𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒 - 𝘚𝘊𝘖𝘙𝘊𝘏 𝘛𝘙𝘐𝘈𝘓𝘚

20 ~ 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚

Lottie

Newt and I made our way back down the mountain, and the dread slowly seeped back into my system. Although us confessing to each other made me elated – the happiest I've been in a while – it still didn't get rid of the fact that Newt was in constant danger of being bitten and turned into a Crank.

Well. We seemed to be safe here at the Right Arm, so I decided to push the fear down and live in the moment. I intertwined my fingers with Newt's and smiled at him. He smiled shyly back.

We reached the bottom of the mountain and found our friends waiting there. They all still had smirks on their faces as they eyed our joined hands. To my surprise, they didn't say anything more about it. They just turned on their heel and began walking towards the rest of camp.

"Laurence promised us breakfast, and there's no way I'm missing it," Minho called back. "He said Tent Five. How the shuck are we supposed to know where Tent Five is?"

"Maybe it's the one that says 'Tent Five' on it," said Frypan, pointing at a tent a little farther down. Minho stuck his tongue out at him before making a beeline straight there. "I wonder if they need a chef," Frypan wondered aloud, and I grinned. I think it would be good for Frypan to have something familiar to do here; it would remind him of the Maze, which I knew he missed. The good parts, anyway.

Inside Tent Five, there were many, many people seated at long tables with benches. Far more than I expected. And they all seemed to be teenagers. They fell silent as our group entered the tent, but not in an unfriendly way; it was more in a curious way. A few of the girls closest to us smiled kindly. I smiled back.

"Should we sit?" Thomas murmured, gesturing to an empty section of the table. I nodded, but before we could make our way over, a girl's voice interrupted us.

"Thomas? Is that you?"

The girl's voice seemed very similar to me, but I couldn't put a finger on it. Apparently it was familiar to Thomas, too, because he whipped around in surprise.

"R-Rachel?" He said, and my jaw dropped. Rachel? Rachel was here? I craned my neck in excitement, hoping to get a glimpse of the girl I saw in the Changing. It was something about that memory – and those specific people in the memory – that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

"Thomas," said Rachel again. The voice's owner stood from her table, and I wanted to cry at the sight of her. She looked exactly the same as I remembered her; same smooth brown skin, same coils. And the same smile, which grew on her face when she looked at Thomas properly. I don't think she saw me yet. "Oh my God," she laughed, and threw her arms around him. He laughed too, and returned the hug.

"How are you here? I thought – that one night when you disappeared – you were just gone," he said.

"That was The Right Arm on their first raid," Rachel replied. "They took a bunch of kids, including Aris and I. Remember?"

"Aris! Aris is here?"

"Hey, Thomas," said a thin boy with sandy blond hair, who had been in the seat next to Rachel. At the sight of him, my euphoric bubble grew even larger.

"Hey, man," said Thomas, reaching over to hug Aris as well. "Hey, Lottie, look who it is!"

I took a step forward, and at the sight of me, Rachel burst into tears. "Lottie. Oh my God-" The next thing I knew, I was engulfed in two pairs of arms; Rachel's and Aris'. Rachel smelled like chocolate, and I gladly inhaled her scent. I missed them. "How on earth – you know, never mind. You can explain later; I have some people here who remember you!" She turned to the people she was sitting with. "You may not remember them, but I hope you do."

We were introduced to a few girls and boys that I didn't remember, but they seemed to remember me. It made me feel guilty, and even more so when they fixed me with that pitying, desperate look. They wanted me to remember. I just couldn't.

"Thomas..." Aris' soft voice caught my attention. I sidled over to where they stood, listening. "Is Teresa...?"

I watched Thomas' face fall, and I knew mine was doing the same. "She didn't want to come," said Thomas shortly. Aris pursed his lips and nodded in grief. Rachel scoffed.

"I always knew that... girl was a people pleaser."

"People pleaser?" I laughed. "Oh, no, she's more than that. You know what she told me? She told me 'We're going to have to test you. Without your consent. And believe me, I doubt it will be a pleasant experience.'" I didn't know why those words were so prominent in my mind. Maybe it was because that was the moment all trust for Teresa disappeared.

"She's a hag," said Rachel in disgust.

"I agree," I nodded, but stopped immediately when I saw the look on Thomas' face. He was still in love with her. I pitied him, and then my pity went to Brenda, since she loved him too. There was a lot of pity going around at the moment. "Um... Rachel? Is... is she here?"

Rachel lifted her eyebrows. "She?" she questioned.

"Annabelle."

Rachel sighed. "Lottie... She's not here. She's back at WICKED. She – she got in trouble. They took her away one day, kicking and screaming... I haven't seen her since."

There was a rushing in my ears, as if I was being held underneath frigid water. If this girl was gone... dead... I don't know what I would do. This girl I have such a strong connection with, and yet I don't remember. "They wouldn't kill her, right?"

"No, she was far too important to them. But they can abuse her, neglect her... I have a feeling they've been doing so for a while now."

I swallowed in horror. "Are we – is the Right Arm going back to get more kids?"

"There's another raid in six weeks," said Laurence, who had snuck up behind us carrying a few bowls of oatmeal. "You guys can come, if you want. You'll just have to be trained."

"I'm coming," Thomas and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and nodded. Annabelle was important to both of us, and I'm sure Thomas had more friends there he wanted to rescue.

We were going to save them all. With a bit of training, we'd have our friends back. Six weeks. 

 

A/N

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- 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭