Chapter 5: Ivory's POV

Ivory watched Minho and Alby go into the Maze, longing to go too. She wanted to see a Griever up close. She wanted to explore the Maze. But she knew that Newt and the rest would stop her. She would have to leave secretly when no one was looking.

After Alby and Minho were gone, Newt and Gally turned around toward them, Gally wearing a furious expression (but to be honest he always did) and Newt looked... Dunno.

Ivory put her hands on her hips. "What's up, Eagle-Brow?"He clenched his fists. "Don't call me that. We have something to talk about and something tells me it's going to be a long discussion."

"It's been approximately sixty-two seconds. Not very long," Ivory said.

"Oh, it's not over."

Mira spun on her heel. "Yes it is!"

Gally snatched her arm before she could get very far. "Don't you dare run off."

Ivory kicked him in the side of the thigh and grabbed Mira's hand. "Come on. He just wants to pound us into the dirt."

"I feel like doing it."

Newt finally stepped in between them. "Okay. Let's just settle down. Gally, stop overreacting. They're girls. They do that sort of thing."

He glanced over at the girls, only to be met with their "really?" expressions and crossed arms. Newt shrugged.

Ivory snorted. "How are you supposed to know what girls do and don't do?"

"You guys have given me a pretty good impression on what you do."

"Well. It could be wrong! We could be different!"

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Please stop. You guys have earned the privilege of living here in the Glade. Please don't abuse that privilege."

Ivory laughed. "We don't need permission to live here! As far as I can tell, once you're in here, you don't get a choice."

Everyone was silent for once, until Gally spoke up. "We could just throw you into the Maze."

Ivory cocked an eyebrow, scoffing. "Is that supposed to scare us?"

"Nobody survives out in the Maze at night."

"We've done it before. We can do it again."

Gally struggled for words, finally stomping off to wallow in his own anger and probably plan some pleasant deaths for them.

Ivory watched him go. Now she just had to get rid of Newt.

"Okay," Newt said, also watching Gally leave. "Please stop making us mad. It's really not helping, and we can't get anything done if you distract us."

"True..." Mira said.

Ivory ignored them both, gazing at the entrance to the Maze. She balled her fist, taking a step away from them. Newt sensed her change of mood and shook his head.

"No. You can't go into the Maze."

Ivory decided not to argue and instead nodded, walking away from Mira and Newt. Mira ran up to her.

"What's wrong?"

"I wanna see it," Ivory said, fingering her dagger's handle. "I want to see a Griever."

Mira's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right?"

Ivory shook her head. "No. I remember... that night we survived." Her eyebrows furrowed as she searched her mind. "I remember that we escaped one, but I remember throwing a spear at it. I never saw it when I went into the Maze, but... I just need to know."

Mira smirked. "You aren't planning to go alone, are you?"

Ivory sighed. "I'm considering it."

Mira punched her shoulder. "No way! I'm coming with you."

Ivory nodded. "Okay. But first we have to wait."

The group stood outside the door to the Maze, watching and waiting anxiously. Even Mira and Ivory, and no one had protested about their presence yet.

"They're taking too long," Ivory said, rocking back and forth from her toes to her heels and back to her toes.

Newt stared intently into the Maze. "They'll get here. Just keep waiting."

Thomas shook his head. "Shouldn't we go in and look for them?"

"No," Newt said sternly. "We can't go in. They'll make it."

Chuck suddenly pointed. "There they are!" A cheer rang through the boys, but Thomas shook his head.

"Something's wrong."

Ivory squinted and saw that Minho was dragging Alby along, who was unconscious.

"Come on, Minho!" Newt shouted. The doors creaked and grated, starting to close. Ivory was shaking, her whole body telling her to go. To run into the Maze and help. The boys shouted at Minho to leave Alby, trying to cheer him on, but none of them made a move. Ivory glanced to her left and watched Thomas dart forward. Without even a moment's thought, she followed behind him, throwing off the hands to hold her back. She pushed Thomas the rest of the way through, then squeezed in behind him. She panted. That was close.

"Good job," Minho said, drawing Ivory's attention. "You just killed yourselves."

Ivory crossed her arms. "Excuse me. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting."

"What did you expect?" he asked, standing up. "A pat on the back? Or maybe a thank-you letter? Perhaps a parade for being stupid?"

Ivory slammed him against the wall. "If I have everything correct, I've actually survived out here. If you want to have that honor too, you're gonna listen to me very carefully." She released Minho, turning to Thomas and helping him to his feet.

"First of all, what happened to Alby?" she asked, bending over his unconscious body.

Minho hissed. "We found a Griever we thought was dead. But it woke up and stung him, then ran away."

"Ran away?" Thomas asked, cocking his head.

Minho shrugged. "That's what I said."

Ivory looked up at the sky, then studied the vines. She gripped one, pulling herself up. "These will be strong enough."

"Strong enough for what?" Minho asked. "Why try? We're already dead."

Ivory whipped around to him. "No, we're not. I'm literally living proof."

"You just got lucky."

Ivory snarled, picking up Alby's body. "Fine. Leave me to do this on my own. But I assure you, I can keep you guys alive."

Thomas stepped forward and helped support Alby's body. "Come on, Minho. She's right."

Minho sighed. "Well. What have I got to lose?"

They worked for a while, but were finally able to get Alby up a decent height into the vines. Ivory rubbed her eyes, longing for some sort of light. Nightfall had happened a few minutes ago, and now it was almost unbearably dark. Strange noises and scraping metal echoed throughout the entire Maze, confusing Ivory's senses.

"If only I'd brought my flashlight," she mumbled.

Minho was startled when there was a closer-sounding, metallic groan. "We..we need to get out of here now."

Ivory patted his arm. "Follow me." She began walking away, but realized Minho wasn't following. "What are you doing? I have a plan!"

He began shaking with fear. "They're coming. We have to run."

Ivory shook her head. "Get a hold of yourself, Minho! We don't have time to dilly-dally!" Minho shook his head. "We don't have time at all." He suddenly took off, turning a corner and disappearing out of sight. Ivory fixed Thomas with a steely glare.

"Don't you dare run off."He shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You'll have to go somewhere. But there's a specific place we need to get to. Come on." She started off at a slower run, glancing back every now and then to make sure Thomas was keeping up with her. Picking out the paths from memory, Ivory led Thomas confidently through the Maze until they got to a wall.

"Climb up."

"What?" he asked, giving the vines a nervous glance.

Ivory kicked his leg. "You heard what I said. Climb!" Thomas gripped the vines and began hauling himself up. Ivory followed, keeping an eye out for Grievers. They should have run into one by now. She didn't let it distract her and she climbed faster than Thomas, getting to the top and then helping him up. There, she felt around another wall and pried open a secret cubby she'd discovered while exploring this section. She pulled out two spears with metal heads and handed one to Thomas.

"These work pretty well on hurting those things."

Thomas pointed. "Speaking of which!" Ivory whipped around. A Griever was stalking down another passage. It hadn't seen them yet. Thomas was about to dart away, but Ivory grabbed his wrist and put a hand over his mouth.

"Sh! It hasn't seen us yet!" She whispered. Thomas nodded and she lowered her hand. They backed away slowly, almost to a corner. That's when Thomas tripped and dropped his spear. Ivory didn't waste time. She grabbed Thomas's spear, pulled him to his feet, and took off. "Run, Thomas!" She tossed him his spear and glanced over the edge of the level. Thomas skidded to a stop.

"It's a drop!" he said.

Ivory pushed him. "Jump! Try to make it to the vines!"

"Wait, what?!"Ivory tossed her spear down, then ran and lept across the gap, grappling for vines. She found them and gripped them hard, sliding down a few yards at a time. Once at the bottom, she grabbed her spear and looked up. Thomas was in the vines now, but the Griever was close behind. Ivory ran so she wouldn't be smashed by the huge creature, turning back and watching it get tangled in the vines. Thomas was on the ground now too. Thomas ran past Ivory, turning a corner. Ivory ran after him and, to her surprise, saw Minho.

"Come on! The Maze is changing!" Minho shouted, running down a passage. Ivory ran after him and only noticed Thomas hadn't come too until after she was next to Minho.

"Thomas!" Minho bellowed. "What are you doing?!"

Ivory watched Thomas wait until the Griever was near him before he started running.

"Don't look back!" Minho shouted. "Just run!"

Thomas was almost there, the Griever was struggling to get through the narrow passage as it grew smaller and smaller. Thomas jumped through at the last moment before the wall closed up on the Griever. Ivory moved out of the way and Thomas collided with Minho, knocking them both to the ground.

"What the heck was that?" Minho shoved Thomas off of him and stood up. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Hey. He killed the Griever," Ivory protested. "That's all that matters." She looked up at the sky. It was gray now, and she could make out Minho's face.

"Hey, where'd your spear go?" Ivory asked. Thomas hadn't had it after the vines.

He shrugged. "I threw it at the Griever."

Ivory paused, then broke down into laughter. "By the way the Griever was still able to move like that tells me you missed."

He nodded, disappointment flashing in his eyes. "Yeah."

She leaned against her spear, finally feeling exhausted. "When we get back, I'm sleeping. I can't stay up all night like this again."

"So you can fight Grievers and live but can't stay up all night and live?" Minho asked with a smirk.

"Yeah." Ivory yawned, forcing herself to move. "Come on. The doors will be open by the time we're back and get Alby down."

The three of them trudged back to Alby, tired and exhausted. Ivory untied the end of the vine and together they lowered Alby to the ground. Thomas and Minho supported him and they made their way back to opening doors. Ivory rounded the corner and saw the boys. One of them - was it Zart?? - looked back and his face melted into disbelief. Ivory felt better after that priceless look. Chuck whipped around, his eyes widening.

"Yes!" he shouted, catching everyone's attention. Ivory collapsed to her knees once she touched the grass and she sighed, rolling over onto her back. Mira ran up and kicked her in the side.

"IVORY! How DARE you! That was the STUPIDEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE! I can't BELIEVE you went WITHOUT ME!"

Ivory laughed, sitting up and crossing her legs. "What else was I supposed to do? Wait wait. You're mad that I went in without you? Not mad that I went in in the first place?"

Mira crossed her arms. "Yes! You can't leave me here alone with all these boys!"

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Uh, drag me along! Duh!"

Ivory rolled her eyes, smirking. "Sorry. I'll drag you along next time I do something stupid." Mira grinned, satisfied with Ivory's response. The boys had ignored them and were surrounding Alby, Minho, and Thomas.

"Did you see a Griever?" Zart asked, and everyone was quiet, waiting for the answer.

"He didn't just see it. He killed it," Minho said. All eyes turned to Thomas, shock, surprise, and admiration on their faces.

Newt stood up. "Get Alby to the Homestead. I'm calling a bloody meeting. I expect all of you there, and you." He pointed at Ivory. Ivory groaned, collapsing again. "Do I have to? I really just want to go to sleep."

Newt took a step forward, but Ivory kicked his foot away. "Nah ah. Leave me be."

Mira pulled Ivory to her feet. "Come on." She leaned over and whispered into Ivory's ear. "You can get me into the Homestead. I've always wanted to go in there."

Ivory sighed. "Fiiiine."

Later, Ivory was sitting sideways in a chair with her feet propped up on another chair with her fingers laced together behind her head and her eyes closed. Newt had called the meeting to order a few minutes ago, and they were deep in conversation. Ivory ignored them all, feeling content with where she was. "Ivy. Are you asleep?" Mira said.

All eyes turned to Mira and Ivory peeked one eye open. "Oh hey. I was wondering when you'd show up."

"You can't be in here," Gally snarled, pointing at Mira.

Mira stuck her tongue out at him. "Ivy's my friend. I can be here if I want."

Gally was about to argue more, but Newt held up a hand for silence. "We're not gonna get off-topic."

"Whatever you say, tired-old-man," Ivory said, smirking and shutting her eyes again. Mira crossed her arms, wearing the same smirk and standing next to Ivory.

Newt ignored what she said and began talking again. "He disobeyed the rules." Ivory could tell they were talking about Thomas. "But he helped save Alby and killed a Griever. What should we do about this?"

Gally threw his hands up as if this was the most ridiculous conversation ever. "Put him in the Pit! He can't go unpunished."

Newt shushed him and, in turn, everyone voiced their opinion. Ivory felt Mira elbow her in the ribs.

"What?" Ivory moaned, batting her away.

"They're talking to you."

Ivory opened her eyes and looked the boys' way. "What?"

Newt groaned. "I asked you if you agree with us."

"Why would you need my opinion? So far, I've angered, annoyed, disobeyed, and called you names."

Gally nodded. "Yes. Good point. Put her in the Slammer too, along with her little... Friend."

Mira's eyes widened in disbelief and offense. "Who literally just kicked your stupid butt? ME! Who are you to call me little!"

Newt hid his face with a hand to cover up his smirking. He composed himself and continued. "Fine. Minho, you were there with him. What do you think?"

Minho looked up from the ground and to everyone in the room. "I think that in all the time we've been here, no one has ever killed a Griever. When I turned tail and ran, this dumb shank stayed behind and helped Alby. I don't know if he's brave, or stupid. But whatever it is, we need more of it. I think we should make him a Runner."

There was an uproar as everyone talked all at once. Newt smiled, probably secretly agreeing with Minho. Then Gally silenced everyone and spoke.

"If you wanna throw him a parade, that's fine. Go ahead. But if there is one thing, I know about the Maze. It is that you do not-" A loud horn blared, echoing off the Glade's walls and cutting Gally's little speech off. "Ivy. That's the sound of a Greenie," Mira said. Ivory groaned in annoyance. "NO thank you. I'm going back to sleep. Don't wake me up."

Mira smirked. "As if. But what if it's something super important?"

"Let me make this clear: only wake me up if someone is dying. Only if someone is dying."

Ivory got out of the chairs and stood up, trudging out of the Homestead and running into the forest and climbing the tree, entering her and Mira's treehouse through the window and into her room. She collapsed onto her bed, falling asleep almost as soon as she did.