I switch over to the Profectus channel at lunchtime. I still follow a lot of the Profectus students on my social media platforms. I haven’t yet been barred from receiving the images and videos, which gives me a spark of hope. Maybe I haven’t totally been wiped from their databases, and I’ll still have the ability to slot back into life at Profectus. Some people, like my friend Jake, stream almost constantly from school. It means I catch glimpses of Carter strutting around the place with his boar baku, acting like normal.

I’m on the outside, looking in, and it hurts.

“There you are!” says Zora, making me jump. “What’s so urgent? Did you fix what was wrong with Slick?”

“Not here,” I say. We leave the cafeteria with our lunches, heading toward a stairwell at the far end of the school that hardly ever gets used. I set Slick to have a proximity alert, in case anyone enters the stairwell to interrupt us. He scurries along the floor, and I watch him closely. Between the syringe and the update, I don’t trust him one bit.

But I do have to trust Jinx.

Just at that moment, I spot movement in the shadows at the bottom of the stairs. “Look who’s back,” I say to Zora. She follows my gaze, and she gasps. Her eyes light up at the sight.

“What? Are you kidding me? Jinx, is that you?”

He doesn’t reply out loud, but slinks his body beneath her outstretched hand, allowing her to stroke him. “Aw, it’s so good to see you, buddy,” she says. Then she looks up at me. “Why didn’t you tell me? You can go to Profectus now, right?”

I shake my head, thinking how simple that would be. But the situation is way more complicated than that. “Zora, Jinx came back because he had to show me something. And I want to show you too.”

Her eyes scan my face, and the smile placed there by Jinx’s arrival slowly droops. Without any other explanation, I gesture for Jinx to show Zora the presentation he showed me last night.

Once it’s finished, Zora is shaking. “No way. This can’t be real.” She chews on the ends of her braids, muffling her words.

“It’s only my mom’s department who have been updated so far,” I say.

>>For the moment.

Jinx’s tone is ominous in my mind.

Zora’s eyes open wide with alarm. “Your mom? Is she okay?”

I shake my head. “She’s different.”

“Are you sure it’s the update? She has been through a lot too, you know. You were in the hospital for so long, and she was really worried,” says Zora. She stares at Jinx. “Do you actually think that Moncha Corp have the technology to control the way someone acts?”

She’s more skeptical than I am.