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Thomas was startled, but he tried his best to cover it up He knew he had to pretend he didn’t have voices in his head--the others would think he was a lunatic

Just … co each word separately, trying to visualize the e, send it But she didn’t respond

"Teresa," he said aloud "Can you help me a second?" He nodded toward the closet

The two of them went into the dusty little roo a s to the table, Tho a ht as he threw each new piece on top

Thorabbed a few He held one of the papers up to the light, sa it shone through with a rabbed a ht, everybody trace the last ten or so days onto a piece of this stuff Make sure you write the info on top so we can keep track of what’s what When we’re done, I think we an

"Just bloody keep cutting," Newt ordered "I think I knohere he’s going with this" Thoot to work, tracing fro to keep it clean and correct while hurrying as fast as possible Thomas used the side of a stray slab of wood as a ht Soon he’d completed fivefeverishly

As Tho that what they were doing was a co next to hi out the corner of her mouth as she traced lines up and down, side to side She seemed way

Box by box, section by section, they continued on

"I’ve had enough," Newt finally announced, breaking the quiet "My fingers are bloody burning like a "

Tho he’d been right about all this "Okay, givethe table, in order froht One here"--he pointed at an end--"to Eight here" He pointed at the other end

Silently, they did as he asked, sorting through what they’d traced until eight low stacks of wax paper lined the table

Jittery and nervous, Tho sure they were all fro them in order He then laid the of the Maze matched the saht different sections of the Maze at once What he saw a into focus, an iasp

Lines crossed each other, up and down, so much so that what Thorid But certain lines in the middle--lines that happened to appear e than the rest It was subtle, but it ithout a doubt, there

Sitting in the exact center of the page was the letter F

CHAPTER 43

Thomas felt a rush of different emotions: relief that it had worked, surprise, excitement, wonder at what it could lead to

"Man," Minho said, sus with one word

"Could be a coincidence," Teresa said "Do es of each day, in order froht Each time, an obvious letter formed in the center of the crisscrossed mass of lines After the F was an L, then an O, then an A, and a T Then C … A … T

"Look," Tho down the line of stacks they’d formed, confused, but happy that the letters were so obvious "It spells FLOAT and then it spells CAT"

"Float cat?" Newt asked "Doesn’t sound like a bloody rescue code to ," Thomas said

Another couple of combinations made them realize that the second as actually CATCH FLOAT and CATCH

"Definitely not a coincidence," Minho said

"Definitely not," Thoestured toward the storage closet "We need to go through all of them--all those boxes in there"

"Yeah," Thoet on it"

"We can’t help," Minho said

All three of thelares "At least not et the Runners out in the Maze"

"What?" Thomas asked "This is way more important!"

"Maybe," Minho answered calmly, "but we can’t miss a day out there Not now"

Tho the Maze see out the code "Why, Minho? You said the pattern’s basically been repeating itself for "

Minho slaainst the table "That’s bullcrap, Thoet out there Soht’ve opened up In fact, with the freaking walls not closing anyht and do so"

That piqued Tho to do that Conflicted, he asked, "But what about this code? What about--"

"Toht You shanks go out and get Runnin’ I’ll round up soet workin’ on this" Newt sounded reed "I’ll stay and help Newt"

Thoure out the code hiht

She s to decipher a hidden code from a coirl’s brain running the show" Her grin turned into a s at her with a sain

"Good that" Minho nodded and turned to go "Everything’s fine and dandy Come on" He started toward the door, but stopped when he realized Thomas wasn’t behind hiirlfriend will be fine" Thoh his head in that moment An itch to learn the code, eht of hiht find out in the Maze--and fear