Desire ❃ newt

cнapтer 39

I felt a rush of different emotions: relief that it had worked, surprise, excitement, wonder at what it could lead to.

"Man," Minho said, summing up my feelings with one word.

"Could be a coincidence," Teresa said. "Do more, quick."

I did, putting together the eight pages of each day, in order from Section One to Section Eight. Each time, an obvious letter formed in the center of the crisscrossed mass of lines. After the F was an L, then an O, then an A, and a T. Then C . . . A . . . T.

"Look," I said, pointing down the line of stacks they'd formed, confused, but happy that the letters were so obvious. "It spells FLOAT and then it spells CAT."

"Float cat?" Newt asked. "Doesn't sound like a bloody rescue code to me."

"We just need to keep working," I said.

Another couple of combinations made them realize that the second word was actually CATCH. FLOAT and CATCH.

"Definitely not a coincidence," Minho said.

"Definitely not," Thomas agreed.

Teresa gestured toward the storage closet. "We need to go through all of them—all those boxes in there."

"Yeah," Thomas nodded. "Let's get on it."

"We can't help," Minho said.

All four of us looked at him. He returned our glares.

"At least not me and Thomas here. We need to get the Runners out in the Maze."

"What?" Thomas asked. "This is way more important!"

"Maybe," Minho answered calmly, "but we can't miss a day out there. Not now."

I felt a rush of disappointment. Running the Maze seemed like such a waste of time compared to figuring out the code. "Why, Minho? You said the pattern's basically been repeating itself for months— one more day won't mean a thing."

Minho slammed his hand against the table. "That's bullcrap, Kameron! Of all days, this might be the most important to get out there. Something might've changed, something might've opened up. In fact, with the freaking walls not closing anymore, I think we should try your idea—stay out there overnight and do some deeper exploring."

That piqued my interest—I had been wanting to do that. Conflicted, I asked, "But what about this code? What about—"

"Greenbean," Newt said in a consoling voice. "Minho's right. You shanks go out and get Runnin'. We'll round up some Gladers we can trust and get workin' on this." Newt sounded more like a leader than ever before.

"Me too," Teresa agreed. "I'll stay and help Newt."

"Won't be necessary." I smiled at her, sarcastically.

Thomas looked at her. "You sure?"

She smiled and folded her arms. "If you're going to decipher a hidden code from a complex set of different mazes, I'm pretty sure you need a girl's brain running the show." Her grin turned into a smirk.

"Well, we already have one." I folded my own arms, staring at her with a glare.

"Good that." Minho awkwardly nodded and turned to go. "Everything's fine and dandy. Come on." He started toward the door, but stopped when he realized Thomas wasn't behind him.

"Don't worry, Tommy," Newt said. "Your girlfriend will be fine."

"I think you should be worrying about yours." Thomas smirked as he looked at me.

"Funny." I spat sarcastically, uncrossing my arms.