I looked towards the window on the balcony. My eyes tried to pierce the afternoon shadow, and I saw a girl standing before me. Her hair was brown with gold mixed in, and her green eyes gleamed in the candlelight, looking amused.
"Who are you?" I asked cautiously. Her lips twitched upwards, laughing slightly.
"You don't recognize the person who rescued you?" she said, pretending to be sad. She swept her hair off her shoulder onto her back.
Carefully, I thought about her appearance and tried to remember the novel. I looked at her in shock when I recalled that the heroine also had brown hair with gold highlights. "Ohh…" I said softly under my breath, realizing. I blushed in frustration after realizing the woman in front of me was the heroine of the novel.
The woman I now recognize as the secondary protagonist of the original, Briar Tuathe, was staring at me with questioning eyes full of amusement. Unconsciously, I felt my face flush under her gaze, and I averted my gaze.
"When did you get here?" I asked desperately, hoping she didn't hear much of our internal conversation.
"Around the time you were talking about some drugged protagonist and a quest to rescue him, around there?" she replied, pressing the pads of her fingers together (I want to stick around more; he's interesting. How should I reel him in?) Briar eyed the fluctuating glow around him.
I calmed myself on the inside, breathing deeply through my nose. "So near the end, I guess…"
Briar thought (let's not tell him I came in a lot earlier), "Who is the protagonist you were talking about?" she asked curiously. I glanced around the room nervously (should I trust in her for now?). "I can't tell you how I know, but someone important to the future is in danger," I answered reluctantly. "He is captured by his family and is being experimented on."
Briar looked confused but a little amused as well. " When should we go?" she said, staring at me intensely. "I don't know this person, but it sounds fun."
I sighed. (She seems like the type to keep pestering me until I say yes.) "If you're aware it will be difficult, then just know I'm not responsible if anything goes wrong. Right now, I can barely protect myself."
"I won't get in your way, I promise," she said, holding out her pinky finger, "Pinky promise."
I felt confused because this was the behaviour she only showed Adrian in the original. As it was harder for her to open up to others for some reason due to her childhood. But I let it be, because right now, to her, we don't know each other very well. I took her pinky halfheartedly, "let's leave at dawn first thing." Briar nodded. Then we went to sleep.