✦ Ardent ✦ TMR ~ (Thomas)

The world before is a whisper-one she can never quite catch. Shadows of memories slip through her fingers like grains of sand, leaving only echoes of something lost, something taken.

She wakes in a prison of towering walls, surrounded by boys with wary eyes and guarded smiles. They don't know her, don't trust her, and maybe they shouldn't. Maybe she shouldn't trust herself.

But then there's him.

The boy with searching eyes and quiet understanding, the one who looks at her like she's a puzzle worth solving. He doesn't know her past, doesn't know the weight pressing on her chest, but somehow, he steadies her. In a world of uncertainty, he feels like the closest thing to solid ground.

Yet, the Maze looms, relentless and unforgiving, its secrets clawing their way to the surface. And with every answer uncovered, another question rises, threatening to unravel everything.

Because something is wrong.

She can feel it in her bones, in the way the air seems heavier around her. The way the others look at her when they think she isn't watching.

The way the Maze seems to know her name.