Chapter 9: Minho's POV

Minho ran back with Thomas and Ivory to where there was a large crowd of Gladers at the foot of the Treehouse. If he wasn't mistaken, someone was up there hurling something down at them. He, Ivory, and Thomas joined in the crowd, and Minho instantly found it a bad idea. An apple hit him on the head, and he grimaced, rubbing where it hurt. He glanced around and saw Winston pull Ivory under something he was using to block the apples. That wasn't what made him suddenly feel... mad? But it was watching them laugh together. Minho had probably stared too long, since Mira suddenly came over and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to the base of the tree.

She smirked. "You gotta stop staring if you don't want to get hit," She suppressed a laugh when Minho looked at her in confusion.

"I wasn't staring," he huffed, pulling his arm out of Mira's grip. Mira rolled her eyes with a smirk.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say," she said.

Minho waited till she looked away before also rolling his eyes. He sighed, scanning all the Gladers. He couldn't keep his gaze from straying over to Ivory, though. Okay fine. Maybe he was staring. But who cared? Everyone was focused on the new girl, who had stopped throwing apples.

Whoops. He'd missed what had just happened. Minho blinked, pulling himself out of his head and back to reality. Thomas walked past him and Mira, climbing to the top. Minho watched him go, managing to temporarily forget about Ivory. What he'd heard was the new girl was awake, and from the looks of it, she'd had the same idea as Ivory and Mira.

I guess Apple-Throwing to give the Gladers concussions is a favorite sport for girls.

Minho turned, however, when Mira walked away and met up with Ivory. Staring was probably rude, but at the moment Minho didn't really care. He wished he could go over there, but somehow it seemed wrong.

Yeah. It's not the right time. Besides, Ivory's smile wasn't something you got often. A genuine smile, purely happy. The sassy smile was good too, though.

Minho shook himself and turned, walking off to the Village as the other Gladers began dispersing. He didn't have to look over his shoulder to know where Ivory was headed, but he did it anyway and felt another spark of jealousy. What about Winston made Ivory want to hang out with him that much? Surely she'd go off at some point. Right?

"You okay there Minho?"

Minho turned and saw Frypan leaning on a post. "What?"

Frypan smirked, walking over and patting him on the shoulder. "What's on your mind?"

Minho shook his head. "Nothing, just..." he resisted the urge to look again. "Confusing things."

"Well... you don't have this look a lot."

The two stood in silence for a whole minute before Frypan spoke. "Ooooh, I think I understand now."

Minho's eyes widened a little in concern. "You think so?"

Frypan grinned. "Is it about that girl? ...Ivory?"

Minho clapped a hand over Frypan's mouth. "Sh! Don't say that kind of stuff. It's nonsense."

Frypan laughed through Minho's hand and shoved him away. "Oh come on. I can keep a secret, man. And, I don't think you have to worry about that for long. It's pretty obvious with how you keep staring at her."

Minho rolled his eyes. "Do you have any food out? I could use some." Anything to stop talking about Ivory.

Faster than he'd expected, the sun was setting on the Glade. Most of the Gladers were in the Village, and the ones who were up were headed to sleep soon.

Minho, however, wasn't going to sleep yet. He wanted to talk to her at least once. Once today. He didn't care if she was talking to Mira or off with Winston.

He didn't have to go far, though. While still at the edge of the Village, he spotted Ivory walking near the crops. Minho, without a second thought, dashed across the field towards her. Ivory stopped walking when he got near.

"Oh, hey Minho."

Minho halted in front of her. "Hi."

Ivory pursed her lips, shrugging and then smiling. "So... What's up?"

"Huh? Oh. Uh..." He shrugged. "Just... wanted to talk. If that was okay."

Ivory raised an eyebrow. "Just talk?"

"Yeah... "

Ivory smirked, shaking her head, and began strolling away. "Come on, then. I was getting kinda lonely. Be my walking companion."

Minho grinned. "Sure!"

For a long while, they walked around. But no one did any talking. It was dark when Minho finally spoke up.

"So um."

Ivory chuckled. "Are we finally getting to that "talking" part?"

Minho smirked. "I guess so." He stopped walking, and Ivory turned to face him.

She tilted her head a little, smiling. "Aight. What is it?"

Why did she look cute that way? Minho blinked and sighed. "Well... Are you and Mira the same as us? Like... no memories outside the Maze?"

Ivory pursed her lips, furrowing her eyebrows. "Um... well yeah. I have faint memories of entering the maze, but nothing for certain. And then I have to distinguish between my dreams and reality. Does that happen to you? Like... You have a dream and when you wake up you kind of have to remember what actually happened?"

Minho thought about that for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. Sometimes."

She nodded. "Yeah. But yeah, pretty much we're like you guys."

Minho met Ivory's eyes and they held each other's gaze for a heart-pounding minute before Ivory cleared her throat.

"Anyways... It's getting kind of late...""Wait!"

Ivory furrowed her eyebrows at Minho. Minho almost panicked, trying to think of a good reason for her to stay.

"Could... we just walk for a little longer?"

Ivory studied Minho, nodding slowly. "Suure... But why? Are we about to have a serious conversation?"

Minho blinked a few times. "No? Um... I just wanted to know you better...? Cause isn't that what friends do? Get to know each other?"

Ivory covered her mouth to smother a laugh. "I guess so. Okay... um. What do you want to know?"

"Um... What's your favorite color?"

"Pft. That's all you got?"

Minho shrugged. "Um... I don't know. I didn't want to go too far at first."

Ivory rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. Try me."

"Okay... Greatest fear?"

Ivory scoffed. "Greatest fear?"

She stared off at the fields of corn, her face relaxing. A small breeze swept through the Glade and cooled the air. Minho watched the wind toss Ivory's loose strands of hair about, and she looked... lost? In thought?

"To lose people."

Minho furrowed his eyebrows. She had turned back to Minho and wasn't smiling a bit. "My greatest fear is losing the people I love."

Mira? ... Winston maybe?

"Oh." Minho cleared his throat. "I half expected you to say something like "fear? What's that?" But I guess not."

Ivory smirked, brightness returning to her face. "I would have. What about you, tough guy? Anything you scared of?"

Minho let out a puff of air, turning it into a sigh. "Uh... I guess failing? Failing to protect people, to do my job."

Ivory "ahhed", nodding. "Is that why you won't tell anyone else about the Maze?"Minho rolled his eyes. Well... he was supposed to be mad at Ivory for getting into the Runner hut, but he had completely forgotten about it and it was now too late to be mad at her.

"It was Alby's call. I would've thought you'd eavesdropped long enough to catch that part."

Ivory shrugged. "I only got the important part."

Minho smirked. "Alright then." He turned to look at the Village. Only a few torches were burning, and the sound of sleeping Gladers reached even Ivory and Minho's ears. "I better go to sleep. I'm taking Thomas out for his first day as an official runner early in the morning."

Ivory's eyes widened slightly, and they danced with excitement. Minho instantly knew what she was thinking.

"No. Stay here in the Glade. Hang out with Winston." That last part tasted almost bitter on his tongue. As much as it'd be enjoyable to go out in the Maze with her, he didn't want to get in trouble with Gally or anyone else.

Ivory groaned, rolling her eyes. "Okay, Dad. Good night then!" She spun around on her heel and sped off in the direction of the forest, leaving Minho to ponder their conversation.

That morning, Minho was up before dawn. When it was just beginning to get brighter, he went out to the Slammer. He smirked, squatting down to get a closer look at Thomas.

"Big day, Greenie. You sure you don't wanna sit this one out?"

Thomas shook his head. "Come on, man. Get me out of here."

"Aight."

The sun was just barely peeking over the walls of the Glade when Minho and Thomas stood outside of a pair of doors. The familiar creaking and cranking of the huge, heavy doors filled their ears. Minho gazed at the opening as it got wider, slightly amused that Thomas was still jumpy from the Maze.

Minho gave Thomas a small smirk, then turned to the Maze. "Let's go!" He sped away, sprinting at first but quickly slowing down just a small bit. Thomas was close behind, reminding Minho he didn't have to go slow for this Greenie.

"Come on, this way. Not much further until the inner ring!" They ran at a steady pace for a while, passing through Sections 5 and 6. At the entrance to Section 7, they slowed to a walk. And that's when Minho picked up the sound of another pair of footsteps. He turned around, furrowing his eyebrows as he saw no one.

"What is it?" Thomas asked.

Minho shook it off. "Nothing." They continued this time at a steady walk. Minho's confusion grew more as he glanced around at the Maze walls.

"It's strange..."

"What?"

"Seven's not supposed to be open for another week."

They made their way down a path, entering another section of the maze.

"What the he** is this place?" Thomas asked, staring at everything with wide eyes.

Minho smirked. "We call em Blades."

Minho and Thomas spotted something farther down an isle and jogged over. Minho bent down, examining the clothes. Thomas blinked, also bent down beside him.

"It's Ben's, isn't it?""Yeah," Minho sighed, dropping the shirt. "A Griever must have pulled him down here."

Suddenly, they heard a high-pitched whir. Thomas met Minho's eyes, then suddenly turned him around, going through his backpack. Minho let out a protest, but Thomas didn't stop. He pulled out the mechanical thing from the Griever they'd found, listening to the clicks and buzzing that were coming from it.

They were both quiet, and didn't expect what happened next.

"BAH!!" Ivory jumped out of nowhere, shouting.

Thomas and Minho shouted, both jerking around towards her. Ivory burst out laughing, collapsing to the ground.

"You should have seen your faces!" Ivory stopped laughing so she could breath, leaning back on her palms.

Minho pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm his racing heart. "IVORY!" he shouted, clenching his fists. "What are you doing here?"

Ivory grinned, sticking out her tongue. "You're not my Dad, so I decided not to listen when you told me to stay." She stood up, running a hand through her hair.

Minho found he couldn't stay angry for long, and sighed, patting her shoulder. "Okay, okay. You can come with us.""Yay!" Ivory's face lit up. "What were you two doing, anyway?" Thomas, who was still holding the piece of Griever, answered. "We're gonna follow this."

(Switch to Ivory's POV)

They walked for a while, and discovered new openings in Section 7, which lead to a long, spacious room with a walkway.

"Minho, have you ever seen this place before?" Thomas questioned,

"No, never."

"Ah, dead end," Ivory sighed, kicking at the gravel.

Minho shook his head. "There's gotta be more to it than this."

The clicking sounds became more rapid and intensified, Suddenly, the clicking stopped, and the number 7 turned green on the piece of Griever. Ivory met Minho's eyes, and then they heard gears clanking and grinding together. Minho jerked away from the wall, which was going up, revealing two more "walls" going up. What was now in their place at the end of the shorter hallway was a gaping, black circle.

The three of them stared at it, Ivory in nervous anticipation, Minho in fear, and Thomas in fearful curiosity.

"You sure about this?" Minho muttered.

Thomas didn't take his eyes off the circle. "Nope."Ivory smirked, rolling her eyes. "Oh come on, it's new. Of course we're checking it out." She shoved the boys forward before stepping in front of them, walking up to the circle. This section didn't have a ceiling, allowing the sunlight to filter in. Thomas and Minho neared it a lot more slowly, wary of anything that might happen. Maybe it would do her good to be careful as well, but Ivory quickly dismissed that idea. What fun was life without danger?

Suddenly, the inside of the circle started clicking, and a red light appeared, scanning the three of them. Horns blared out of nowhere, and Ivory sighed.

Okay, maybe this should be taken a little seriously...

"We should get out of here," Thomas said, backing away from the circle.

Ivory looked up and saw the gears moving, and realized the walls were gonna go down. "Yeeeah. Let's go." She turned and jogged out of that section, looking over her shoulder to see if the boys were behind her. She let Minho go ahead of her so she could follow him, and the three ran into the Blades section. Ivory saw some of them moving, and groaned. I'm not getting stuck in here again.

"We gotta go. Run, guys or we're gonna get trapped!" Minho shouted, dashing off. Ivory gave Thomas a shove to get him moving before also speeding away, panting heavily. They weaved in between Blades, and as they did Thomas got separated in another aisle. He ran beside Minho and Ivory, shouting Minho's name in fear.

"What are you doing?! Get your butt over here, Thomas!!" Ivory shouted back, moving faster. Thomas risked it and ran in between two Blades, running into them.

"Keep going, let's go let's go!" Minho said, helping Thomas regain his balance. The trio kept going until they entered another section, where they skidded to a stop. Four panels rose out of the ground in front of them, while one longer one began descending. Ivory turned right and kept running. "Come on!!" She shouted, and the boys wasted no time obeying.

"Run, Thomas, don't look back!" Minho tried to shout over the ruckus of moaning gears and metal grinding together as the whole Section 7 was closing. Minho veered left, leading them to a small opening that wouldn't be open for long. He jumped on and crawled through, Ivory right behind him. She had to admit, it was the scariest part of the Maze. The opening slowly closing in on her, as if it was trying to suffocate her. She grappled at the edge of it and threw herself out, landing on her back and rolling, her eyes still wide as Thomas came out after her. Ivory let out an "oof!" as Thomas landed on top of her, then pushed him off.

"Ew! Next time, land on Minho!"

The three of them watched the opening seal shut, and Thomas let out a sigh, collapsing on the ground.

"Yeah sorry, next time I'll stop to see who I'm gonna land on."

Ivory sneered. "Good!"

(Switch to Minho's POV) Minho tried to calm his racing heart, slowly getting to his feet.

"Yeah sure, everyone can land on me while trying to escape." He held out a hand to Ivory and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

Ivory raised an eyebrow, grinning. "What, do you want someone to land on?"

Minho rolled his eyes. "I'd appreciate knowing someone has my back."

"I'm sure that they won't be hard to find. Now come on, let's get back, before Mira finds out I did something dangerous without her. ...Again."

A lot of the Gladers were waiting for them when they got back, including Mira, and they were met firstly with Newt.

"What the he** is going on out there?" he asked, and Gally followed it with, "What the he** have you done now, Thomas?"

"We found something, a new passage," Thomas said, ignoring Gally. "We think it could be a way out.""Really?" Newt questioned.

"It's true!" Minho said. "We opened a door, something I've never seen before. I think it must be where the Grievers go during the day."

"Wait, whoa whoa whoa," Chuck interjected, doing his best to keep up with them. "You're saying you found the Grievers home, and you want us to go in?""Their way in could be our way out, Chuck!" Thomas said.

"Yeah, or, there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side." Minho rolled his eyes, sighing as Gally interjected and kept talking.

"The truth is, Thomas doesn't know what he's done, as usual!"

Thomas whipped to face Gally, arguing back. This'll go fantastically, Minho thought with a groan. He glanced at Newt and he could tell he felt the same way.

"Yeah well at least I did something, Gally. What have you done, huh? Besides hide behind the walls the whole time."

"Lemme tell you something, Greenie. You've been here three days. I've been here three years-"Thomas interrupted, raising his voice. "Yeah, you've been here three years and you're still here, Gally. Alright, so what does that tell you? Maybe you should start doing things a little differently."

"Guys." Minho glanced around and saw Teresa had walked up, looking solemn.

"Maybe you should be in charge, Thomas. What about that, maybe you should be in charge," Gally said, heavy with sarcasm.

"Hey! Guys! It's Alby!" Teresa shouted, getting everyone's attention.

They all looked at her at the mention of Alby, and once she was satisfied with the attention she spoke softer. "He's awake."

The group went to the hut, and Minho noticed Ivory and Mira had joined them on the way over. Once inside, Minho saw Alby sitting up with his arms crossed and a blank stare.

"Has he said anything?" he asked.

Teresa shook her head. "No."

Newt walked over to and crouched in front of Alby, speaking softly. "Alby." He stared at their leader and sat beside him. "Alby are you alright?"

"Clearly he's not..." Minho heard someone whisper from behind him, and he turned to see who it was. Ivory stood directly behind him, her arms crossed and not a single hint of humor or silliness in her expression as she stared at Alby. Mira was beside her, equally serious and solemn. Ivory looked up at him when she noticed he was staring at her.

"He was stung. Of course he's not okay."

Something about how the way she was speaking gave him the impression she knew what he was feeling. She and Mira both were just as solemn and quiet as Alby, with shiny eyes. He'd never seen the girls like this. Not once, and he could tell this was probably one of the only times they'd ever shown this kind of emotion.

Minho directed his attention back to Alby when he said, "We can't." Wait... what? "We can't leave," Alby said, his lower lip quivering. "They won't let us."

Thomas shared a confused look with Newt. "What are you talking about?"

Alby paused before saying, "I remember."

The more he spoke, the more everyone sank into confusion. Remember what? Why could they leave?

"What do you remember?" Thomas asked Alby, still crouched beside him.

Alby turned to face Thomas. "You." A deep feeling of dread fell over the group. "You were always their favorite, Thomas. Always."

Minho realized there was shouting outside and turned to leave. He saw Ivory and Mira were already gone, and dashed out of the hut. It was already getting pretty dark, and Gladers were running around with torches in their hands. The others from the Hut emerged, and Thomas stopped Winston who was running by.

"What's going on?" "It's the doors, they're not closing," he breathed, before running off again.

The Gladers congregated in the mouth of the only open door, staring into the black abyss of the Maze. Minho felt fear grow in his gut, and he could feel adrenaline start to pump into his veins, preparing him for anything.

A hand suddenly slipped into his, gripping his wrist tight. He saw Ivory was beside him, also staring at the blackness. She breathed heavily, her nostrils flared and her body tense.

Suddenly a booming sound broke through the air, and creaking, grinding gears echoed on the Maze walls. The Gladers whipped around, watching in horror as the other doors eased open. Everyone's fear rose, gaping at the doors.

Thomas started giving out orders, and Gally pitched in. Thomas turned to Minho.

"Minho, I want you and Ivory to grab every weapon you can find. We'll meet you at the council hall."Minho nodded, turned to Ivory who was still holding his hand. "Alright, let's go."

He, Ivory, and two other Gladers took off in search of the weapons. It was when they were almost there when Minho heard shouts of pure and raw terror, followed by a chilling mechanical moan.