From The WICKED Start | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

17. Undercover

Only a few hours later the alarm clock woke me up. I opened my eyes slowly, turned it off and stretched myself. My whole body felt limp because I had gotten so little sleep, but at the same time I felt better than ever before. When I thought about how close I had been to Newt, everything tickles inside me again.
He woke up when I was already on my feet and on my way to the bathroom. Slowly he stretched and I stopped and smiled at him a little shyly. When he saw me he beamed at me, jumped out of bed and took me in his arms.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked and stroked my hair, which fell openly over my shoulders. Only now did I notice that I had lost my hair tie. But I didn't care, after all, no one would look for a scrunchie up there.
I looked up at him and lost myself once again in his brown eyes. "Yes, excellent."
So I closed my eyes and kissed him.
After we had separated again, I went into the bathroom and got ready. Afterwards I waited for Newt, who finished quickly, and we made our way to the dining room.
There we sat down with the others. As I looked at Minho he gave me a meaningful look and nodded to me silently. So our deal was still on. I took a deep breath and then turned to my breakfast.
I was still filled with euphoria, but our exchange of looks had reminded me that I wanted to talk to Rachel today.
As I looked around the room I recognised her from the same group where I had seen her yesterday. And Zart was also sitting with her. That was my chance.
"Oh, look at that, Zart is eating with the girls," I casually threw in and everyone looked up. Apparently nobody had noticed his absence yet.
When Minho saw who he was sitting with, he seemed to understand what I was up to and he got involved.
"Wow. Well, actually, one of us should go over to them right away. Anna... Why don't you go check on him after breakfast? You know some of the girls too, don't you?"
I nodded in agreement. "Sure, I'll do." Then I turned to Newt. "I'll be right over to the lab. You go with Thomas and Teresa."
He nodded, swallowed his last bite because they had just got up and took his tray away before joining them. As he passed by he grinned at me again and winked at me.
"There's something going on between you two, don't tell me. You're both so... euphoric."
I looked up with slightly reddened cheeks and realised that Minho found it quite amusing.
"At this point you're welcome to think your part," I said and winked at him.
"Well, I guess I know." I could still hear him laughing as I took my tray away.
Slower than necessary I made my way to Rachel's table. Once there, I winked at Zart and pretended to be quite interested in him sitting there so that he wouldn't suspect anything, but then sat down next to Rachel and smiled at her in a friendly manner.
"Hello, Rachel, how are you?," I asked.
"Oh, Anna, hey. I'm fine and you?"
I nodded to show that I was fine, too.
"How are the kids?"
"They're fine, too. They miss you... Chuck, especially, is asking for you a lot."
I swallowed. Chuck was nine years old, making him one of the oldest. He had always been quite attached to me since he was taken by WICKED when he was 6. I didn't know what had happened to his parents, but I could guess. Newt's fate was not an isolated incident.
"Rachel, I need to talk to you. I need your help. But no one can know about this. Can we talk tonight? I'll come to your room, I'll find a way... Would you make time for me?" I knew Rachel was alone in her room right now because her roommate had been sent into one of the mazes.
She looked at me suspiciously, but then agreed.
"I will be there at 2:00. You'll notice me." With that I got up, waved to Zart and left the room to walk to surveillance lab 1.