“You’re okay now,” I whisper. “You’re awake.” The revelation slowly dawns on me. “Zora, we have to go to your family now.” I kiss Mom on the cheek. “I have so much to talk to you about, and so much to explain. But Mom, promise me something.”

“What, honey?”

“Don’t leash up to Petal until I tell you to. Promise?”

“Lacey, wait. You can’t just—”

“I have to go, Mom! I’ll be back as soon as I can!” I cry out, before racing to the stairwell to join Zora and Carter.

We take the stairs two at a time, jumping down and using the banisters as a pivot. Zora’s braids are flying out behind her, and Carter and I can barely keep up.

Jinx is at her feet, though. He knows now that he can help.

It takes a good few minutes for Jinx to reverse the update on Zora’s parents, and by the time he’s done, they’re as fired up as we are, outraged by the stories that we have to tell.

“We have to do something!” says Zora’s dad, Michael, his voice booming in their small apartment.

“Mrs. Layeni,” I say to Zora’s mom. “Can you go to my mom and bring her here and make sure she’s okay? I don’t want her to be alone after what she’s gone through.”

“Of course! But where are you going?”

I exchange a look with Zora, and then we both look at Carter, who is hanging back against the wall, his head low. “Jinx can’t go to everyone in the city individually and reverse the update, so we have to figure out a way to spread it more widely.”

“I’m on it!” says Zora, and I can see from her expression that she’s already thinking through possible options to spread the code like wildfire.

“And while she’s doing that, I have something to do.” I gesture with my head to Carter, who perks up.

Alesha, Zora’s oldest sister, is raging. “You said you put a post up on the St. Agnes message board, little Z?”

Zora nods.

“We’ll amplify it. Thank goodness we all didn’t update. I was just about to when Zora came running in. We’ll try to get to anyone else who hasn’t updated yet to make sure they don’t. I can’t believe what Eric Smith has done.”

“Anything we can do to help, just call on us.”

I smile gratefully at Zora’s family, but I’m itching to get back to the basement. There’s a different kind of urgency now that we have a way to reverse it.

Maybe Monica did know what she was doing, after all. If it was only a matter of time before someone tried to manipulate her technology, then she needed to make sure there was an antidote.