>>I’m sorry, I’m only getting your mom’s voicemail. I’ve left a message with Petal, asking for your mom to return your call as soon as possible. In the meantime, we should be getting to class. We’ve had an alert from St. Agnes that you are in danger of getting detention if you don’t show up to school soon.

“Call Mom again,” I say.

>>But…

“Call Mom again, Slick,” I repeat, more sternly. The beetle seems to flinch at my tone, skittering up my arm to hide in the hood of my jacket. But I can’t bring myself to feel bad. All I want is for the baku to follow the orders I’ve given it.

How ironic.

>>I’m afraid I got your mom’s voicemail again.

I groan. Mom always picks up when I call—even if I’m supposed to be in school and she is at work. This isn’t a life-threatening emergency, so I hesitate to use our code—but it is getting close.

I don’t want to leave the Profectus steps, but there’s no way that I can pace outside the school for hours.

>>I’m afraid if we don’t start moving toward St. Agnes, I’m going to report you to the police as an absentee student.

I roll my eyes, and if he wasn’t my only connection to the online world I might have squished that little bug in my hands. He’s such a goody-two-shoes. Jinx would never do something like that to me.

The pang of sadness hits me again. Where is Jinx? If he’s not with Eric Smith or with me… I wish I knew how to get in contact with him. I feel like I need him more than ever. I wonder what he’s doing now. He might have had a solution to this, one that didn’t involve me sitting outside in the cold.

I don’t want to get into any more trouble, so I reluctantly make my way down the steps and toward the school I thought I’d left behind.

I wonder what they will make of my return.

The only saving grace is that Zora, my best friend, is a student there. Ultimately, she’s the reason I get moving. At least she is someone I can explain the situation to—and, with any luck, she’ll have an idea for how I can get back into Profectus.

So far, Mom’s prediction that everything will be all right today is not going to plan. I steel myself. One day at St. Agnes. It won’t be that bad.