I follow Matt through the small door and my body immediately tenses when I'm met with nothing but darkness. I can't see anything and my arms and legs are wrought with tension, expecting Mike to assault me at any moment.

"Just keep walking straight," I hear Matt's voice.

"Where are we going?" I ask him, wondering if I have made the right decision by following Rosie's boyfriend into this passage of nothingness.

I hear the sound of a door hinge groaning as it is turned and soon the narrow passage we are in lights up.

The sudden burst of light nearly blinds me and I have to squint to see Matt standing by the door.

He takes two miniature looking cups that are filled with a dark brown liquid and hands me one once I've reached him.

"Drink this. It will keep you warm and alive."

He gulps down the liquid in his hands but I hold on to mine in hesitation. Should I just drink it and walk inside?

Who knows what he will do to me there?

"Hurry up, we only have five minutes," I hear a female voice complain and I peer into the light to see Josephine, Jade, Ron, Joon and two other faces from the party.

The breath is nearly knocked out of me as I see them standing in what looks like a freezer with large pieces of meat hanging by the ceiling.

"This is the only secure place for us to meet because the dark hallway has no cameras and the temperature in this meat freezer can kill someone in under fifteen minutes. Therefore no cameras needed in here either, " Matt explains to me. "This liquid prolongs the effects of hypothermia and we are able to talk freely without freezing to death."

Noticing Josephine's distress, I quickly gulp down the sour liquid and walk inside.

Matt shuts the door behind us and all their gazes immediately fall on me.

"What is this?" I ask cautiously and Josephine answers without missing a beat.

"Since we are running out of time, I'm going to get straight to the point. Aria, we need your help. The group of us here don't want to carry on with our miserable lives on this planet anymore, we've always wanted to go back to Earth and it was only about a year ago that we started having hope."

Her words shock me and I wonder if I am hearing things. I have never heard these familiar words uttered before aside from in my own head. 

Joon walks to the back of the freezer and gestures for me to follow. I walk past Josephine and Jade and stop next to Joon to see what he is pointing at.

At first glance the floor under the thick slab of hanging meat looks the same as it does all over- a thick layer of ice. But when I look closer I notice a small irregularity painted over the rough surface like someone has written over it.

I bend down and study the pattern and nearly fall back in surprise when I realize that it is a message.

The girl will speak to masses. They will make her lie but her actions can be more influential than her words. It is a chance to shift the tide.  S

The words are so obscure and small, I have to place my head right under the meat to read them. Once I have finished reading, I cover my hand over my mouth and my head starts to spin.

What the hell is going on? Who wrote this? Did one of them write it to spook me out? 

"Wh--at is this?" I stammer.

"We think the girl mentioned in this message is you. Are you supposed to give a speech to a group of people anytime soon?" Joon asks me and I resist the urge to place a hand over the frozen wall to keep steady.

"Who is this S?" I stand up and sway slightly on shaky legs. "Is this some kind of test?" 

I look around the walls for these cameras they keep talking about. I've never seen camera's anywhere else in the city, in the training center or in Lucian's house and yet something is bugging me deeply.

Why did Lucian look at the four corners of his walls in his healing pool before confiding in me? How does he know about my interactions with Rosie or Leslie?

"No, it isn't a test. We'd be killed for just gathering here if they ever found out," Josephine snaps at me and Jade calms her down by rubbing her arms. 

"We don't know who 'S' is but we believe this person is a Plutonian with very high access. They must be someone of a high rank because all the information we have gotten so far has been accurate," Jade says. "We think S stands for Sympathizer. It is a common term used for Plutonian's who support better treatment for humans. It is illegal and this person has been risking a lot by sharing information with us." 

"Placing and removing meat here is considered one of the worst jobs in Onyx. Only humans do it. Ron was the one who saw the first message from S. Which means S knows who works here, who manages the meat and who's on what shift," Joon adds.

A Plutonian helping humans escape? The whole thing sounds absurd and a lot like a trap. 

 "Aria, we need to know if you really are giving a speech like this message says," Matt urges me with a desperate look on his face but I can't help but feel guarded.

"How do I know if I can trust you people?" I voice out and Josephine lets out a sour laugh.

"How do we know if we can trust you and your Trinity boyfriend? Yeah, we know all about your punishment when you were thirteen. People like that can change drastically after such severe punishment, I thought you were a worshiper but your fight against Rosie convinced me otherwise." 

She walks up to me and stands so close that I can see the anger and determination in her dark green eyes. 

"Are you content with being a Plutonian's lover for the rest of your life? Scratch that, with the way they lose interest I give it a few years. Does it make you happy sitting on his lap like a pretty little trophy while he talks to others who will never treat you the same way because you are a human?"

My cheeks burn in embarrassment and anger at her harsh words. She has no idea what Lucian and I have been through.

"You don't know what you're talking about," I fire back and then I proceed to walk out but she grabs my hand, stopping me.

"You're new so you don't feel it now but you will. Trust me we've all been there. They accept us into the army and into their beds but we will never be one of them. Why don't you ask your boyfriend about what they did to the rioters after your match."

I freeze at the insinuation. Cassandra told me they were arrested. That's all I knew about it.

"Enough Josephine. We brought her here because we need her help. You antagonizing her isn't going to help us," Joon reprimands her.

"Fine, I'll shut up. I just expected her to be like us, like what Rosie described."

The mention of Rosie causes me to turn towards Matt's pain stricken face.

"What happened to the rioters?" I ask him but he looks down at the floor.

"We don't have time for that. We need to know if you are giving a speech like 'S' said?" Joon interrupts. 

"Yes, to the humans. It's got to do with my last match." The mention of Rosie, the girl who spared my life and is now in a coma because of it somehow makes me want to help Matt.

"I don't know how but you have to show them that whatever you are saying is a lie. You have to let the humans know that joining as a fighter is more risky than it is rewarding. Look at what happened to you and Rosie. The only reason you two are alive today is because the humans loved you both enough to fight for justice," Ron speaks for the first time. 

"We need to leave. Our five minutes are up." Joon says and I reach for the door. 

"You don't have to help us if you don't want to but if you do, we will have our next meeting when we receive our next message from 'S'. I will wear a mole behind my right ear to signal that we will be meeting at the same time and place," Ron tells me. 

I nod my head but my heart is in turmoil as I wonder if I should get involved in something so risky. 

We exit the freezer in pairs and before I leave the dark passage, Matt whispers a warning into my ears. 

"Be careful with every word you say and every action you take. They are always watching us. The eyes are everywhere. That was S's first message to us."

I nod my head even though he can't see me and walk down into the one of the washrooms. A few Plutonian's scuttle away when I enter and one of them cringes in disgust when I stand next to her. 

I wash my cold hands with warm water and then walk outside. I make my way back to Lucian and his group of friends and I can't help but study them once I take a seat. 

Only Lucian looks happy to see me. The rest of them plaster polite expressions on their faces but they barely talk to me the whole night. 

Josephine's words swirl in my head like the blackest poison and I can't help but feel the truth in them. 

Lucian's hand tightens around my own and I look up into his eyes. He notices my glazed look and wraps an arm around me pulling me closer.

"Are you alright?" 

His concern makes me laugh. This beautiful enigma whom I can't figure out. He doesn't have to be so nice to me but he is. 

"Why?" 

"Why what?" He leans closer so that we can talk through the loud music and I can't help but stare at his lips. 

"Why are you so nice to me?" I look into his blue eyes that sparkle under the flashing lights. 

"Do I need to have a reason for that?" He asks me seriously. 

"You don't treat me like the rest. You don't treat me like a human." My voice threatens to crack under the emotion. I take a glass and flush the liquid down my throat to calm myself.

I look back at Lucian but he hasn't moved at all. He is still staring at me and it feels like we are the only two people in the room. 

"That's because I don't see you as a human. I only see you as, Aria. Someone who stole my attention at her first match and the ball, someone who is guarded yet so vulnerable. Someone who healed me when no one else could. Some one I can trust. It is the same with the rest of my squad." 

He leans closer and our foreheads almost touch.

"I don't know what is going to happen in the future with our relationship and my position. All I know is that I am immensely attracted to you right now," He admits. 

I nod my head knowing how he feels. Everything feels so uncertain but one thing is for sure. Lucian has been there for me when no one else was. He helped me get to where I am just as I helped him. We were a team and in that moment nothing else mattered not even Josephine's words.

I hold on to his arm tightly and then lean in till our lips are almost touching. I don't care who is watching. 

"I feel the same way too," I whisper and Lucian doesn't hesitate to close the gap between us. 

I lose myself in his warm embrace and feel the softness of his lips which mold deliciously against mine. 

It takes me to place where happiness exists. 

Heyy, I couldn't give you guys everything but I hope you are satisfied with the ending lol. Next update will be on Fri :) :)

Btw happy birthday to one of my readers @fabisabel27 !!! If there are any other birthday babies please let me know I would love to wish you guys as well. Much love.