Newt Imagines (The Maze Runner)

Hoaxes and Hearts (Part Two)

As much as you would love to pretend otherwise, accepting your feelings for Newt doesn't clear you of the terrible situation currently unfolding around you. You're still on the wrong side of the Shadow Fold, which means that there's a cavernous space of twisted darkness and winged monsters in between you and Ketterdam.

It's not great, to say the least. It's made significantly less great by the fact that you technically failed at your job. By not returning with the Sun Summoner, you've done all this work, and put the people you care most about in this much danger, for nothing.

You have no other options, though. It was easier to believe in succeeding with this kind of job when you didn't think Minho was actually a Sun Summoner, but now that you know the truth, you know that it's practically impossible to force the guy to go anywhere he doesn't want to go. So much for a quiet, docile Sun Saint who'd take one hit over the head and let you cart him back off to the Barrel.

So, after a discussion with Newt and Teresa, you decide to cut your losses and head back home. Rumor has it that a fleet of sandskiffs will be crossing the Fold some time in the next couple of days, which will be the perfect avenue for escape. All it takes to board is a couple of forged papers, and you've been doing that sort of thing since you first learned to read.

As you, Newt, and Teresa are waiting in line to get your false papers checked, another problem comes into play. There are rows of stacked crates nearby, waiting to be loaded into the skiffs. Curious as to what sort of equipment would be traveling from West to East Ravka, you casually scan the boxes, and after a few moments of searching, you see something that makes your heart drop.

Newt, somehow always attuned to your exact changes in expression, frowns at you. "What's wrong?"

You rejoin your Dregs, angling your shoulder towards the crates. "Those boxes are marked with a seal, and it looks to be from a gang."

Newt sucks in a breath. "Which one?"

He knows, you all know. Only one gang in Ketterdam has been able to worry you, and it's this exact one. "The seal is of a maze. W.I.C.K.E.D. is here."

Teresa's face turns ashen. "That's impossible. There's no way they could have crossed the Fold after us, they didn't have the Conductor. Besides, I thought the job was only offered to one gang."

This isn't great. W.I.C.K.E.D. is your arch rival, all because the leader, Janson, had a habit of kidnapping kids to make his various plans work out. One of those kids was you, and now you're dedicated to making him pay.

"He didn't have to leave after us, just beat us here. Janson could have heard about the job days before we did."

It's the truth, and all of you know it. There's no telling when news of the Sun Summoner first came out; rumors could have spread days ago, and the mercher who hired you only needed proof of something he could have already known when you found him. Janson has his prints all over this place, and it makes you sick.

Newt grimaces. "So what do we do?"

The line moves forward another few feet, putting the awaiting sandskiffs well within reach. "We play our cards as best we can, and if we can do anything to stop this, we do it."

You're not letting Janson get this win, not if you have anything to say about it. Most times, you do, which is why you intend on getting the upper hand in this round.

Your papers pass by without another word, bless Ravka's terrible security, and within moments you're slipping on board the skiffs. There's a fairly good chance that you'll be recognized by the Grisha after your ill-fated attempt to kidnap their Sun Summoner, so you slip belowdecks instead. On the way over, though, you do notice that Minho is on board, and that he's been positioned so that no one can see the heavy iron chains holding him to the deck. Apparently, his escape attempt didn't go over so well with Gally.