Run | TMR X PJO [ Editing ]

Nine | Group A

Chapter nine, in which Teresa decides to wake up and utter useless nonsense.

Well Percy was at least happy that he got a day off. Heck, he should've been celebrating. But Medjacks? They were boring as klunk. There was a girl in the Glade, apparently—no one knew what to do with her. She was knocked out, and Percy had to watch her every move and write it down. He would often stand up when he thought he saw her stir, only to find out it was his imagination playing tricks on him. Needless to say, his day off wasn't very interesting, if it was considered a day off at all. Percy started at the girl. She was beautiful. In his gut he had a feeling Annabeth would scold him and punch his arm. No matter. She wasn't here anyways.

He sat down and sighed. Nothing interesting happened—

"Percy."

The voice was barely audible. He was doubting his hearing and figured it was his imagination yet again.

"Percy."

There was the voice again. It sounded more urgent than before. Percy realized with a start that the girl had spoken.

"Percy, can you hear me?" She turned her head to face him, her eyes fluttering, stuck between the world of the waking and sleeping.

"Oh uh, yeah," he got out. "Newt! The girl—she's awake!"

The girl winced, shaking her head at the sudden noise. "You don't have to be so loud. But Percy, I saw things. I remember. WICKED is good..." she mumbled. Immediately, he was confused. The phrase itself was ironic and a paradox—how in the world could something evil be good? "Percy....the Maze. It's a code."

Percy began to panic, his heart racing in both fear and exhilaration that he was about to learn something. "What is it? What does it all mean?"

"I'm forgetting. They're not letting me remember. But Percy.... help us. Solve the code. And WICKED is good." Her eyes glazed over.

Newt burst into the room, accompanied by Alby and Minho. "She's awake?"

Percy nodded. "She's right there, shanks."

"Did she say anything?" Alby asked in a hushed voice.

He strained to remember. "She said.... I don't recall. Something about WICKED being good.... said the Maze. It's a code."

Newt crossed his arms. "What in bloody hell?"

Minho was pale. "The Maze. We were right. It's our way out."

They began talking amongst themselves. The girl was awake. The Maze was a code. They needed to get out.

"What about her?" Minho pointed to the girl. "What do we do with the girl?"

"The girl, for one, has a name," she said crossly. They jumped, forgetting that she was in the room with them. 

"Well then what is it?" Minho retorted.

There was a silence. She wrinkled her brow as she thought about it. "Teresa," she said finally.

"Well then Teresa... come with me." Newt said.

Newt and Teresa exited the room, followed closely by Alby.

Percy turned to Minho. "Why aren't you running today?"

He shrugged. "Like you said, we should lay low. I gave all the other Runners a day off too."

—

Night fell. The entire Glade was buzzing with speculations about Teresa and the Maze. Many of them were skeptical about what nonsense she was spewing out aimlessly. Others were intrigued and interested. Most of them were just scared that such a thing happened in the first place. To blow off some of the tension going around, Alby and the Builders got a bonfire going, and Newt convinced Frypan to give up some of his precious meat to grill.