𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑬 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑨 moment of brief, impregnated silence. Emis felt her body go cold, as if all the blood inside her veins had crystallised. The warm—honey, fluttery feeling from when Newt had kissed her had almost completely dissipated. Almost.
"What do you mean, 'not the only girl'?" She asked, breaking the silence.
Ed breathed out. "We don't know much." His smile had gone. "She came up in the Box, just like everyone else." At her raised eyebrows, he nodded. "Early." He answered her unspoken question, "Just like you. Only─"
"Only it didn't drop this time." Newt said from beside her. He turned his head to face her. "In fact, it hasn't gone back down at all."
Emis felt her stomach clench. "Not gone down ... at all?" She swallowed. "What does that mean?"
Newt didn't reply, jaw tightening. He glanced at Thomas, an uneasy flicker passing across his face. Thomas breathed in heavily, nodding, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a crumpled scrap of paper, weighing it in his hands, before handing it to Newt. He held it out for her to read.
"'She's the last one ever.'" She echoed, reading over his shoulder; the words were written in blocky, rushed handwriting. The crackly, energised silence had come back. She breathed out. "But ..." she trailed off, looking up at him. "But that could mean anything. There are so many ways to decipher it─it could mean the last girl, or maybe the last Greenie that comes up as one, they could start sending them up in─"
"Emis." Newt cut her off, and she became reminded, suddenly, of how close she had moved towards him, as if he were stringing her subconscious closer, like a magnet. She swallowed, fighting the urge to take a step back. Fighting the urge to step closer. "The Box hasn't gone back down." He went on. "If anymore were coming up, they'd have come by now." There was something in the way he said it. Resignation, yes, but an electricity, an energy that she hadn't noticed until now. Was it panic, or excitement? She swallowed again, throat thick and tight. Like all the air had left the room.
"Things are changing," she said after a beat, "maybe it's for the best? Maybe we can finally get out of here." Newt gave a sour laugh, turning away slightly.
"That's what I told him." Ed said, shooting him a pointed look. "Shuckface refuses to believe it."
Emis bit the inside of her cheek. "Well, what about her?" She offered. Newt raised an eyebrow, turning to face her again.
