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"And could you …," Thomas began, but hesitated. He felt like every time he brought this up, he was admitting to the world that he was crazy. "Could you speak to one of those girls inside your mind? Ya know, like telepathically?"
Aris's eyes widened, staring deeply at Thomas as if he'd understood a dark secret that only someone else who shared it could understand.
Can you hear me?
The phrase appeared so clearly inside Thomas's mind that at first he thought Aris had spoken aloud.
But no—his lips hadn't moved.
Can you hear me? the boy repeated.
Thomas hesitated, swallowed. Yes.
They killed her, Aris said back to him. They killed my best friend.
"What's going on?" Newt asked, looking back and forth between Thomas and Aris. "Why're you guys looking at each other like you just fell in love?"
"He can do it, too," Thomas answered, not taking his eyes off the new kid and completely missing the expression on Newt's face, seeing the others only in his peripheral vision. That final statement by Aris had terrified him; if they'd killed his telepathy partner …
"Do what?" Frypan asked.
"What do you think?" Minho said. "He's a freak like Thomas. They can talk in each other's heads."
Thomas shot Minho a glare, feeling hurt and a little ashamed, only to find that Newt was glaring at Thomas. It was only then that the brunette realised just how Newt's expression had darkened.
"Serious?"
Newt looked a mixture of irritated and almost sad, his hands fisted in the material of his trouser legs, gripping his knees. Thomas met his eyes and looked at him properly, and it made an odd and uncomfortable swooping feeling wreak havoc on his insides. Newt didn't look happy about this new revelation, even less so than he had when he'd first discovered Thomas could speak with Teresa in his head. Was it… It surely wasn't Jealousy?
For a split second Thomas wondered whether Newt wished…
Did he wish it was him that Thomas could confer with? And suddenly the younger boy was consumed by the thought. Having Newt in his head whenever he pleased… Being able to check the indecipherable blonde was okay when he went off on his own in one of his quiet moods. Being able to tell him the awkward things he sometimes wanted to, without the encumbering minefield of finding his voice.
For a very long moment they simply stared at each other. Newt's eyes were liquid amber and filled with twisting, changing feelings. Thomas felt his fingers itch to reach out, the short distance between them suddenly too much.
When Minho finally cleared his throat Thomas nodded to Newt's question and almost spoke to Aris in his mind again, saying it out loud at the last second. He didn't want to give Newt any more reason to wear that expression than he could help. His eyes did wander back to the green-eyed Aris though. He tried not to wonder about the sound of Newt shifting. Thomas could see from the corner of his eye the way the blonde had crossed his arms across his chest.
It took a lot of effort to return his attention to the conversation, fear for Teresa reappearing and mingling uncomfortably with the way his heart was thumping. He wished the others were gone so that he could tell Newt… Aris and Rachel. Rachel.
They killed her. They.
"Who killed her? What happened?"
Thomas heard Newt's breath hitch in surprise and avoided the urge to look at him. Newt was alright, he was right there. He was safe for the moment, and that was all that mattered.
"Who killed who?" Minho said. "No more of your voodoo klunk while we're around."
Thomas, eyes watering now, finally broke his gaze with Aris and looked over at Minho. "He had someone he could do this with, just like I did. I mean … do. But he said they killed her. I want to know who they are."
Aris's head had dropped; his eyes looked closed from where Thomas sat.
"I don't really know who they are. It's too confusing. I couldn't tell the bad guys from the good guys. But I think somehow they made this girl Beth … stab … my friend. Her name was Rachel. She's dead, man. She's dead."
He covered his face with both hands.
Thomas felt an almost painful prick of confusion. Everything pointed to Aris's having come from another version of the Maze, set up in the same format except with the ratio of girls to boys being switched. But that would make Aris their version of Teresa. And this Beth sounded like their version of Gally, who'd killed Chuck. With a knife. Did that mean that Gally was supposed to have killed Thomas instead?
But why was Aris here now? And where was Teresa? Things that had almost started to click in his mind fell apart again.
"Well, how'd you end up with us?" Newt asked, and Thomas wondered if he was the only one who could hear the scathing edge in the blonde's tone.
When he turned to look at him, Newt's deep eyes were steadfastly ignoring him, fixed coldly on the new kid. Thomas opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Minho knocked his ribs with one sharp elbow and Thomas looked away. Minho was lounging in that annoyingly cavalier way of his, with his thick arms crossing his chest and his head cocked to one side as his dark blue eyes studied the newest face in their midst.
Thomas winced as Newt continued, each word sharp. Thomas thought he'd rather face Minho's knives than Newt's word when the older boy was so irked.
"Where are all these buggin' girls you keep talking about? How many of them escaped with you? Did they bring all of you shuck-faces here or just you?"
Thomas couldn't help but feel sorry for Aris. To get grilled with all these questions after something like that had happened. If the roles were switched, if Thomas had seen Teresa get killed, or god-forbid Newt... His stomach wrenched at the thought. Watching it happen to Chuck had been bad enough.
Bad enough? he thought. Or was seeing Chuck die worse? Thomas wanted to scream. At that moment, everything in the world just sucked.
Aris looked up finally, wiped a couple of tears from his cheeks. He did it without the slightest hint of shame, and Thomas suddenly knew that he liked this kid.