trapped inside legend

3: Suspicious

"Whose she?" Kaede slouched over the door frame while using her knife as a finger,
pointed towards me. Tess noticed how I was a little frightened. "Kaede. This is Beth. Beth this is Kaede." Tess walked over to where Kaede stood and gave her a nod as if I was harmless or some sort. Kaede made her way into the bar and decided to grab a piece of fried dough that was stashed in a bag. "What brings you here?" Kaede's gaze cold and sharp. She's way more imitating than I thought. I stood there awkwardly as Tess began, "Well Beth had some bad cuts on her palms. I decided to help her out since no one else was." Kaede grinned, "Classic Tess." Her grasp on her knife relaxed as she placed it at her side.

"How was your meeting?" Tess asked curiously. "Ehh. Not much excitement." Kaede's face grew bored. I could tell she kept it as vague as she could. I would've done the same. She doesn't think I know she's with the Patriots.

The awkwardness grows. How could I start a conversation without bringing up something from the book? If I ask about Day then Tess will be confused how I knew she was close with him. If I ask about Kaede's meeting she is obviously gonna say no. My mind quietly calculating all the possible outcomes for different scenarios. My thoughts at an abrupt halt when Kaede decided to speak up.

"So, where ya from?" Her figure slouched again like she didn't have a care in the world. Think Beth think. I loose control of my words when I blurt out, "Maryland." Shit! Shit! Shit! Is that even a thing anymore?

"What did you say?" Kaede stiffens up again and grows tense. "I-u-uh meant Winter." I feel my body heat rise as I start to sweat nervously. Keep it together, you have to keep the story in place, ruin it and someone dies for the worst.

"Quite far isn't it?" Kaede's eyes narrow. "Y-yeah. I've kinda been moving all over in hope for a place to stay." My body cools and starts to calm down. A nervous body and face is easier to notice.

I hear Kaede murmur something to Tess. It sounds like, "Maybe shes valuable." What does that even mean? They turn away from each other and face me again.

"This may or may not be random, but you got any skills?" I know exactly what she's thinking. Kaede might recruit me on the Patriots, of course. My mind thinks of something. Good runner? No. Good nurse? No. But I am fairly good hacker, I hacked my way into a free Netflix account that doesn't even charge me.

"I'm good with computers I guess," I then add, "Hacked into secure sites before." Referring to Netflix. "Just what we need." I see a grin form on Kaede's face. "Ever heard of the Patriots?" Okay Beth, act as if you don't even realize your in a book. "I believe once, I'm not sure though." My hands reach into my pocket, the quarter still there. I act as if I just placed my hands in my pocket. Without my self knowing I pull out the quarter.

The coin makes it way out of my grasp and suddenly starts to descend toward the broken-tiled floor. The glare of the coin reflects against Tess's medical box and it catches her eye. I gulp. There's only one thing that I know for certain will happen next.

Tess scoots over to pick it up. She looks at the foreign coin in her small hands. Her eyes grow wide and her mouth gaps open a bit. "How did you get this?" She notices where it says "1990" .
"It's something my friend gave me before she had to take her Trial." I act as if I was hurt, like she failed, and later killed from the Republic.

I can now see anger in Tess's innocent face. She thinks it's Day's. Her emotions boil up. "How did you get this?" Her words come out more sharp this time. I blurt out once more, "It isn't from a necklace," I continue without retracing what I just said, "There's no hole for a string to loop in."

My stance grows frozen and she realizes I know something I shouldn't. "How do you know about the necklace? Did you seal off the hole? Did you-?" I stay calm, "No." was my response. "I know about Day, Tess." I feel as if I became more powerful than even Kaede. I feel badass to be honest. Kaede's face changes too. "But how?" Tess's voice becomes soft and staggery. "There's a lot of things about me that'll just confuse the both of you okay?" I know they are both curious. "What do you not wanna tell us?" Kaede crosses her arms. I do the same and reply, "Well why should I tell you when you didn't bring up specifically your Patriots meeting?" My eyebrow raises. Kaede's face becomes confused. She stands there in shock, so does Tess. "How did you know?" She quickly starts to grab at me as if she thinks I'm a spy. My reflexes kick in. They're not as sharp as June's but they help me at least. I dodge most of her blows. Tess just stands there in shock. I suddenly back away. "Kaede. Like I said, I know many things but it's for your own good." I exclaim falling backwards.

I notice her shirt, it says, 'Patriots' on it. Kaede forgot it even said that. "I mean it's obvious your shirt says, 'Patriots' on it." I can't help but laugh a little. I'm glad that her shirt said that or I would've gave away who I really was and how I really knew. "Aw shit!" Kaede scrambles for a hoodie in their pile of clothes. "Observant huh?" She asks slipping it over her.

I haven't even noticed how late it is when I see a figure outside, that has to be June.

It's showtime.