The Keeper ⇒ The Maze Runner

three; queen and king

Thomas and Audrey sat in the white room.

The old Thomas would of thought: 'wow, I'm in a room with my biggest crush since I could first remember, alone. Maybe I should confess my love to her or sing a song or dance'. The new Thomas quickly buried the old Thomas six feet under when he realised that his best friends sister (aka biggest crush) has forgotten him. Maybe it was best to start over as well.

He then took note of the situation he was actually in.

They both were in a white room, sitting at a white table.

Just like they did when they were kids. Well, that's what Thomas remembered. Except the halls echoed with nothing but silence.

The doors had closed behind them, they both sat at the chairs, staring off into space.

Newt was gone. Now what? Was all Thomas could think.

Janson had not yet made his appearance, so the two teenagers sat in silence. Thomas had the weight of Newts disappearance on his chest, so his mind went blank. He thanked his brain for its silence. There was no way that Thomas could possibly think about that now.

3 minutes and 28 seconds it took before Audrey finally spoke up.

"She told me to only trust you. Why?"

"What do you mean?" Thomas answered. He looked up at her. There was no enthusiasm in his voice at all.

"You are Thomas right? Chancellor only told me that I could trust you," Audrey questioned, pushing the stray blonde hairs out of her face.

"You don't remember anything do you?" Thomas sat up properly in his chair.

"About a year ago I couldn't remember a thing. Ava Paige told me that I was important," Audrey furrowed her eyebrows. Thomas was glad that the door opening interrupted their conversation because he had no answer for Audrey's statement.

"Ah, children. I'm Professor Janson, I'm here to tell you two a few things," The man who opened the door said with a smile.

Thomas glared up at him before leaning on the table. He had heard of this man. Nothing good was said about him. He had the face of a rat. Thomas chuckled inside his head. That's what Minho had told him when they were friends.

"Audrey and Thomas, this will sound confusing to you both, so I'm going to simplify it by saying that you're like that king and queen of our game of chess," Janson stated.

"That sounds more confusing," Audrey blurted out, rolling her eyes and folding her arms.

"And stupid," Thomas gladly added with one-hundred percent sarcasm. He really wasn't in the mood to listen to another lecture from this rat.

"Please keep your witty comments to yourselves while I explain," Janson snarled. He began to shuffle the papers that he held in his hand. "I would appreciate if you kept your questions until the end."

"Here we go," Audrey sat up straighter with a scowl on her face and then leaned onto the table.

Where did the fun-loving Audrey go?

Newt had once told Thomas that people tend to build walls around their feelings so they don't get hurt. It usually means that their normal default personality gets locked inside with them. Thomas' heart rose into his throat. Maybe he had to break Audrey's walls down. Something he'd thought he'd never have to do.

"Audrey and Thomas, as you know, you are helping us with the trials in order to find a cure for the Flare, I assume you should already know that," Janson looked up at the two children.