The next four days were uneventful. Everyone did their jobs as the time went by slowly throughout the days. Claire and Maeve were still stuck in the Slammer, both of them not saying a word to each other, according to Sonya. Of course, this surprised no one, not even Piper. Whenever she passed the Slammer, she was tempted to go there and see how they were doing. However, deep down, she wanted to talk to Maeve about what happened. There was no way she could do that since Claire was there to hear all of it. Besides, Maeve didn't know her that well, so what was the point of talking to her if she probably wouldn't tell her anything, anyway?

On the morning of Claire and Maeve's release from the Slammer, everything was quite normal. Harriet let them out and they remained in the Glen, doing other jobs that a Runner could do when they weren't running in the Maze. According to Emily, they were acting as "Map-makers," which meant they created maps of the Maze based on what they remembered.

It was that afternoon that the Glenners finally got some action.

Piper and Lillie were leaving the Homebase after eating lunch when the gossiping started. They were both confused at what was going on, though Piper had a feeling that it was about Claire and Maeve, which meant it wasn't good at all.

"Esther!" she shouted when the Builder was within eyesight.

She turned her head and saw Piper motioning for her to come here. She quickly came, panting a little. "What's up, Piper?"

"What's going on with all of the gossiping?" Piper asked. "Is everything okay?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "Claire went into the Maze."

"What?" Piper replied with wide eyes. She looked at Lillie, who had wide eyes as well, then turned back at Esther. "When did she leave?"

"No one knows, but it had to be some time after her and Mae were released from the Slammer," she explained. "I also have a good feeling that a certain someone helped her, too." She turned her head to the right, so Piper looked to see that she was staring at Beth.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Piper said, shaking her head. "I just don't get why Claire went into the Maze. Wasn't she allowed to go back in tomorrow?"

"Well, not exactly," she responded. "Harriet felt as if Claire and Maeve shouldn't go back in together since none of us want the previous events to happen again. So, since Maeve is Keeper of the Runners, she makes all the decisions."

"So she decided that Claire will no longer run in the Maze?" she questioned.

Esther nodded her head in response. "Correct. Of course, Claire was pissed, acting like a complete crackface, and complained to Beth about it, I suppose."

"Will Harriet send someone out to go find her?"

The Builder shook her head. "It's Claire's fault for going out there in the first place. If she doesn't make it back before the Doors close, then that's her problem. For now, we'll just wait and see what happens and go from there."

Piper nodded her head as Esther walked away and went back to work. She turned and looked at Lillie. "I wonder if she'll make it back." Lillie shrugged her shoulders in response. "You know, I really wish that you'd just say something." She smirked a little, shaking her head. "You'll talk to me eventually. I know you will." She shrugged her shoulders again and continued strolling for the Deadheads with Piper walking beside her.

"Beth!" they heard someone shout, turning around and saw that it was Maeve, who was walking toward Beth.

Uh-oh. "This won't end well." Lillie shook her head in response, agreeing with Piper.

Beth turned around and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "What do you want, Maeve?"

"I know you did it," she responded, stopping in front of Beth, folding her arms over her chest.

"Did what?" Beth asked, raising her eyebrows.

"You helped Claire sneak into the Maze, that's what!" Maeve retorted, raising her voice.

Beth scoffed in response. "I did no such thing. It's not my fault she managed to get away from you. Honestly, who can blame her? I mean, you're kind of annoying, Mae..."

"Stuff it, Beth," Maeve snapped. "If anyone's annoying it's you."

"Ladies!" Esther intervened, getting in the middle of them. "Harriet and I are getting tired of having to break up fights."

"Then don't stop us this time," Maeve said, not taking her eyes off of Beth.

Esther shot Maeve a warning look. "Mae, you've been put in the Slammer already. We won't hesitate to do it again."

She looked at Esther, then back at Beth. Huffing a sigh in defeat, she stormed off, shaking her head and cursing to herself.

Beth smirked, shaking her head. "Stupid crackface," she said to her friends.

Piper rolled her eyes and continued walking with Lillie to the Deadheads. Even though the Deadheads had a creepy and depressed feel to it, working there wasn't so bad. After all, they were usually the only ones there, so it was nice to have the Deadheads to theirselves. Piper liked to talk when it was just the two of them, and Lillie liked to listen. Well, she hoped Lillie liked listening to her talking, because that was really all Piper did whenever they were working.

"Do you ever think about what your life was like before the Glen?" Piper asked her. She shrugged her shoulders. "Does it bother you that you can't remember any of it?" She sadly nodded her head, and Piper nodded hers back in agreement. "It bothers me, too." She paused, then chuckled, looking at Lillie. "I bet you were a badass before your memories were taken away." She formed a small smile. "You still can be a badass, you know. You just have to open yourself up a little more, which means you have to talk." Lillie raised her eyebrows and shook her head. Piper sighed in defeat. "I'm not giving up on you, Lillie. I hope you know that."

So they got back to work and stayed quiet in the Deadheads. Eventually, Nancy and Margaret came by to switch, so they happily obliged and gave them the shovels, letting them take over their work in the Deadheads while they went back to the Glen to watch over the other Glenners. According to Esther, Claire didn't come back from the Maze yet, which Piper expected that to be the case. She wondered what would happen to her once she returned to the Glen. At this point, the possibility of a Banishment was getting higher the more she thought about it. Hopefully, witnessing a Banishment wasn't as bad as it seemed, but she had her doubts.

The Glenners were still continuing their normal routines when a piercing scream echoed around the Glen. "What the--"

"Help! We need help over here!" someone shouted.

Piper turned around and saw that it was Sonya who cried for help. Her and Jane were stumbling back into the Glen. She didn't know why until she saw the two of them carrying Claire by her arms, practically dragging her across the grass. Piper and Lillie were panicking as they ran up to them, along with the other Glenners. "What happened?" she asked, panting.

"I don't know. We found Claire like this," Jane explained.

"We need to get her to Gwyneth immediately," Sonya said.

All of a sudden, Claire began to thrash her body all over the place, causing Jane and Sonya to drop her on the ground. She was screaming in pain, gripping her side. "It hurts! It hurts!" she cried out.

"Come on. We need to get her up," Sonya told Piper, Lillie, and Jane. "Everyone, get out of the way!" she commanded, then looked up at Esther. "Go find Harriet."

Esther nodded her head and ran off to find Harriet. The four of them grabbed Claire, struggling to pick her up and carrying her to the Homebase, telling the others to get out of their way. Despite all of the thrashing Claire was doing, they managed to get her to the Homebase and up the stairs in no time.

"Gwyn, we need a bed right now!" Sonya yelled once they got up the stairs.

"Why?" she shouted back, coming out in the hall, then widening her eyes. "Oh! Hurry up and get her in here!"

They quickly got Claire to a room and placed her on the bed while she continued to go through her episode, screaming as loud as she could. "Sonya and I have no idea what happened!" Jane told Gwyneth through Claire's screams. "She was out cold when we found her in the Maze!"

"It's her side," Piper spoke up. "She said that it was hurting earlier."

Gwyneth nodded her head. "Oh, boy," she muttered. "Lift up her shirt."

"What?" Jane questioned.

"Just do it!"

Jane obliged and lifted up her shirt. A purple and red bruise was there, her veins all popped out, and a small part of her skin ripped off in the center of it all.

"What the hell is that?" Piper asked, feeling nauseated by looking at it.

"She's been stung by a stickin' Griever," Gwyneth replied. "Well, at least some supplies came up in the Box recently, so we can use the Grief Serum to help her. Hold her down while I go get it." We did as we were told as Gwyneth hurriedly looked inside a cabinet, grabbing a syringe with some blue liquid inside of it, then heading back towards us, looking down at Claire. "I'm sorry, Claire, but you're goin' to feel this. Like, a lot of this." She lifted up the syringe in the air and shot it straight through Claire's chest, making Claire cry out a bone-chilling shriek.

The girls let go of her as Claire began to calm down, then she was out like a light in a matter of seconds. Huffing a sigh, Piper ran her fingers through her hair. "Will she be okay?" she asked Gwyneth.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Being stung by a Griever is no stickin' joke, Newbie. We'll see what happens when she goes through the Changing."

"Yeah, who knows how long the Changing will last for her," Sonya added. "It could take days or even weeks before she recovers."

Just then, Harriet walked in, scanning her eyes at all of them. "What happened?"

"Claire got stung," Sonya explained. "Gwyneth gave her the Grief Serum."

Harriet nodded her head. "Okay." She looked at Piper and Lillie. "Thank you for your help."

The nodded their heads and left the room, closing the door behind them, then heading down the stairs. "Well, that was interesting, wasn't it?" Piper asked Lillie. "I hope Claire will be okay. I mean, I don't really care for her, but I'd hate to see her not get better, you know?" Lillie nodded her head in agreement.

Once they got back outside, Maeve ran up to them. "So, how's Claire?" she asked. "I saw you two help Sonya and Jane out with her."

"Well, she's in a lot of pain right now," Piper replied.

"What happened?" she questioned.

Piper looked at Lillie, who nodded her head, then turned back at Maeve. "Claire was stung by a Griever."

Maeve groaned, shaking her head. "She shouldn't have ran off in the Maze like that."

"Yeah, she knew better," she added. "Gwyneth gave her the Grief Serum, so maybe she'll recover quickly."

"Oh, yeah, I hope so, too. That way, I can bloody kill that stick," Maeve commented, looking a bit heated.

Piper sighed, folding her arms over my chest. "Lillie and I don't think you lied about what happened in the Maze with Claire."

Maeve shot me a surprised look. "Really?"

Piper nodded, along with Lillie. "Really. We don't think you'd do something like that, especially since you're Keeper of the Runners. Besides, your main focus is finding a way out, right?"

Maeve nodded her head. "Right." She sighed, looking around the Glen. "Two years in this place has been more than enough for me." She looked back at them, a soft expression now on her face. "I'll find a way out soon, you guys. I promise." With that, she gave them a very small smile and strolled away.

Piper glanced at Lillie once again. "I really hope she finds a way out soon." Lillie nodded her head in agreement with a desperate look plastered on her face.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Heeeey, new chapter!

Spring break is next week, which means I'll be able to write more! I'll be focusing on this story mostly, since things are about to move at a fast pace.

Song above is Drumming Song by Florence + The Machine.

Comment, vote, new character in the next chapter!

-A