The Outcast

Chapter 4

  The night passed by really fast. Ayla woke up as soon as the sun came up. She sat on the chair and waited for someone to release her. Minutes later, Alby came with the keys.

"Morning greenie. Sleep well last night?" Alby asked.

"It's fine I guess."

"Let's give you the tour around the glade."

 After that, Alby released Ayla from the slammer and lead her to the double storey building next to the slammer. He referred it as the homestead. It's filled with multiple rooms where some of the gladers sleep. There's also a bathroom and a room for nursing, which is where the med-jacks work at. The hall way and the foyer were plastered with dark wallpaper. 

"This is the homestead. It's where we have our council meetings. We have ten keepers and two leaders, me and Newt. We discuss important things or punishments, sometimes, in here."

  They left the homestead and went straight for the forest. The forest was called the deadheads. It was just plain trees.

  As the tour went on, Ayla thought about her conversation with Newt last night. What is a demigod? How am I different from others? She thought.

"As I said, we have 10 keepers. Which means, we have 10 different kinds of jobs. They are track-hoe, slicer, slopper,  builder, bricknick, bagger, cook, med-jack, map-maker and runner."

  After being introduced to the jobs, Ayla instantly knew what she wanted to be, a runner.

"You'll be trying out the jobs starting from tomorrow, you've met most of the keepers just now. There's one particular job that you aren't going to try out, and that's the runner."

  Her hopes dropped as if someone had just shot an arrow straight through her heart.  The thought of not having a chance to be a runner made her feel miserable.

"Why can't I try out for being a runner? It's not fair. Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm not capable of doing so." She protested.

"Thought you might say that. You have to be promoted by the keeper of your job to be a runner. It'll take some time but if you really wanted to be one, it's worth it." He explained.

  Ayla wanted to argue about it but she pushed the thought away. It would be pointless arguing against something that had been decided since day one. Therefore, she only nodded towards that statement. After that, Alby left her to explore the glade herself. Ayla didn't want to do much so she went back to the deadheads. She sat under a tree and thought about things Alby had just told her. She eventually thought about being a runner. She felt like she was destined to be a runner. Being a runner is the only way to prove how strong she is, how intelligent she is, and most importantly, how she could show her most authentic self. All these thoughts made her feel fatigue and slowly, her mind drifted to endless dreams.

  At first, the dream was normal. It was a beautiful day at a camp with people wearing armor and they were all holding a weapon of their choice. At this point, Ayla realized that this was the camp she went to according to the mystery voice. A man with the lower body of a horse walked up to the crowd. He said something but Ayla couldn't hear it, it was all a blur. After whatever he said, campers started to part in different directions. Campers in blue shirts went to the left and others who were in red shirts went to the right. Ayla followed the blue team and saw an old friend. She surprisingly recognized her. The girl had blonde hair and gray eyes. The girl was Annabeth and her intelligence never failed to impress Ayla. 

  Ayla remembered how Annabeth always had a battle strategy and she would always win battles with her spectacular plans and fighting skills. She would always help Ayla in times of trouble. She was always there for her. Annabeth is like a big sister to her. Thinking about it made Ayla sad. She missed Annabeth so much and wanted her to be here, in the glade, so she can help her solve the maze and just be there for her. 

  Annabeth explained their team's plan and assigned the roles to everyone. The horn roared through the camp and it was time to start the game. However, this game never started in Ayla's dream.

  Ayla's dream changed when the horn roared. Now, everywhere was misty. Somewhere far away, a teen aged boy came walking by. He had blonde hair and his appearance reminded Ayla something. She wasn't sure what that was but whatever it was, she knew she had to remember it. 

"Sorry for interfering your dream. But I have a really important message to tell you." The boy said. Ayla was too stunned to answer. After a few seconds, she managed to say something.

"What's the message?" She asked. 

"Nico asked me to ask you where you are and that he is super worried. Actually everyone in camp is worried, especially Chiron. He's been trying to find you ever since you left camp. All of us have..."

"Who... who are you? And who's Nico and Chiron? Why were they worried?" Ayla was so confused at this point. She knew that she knew the names and who they were, but she just couldn't remember. 

"You don't remember us? I'm Clovis. Counselor of the Hypnos cabin, Nico is your bother..."The boy said. This time he was the one who was astonished by the comment. Did I know these guys? Ayla thought. Of course, she wouldn't remember even if she had known him for a long time. So, she decided to put that thought aside and focus on the problem right now.

"Why can you talk to me through dreams? This doesn't make any sense." 

He still looked shocked. Well, who wouldn't be when you have known a person for so long but he or she doesn't remember you? He ignored Ayla's question and asked, "Doesn't matter. Where are you anyways? We've been looking for you everywhere."

"I'm in the glade. Well at least that's what people there call it...and I'm fine so don't worry about me. I'm sure if I'm meant to be found, you'll find me eventually. Tell my... uh... brother? You know what? Just tell everyone, who had been looking for me, about that. "

"Okay. Be safe."

That was the last thing Ayla heard before waking up to a certain British calling her name, trying to wake her up.