Legend

That night, Thomas tries apologizing to June, but she doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore. June realizes Thomas will always follow orders, and no apology will undo the damage. She sends Thomas away, then lies in her apartment, wondering if they are “doing the right thing by following [their] orders” (222).

She thinks about Day’s claims about the plague, the Trial, and the massacre during the riot. She tries to read Metias’s journals but becomes too emotional and falls asleep. She dreams about Day telling her, “I didn’t kill your brother” (223), and she pulls up the photos of Metias’s body at the crime scene. June senses that something is missing, and she wonders if Commander Jameson “took [photos] out to hide something from [June]” (225). When she zooms into the photos of the knife handle stuck in Metias’s chest, she notices “something darker than blood” on the hilt and notes that these marks look like “the streak of grease that was on Thomas’s forehead when [she] first saw him that night” (226).

June visits Day the next morning, shocked at his appearance. She dismisses his guards and orders them to cut the feed to the security cameras. Once alone, she “take[s] out two knives sheathed at her belt” (227). June shows concern for Day, giving him water and asking about the person who brutalized him. Day explains that it was “[her] captain friend” (228), Thomas. Day asks why June is treating him so nicely, and June asks Day if he can say “honestly and truly” that he “didn’t kill Metias” (229). Day swears that he didn’t. June confesses that she misses her brother, and she doesn’t understand why anyone would want to hurt him, and Day realizes that “her words are so similar to [his] thoughts about [his] mother that [he] can barely breathe” (230). Day realizes that June is questioning everything she thought she knew because “if [he’s] right about her brother, then what else [is] [he] right about?” (230).

June returns Day’s pendant, and Day remembers how he got it from his father. Day’s father brought home an unusual coin from his travels that read “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” (233), and his father insisted that they keep the coin, encase it in metal, and hide it in plain sight. He stated that “this might be the last coin of its kind in the world” (233) and suggested that they let one of the boys wear it as a locket. This is one of the last times Day saw his father alive, and he thanks June for returning the pendant to him.

June agrees to go to dinner with Thomas, during which she wonders if she is “eating dinner with [her] brother’s murderer” (237). Back home that night, June again goes into Metias’s journals, looking for clues as to who might have murdered him. She discovers a series of misspelled words, and deciding it must be a code, she lays out the errant letters to discover the message “WWW FOLLOW ME JUNE BUG DOT COM” (241). She types this into her internet browser and discovers a secret blog that Metias has been keeping for months. Metias reveals that “[their] father had tried to resign the day before he and Mom were killed in a car wreck” (243). Metias managed to hack into the Los Angeles deceased civilians database, and he learned that their father, who worked with plague viruses, “must have uncovered something that upset him enough to make him quietly file for a change in work assignment” (244). Metias believes the military killed their parents because “Dad found out that the Republic engineers the annual plagues” (245). He confirms that “they pump that virus into the slum sectors through a system of underground pipes” (246) and that the Republic is killing its people to test their biological warfare capabilities.

Thomas learns what Metias is up to, and although Metias feels he can trust Thomas, he still feels uneasy that someone knows about his suspicions. Metias’s final entry states that he will be resigning from Commander Jameson’s patrol. June deletes everything, and when Thomas calls to check on her, she feigns illness to avoid seeing him. June realizes that everything she believed about the Republic was a lie, and she decides that “[she’s] going to help Day escape” (251).

Day tries to break out of his prison cell by pretending to be sick with the plague. As the guards attempt to escort him to the hospital, Day “yank[s] the gun out of [a guard’s] holster, and point[s] it straight at him” (255). The door opens at Day’s command, and he pushes away from the guard and races down the hallway. However, his escape attempt is thwarted when “something heavy hits [him] across the face” (256), and he is subdued. Commander Jameson appears and scoffs at his “foolish attempt” (256), then warns him not to try again. June manages to whisper that “[Day] won’t be able to do it alone. [He’ll] need [her] help” (257). Day is stunned. Commander Jameson taunts Day for his escape attempt, and he bites her hand. While Commander Jameson announces that she’s “looking forward to [his] execution,” Day remembers June’s words and realizes that “a Republic agent is going to help [him] escape” (259).

June returns to the Lake sector in search of Kaede. Kaede finds her, furious and demanding to know what June is doing back here. June realizes that Tess is with Kaede, who has been looking out for her. June smiles, knowing that “this is news that will make Day very happy” (263). June asks for Kaede’s help, and Kaede retorts that June is a Republic agent who turned Day in, so she shouldn’t trust her. June offers Kaede money and weapons if she is willing to recruit the other Patriots to help rescue Day, and when Kaede asks why June cares so much, June explains what happened with Metias and Thomas and says that she “want[s] to free the boy who didn’t kill [her] brother” (266). Kaede says she’ll talk to the other Patriots but asks what June wants them to do.

June wants the Patriots to create enough chaos at Day’s execution that he can be rescued. She tells Kaede to set off an electro-bomb, which will disable the soldier’s guns temporarily. June points out that there will be soldiers escorting Day to the firing squad, but “who says they can’t be Patriots in disguise?” (270). Kaede grins, and June knows that this is an agreement to help.