“You asked for proof,” she said. “I don’t blame you. It pleases me that you wouldn’t rise up against the Godhead without absolute knowledge that it was the right thing to do. I’ve decided to give you that proof.” She paused for a very long time, trying even her own patience. Finally, one of them couldn’t stand it, anymore. One of the men.

“What is it, Goddess?”

No pilgrim in Alexandra’s lifetime had been allowed what she was about to grant.

“I’m going to take you inside the Maze. I’m going to let you see for yourselves.”

Hysteria.

People.

He saw people.

He looked over at Roxy, lying next to him on the crest of a hill. “Tell me I haven’t lost my mind. Those are people over there, right? Humans?”

“Yes, Minho. I believe those are humans.”

They’d been driving for only a few hours that day when they’d come upon the wide river, its current gushing along at a pretty good clip. A bridge arced across the water, but it was in terrible shape, warped and broken. The skeleton of it, however, seemed intact. They could walk across if they wanted, but they couldn’t risk the truck.

They’d taken a break, eaten some food—the supplies were dwindling faster than he dared admit to himself—and then heard what they thought was a laugh. Thinking it had to be a bird, but, just in case, the two of them had crawled up this small hill and peeked over the edge.

People.

He saw people.

Four of them.

They were on the other side of the river, which was why the laugh had been so faint. It must’ve caught just the right spit of wind for them to hear it at all. The strangers hadn’t been there when he and Roxy had first arrived, and now he was glad they’d parked the truck in a secluded spot for just this purpose. No matter how long you went without seeing another soul, you always had to act like maybe, just maybe, you might see another soul.

“What do we do?” Roxy asked. “Invite them for tea?”

The Orphan smiled, but he didn’t feel it. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t suppress the dark, dark feeling that rose up in him. His entire life, he’d been trained what to do in exactly this situation. He needed to kill them. He needed to kill them before they got close enough to spread whatever disease might rack their bodies. But telling Roxy that seemed like a bad idea. So he stayed quiet and she returned her attention to the other side of the river.