Page 59 of Jinxed

She whirls around on me. ‘What is thisthing? Where did you get it?’ She jabs her finger at Jinx’s inert form.

‘I don’t... I told you...’ The tidal force of her anger almost knocks me over.

‘All that code we were looking at? Those elegant phrases, interspersed with the uglier sections...’

‘His code and the black mark.’

‘No. All of it was an illusion. Like an overlay. A false front. I’ve never seen anything like it. I brokethrough but...’ She throws her hands up at the screen. ‘He shut me out.’ She stares down at the small robotic creature curled up on the desk as if it is something alien.

‘But he’s got a black mark on him – he couldn’tdoanything.’ I unleash him from the computer and gather him up in my arms. I’m afraid of the look in Zora’s eyes, I realize. I don’t know what she’s going to do. She might takehim. I can’t let that happen.

‘You have to hand him in.’

‘Zora, you can’t ask me to do that.’

We face off, staring at each other, Jinx in my arms, and Linus at Zora’s ear. Finally, Zora’s shoulders slump. ‘I won’t tell anyone. Promise you’ll be careful. Your baku isn’t normal. You don’t have control. He’s not the companion you thought he was.’

I open my mouth to protest. It doesn’t matterto me what Jinx is. I still love him.

But she continues. ‘Look around...’ she gestures at the TRAITOR sign on the wall, and I wince, at the remnants of coffee mugs and ramen cups, and I wince again, at the bags under my eyes and greasy hair I haven’t had time to wash. ‘I know you want to believe that you are in control of this situation. But Lacey...’ In that moment, both Linus and Zorafix me with the same wide-eyed stare. ‘I’m not sure just who here is controlling who.’

FOR THE FIRST WEEK BACK AFTER MR Baird’s shocking revelation, I’m as skittish as a mouse, imagining someone coming to take Jinx around every corner.

But nothing changes. Even Carter seems to havedropped his vendetta. My former teammates still ignore me, but as I walk past Kai in the hallway he flips a bottle of spray paint over in his hand, menacingly. At least I know who the ‘TRAITOR’ culprit is.

I go to each class as normal, keeping my head down, and use the isolation to regain some focus. For once, History and French get my full attention – much to the surprise of my professors.

There had only been one odd moment to remind me of the wild happenings of the week before.

The morning after the Baku Battle, when it was established that no other team had managed to repair their bakus enough to take any points from me, I had to meet with Mr Baird to remove Jinx’s black mark.

I’d tried to make as little eye contact with him as possible, but he acted as if nothing unusual hadhappened the night before. I guess he’s had a lot of acting practice in his years as a corporate spy.

‘Well done, Lacey,’ he said, once the mark was off. ‘Good luck with the next battle.’

‘Th-thank you, sir,’ I stammered out.

But it was once I’d gotten to my desk that the strange thing happened.

>>You looked at my code,said Jinx.

Yes, with Zora, I reply.

>>Did you find anything?

No... I’m sorry, Jinx.

He beeps, which I interpret as a sigh.

>>Don’t worry, I’m doing enough to figure this out for the both of us.

What are you doing?

He didn’t reply.

Jinx? What do you mean?

The questions spilled out of me then.

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