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Thomas realized suddenly that all this inforood at it What about in that building? When you kissed me? Andwhy did Aris need to be involved in all this?"

Teresa grabbed his ar calculated All for the Variables I don’t kno it all fits together"

Thomas slowly shook his head "Well, none of this crapa little ticked off"

"Did it work?"

"Huh?"

"For soht?"

Tho time "Yeah It did"

"I’m sorry for what I did But you’re alive, and so am I And so is Aris"

"Yeah," he repeated He really didn’t feel like talking to her anyot what I want" Teresa looked at Aris, who’d kept walking for a while and now stood down on the next level of the path "Aris, turn around, face the valley"

"What?" he replied He looked confused "Why?"

"Just do it" She didn’t have the as cha, that made Thohed and rolled his eyes, but did what she said, turning his back to them

Teresa didn’t hesitate She wrapped her ar hih will to resist

They kissed, but nothing stirred inside Tho

CHAPTER 56

The wind intensified, whipping and swirling

Thunder ru Thoain to hide his hard feelings Tio

Doing his best acting job, he gave Teresa a sot it―you did a bunch of weird stuff, but you were forced to, and now I’ht?"

"That’s about it"

"Then I’ about it We need to catch up with the others" The best chance he had to make it to the safe haven was to ith Teresa and Aris, so he would He could think about Teresa and all she’d done later

"If you say so," she said with a forced sht Orthe Gladers after what had happened

"Are you guys done up there?" Aris yelled, still facing the other direction

"Yes!" Teresa called back "And don’t expect ain I thinkthat He set off down thebefore Teresa tried to hold his hand

It took another hour to get to the bottoot closer, allowing them to increase their pace Eventually the switchbacks stopped altogether, and they jogged the lastto the horizon The air was hot, but the overcast sky and the wind kept it bearable

Thoood look at the slowly converging Groups A and B up ahead, especially now that he’d lost the bird’s-eye view and dust had clouded the air But both the boys and the girls stillnorth Even fro into the stiffening wind as they walked

Thoh the air He kept wiping at the skin feel raw The world continued to darken as the clouds thickened in the sky above

After a quick break to eat and drink―their re fast―the three of theroups

"They’re just walking up there," Teresa said, pointing ahead with one hand while shielding her eyes fro?"

"Because we still have over three hours until the deadline," Aris responded, looking at his watch "Unless we totally figured wrong, the safe haven should be only a few miles fro"

Thomas hated to ad fro, they obviously can’t see it, either Itto run to but ly up there What if we get another one of those nice lightning stor in the mountains if that happens," Thomas said Wouldn’t that be a perfect way to end all this, he thought Burned to a crisp by bolts of electricity while searching for some safe haven that had never been there in the first place

"Let’s just catch up to theure out what to do" She turned to look at both boys and put her hands on her hips "You guys ready?"

"Yeah," Tho not to sink into the pit of panic and worry that threatened to s him There had to be an answer to all this Had to

Aris just shrugged in response

"Then let’s run," Teresa said And before Thoone, with Aris close at her heels

Thomas took a deep breath For some reason it all reminded him of the first time he’d run out into the Maze with Minho Which worried him He exhaled and set off after the other two

Afterhim to work twice as hard as he’d ever had to in the Maze, Thomas spoke out to Teresa in his mind I think I’ve had some more memories co to tell her, but not really in front of Aris A test, , to see how she responded to what he’d remembered See if he could find any clues to her true intentions

Really? she answered

He could sense her shock Yeah Weird, randos Stuff from when I was a little kid Andyou were there, too I had gliht before ent to the Glade

She paused before answering, maybe afraid to ask the questions that eventually came to him Does any of it help us? Do you reh there to really mean a whole lot

What did you see?