Holding a finger to my lips, I leaned the piece of scrap metal away from the wall, so the others could see the small blue coin nested there. Maybe I was taking it too far, but in my mind, if they had location tracking, there was a solid possibility of audio as well.

I watched their reactions carefully.

Nick had broken out into a cold sweat.

This isn’t working out the way he expected. Something gave him the impression everyone would play fair. Could be his own, personal naivety but more likely a quest, the system, or something about his class.

Sae stood on the edge of the doorstep, chewing her lip. Her standoffish demeanor dissolved into fear.

She’s the weak link. This system business was already freaking her out, and the third-party issue might break her entirely if it comes to a head.

Jinny didn’t look nervous. From the way her mouth firmed into a harsh grimace and her green eyes blazed, she was experiencing an entirely different emotion all-together.

Jinny's not surprised, but she didn’t know it was there. Some outside entity fucking with what's supposed to be her second chance. This won't dissuade her. If anything, it will solidify her resolve.

It was something of a relief. Unless they had some method of spoofing my title, no one had any knowledge of the device. Unfortunately, that also meant we were back to square one.

Before I could motion for them to come back inside, Sae emerged from paralysis. She brushed past me and checked the underside of the car’s wheel wells, then laid down on her back to inspect the undercarriage. Another person might have been insulted by the implication that I’d searched poorly, but it actually raised my estimation of Sae.

I was the new person to the group. Nick trusted me, but the others had no reason apart from his word to do the same. Sae was either checking to ensure I hadn’t missed anything, or suspected some oddly executed misdirect.

A moment later, Nick followed her, popping open the engine block and the trunk.

There was nothing more to find. I’d made sure of it. But I appreciated that we were all on the same page. They stayed silent, the only noise the car’s creaking suspension and the rustling of upholstery.

Eventually, they gave up, and I shut the garage door behind us.

Sae stuck a finger at me. “Spill. How did you know?”

“It’s not rocket science.” I shrugged. “Nick hasn’t spotted a tail since the restaurant. Figured they were keeping tabs on him in some other way.”

Sae’s eyes narrowed. “You just have it all figured out.”

Jinny’s eyes were glazed, her hand making phantom movements. “There’s nothing surveillance related in the store. Unless I’m putting in the wrong keywords.”

“Couldn’t find it either. Or anything in that category,” I admitted. “Either the people running the market are filtering what they make publicly available, or—“

“They don’t all carry the same stock.” Nick realized.

“We’re really just going to move on here?” Sae looked at the other two for support. “The new guy discovers you’re being tailed, then just so happens to be the one to find a tracker on your car? Am I the only one that sees the issue?”

Nick shook his head. “Sae, I hear you. If it were anyone else, sure. But I’ve known Matt for a while. None of this is out of character for him. He’s cautious. And that caution has saved his ass and mine, more than a few times.”

She’s too entrenched in what happened to her to see an outsider as anything besides a liability. But it’s subconscious. Instinctual. Drawing attention to it may cause her to second guess herself. Conflict now vs. conflict later.

I stared Sae down, unblinking. “I’m not Randall. And this situation is complicated enough without you bringing in old baggage.” It came out more barbed than intended, a possible side effect of

Nick winced, as Sae took a subconscious step back.

Jinny stepped in the middle, gesturing gently. “Let’s focus on the present.” She turned to me. “What’s the best way to handle this? Can we throw them off the scent? Attach the tracker to someone else’s car?”

Sae snorted. “Pretty sure that only works in spy movies.”

I shook my head. “Sae’s right.” Sae looked over at me in surprise. “It’d be a good idea if they didn’t already know where Nick’s staying. That ship has sailed. Plus, if the tracker suddenly starts moving, they’re likely to pay more attention.”

Nick scratched his chin. “And if we leave it here, it confirms what they’re already assuming. We’re here, waiting out the transposition event.”

“Exactly.”

“Still seems like a bad idea to drive it, since they might still be on the lookout.” Nick glanced at Jinny. “Your car’s in the park down the road, right?”

Jinny grabbed her purse.

/////

When the small, decidedly pink Prius pulled up in front of Matt’s house, I couldn’t help but groan.

At least it’s not bright pink.

In truth, it wasn’t much better. The pearlescent white with shifting pink undertones was more than a little eye-catching. It was similar to the paint job on Mary Kay Cadillac’s. We piled in, only a few bodies short of this being a real clown-car experience.

“I’ve gotta get my jeep in something similar,” Nick grinned back at me from the front seat.

“Never took you for a pink guy.” I said.

“I did,” Sae commented. “But Jinny said I was wrong.”

“I meant the general look, not the color.” Nick scowled, then glanced at Jinny, who was quietly tittering in the driver’s seat. “What’s so funny?”

No one clued him in. I left my seat belt loose, so I could face the rear window. With back in the title slot and traffic as dead as it was, I was confident in my chances of spotting anyone following us by car.

A notification dinged as soon as we left the curb.

Quest: A Friend In Need

Primary Objective — Complete Ebryli’s Trial.

Secondary Objective — Keep all members of the party alive.

Personal Objective — Remain unidentified by other Users.

Threat Level: ???

EXP GAIN (L)

Time Limit: Before the Transposition Event

Reward: Class Specific Boon.

My brow furrowed, looking over the details of the quest. I had no idea who Ebryli was, or the details of a class specific boon, but it sounded valuable enough that the undisclosed threat level was alarming.”

“Did you guys get a quest for the Trial?”

“Yup,” Nick answered from the front seat. “It finally pop up for you?”

“What was the threat level?”

“Uh.” Nick browsed through his menus. “Medium. Should be nothing to worry about.”

“Any secondaries on yours?”

“Nope. No time limit, either. Just clear the trial, get the boon. Easy-peasy.”

This was a problem. The system was giving us differing information. For what purpose, I had nothing but theories. Unless it considered my secondary objective to keep everyone alive worthy of upgrading the threat level.

“It’s showing in question marks for me.” I commented, attempting to give them some sense of warning.

“Probably because you’re lower level,” Sae said.

I frowned. It was possible that the quest was factoring in the lower leveled identity, but I wasn’t sure I agreed.

Matt: (Page Identity)

Level 3 Page

Strength: 5

Toughness: 4

Agility: 9

Intelligence: 10

Perception: 5

Will: 6

Companionship: 1

Active Title: Jaded Eye

Feats: Page’s Focus^, Awareness I, Stealth

Skills: Critical Strike LVL 2, Bolster LVL 2, One-handed LVL 6

Selve: 500

<>

Keeping to the ethos of good lies being closest to the truth, I’d kept my feats limited to things I could easily emulate. Awareness and Stealth were both feats I already had. was a passive feat that granted minor precognition, allowing the User to identify points of opportunity.

Obviously, I didn’t have access to the actual feat. I took it because it allowed me to reverse engineer an explanation for anything unlikely that happened due to my actual skills, and

Only there was a little symbol next to it that I’d missed going over the stat sheet the first time.

I focused on it. Considering how reticent the system was to explain anything, I was surprised when a text box appeared.

But not as surprised as when I read the contents.