BooksBarbecue
Back Unleashed Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. Part Two
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. Part Three
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. Part Four
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. 33
  42. 34
  43. 35
  44. Part Five
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. Epilogue
  54. Acknowledgments
  55. About the Author
  56. Back Cover

Jinx. My beautiful, difficult, independent, snarky, incredible baku was the key all along.

38

Jinx plugs into the computer in the basement, and Zora stares at his code as it appears on the screen in front of her. The last time we looked at his code, he’d been under the influence of a black mark, which disables bakus. Now, he’s giving us free access to a code, and Zora is gobbling it up with her hungry eyes.

After she’s looked at it all twice over, she plugs Linus in as well, so she can see the update code side by side with Jinx’s.

“Seriously? This is amazing.” Her eyes scan the code. “I think I know how I can separate out a reversal of the update, but it’s going to take some time. You then need to figure out how we can get it to the rest of the city.”

“I’ve thought about this. We have to reverse Monica first—then she can issue the command to go out to all the bakus that have been affected,” says Carter. “But we are going to need a distraction if we’re going to get into Moncha HQ. Something big and public that will draw attention away.”

It still feels strange to me to be working with Carter, who’s been my rival for so many years. But now that we’re working toward the same goal, we actually make a pretty good team. “Do you think anyone else will listen to us?” I ask. “The news outlets Jinx showed me were almost overwhelmingly positive.”

Carter laughs, and the sound puts me on edge. He seems to understand that, as he turns serious almost immediately. “Have you checked the Profectus forums recently?”

“No.” Then it hits me. “Oh, of course! Profectus students won’t have been affected because they all have level threes and above!”

“Right. You’ve got some of the most popular kids in school—Kai, Ashley, even that strange dude River—all fired up about how unfair this is. Of course people are listening.”

My eyes open wide. “They’re still trying to protest the update?”

Carter nods.

I take a deep breath and leash Slick up to the outlet. After a few seconds, he buzzes to life.

>>Hello, Lacey. I’m afraid I’m running an old operating system. Soon I will lose functionality if you don’t allow me to update my systems.

It’s another automated message. I ignore it and clear my throat. “Slick, open the Profectus Student App and Flashes,” I instruct.

There’s a brief moment where I’m not sure if the baku’s going to obey my command (it would be just my luck to have two disobedient bakus in my life) but then Slick obliges. Within a few seconds, both the apps are projected side by side, and I try to take in the deluge of messages that flood through both.

What can we do?