Grian pauses, turns around, walks back over to BigB, and squints at him.
"Hey, wait. Why are they red?"
"What?" BigB says, shoving his old secrets into his bag.
"They're red! I saw them!" Grian says. "That's the wrong color? Everyone's tasks are on normal parchment. Why are they red?"
"No they aren't," BigB lies.
"Yes, they are, I can see them," Grian says.
"Maybe parrots are colorblind," BigB says. "They're definitely not red. They're... normal-colored. Maybe your tasks are the ones that are the wrong color."
"What? No, I would know what color the tasks are supposed to be. They're supposed to be on normal parchment, I swear! I don't know why yours are red!"
"And I told you, there are no red tasks here. Are you feeling okay?" BigB says, knowing full well he didn't hide them perfectly in his bag, but in too deep to not keep committing now.
"What are you doing," whispers Grian. "What is wrong with you."
"I don't know, man, you're the one who keeps on showing up and yelling at me," BigB says.
"Look, they're just--why are those the wrong color?"
"I'm just saying. Maybe you're the only one who has them on a color that isn't red. If my tasks are red. Which they aren't!"
Grian throws his hands in the air. "And I told you, I'd know what color the tasks the Secret Keeper hands out are, wouldn't I?"
"I mean, I don't know. Why would you?" BigB asks.
Grian freezes in place.
"If you're so certain you know what color the tasks the weird god-statue hands out are, like, how? You're just as trapped here as the rest of us, right?"
"I just do," Grian says. "You know how I. You know. I'm supposed to help enforce the rules. So I just--"
"Nah, don't worry about it, I just wanted to see what you'd try to say for an answer," BigB says magnanimously. "I know why you know."
"...you do?" Grian says weakly.
"I mean, yeah. I was there too, Grian. I don't know why even the guys watching tend to forget I know about them. Hey, maybe that's why my task is red! Because I knew people would see it! Of course, that would only be true if it were red. It's not though. You should really work on that."
Grian stares. He looks oddly shaken. "Huh," he says.
"Is that all? Because, like, I have more doors to build," BigB says.
"You are the most deeply confusing person I know," Grian says, but it sounds more like a compliment than something meant to be upsetting. BigB decides it's fine to leave it be, especially since Grian's voice is oddly flat in the way it gets when he's considering whether or not to ruin everything. BigB figures it's best to stay out of his way when he gets like that. He also knows how impossible it actually is to stay out of the way, but hey. That's just how life goes sometimes.
Instead, he goes back to digging tunnels, waving as he goes to Grian, to the Secret Keeper, and to you.
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