Purple | Cole Stewart -VERSION DISCONTINUED

Chapter Twenty: Clues

“Okay team,” Liam began once we had all finished our breakfast. “We need to get back on the right track. I know our last East River was a total bust, but we have to keep looking. So let’s review the facts those blues gave us: Eddo.”
God, it was pathetic. One word- that was all we had to get us to the only possible safe haven there was.
“We should have tried to bribe them for more information,” Chubs said.
“With what?” Liam replied as he smoothed out a map on the dashboard.
I leaned forward, a great joke coming to the front of my mind. “They wouldn’t take you, Chubsie, and you’re our most precious commodity.”
Unsurprisingly, Chubs did not find that funny, and just glared at me for a few seconds.
“Did they spell out Eddo for you? Was it one ‘d’ or two?” Ruby asked. “Because if it’s an actual clue, that would make a big difference.”
I shared a look with Liam.
“Well… crap.” Liam said, finally.
Ruby turned to look at Zu, who was holding up her notebook. She had written the letters E-D-O.
“Nice job, Zu,” Liam said. “Good thing one of us was listening.”
We had run into those Blues only a few days after escaping Caledonia, so I hadn't been paying much attention to what they were saying- I was still focused on Jenny.
“And that was it?” Ruby was asking.
“The only other thing they coughed up was that if we hit Raleigh we’d gone too far south. And we had to beg for even that. It was really pathetic.”
Not as pathetic as I had been, curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth, sobbing.
“They could have been pulling our legs, too,” Chubs said. “That’s what irritates me the most. If East River is so great, why were they leaving?”
“They were going home; remember, the Slip Kid gets kis home, that's the whole point-”
“The Blues we met didn’t look like they were going-”
“What are you guys thinking?” Ruby interrupted the boys’ banter. “What theory were you working with?”
“We ran across the kids right around the Ohio state line,” Liam said. “They were coming from the East, headed West. If you add that to the other bit about D.C. and Raleigh, the likely candidates become West Virginia, Virginia, or Maryland. Zu said Edo is another name for Tokyo, but it seems a little far fetched that he’d be there.”
“And I think it’s a code,” Chubs said. “A cipher of some kind. Speaking of codes, didn’t you say the League broke you out because you were a world-class codebreaker?”
Uh oh. Now that I knew Ruby was Orange, I knew that was a lie. The League hadn’t broken her out for her code breaking skills- they broke her out because she was an Orange.
Ruby knew that too, of course, and I saw it on her face for a split second. “I didn’t say world class…” she trailed off.
“Oh, yeah!” Liam's face lit up. “Can you take a stab at it?”
Well- shit.
“I-er, I guess,” Ruby stuttered. I winced. She wasn’t exactly a great liar, it seemed. “Zu, can I see that notebook again?”
She sat and stared at the paper for a minute. We were all silent as we watched her.
Chubs snorted. “Looks like the League picked a lemon.”
“Hey.” I said sharply. “We’ve been mulling over the damn thing for two weeks and have figured out what? Oh that's right- jack shit. Did you really expect her to be able to figure it out in a few minutes?”
Ruby ignored our conversation, continuing to stare at the piece of paper in her hands. “Oh!” She said, finally.
“Oh?” Liam repeated. “Oh what?”
“I’d forgotten- well, I could be remembering it wrong, so don’t get too excited, but I think it's a Virginia area code.”
“There’s no area code that’s four digits,” Chubs said. “Five-four-fifteen doesn’t work.”
“But five-four-zero does.” Ruby pressed. “People sub out O for zero when they talk sometimes, right?”
Liam scratched his head. “Five forty? Does that sound familiar to you?” he asked Chubs.
Ruby turned. “You’re from Virginia?” she asked.
Chubs just crossed his arms and looked out the window. “I’m from Northern Virginia.”
Ruby turned to me next. I put my hands up in surrender. “Don’t look at me, I’m from Ohio,” I said. “I’m also shit at directions, so I will be no help with any of this.”
Ruby nodded. “Five forty is western Virginia. I’m not sure how far north and south it extends, but it should be right around this area, I think.” She gestured to the map to show Liam where she meant. “There are a number of cities and towns, but there’s also a lot of undeveloped land- not a bad place to hide out.”
“Is that a fact?” Liam asked. “Did you grow up near there?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Virginia Beach, then?”
Ruby shook her head, staring down at the notebook in her hands. “Not any place you’ve been or heard of.”
“Well, it’s as good a lead as any, though I wish the area was a little smaller. Thanks, Ruby Tuesday.” Liams accent was heavy as he said the nickname. He took one last look at the map before folding it back up steering us back out of the alleyway.
“Where are we going?” Chubs asked.
“It’s a place I know,” Liam said, glancing at me through the rear-view mirror. “Someplace I stayed before. The drive shouldn’t take us that long- maybe two hours. If I get lost, though, one of you Virginians is going to have to step up to the plate and help me out.”
He was talking about the Walmart, I realized. And to be honest, I wasn’t really sure how to feel about that. That place had done a lot of good for me, but it was also the place I was ultimately caught, which resulted in me being sent back to a camp.
“I’m going to take a nap, then,” I said as I swung my legs up to rest across the seat. “All these bruises are really taking the piss out of me, and I’m not really sure why- no Chubs, I don’t want to know. I want to sleep.”
And with that, I fell into a dreamless sleep once again.

Word count: 1078