CH. THIRTY - SEVEN
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"I need details!" Begs Camil, whisper-screaming at her. "Like, right now."

With a red face, she mutters something under her breath.

"Confirm my theory," he adds. "You can feel what he feels. Did you fe—"

"We have learned to turn that off, so no, I did not." She buries her head in her hands, embarrassed to talk about this. Should've never spilled it to Camil in the first place.

"Isn't he like sixteen inches taller than you? How did you survive—"

"Please shut your mouth."

"Tell me he was kind. Did he ask consent? He didn't leave after, right? I'll shucking kill him if he did."

"He didn't leave," she says, sighing. "Yes, he asked consent. And yes, he was kind."

"Well, then why so moody? Tell me everything as if I'm your girly best friend while you kick with your feet."

She hums, taking a bite off her lunch, since her and Gally slept in until exactly an hour ago.

"Hold up." His mouth falls open. "Did you ask the Box for co—"

"No, I have pills that stop my period," she interrupts. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Why am I more excited than you? About your relationship? Girl. Or did he exhaust you that much?"

"Stop it," she hisses. "I've changed my mind. I'm going to run today."

"But it's your day off! How are you even able to walk? And it's already lunch, you'll need to be back in six hours! Isn't that too—"

But she has already disappeared.

❀

Running takes her mind off things, no matter how slow or fast she is. And she's happy, really, and not uncomfortable at all, but somehow she's just not in the mood for Camil's excitement.

As if something is holding her excitement back.

Anyways— today, she's not planning to map things. She never really was, but definitely not right now. Because the Griever is there again.

Taking her dagger, she slowly moves towards the corner, curious. These things really got to stop following her. It's getting annoying.

Don't leave now, she does think. The last times she tried to do this, the creatures ran off.

Now it doesn't.

She's not planning to pet it, by the way. Neither is she gonna touch the head as if she's taming a damn dragon.

Just checking out why it's following her.

She stops a few feet away from the thing. Her heart's pounding. Head's heavy as she takes a few deep breaths.

What an ugly thing, she thinks.

Immediately, the Griever lets out a low sound. Some kind of growl.

Her eyebrows fly up. That's pretty interesting.

Go left, she thinks, just to check it out.

It moves to the left.

Oh, well.

Oh, wow.

She can control this thing with her mind?

Sharing thoughts with a Griever is cooler than sharing thoughts with Gally, honestly.

For the following minutes, she tries to confirm this by giving the creature more orders. From running far away and then back to lowering its body and making a sound.

She can make this thing do anything she wants.

A little too excited, she asks if it knows where the exit is. If it can take her there.

She does refuse to climb on its back, obviously, because that would be very weird— just follows it through the Maze. What's also very weird is that she almost feels more protected like this than when she's with Minho.

Perhaps because normally, this thing is what she needs to be protected from and now that thing is being nice.

They arrive at what Minho calls an outer section. The Griever puts up quite a pace, so once they arrive at a giant door that slides up, she's out of breath and stops to catch it again.

The Griever makes its way to the very end of the cliff in front of them, which has a bridge in the middle. There's a loud click, a round hole opens, and the Griever vanishes inside.

That's the way out.

And she doesn't give a shit.

What she's more surprised about is that none of its friends reveal themselves. Come back, she calls, and the Griever does.

Alright. She can control this Griever. Maybe not the rest.

How's that possible? Joan shakes her head.

Perhaps she'll take a swim in the lake soon. She'll get answers from that.

Thanks, she says awkwardly before she turns around to head back. The pace she runs at isn't fast. She no longer feels in danger, and she isn't exactly thrilled to tell the Gladers there is a way out.

And that's why she won't tell them at all. 

❀

A/n: Sorry this chapter is so short and shitty, I've been losing motivation lately. But things are getting more interesting so I'll probably gain the motivation back :)