Once again, she found herself attempting to eavesdrop a conversation between Janson and Ava Paige. That woman never seemed to leave the facility anymore because of how often she came to supervise Janson's work.

And once again, Sara couldn't gather any important information, not even after a week's worth of time watching them closely. Another week of nothing making any sense.

The girl didn't have the resources she needed in order to get her questions answered, and she felt like her life was slipping in between her fingers even though she was so young.

She realized with horror that her life in headquarters was a waste of time. Even when she'd asked Janson to let her watch him work; he'd turn her down. He always gave her the same excuse—that she wasn't ready yet.

Ready for what? she searched her mind, trying to figure it out.

Her concentration was interrupted by a light tap on her shoulder. She barely had enough time to whip her head around and register who it was before he grabbed her by the arm.

They rushed out the second exit across from the room.

Sara yelped in pain as he unyieldingly gripped her arm. They scurried among the other kids, escaping through the commotion of the visit and the doctors running more tests on other kids.

The guards were distracted, more preoccupied with Janson and Paige's safety, and no one saw the two kids disappear. They hid under a nearby office desk, panting for a few seconds to catch their breath.

Once they were breathing normally again, Sara glared at him as she rubbed her arm profusely.

"What's your problem? You're always staring at me like a creep, and now you're kidnapping me? I don't even know you, kiddo," she whispered vehemently.

"Shhh!" He pointed a finger to his own lips. "You're gonna give us away," he warned in a softer whisper.

"But—"

"SHHH!"

Newt clamped her mouth with the palm of his hand before she could protest any longer. She let out a muffled groan. Having no other alternative, she forced her mouth open against the pressure of his hand and bit him. Hard.

He released her abruptly, inhaling deeply as he was about to cry out in pain. Before he could, Sara clamped his mouth shut with her own hand. She smiled victoriously at him as he only scowled at her. He was stronger than she was, so it wasn't very difficult for him to yank her hand away from his mouth, much to her dismay.

"What are you—five?" he whispered harshly as he repeatedly flicked the hand she bit.

Sara snorted. "No, but you look like you might be."

It was more than obvious he didn't appreciate the joke regarding his awfully younger appearance despite his age.

"Look, this isn't a joke," he continued with that peculiar accent that fascinated her. "Do you have any idea of what's even going on around you?"

Sara's expression darkened and she stared back at the young boy with confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked, slightly offended.

"You're their favorite," he said rather quickly. "You get your own room, exclusive treatment, and you can almost do whatever you want. You even get your own personal nanny to spoil you." His features morphed into a mocking gesture. "Of course you haven't noticed anything strange. Because you're practically living like a bloody princess." He scoffed.

She gasped, extremely offended this time.

"Now wait a sec—"

"Just listen," he interrupted. "Me and my friends think they're lying to us. They don't ever answer our questions, and they keep doing tests on us for some reason. We don't know what they really want with us, but it feels very suspicious," he continued, "but—oh right—what do you know?" He said with a condescending edge to his voice.

Her blood was boiling. She sent him a scornful stare before finally exploding.

"How dare you assume what I don't know?" she almost yelled out loud. "I've been asking myself the same things since I got here!"

She couldn't stop herself. He was so rude. It was understandable with everything he went through, but that shouldn't have been an excuse to treat others like that.

She'd heard her father once tell her that first impressions mattered. Well, her first impression of Newt plain old sucked. She'd been foolish enough to think they'd get along if they ever talked. What a difficult kid.

"Wake up, sweetheart. We've all been here long before you showed up. Six years to be exact," he retorted, adding to her dislike of him.

"Touché." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Then she squinted her eyes at him and tilted her head slightly to the side. She took that moment to notice the blond boy's appearance. Man, he looked so young. Maybe he could lend her the secret to having eternal youth, who knew? That was probably the only good thing he could ever do for her.

One thing was certain, however. He acted way too smart for his own good. At least that was what she concluded from his attitude in proportion to his oddly young appearance.

"Alright, genius," she mocked him, "so then why exactly did you feel the need to talk about this with me—you know—the 'dainty little princess who doesn't know a thing?'" She air-quoted the last phrase with her fingers.

Newt only rolled his eyes. He was actually taken aback by her comeback, and Sara noticed how there was slight amusement lingering in his dark chocolate eyes. He masked it almost immediately with a serious frown—his typical facial expression.

"Because you could be the key to us discovering something important," he replied matter-of-factly.

"So... you just want to use me," she said, annoyed, but still trying to get on his nerves. Newt sighed, throwing his head back. It worked.

"No, Sara. I would never do that. I'm asking you because I know that you have better access to what for the rest of us is forbidden territory." He waved his arms to get his point across. "Especially with how close you are with these people. You can discover something we might've missed."

Now things were starting to get interesting.

"How could I? You just said I didn't know anything." Her smirked widened, and it was impossible to miss the faltering stance of the boy.

"Uh... that's not what I meant, okay?" He frowned a bit, as if he didn't like his own answer, then continued, "Well, you're basically famous here anyway. It's easy to hear many things about you."

"Fine, fine, okay," she waved him off. "But still. How do you know I won't tell on you or something? You don't seem to trust me, so why risk it?" she wondered, trying to see where this was going.

"What—are you recording this conversation or something?" He raised his eyebrow and skeptically stared back at her.

Sara gave out a small laugh. She could have a little fun. "Do you even know how I know Janson?" she asked casually.

"You mean Rat Man?" He smirked.

"Who?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"It's what Minho calls him. It fits him so perfectly that it just kind of stuck with all of us," he said and shrugged. "Minho's my friend, by the way."

He's not wrong, she smiled to herself, picturing her uncle's face as that of a rat's face. It wasn't like her to disrespect him like that, but she had to admit it was a little funny. Whoever Minho was, he seemed like the kind of guy that could cure her boredom. Maybe he'd be a better friend than Newt; she concluded that much from their conversation alone.

"So tell me, how do you know him?" he urged her.

"He's my uncle," she responded nonchalantly.

The color drained from his face as realization hit him like a train. He didn't know how to respond, and only wished he could drown his previous accusations of her in a pit of oblivion.

He became visibly uncomfortable, slowly backing away to stand up and hope to leave. He was worried about his friends. Worried that he'd ruined their chances by sharing too much information with her.

"You can't be serious," he huffed, mortified.

She laughed at his reaction before she took hold of his wrist to stop him from trying to leave.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything. Trust me, I know something's not right, and I've been trying to figure out what it is this whole time. I want to help you guys." She hoped she hadn't scared the poor boy, ruining her chance to discover the rotten secret she'd been trying to uncover for weeks.

"Alright well..." Newt paused and thought for a minute. "If I haven't made myself clear yet, I'm not just trying to use you. I'd appreciate the help. We all would."

Sara smiled triumphantly and gave him an agreeing nod.

"And..." Newt paused. "You seem like a decent human when you're not angry, so you're welcome to join our group—if you want to."

"So you think you know so much about me? Newt, you're a stalker." She shook her head slowly, deciding it was more fun to mess with him than having real talk.

"You call me a stalker, but you always looked back at me, don't even lie," he retaliated. She hated how he always had something better to say to stump her.

"Still you, 'cause you started. Even your sister noticed," she tried to stand her ground, unwilling to let him win this one.

At the mention of Sonya, Newt averted his eyes to the ground, rapidly getting upset.

Sara took notice of his sudden change in behavior and quickly changed the topic. She figured it would have to be for another time, making sure she never mentioned Sonya around him. It upset her he was treating his sister like that. Sonya was her friend. But Sara also couldn't afford upsetting him to where he refused to help her with her plan.

"Anyway..." he began, lowering his voice. "I've heard rumors about your uncle, but I don't know if they're true."

Sara perked up once the words slipped out of his mouth. "What kind of rumors?"

Newt raised his shoulder in a shrug. "I didn't hear much, but it was something to do with him and the Callan sisters. Do you know anything about that?"

Her eyes widened, and she felt a sharp tug at her heartstrings. "Uh—no. No—I... who told you that?"

Her face creased with worry and extreme curiosity. Her mother and aunt were a part of some rumor right there in headquarters, and she couldn't believe she was the last one to know. The only thing that sort of made sense and it was kept hidden from her. At the slightest possibility that the rumors could lead her to find her still-missing mother, her heart almost skipped a beat.

Newt shrugged again, unfazed by Sara's minor shock. "People talk. And I like to pretend I'm asleep during my checkups."

She nodded, keeping her widened eyes on the ground. "Yeah, well... just keep listening to what they say so you can come tell me." Newt gave her a nod and then they were both silent for a few awkward seconds. "So, what do you think of the two weird kids?" she blurted out randomly.

"Thomas and Teresa?" he asked, and she nodded. "That's just what they are. They're weird. I don't know why they actually work for Rat Man. And they're so quiet. The guy seems harmless though. I wouldn't know about the girl for sure. Have you talked to any of them?"

"Very little," she admitted. "Can't really tell why they're so special." If anything, she was the least of Newt's worries. She got special treatment, true, but with how little she was informed, Thomas and Teresa certainly took the biggest bite of suspicion compared to her.

"See, at least you don't work for these people. Or else I wouldn't ask for your help," he admitted. He had a point—she agreed. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Sure enough. With what you've been telling me, I think I'm gonna figure something out pretty soon. But we're still gonna need help, and I know exactly who I need to ask," she said, making her decision.

"Really? Already?"

"You should really stop assuming things about me," she said with a wink, and the slight pink tint on his cheeks did not go unnoticed.

Once Sara and Newt successfully infiltrated themselves among the crowd of kids, the calling of the names proceeded to indicate their bedtime, and Sara was led to her own room once again. She grabbed Rebecca's hand and rushed her inside her room as she locked the door.

"Becca, we need to talk."

––––––––––––––––

~A/N:

Yay another chapter!

Anyways I know Newt's age as of now doesn't match the one of the gif. He's 13 right now and I think he was 15 in that gif. Anyways it doesn't really matter I guess lol. Perks of being unable to age. Only TBS :)