The Meeting tomorrow was the top subject for everyone to talk about during dinner. It was like everyone was excited yet nervous about the whole thing. After all, Maeve, the best Runner there was in the Glen (also the Keeper), and Claire, her partner, were about to be put on trial to find out what actually happened while they were in the Maze.

"Do you really think one of them left behind the other?" I asked Lillie. She shrugged her shoulders. "I can't believe one of them would even consider doing that. I mean, I'm sure it's scary out in the Maze. Have you heard stories?" She shook her head. "Maybe it's not all bad out there. Or perhaps the Runners haven't been telling you guys everything."

Lillie shrugged her shoulders once more, then went back to eating. I tried to eat some more food as well, but I was too distracted by Maeve and Claire. In my opinion, I didn't think Maeve would do anything to hurt Claire. After all, she had a job, and that was to find a way out and to fulfill her job as Keeper of the Runners. Maeve seemed like she was focused on doing just that. Ditching Claire didn't sound like something Maeve would even do. Unless there was more to Maeve that I didn't know about.

Once dinner was over, the Glenners went outside to get their tools in order to put them back until tomorrow. Lillie went ahead to her hammock, so I told her that I'd see her later, then heading towards the Bathrooms. Before I could reach them, I heard the sound of Maeve talking.

"I can't believe we're having a bloody Meeting," she said. "I also can't believe you locked me in here!"

I looked over to see Sonya bent down by the door of the Slammer, with Maeve on the other side. I got closer to them, moving cautiously by the wall of the Homebase.

"I know, but you did attack Claire," Sonya, pointed out. "Besides, a Meeting is the only way we can figure out what happened out there. We'll be able to hear both sides of the story."

Maeve scoffed, shaking her head. "Well, my side of the story is right. You know, in a way, I'm kind of glad there's going to be a Meeting. That way you sticks can all see what Claire is really like."

Before I could hear Sonya's response, someone grabbed my shoulder, causing me to jump and turn around. "Eavesdroppin', stick?" Gwyneth asked, raising her eyebrows.

I sighed in relief, leaning against the Homebase. "I didn't mean to," I said.

She let out a small chuckle. "Don't worry. I won't go yappin' to anyone about it."

I gave her a smile of relief. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied, walking away from me to go join Beth and Claire, to which a glare was shot my way, as they left with Gwyneth.

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I headed for the Bathrooms like before. The more I thought about this Meeting, the more worried I was getting for Maeve. I really hoped this would end well for everyone.

I went into the Bathrooms, heading for a sink and washing my face. I sighed, drying my face off, then heading towards my hammock. Lillie was already settled in, looking at me. I took my shoes off and got in my hammock, turning my head towards Lillie. "Are you nervous about tomorrow?" She nodded her head. "Me, too."

*******

The next morning, I got up and had breakfast like everyone else did. It went by a lot slower than usual. Everyone went on like they usually did, but the buzz about the Meeting today was still going on, which Lillie and I expected. Of course, what else was there to talk about? This had to be the biggest thing to happen in a while, other than me arriving here a little over a week ago.

Breakfast finally finished and everyone placed their dirty plates in the Kitchens and headed to a part of the Homebase I had never seen before. Chairs were lined up, creating a circle in the room. The middle of the room had nothing but two chairs. The Glenners piled up into the room and sat down, waiting for the Meeting to begin.

A few minutes later, once the Glenners were settled in, Harriet and Sonya came in with Maeve and Claire, followed by the Keepers. Maeve and Claire sat down in the two chairs, letting everyone see them. Harriet, Sonya, and the Keepers stood on the sides, ready to start and end this Meeting.

"Okay, the Meeting has officially started," Harriet announced. "We are here to figure out what happened in the Maze yesterday between Maeve and Claire. Since Maeve cannot stand in as Keeper of the Runners, Jane will take her place. Now, we know the rules about a Meeting, so please follow those rules so that we can get this over with as quickly as possible."

"Claire, you can go ahead and tell us your side of the story," Sonya said to Claire.

She nodded her head and began her story. "Well, Maeve and I were running and we both decided to stop and take a break before we headed back to the Glen. I reached in my bag to get my water and all of a sudden, she was gone! Maeve left me out there! So, I panicked and headed back to the Glen, thinking that she was going back as well." Claire paused, then shot Maeve a glare. "You wanted to leave me out there, didn't you, Maeve?"

"Watch it, Claire," Harriet warned her.

Maeve looked like she was about to reach over and punch her in the face. Instead, she remained calm and began to speak. "That's not what happened. Yes, we were taking a short break before coming back here. However, I didn't leave her out there. In fact, she was the one that left me."

"I did not!" Claire protested.

"Yes, you did! You bloody attacked me, then you dashed off, leaving me there so that I wouldn't make it back before the Doors closed. You were hoping that I got trapped in the Maze so that you could be Keeper of the Runners."

Gasps and whisperings among the other Glenners formed. Lillie and I exchanged looks of shock as Harriet tried to get everyone to settle down. "Okay, everyone! Be quiet!" she shouted, then turning towards Claire. "Is that true, Claire?"

Beth let out a scoff, standing up from her chair. "Of course it's not true. Claire would never do something like that."

Maeve let out a scoff. "Why am I not surprised that you're standing up for her?" she snapped at Beth.

"Because she's my friend, that's why," Beth retorted. "I can't just sit here and listen to you accuse her of all of this, can I?"

"Beth, just sit down and be quiet," Esther intervened.

Beth looked offended, raising her eyebrows at Esther. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Beth. Sit down and be quiet," she repeated firmly, shooting Beth a warning look.

But Beth only shook her head and let out almost an evil chuckle. "And what if I don't?"

"Beth, please," Gwyneth stepped in, giving Beth a pleading look. Beth looked at Gwyneth, then slowly sat down back in her seat. "Thank you," she added.

"Okay, so now we have heard from both parties," Harriet stated. "Keepers, let's hear your thoughts on the situation, shall we?"

Esther was the first to make a statement. "I feel like there's something missing from all of this, like there's more that these two sticks aren't telling us, which means that one or both of them are hiding something that they don't want us to know about."

"I've told you my side of the story," Maeve protested. "There's nothing else to tell."

"So nothing unusual happened yesterday in the Maze? You two didn't do anything else while you were out there?" Esther asked.

"Oh, lemme think...we were just running, Esther, nothing unusual ever happens out there!" Maeve retorted. "Besides, what else would we do in the Maze? Pick some flowers and bring them back for you sticks so that you all can decorate the bloody Homebase?"

"There aren't any flowers in the Maze..." Jane spoke up.

"My point exactly!" Maeve said, getting frustrated. "Look, we do our job when we go in the Maze. Nothing unusual happened except that Claire attacked me and then left me to die!"

"But why would she even do that?" Gwyneth asked.

"I don't know, ask her!" Maeve snapped.

"I didn't do anything!" Claire spoke up once more. "Maeve is making things up just to make me look bad."

"Can I say something?" Mary spoke up. Harriet nodded her head. "Look, Maeve has one goal, and that's to find a way out of the Maze. She doesn't have time to attack anyone, especially another Runner like herself."

"Yeah, why would Maeve go out of her way to get rid of Claire?" Emily inquired.

"Because she hates me, that's why," Claire said.

"I don't hate you," Maeve said. "Bloody hell, how about you stop lying to everyone?"

Sonya rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Okay, it seems like we're not getting anywhere with this," she said.

"How about we hear from Jane?" Harriet suggested. "Jane, what do you think of all of this?"

Jane stepped up and sighed, looking at her fellow Runners. "I mean, it all seems strange that one of them would decide to just attack and leave the other one in the Maze..."

Claire scoffed in irritation. "I don't even know why you asked for her opinion, Harriet. She's just going to take Maeve's side..."

"I'm not taking anyone's side," Jane stated. "I'm just saying that it's weird that one of you made the decision to just all of a sudden attack the other. There had to be some kind of motive involved."

"Yeah, this crackface--"

"Maeve!" Sonya cut her off, getting more serious.

She huffed a sigh. "Claire here, like I said before, wants to take my job as Keeper of the Runners. That was her bloody motive."

"But why would she want to be Keeper now? She had two stickin' years to take that spot," Gwyneth pointed out.

"I don't want to be Keeper of the Runners!" Claire protested in frustration, running her fingers through her short, blonde hair.

Harriet sighed in defeat. "Well, does anyone else have anything to add?" When none of the other Keepers said anything, Harriet nodded her head. "Okay, so I don't think Maeve and Claire have anything else to say since they're just arguing at each other. Keepers, let's go out and make a decision." Harriet left the room, followed by Sonya and the other Keepers.

"Who do you think is lying?" I whispered to Lillie. She nodded her head towards Claire, which didn't surprise me. I knew that she wasn't a person I'd like that much when we met. I could tell that Maeve had put up with her for so long just because she was a Runner. Maeve probably didn't hate Claire, but it was obvious that she didn't particularly care for her. "I think she's lying, too," I told her. "Hopefully, there won't be a Banishment for either of them." Lillie couldn't help but quiver at the word "Banishment."

I watched Claire as she looked over at Beth. The two of them gave each other smirks while Maeve sat there, clearly upset and frustrated at all of this. To be honest, I was beginning to get frustrated, too, huffing a sigh.

A few minutes later, Harriet, Sonya, and the Keepers came back in, standing in the same spots they were in before. Harriet stepped up, looking at Claire and Maeve, then back at the rest of us. "Sonya, the Keepers, and I have reached a verdict based on the information Claire and Maeve have given us. We decided that both of them will be suspended as Runners for four days."

"What?!" Claire and Maeve shouted at once, shooting from their chairs.

"That's not fair!" Beth spoke up, standing up from her seat. "Claire did nothing wrong!"

"Beth, we don't know who's lying and who isn't," Sonya intervened.

"I do! It's Maeve!" she retorted, pointing at Maeve.

Maeve glared towards Beth. "Stuff it, Beth!" she snapped, then looked at Harriet. "What the bloody hell are we going to do for four days?!"

"You'll be in the Slammer, that's what," Harriet stated.

"What?! With her?!" Maeve had wide eyes as she pointed at Claire.

Harriet rolled her eyes. "Yes, with Claire," she answered. "Maybe you two can settle out your differences if we give you sticks no choice."

"So who's going to run the Maze?" Claire asked.

"Jane and Sonya will run the Maze," Harriet explained. "They've both done it before, so they are capable of doing the job."

Maeve scoffed, shaking her head. "This is ridiculous..."

"Get over it, Maeve," Harriet snapped. "We made a decision and it's final. Let's go, you two." Harriet walked out of the room, followed by Maeve and Claire, who had irritated looks on their faces.

"Okay, everyone is dismissed. Get to work!" Sonya announced to the rest of us.

We all cleared out of the Homebase and went on with our normal routines. Lillie, Emily, and I grabbed our shovels and headed for the Deadheads. "We need to fix the graves today. Some of them are about to break," Emily told us. "Nancy and Margaret are going to keep an eye around the Glen."

Lillie and I nodded our heads in response. "Sounds good," I spoke up for the both of us.

"Fancy that," Emily said, walking towards the Deadheads with us right behind her.

"Um, what does that mean?" I asked her.

"It's just something we say when we agree with someone or something," she explained.

"Oh, okay," I said.

We were quiet for the rest of the walk. But once we got to the Deadheads, Emily stopped walking, turned around, and looked at us. "If I ask you two something, will you promise not to say anything to the others?" Lillie pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows. "Well, I know you won't say anything..."

"I won't, either," I assured her. "What is it?" I was now curious as to what Emily wanted to ask us.

"Do you think Claire was lying about what happened yesterday?" she questioned.

Lillie and I looked at each other, then nodded our heads. "Yeah, we do."

Emily nodded her head back. "I figured."

"You figured?" I repeated, furrowing my eyebrows.

She huffed a sigh. "Because I think the same thing. We only came up with the punishment we did because we couldn't agree on who was telling the truth and who wasn't. Besides, that was better than the other option we had for both of them."

"What was the other punishment?" I asked.

She paused for a moment, then responded. "We were going to have a Banishment for both of them."

~~~~~~~

A/N: Ayeee new chapter!

What do y'all think so far? What do y'all think of the characters? Who do you think was lying about what happened, Claire or Maeve?

Song above is Trouble by P!nk.

Comment, vote, more soon! :)

-A