tell me if you won't so I can be on my way, Aislinn." I say, folding my arms around me.

She tucks her hand back and nods. "Nothing's changed. I knew the Swipe wasn't as promising as they presented it to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing of your concern, Florencia, or should I say Adelaide. Or not, cause here you are Eclipse."

"Hiding identity is the best in time of distress. You should understand," I take two steps closer to her and whisper by her ear. "Trainer."

 I step back. "Or should I say, Aislinn. Or is it even your real name?"

I expected Aislinn to be angry but she just smiles, a proud look in her eyes. "There's just an increase in your height; nothing else has changed."

I itch the sleeve, waiting for Aislinn to notice how uncomfortable I am. She does.

"You'll want to have a bath first?"

I nod, more than ready to wash the layer of grime and mud off my body and hair.

Really, I don't trust her. Just because she was my trainer and she had said that she knew my mother, doesn't mean that I should trust her.

🗡️🏹🗡️

While I was devouring on my third cheese sandwiches, Aislinn was sitting on the bench opposite to me and slowly munching on an apple slice.

"What?" I ask, feeling her constant gaze on me. I am not uncomfortable with her gaze on me, instead it gives me slight warmth, but I am anxious as I am unaware of the reason why she is staring at me.

Aislinn quickly shakes her head. Pulling a smile on her face, which is clearly fake, she gives a sigh. "Just... You've grown so much."

"When....when was the last time you've seen me?"

"About half a year before I got to know that you've gone to the Maze."

"Why did you leave?"

"I didn't want to." She lightly twiddles with the circular pendent on her neck. "They got suspicious of me. They knew that I would never allow them to send you to the Maze. And we were putting quite a fight against them, snooping around where they didn't want us. So they tried to eliminate me so that you become alone."

"Eliminate?"

"Kill." She says as a matter of factly. Feeling my confusion she continues. "I had quite a network amongst the workers and guards and they managed to help me escape."

Did they ask me to eliminate her? I was the one who was like WICKED's executioner.

I gulp down water, washing my cheese sandwich away. The guilt of 'maybe I was supposed to kill her' growing more and more, quite unnecessarily, I might add.

I could be not like that too.

I frown internally at myself for always thinking the worst of everything and everyone.

Aislinn's dark brown eyes travels up and down my frame, finally resting on my bracelet on my wrist.

"So.." she trails off, meeting my eyes with a small some on her lips, "You've made a friend."

It isn't a question.

I narrow my eyes. "Everyone has friends."

"Of course, but it was difficult for you to make friends. Not very trusting in nature."

"I had friends even before the Maze."

Her face brightens as she remembers. "Ah! Your friends. I remember them! Actually I remember all of them." She snaps her fingers, her eyebrows furrowed as she puts pressure on her brain to remember. "I remember Newt! The British gentleman. Teresa, Thomas, of course. And-"

"Why 'of course'?" I cut her off abruptly.

"Because they both and other two kids were the head prodigies of the Trials. Everyone knew them. They were the one who co-designed the Trials."

I remember Thomas telling everyone about his involvement with the Maze and WICKED after he willingly got stung.

"Were they willing volunteers?"

"Remember this one thing, Flo, except for the inner-most circle of management, no one is 100 percent willing volunteers."

I don't say anything.

A/N:

filler chapter!

personally i didnt like the chapter at all but it was kind of necessary for the further development of the plot so please bear through it🙏

p.s.   i really like this new emoji feature thing wattpad is doing  so im gonna use emojis everywhere!!!!1

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