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"Coh the words felt like a couple of noiseless throbs in his brain

Minho coughed, winced again, but then nodded and wrapped one of his arether theycontinued to fall like arrows of white fire Thomas could feel the silent i his bones Flashes of light all around Past the building tohich they stu up; two or three ti make direct contact with the upper reaches of a structure, sending a rain of bricks and glass falling to the streets below

The darkness began to take on a different tone, ray than brown, and Thomas realized that the storround, pushing the dust and fog out of their way The wind had lessened slightly, but the lightning seeht, all heading in the same direction They seemed fewer in nuh to know for sure He did spot Newt, then Frypan And Aris All of the, all eyes riveted to their goal, now just a short distance away

Minho lost his footing and fell, slipped frorip Thomas stopped, turned around, pulled the burnt boy back to his feet, reset Minho’s ar him around the torso with both ar arc of lightning went right over their heads, pummeled the earth behind the A Glader fell to his left; he couldn’t tell who it was, didn’t hear the screaot back up A blast of lightning, just ahead and to the right Another to the left One straight ahead Thoht ca with hi of the city

In the gripping darkness of the storray Massive blocks of stone, an arch of smaller bricks, half-broken s Aris reached the door first, didn’t bother to open it It had been one, so he carefully s shards with his elbow He waved a couple of Gladers past, then went in himself, sed by the interior

Thoestured for help Newt and another boy took Minho froed him backward over the threshold of the open entrance, his feet hitting the sill as they pulled hih

And then Tho bursts, followed his friends, stepping into the gloom

He turned to look just in ti outside, as if the storm had finally decided to ith shame for what it had done to them

CHAPTER 25

The rain fell in torrents, like God had sucked up the ocean and spit it out over their heads in fury

Thomas sat in the exact same place for at least two hours as he watched it He huddled against the wall, exhausted and sore, willing his hearing to co―what had been a complete throb of silence had decreased its pressure, and the ringing had gone away When he coughed, he thought it was more than just a vibration he felt He heard a trace of it And in the distance, as if fro sound of the rain Maybe he wouldn’t be deaf after all

The dull gray light coht off the cold darkness inside the building The other Gladers sat hunched up or lying on their sides around the room Minho was curled up in a ball at Tho; it looked as if every shift sent waves of burning pain through his nerves Neas there, also, close, as was Frypan But no one tried to talk or get things organized No one counted off the Gladers or tried to figure out asThey all sat or lay as lifeless as Tho he hat kind of messed-up world could create a storrew louder until Thomas had nosound, despite everything, and he finally fell asleep

By the tilue had dried in his veins and muscles, all the machinery in his ears and head was back to fully functional He heard the heavy breaths of sleeping Gladers, heard the whie of water sla into the pavement outside

But it was dark Co away his disco the exhaustion take over, he shifted until he lay flat, his head propped on sos woke hilow of sunrise and a sudden rush of silence The storht But even before he felt the stiffness and soreness he expected, he felt soht cah the broken s and dappled the floor around hi, massive holes ripped in each floor all the way to the roof dozens of stories toward the sky; it see the whole thing froine what had caused it all to happen But jags of bright blue seeht that seemed impossible last time he’d been outside Whatever horror that storm had been, whatever quirks in the cli, it really did seeone for now

Sharp pains stabbed at his stolanced around to see most of the other Gladers still asleep, but Newt lay with his back against the wall, staring sadly at a blank spot in the middle of the room

"You okay, there?" Thomas asked Even his jaw felt stiff

Newt slowly turned to him; his eyes were distant until he seehts and focus on Thouess that’s all that bloody matters anymore" The bitterness in his voice couldn’t have been stronger

"Someti alive ht be a lot easier"

"Please I don’t believe for one second you really think that"

Thoaze had lowered while he’d delivered the depressing sentiment and he looked up sharply at Newt’s retort Then he s to sound as miserable as you" He could almost convince hi would be the easy way out

Newt gestured wearily toward Minho "What bloody happened to hiht his clothes on fire How it did that without frying his brain I have no idea But ere able to beat it out before it did too e? I’d hate to see what you think real dae looks like"

Thoainst the wall "Hey, like you said―he’s alive, right? And he still has clothes on, which means it couldn’t have burned his skin in too ood that," Newt replied with a sarcastic chuckle "Rein’ doctor anytiroan His eyes fluttered open, then squinted as he caught Thoaze "Oh, ood"

"How bad is it?" Newt asked hi, Minho very slowly pushed hi with every ss crossed beneath hied In some places where skin was exposed, raw red blisters peeked out like h Thos, his instincts told hieable and would heal pretty quickly Most of Minho’s face had been spared, and he still had all his hair―filthy as it was

"Can’t be too bad if you can do that," Thomas said with a sly sher than nails I could still kick your pony-lovin’ butt with twice this pain"

Thoht now" His stoled

"Was that a joke?" Minho said "Did Tho slinthead actually make a joke?"

"I think he did" was Newt’s response