“Trust me, Mom flipped from supportive to uncaring overnight. If you saw her, you’d understand.”

“It’s…it’s unbelievable.”

“I know. And that’s why we have to have Monica back. She’s the only one who can make sure this gets properly sorted out. Eric Smith has no morals. We know that. Look at his own son.”

“He’s the worst.”

“I know. But his dad is ten times as bad. We have to stop him before the update spreads any farther. I just hope once we have enough proof and can go to the authorities, they don’t shut down baku production forever.”

A look of horror comes over Zora’s face. “They can’t do that!” she exclaims, clutching Linus to her chest. “Bakus are part of our lives now. They’re as natural as…as phones or cars. They didn’t ban the production of cars just because someone could crash one. They’re just going to have to figure out how to regulate things better, that’s all.”

“You’re right,” I quickly reassure her. “So are you okay to come over tonight?” I ask. “Jinx has a plan, and he says it needs all of us.”

“Of course I’ll be there. Lacey, this is huge. I have coding club after school, but I can skip it.”

>>No, tell her to come over after that.

I frown. “Jinx says to go to your coding club as normal.”

Zora nods. “Okay then, I’ll be over before dinner. This is unreal.”

Jinx rolls his spine, a series of lights shooting across his fur.

>>I’d better go before anyone else sees me. I’ll meet you later, Lacey.

And just like that, he disappears back into the shadows.

The familiar nerves return as he leaves, but I squash them down. He’s not leaving for good. He will be back. “My old teammates from Profectus are going to be coming tonight too,” I tell Zora.

Now it’s Zora’s turn to look concerned. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well didn’t you say that your friend Tobias’s dad works for Eric Smith?”

“Yeah…”

“So you mean to tell me that you think it’s possible Tobias’s dad works for Team Happiness but doesn’t know what’s going on or how the technology is being used? Of course he does!”

“Well…maybe. But that doesn’t mean that Tobias won’t help us.”

“You’re too trusting, Lace. That’s always been your problem. You think human beings perform like one of your builds, where everything is predictable. But you can’t predict how Tobias is going to react when he finds out that his dad is involved in this. I mean, think about it… Is Tobias really going to want to send his dad to prison, if that’s what it comes down to?”