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One second there, falling Next second gone

Thomas couldn’t speak

"We’ve thrown stuff off the Cliff before," Minho said "How could we have everdisappear Never"

Thoain-- it at the saain, it winked out of existence

"Maybe you weren’t looking carefully other times you threw stuff over," Thomas said "I mean, it should be is you don’t believe will or can happen"

They threw the rest of the rocks, aiinal spot and every inch around it To Thomas’s surprise, the spot in which the rocks disappeared proved only to be a few feet square

"No wonder wedown notes and diram "It’s kind of s" Thomas kept his eyes riveted to the area of the invisible floating square, trying to burn the distance and location in his mind, remember exactly where it was "And when they come out, they must balance on the rie--it’s not that far If I could ju, then looked up at the special spot "How’s this possible, dude? What’re we looking at?"

"Like you said, it’s not ray So a doorway This place is all jacked up" And, Thomas admitted to himself, kind of cool His y could be behind it all

"Yeah, jacked up is right Corunt and put on his backpack "Better get as much of the Maze run as we can With our new decorated sky, s have happened out there We’ll tell Newt and Alby about this tonight Don’t kno it helps, but at least we knohere the shuck Grievers go"

"And probably where they come from," Thomas said as he took one last look at the hidden doorway "The Griever Hole"

"Yeah, good a na for Minho to make a move Several minutes passed in silence and Thomas realized his frienda word, Minho turned to leave Thoray-dark Maze

Tho but stone walls and ivy

Tho It was hard for hies fro about it where the walls had moved When they reached the final dead end and it was tie to bag everything and stay there overnight, see what happened

Minho seerabbed his shoulder "Not yet, dude Not yet"

And so they’d gone back

A so to happen when all is gray The died a bit since they’d woken up that e at "sunset" either

Minho headed straight for the Map Rooh the West Door

Tho they should do "Aren’t you dying to tell Newt and Alby about the Griever Hole?"

"Hey, we’re still Runners," Minho said, "and we still have a job" Tho concrete block and Minho turned to give him a wan smile "But yeah, we’ll do it quick so we can talk to the about the roo up their Maps when they entered No one said a word, as if all speculation on the new sky had been exhausted The hopelessness in the rooh mud-thick water He knew he should also be exhausted, but he was too excited to feel it--he couldn’t wait to see Newt’s and Alby’s reactions to the news about the Cliff

He sat down at the table and drew up the day’s Map based on hisover his shoulder the whole ti pointers "I think that hall was actually cut off here, not there," and "Watch your proportions," and "Draw straighter, you shank" He was annoying but helpful, and fifteenthe rooh hiood as any other Map he’d seen

"Not bad," Minho said "For a Greenie, anyway"

Minho got up and walked over to the Section One trunk and opened it Thomas knelt down in front of it and took out the Map from the day before and held it up side by side with the one he’d just drawn

"What a at two days’ worth isn’t gonna tell you jack You really need to study several weeks, look for patterns, anything I know there’s so that’ll help us Just can’t find it yet Like I said, it sucks"

Thomas had an itch in the back of his mind, the same one he’d felt the very first ti Patterns All those straight lines--were they suggesting an entirely different kind ofthat he wasan obvious hint or clue

Minho tapped him on the shoulder "You can always come back and study your butt off after dinner, after we talk to Newt and Alby Come on"

Tho the twinge of unease he felt It was like a prick in his side Walls ht lines, patterns … There had to be an answer "Okay, let’s go"

They’d just stepped outside the Map Roo shut behind the very happy Thomas’s excitement immediately turned to worry

"Hey," Minho said "We were just--"

"Get on with it," Alby interrupted "Ain’t got ti?"

Minho actually recoiled at the harsh rebuke, but his face seery "Nice to see you, too Yeah, we did find so, actually"

Oddly, Alby almost looked disappointed "Cuz this whole shuck place is fallin’ to pieces" He shot Tho with hiht up They’d been working hard all day and this was their thanks?

"What do you mean?" Minho asked "What else happened?"

Newt answered, nodding toward the Box as he did so "Bloody supplies didn’t come today Come every week for two years, same time, same day But not today"

All four of theround To Tho over it darker than the gray air surrounding everything else

"Oh, we’re shucked for good now," Minho whispered, his reaction alerting Thorave the situation really was

"No sun for the plants," Newt said, "no supplies froht"

Alby had folded his ar to open the doors with hisup what he’d seen in the Changing--or anything related to Thomas, for that matter Especially now

"Yeah, anyway," Minho continued "We found so that Newt or Alby would have a positive reaction to the news, ht on the mystery

Newt raised his eyebrows "What?"