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THERE were plenty of things Lise had always been good at. And one of those things had been leading. She'd shown an exceptional ability to lead from a young age in WICKED's facility and that had made her stand out among the others.
That was why she'd been chosen. People had always followed her because of her natural born confidence in her ability and in those around her. She always pretended to know what she was doing, hoping to relieve the stress others may have felt at not knowing what to do. And for the most part, that had worked.
But now, walking through the maze with this huge group of girls, she realized she had absolutely no clue what she was doing and didn't know how to pretend. This was a very real situation, and if she messed up, it would cost many their lives.
Vera had stayed with Esther for the last hour or so, and as far as Lise knew, she was somewhat stable, physically at least.
The second Lise had seen the girl return from around the corner with blood covering her and tears prickling at her eyes she knew Harriet was dead. And the fact that Esther had brought back the girl's pole only gave her further confirmation that she had tried to fight for the girl, she had tried to save her. And now that she was gone, she was going to realize how hard it had been for Harriet to lead so effortlessly for so long.
Meanwhile, Esther was smiling under her frown of blood. She had killed Harriet with no hiccups and was being taken care of as if she was a victim. Which she very much was not.
The others had remained mostly quiet, except to ask what was to happen next. Other than that, it seemed everyone was silently mourning the loss of their beloved leader.
Once they returned to the field in the morning she was sure that while everyone else was asleep WICKED would silently whisk her away to the facility as they had earlier in her life.
The hours flew by, each one bringing fewer and fewer grievers their way until eventually, a subtle glow over the top of the walls began to shine down over them. Esther knew it was dawn, and she knew that when they returned they would simply have her clean herself up and go to bed. And then this nightmare would be over. She could return to the plot of destroying WICKED from the inside out.
Butterflies batted against her rib cage at the very thought, of the chance to be welcomed back without so much as a second thought. God were they stupid.
But once they returned to the glade and went to sleep, Esther found that she was never rescued from the maze. When the late afternoon sun crept in over the girls through the cold of the snow and she woke to the freezing hell she almost cursed, warm tears dribbled down her icy skin and she turned to look all around her.
