Page 46 of The Infinite Glade (The Maze Cutter #3)

From the Sea to the Sky

I saac walked to the tree line of the beach; he surveyed the damage from a recent storm until he found the fallen tree where he’d once carved a symbol for Sadina. He sat down and cleaned out the carved grooves with the knife that Minho had given him.

Ximena was nearby and walked over. “What’s this mean?” She rubbed her finger over the roughly carved wood and sat down beside him.

“ From the sea to the sky . Sadina and I used to say it when we were little, whenever we promised each other something.” Isaac looked out at the ocean.

Both the blue of the sea and the blue of the sky went on forever.

Separately, but together. Considering Sadina left on the Maze Cutter and Isaac flew back to this spot in a Berg, he considered it a promise well kept.

He knew she’d be returning to this beach soon. Very soon. He knew it.

Ximena looked out at the ocean as well. “I always wished growing up that we had lived near the coast.”

“Yeah?” Isaac waited for her to say something profound, preferably in a different language. But she just stared at the ocean with a peaceful look in her eyes. “No second-sight?”

She shook her head.

“Nothing?” Jackie chimed in; she was gathering palm leaves and firewood.

“Stop. I just think it’s nice here, the waves coming in and out like the lungs of the earth breathing. I think the Sequencers will like it here.”

Jackie smirked at Isaac. “So, you do have an inner-knowing.”

She shrugged. “I have hope that the truth won’t stay hidden.” After a few seconds that seemed a lifetime, she continued. “I’ve talked about my Abuela many times. But what I’ve never said is… Well, she was in the original Maze Trials. Group B.”

No one responded. A hush that was almost sacred settled upon them, only broken by the crash and splash of the waves. Finally, finally, someone broke the reverence.

“Who was it?” Jackie asked.

Another pause. Isaac, as shocked as he was, wanted to tell her to hurry up and say it.

Tears came to Ximena’s eyes. “She never told anyone her name after the new generation came along. She didn’t want to be famous, always talked about.

She… she’s the greatest person I’ve ever known.

” More tears came, and Jackie hugged her, then the others.

It was one of the sweetest moments Isaac could ever remember.

After a few more minutes of silence, he stood up and walked closer to the water. He stood in the same spot where he had said goodbye to Sadina and the others, and he felt the weight of everything he wanted to tell his friend. He felt the pain of all the death. He felt so much. Too much. Everything.

The waves crashed in. It would take time for the Sequencers to process the truth of their world and the world outside of theirs. That it was never about the Cure or even about the Flare. It was always about what those in control did to remain in control.

Ximena brushed against his hand and squeezed it just once. He looked at her and nodded. “Thanks.”

“It’ll be okay.” She looked over her shoulder and shouted, “Right, Frypan?”

“What’s that?” Old Man Frypan poked his head out from foraging.

“You think they’ll make the right decision?”

Erros added his two cents before Frypan could answer. “You gave the best testimonies you could. It’s up to the Senate and their vote now.” He smoked a coltsfoot cigar. “If they have any questions, we’ll answer them. All’s well that ends well.”

Old Man Frypan finally spoke his piece. “You never know. Some questions just don’t have answers.

” He loaded the fire on the beach with the wood he’d foraged.

“And some endings don’t make a lick of sense.

” He pulled a long stick out of the flames before it could burn, then sat down to sharpen the end of it. “In fact, most endings don’t.”

Isaac stood in the sand. A Berg had just landed, and he had no doubt as to who was on the inside of it.

There was a bang and a clank and a squeal.

Then the ramp lowered from the bottom of the ship, hydraulics hissing, metal groaning.

It took forever. An interminable amount of time.

Seven or eight lifetimes. His patience had never been tested like this, despite all the crap he’d been through.

After what felt like forty-thousand years later, the ramp’s bottom edge finally thumped on to the ground.

Someone was already halfway down it, sprinting at full speed.

Isaac felt her body slam into his, felt her arms wrap around his neck, their momentum carrying them backward and backward, into the sand they toppled.

Isaac laughed.

End of Book Three