“Well, Jinx might be an ace hacker, but I’m also a super coder,” she replies with a wink. “I set up a tracker to search the internet for all details associated with the person who once owned the owl baku that your teacher had. Then it pinged up with this number, I called it, and got voicemail. I left a message, and he called me back a few minutes later. I told him to get here as soon as he could.”

“You’re amazing, but how did you know we needed help?”

“When River and I didn’t receive any messages from Ashley for over an hour, I knew something bad must have happened. I left Tobias’s family cottage in secret to meet Mr. Baird on the main road, and it was a good thing I did; I was cut off from River too.”

Linus squeaks.

>>Lizard hasn’t responded to any of our messages.

“They probably threatened to destroy Lizard if he didn’t cooperate. I don’t blame River,” I say. “I really hope they’re all okay.”

“I have to say, I was pretty surprised to get the call from Zora,” says Mr. Baird. “But once she told me what was going on, I dropped everything to get up here as fast as possible. It’s unbelievable. The update cannot be allowed to roll out further.”

Then Zora reaches out and grips my hand. “Lacey, did you really see your dad?”

I nod, biting my lower lip.

“Oh my god. That’s huge. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” I say, honestly. “I mean…he’s alive. But who knows whether he will ever be back to normal? He had such an early version of Eric’s update. It might have permanently damaged his brain, as far as we know.”

“We’ll find out,” Zora says, fiercely.

“And BRIGHTSPRK will help,” affirms Mr. Baird. “We will find a way to reverse everyone who has been updated so far.”

“I hope you can,” I whisper. I want to believe that BRIGHTSPRK would have the answer, but I know it’s not going to be easy.

“Can you show us what else you saw inside the dome, Lacey? It’s important we know everything.”

I nod and pull Slick out of my pocket. He’s almost drained of power, so I plug him into an outlet. He opens up his projector, and we cycle back through the footage. It’s clear we have enough to prove to anyone what was going on. I’m so grateful to have him, for once. Zora doesn’t even bat an eyelid when Eric’s soliloquy’s come on, and the extent of his plan comes to light. “I don’t think I’m surprised at anything, anymore,” she says, when the footage ends.