The Piper's grim words shot adrenaline through me, but I knew better to run. First, I didn't know where to run to, nor did I have the time to take in my surroundings and get a beat on any landmarks that could guide me. And a hoard of unusually large, sharp teeth rats chasing me through the set didn't sound appealing either.

"Allow the Piper of the Grimm variety to see what's inside of you." Her eyes glowed like a wild, stalking feline in the night.

"Stay away from me." I lifted the blade in my hand, ignoring the radiating pain that shot from the wound on my palm and up my forearm. "I swear I won't hesitate to take you down." Although I hesitated, I meant every word.

The rats lunged forward startling me, but instead of attacking they scurried by, small rodent paws pummeled my feet as they scattered.

When I looked up at the Piper, a different set of familiar brown eyes looked back at me. "Sis?" Millie's eyebrows raised with curiosity as she whispered, "You alight?" She held a broken chair leg in her hand and gave me a once over with her eyes.

"Millie?" I wasn't sure if it was truly her or my imagination, or even the shadows of the darkness playing tricks on a fragile mind. "Is that you?"

Her response was to rush forward and hold me in a tight embrace. "I thought I was gonna find you dead out here."

As I embraced her back, I searched behind her for the threat. "Where did she go?"

"That's what I was gonna tell you, I don't know. Sonya's out here somewhere and Dylan's in really bad shape," Millie murmured, finally breaking the hug to stare into my face. "Are you okay? What happened? You seem a bit...off."

"The Piper," I looked over my shoulder. "Where did she go?"

Millie shook her head, checking our surroundings as well. "The Piper? Who?"

"The Grimm Piper, she was just here." When Millie's lips tightened, I continued, "You didn't see her? The rats? Her glowing eyes?"

She placed her forefinger to her lips to encourage me to keep quiet. "I didn't see anything, sis. Only you standing out here in the open like live bait, rocking back and forth and acting weird. The fog must've really got to you."

She didn't see the Piper or the rats? They were right there in front of me in physical form. What was going on?

"I'm confused." I brought my good hand to my temple to ease the headache that was forming. "I need to get back to Jade."

"Ugh." Millie sighed. "About that—"

"What?" I paused and looked up. "What happened?"

"You passed out and the fog was so close that Spencer and I ran to keep away from it," she explained. "I didn't have a choice and Dylan was too slow and decided to stay back so we could run to safety, so—"

"What happened to Jade?" was my only concern. "Is she alive? Is she okay?"

"She's gone." Millie sighed again and shrugged. "Missing. The fog was all over this place but when it cleared, I went back to the safe zone, but no one was there."

My heart raced with adrenaline and fear and my mind did the same with scenarios. "Goddamnit."

It was eerily silent, but I was thankful that Millie didn't mumble some sly remark about cursing. I finally looked around to get my bearings. "I need to find her."

"Spencer thinks they probably took her."

I couldn't stand still. I headed back toward the arena. "Where is Spencer?"

"He's back at the safe zone with his brother." She followed, hesitating. "I'm telling you, sis, Dylan isn't looking too good."

I paused, turning to her. "I need to find Jade." My worried gazed pierced hers until she got it.

She slowly nodded, understanding completely. "Okay, let's go find her." She adjusted the weight of the chair leg in her hand by tossing it up a few inches and catching it.

We rushed toward the gated perimeter of the arena that was now closed and locked with only the dim simulated moonlight lighting our way. I knew Jade was too smart to get herself locked in the gaming arena, so I hurried toward the direction of the Enchanted Forest to look there.

Millie remained at my side with the clunky wooden chair leg dangling in her hand. "Keep your eyes peeled for that crazy wench, Sonya. She's out here somewhere, probably stalking."

"What's your deal with you and Sonya, anyway?" The level of hate they seemed to have for each other was interesting.

"She's a conniving liar, that's my deal. Don't trust her no matter what she says or does."

"I hope Jade didn't run into her."

"Don't worry. Unlike I had, Jade knows better."

I couldn't keep the guilty thoughts away. "I should have never got her mixed up in this. This wasn't her battle to fight."

"It wasn't your battle to fight either, Kam." Millie huffed. "This is on me. You should have let me do this on my own."

"Tarnishing my name?" I sneered at her.

"The truth would've come out eventually," she said. "If it all went off as planned, I would've won, paid you your money back, and got out of your hair. You would've continued your work at Ensemble Org and lived happily ever after with Jade and repaired credit and privilege."

I paused and prepared for a fight, especially being on edge already. "Are you serious? Calling me privileged? You already know what I've been through, and what most of us are going through. Privilege?"

"You're one of the lucky ones, Kam." Millie shrugged. "Don't act like you don't know that. You're in a position of power, you're the head of a public organization, your credit can get you loans, your name is good enough to get me into the Games. You have a hot girl on your arm and your own place. It might not be a house on the hill but its four walls and it's yours. Don't play ignorant."

I sneered at her jab but what she said triggered a memory. "My name getting you in the Games wasn't privilege it was strategic. They're trying to tarnish my name. But I'm one of the lucky ones?" I remembered the man backstage said something similar when replacing my blade. But I wasn't sure if he meant the same thing as Millie. His statement seemed more nefarious.

"Yeah." She shook her head. "All you had to do was stay at home and let me compete, and it would've all worked itself out."

"Impersonating me is wrong," I said through clenched teeth. "Don't you realize that? There are rules, laws, and systems we have to abide by, or we'll inevitably end up like Arcanum profiting from body counts."

She scoffed. "The law gave Arcanum the right to amass and broadcast their body count. That's the state of the world we live in, sis. The rules, laws and systems weren't made to work in our favor."

"That's the thing, we're supposed to work together to enforce the laws we need. And if we don't like them, then we work together to change them. Strength in numbers. Why do you think I work at Ensemble, for fun?"

"Rules and laws? The people creating them are greedy, selfish, and sick in the head. I don't want to be a part of a corrupt system that profits from our deaths, so I'm gonna use that system to get where I need to be and move on instead of trying to be a savior."

I was so taken aback that my jaw dropped, and nothing but silence seeped out. "A savior? Really?"

She shrugged. "I love you but—"

I put my hand up to stop her. "Don't. Just don't."

Surprisingly, there hadn't been any signs of the threatening Grimm creatures anywhere in the vicinity. So, I continued my search, carefully probing around the various haystacks for any signs of Jade. As time went on, I pushed down my panic and the thoughts of her being taken by production, or a Grimm monster, or worse.

As more time passed, I began to wonder if I underestimated the roaming threats and horrid thoughts about possibly stumbling upon her remains entered my mind, causing rage and horror to build inside me.

Finally, while making our way back toward the safe zone the sound of straw crunching under foot made us pause. We cautiously followed the sound to see Jade inching her way around a massive straw stack.

"Jade?" My heart lightened for the first time in a while.

"Babes?" Her thick hair had straw tangled throughout it, but she looked as beautiful and healthy as ever.

We ran into each other's arms. Chest to chest we squeezed each other. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was afraid I wouldn't find you."

Her arms snaked around me and felt like home, I dipped my face into the slope of her neck and took a whiff of her familiar scent. Immediately relief washed over me, and I finally allowed all my negative thoughts to fade away.

"I didn't want to leave the safe house, but someone knocked on the door," she explained. "I thought it was you, so I opened it and saw the fog closing in. You said to stay away from the fog, so I had to leave and got lost out here."

"I'm here now." I looked into her welcoming brown eyes and swiped my thumb across her full lips. We ignored Millie to indulge in each other's company, at least for a minute. I needed the moment. I craved the reprieve of settling in Jade's warm embrace and indulging in her comfort, even if brief.

Millie extended the curtesy of allowing us to be in the moment and turned away while I placed my lips on my beloved's.

Her lips were soft against mine. Her tongue cool as it flicked out of her mouth to taste mine. Her moan was one of contentment rather than arousal, but it warmed me nonetheless. I wanted to linger in the moment, yet at the same time, I felt a desire to take it further.

I stopped myself from devouring her like I wanted to but allowed the fingers of my good hand to slip into her tangled hair and the other to rest on her hip and pull her closer. I wanted to whisper in her ear how happy and relieved I was to have her in my arms but decided to allow my actions to speak louder than my words.

Bliss washed over me, pulling me further from the reality we were in. And I accepted it, until—

"Drop it." Sonya's voice startled me, and I looked over to see her gripping Millie from behind while pressing her knife to Millie's throat. One of Sonya's hands was on Millie's forehead, holding her head back and exposing her neck. The other hand pressed the sharp blade to Millie's flesh. "I said drop it, damn it," she growled.

Millie dropped the chair leg to the ground with a thump. "Wait. Wait. Okay?" Her arms were pinned to her side, preventing her from defending herself.

"Shut up, bitch. I got you now." Sonya stared at me. "Don't do nothing stupid or her blood will be all over you." A stream of red liquid flowed from the spot where the blade pressed, and we stood frozen in horror.