Page 32 (1/2)

"A code?" Minho asked "How’s it a code?"

Tho he could answer "I don’t know for sure--you’re way more familiar with the Maps than I auys could relanced at Newt, his eyebrows raised in question Newt nodded

"What?" Tho infor like you have a secret"

Minho rubbed his eyes with both hands, took a deep breath "We hid the Maps, Thomas"

At first it didn’t compute "Huh?"

Minho pointed at the Ho Maps in the weapons roo And because of the so-called Ending your girlfriend triggered"

Thoot hoful things had beco suspicious the day before, saying he had a special assignment Thomas looked over at Neho nodded

"They’re all safe and sound," Minho said "Every last one of those suckers So if you have a theory, get talking"

"Taketo have a look

"Okay, let’s go"

CHAPTER 42

Minho switched on the light, ot used to it Menacing shadows clung to the boxes of weapons scattered across the table and floor, blades and sticks and other nasty-looking devices see to wait there, ready to take on a life of their own and kill the first person stupid enough to come close The dank, musty smell only added to the creepy feel of the rooe closet back here," Minho explained, walking past some shelves into a dark corner "Only a couple of us know about it"

Thomas heard the creak of an old wooden door, and then Minho was dragging a cardboard box across the floor; the scrape of it sounded like a knife on bone "I put each trunk’s worth in its own box, eight boxes total They’re all in there"

"Which one is this?" Thoet started

"Just open it and see--each page is marked, remember?"

Thomas pulled on the crisscrossed lid flaps until they popped open The Maps for Section Two lay in a messy heap Thomas reached in and pulled out a stack

"Okay," he said "The Runners have always co to see if there was a pattern that would soure out a way to an exit You even said you didn’t really knohat you were looking for, but you kept studying theht?"

Minho nodded, arms folded He looked as if someone were about to reveal the secret of immortal life

"Well," Tho to do with alike that? What if instead the pattern spelled words? Some kind of clue that’ll help us escape"

Minho pointed at the Maps in Thoh "Dude, you have any idea how s? Don’t you think ould’ve noticed if it were spelling out freaking words?"

"Maybe it’s too hard to see with the naked eye, just co one day to the next And maybe you weren’t supposed to compare one day to the next, but look at it one day at a tiuy in the Glade, but sounds like you’re talkin’ straight out your butt to , Tho even faster The ansithin his grasp--he kneas almost there It was just so hard to put into words

"Okay, okay," he said, starting over "You’ve always had one Runner assigned to one section, right?"

"Right," Minho replied He seeenuinely interested and ready to understand

"And that Runner makes a Map every day, and then compares it to Maps from previous days, for that section What if, instead, you were supposed to coht sections to each other, every day? Each day being a separate clue or code? Did you ever compare sections to other sections?"

Minho rubbed his chin, nodding "Yeah, kind of We tried to see if they ether--of course we did that We’ve tried everything"

Tho the Maps in his lap He could just barely see the lines of the Maze written on the second page through the page resting on top In that instant, he knehat they had to do He looked up at the others

"Wax paper"

"Huh?" Minho asked "What the--"

"Just trust me We need wax paper and scissors And every black marker and pencil you can find"

Frypan wasn’t too happy having a whole box of his wax paper rolls taken away froued that it was one of the things he always requested, that he used it for baking They finally had to tell hiive it up

After tendown pencils and markers--most had been in the Map Room and were destroyed in the fire--Thomas sat around the worktable in the weapons basement with Newt, Minho and Teresa They hadn’t found any scissors, so Thorabbed the sharpest knife he could find

"This better be good," Minho said Warning laced his voice, but his eyes showed so his elbows on the table, as if waiting for a ic trick "Get on with it, Greenie"

"Okay" Thoht end up being nothing He handed the knife to Minho, then pointed at the wax paper "Start cutting rectangles, about the size of the Maps Newt and Teresa, you can help rab the first ten or so Maps from each section box"

"What is this, kiddie craft tiust "Why don’t you just tell us what the klunk we’re doing this for?"

"I’ they just had to see what he was picturing in his e closet "It’ll be easier to show you If I’ around the Maze like hed, clearly irritated, thenunder his breath Teresa had stayed quiet for a while, but she spoke up inside Tho Brilliant, actually