Tobias walks over to me and gives me a hug. “So, Lacey, what’s the big news?”

I take a deep breath, then take a conscious step sideways, taking me outside his grip. He frowns a little, but I need him to listen to what I have to say. What I’m asking is something he might not want to agree to, and I don’t want him to feel any obligation just because he asked me out. “I’ve learned something since coming out of the hospital, and it’s not good news. I wanted to text you all to tell you right away, but then I thought you might not believe me.

“Plus, I need know you’re okay with keeping a huge secret. It might be risky. I’m asking you to put a lot on the line. To keep this secret from your family and other friends, and, most of all, from Moncha Corp itself.”

Kai stands up straighter. “Okay, you can’t tempt us like that and then expect us to say no.”

River pipes up. “How are you even going to stop us from listening to you and then spilling the secret anyway?”

“I’m actually going to help with that,” Zora says.

I look over at Zora in surprise. “Just trust me,” she says, in a low voice to me. I gesture for her to go ahead.

She clears her throat, wriggling in her chair, trying to get comfortable with all of our eyes on her. “I’ve developed a little tweak to the code of your bakus. It will obscure this conversation. You have to be willing to have it added to your bakus before Lacey can say anything. Otherwise, you have the choice to leave now. If you want to.”

“Seriously? What if you permanently mess up my baku? I just don’t know if I can take that risk,” Kai says.

“I can promise you that it won’t harm your bakus.”

Tobias takes a step forward. “Of course I’ll let you implement a blackout code on Aero. Lacey trusts you, so I trust you.” He turns to me. “But you should trust us. You shouldn’t need us to prove our loyalty to you.”

“Yeah,” says River. “You should know that we wouldn’t rat you out.” They’re all looking at me.

“I promise, it’s not you guys I’m worried about,” I say. It’s your bakus, I want to say, but I can’t. “The truth is, this is just too big. But I can’t say anything more until you sign up for the code. If you want it, Zora is ready.”

To my relief, Tobias steps forward first. Kai tuts, but his defiance seems to fade in the face of Tobias’s leadership. I’m eternally grateful to him, and I hope that they all will understand once the truth comes to light.