Page 65 of Jinxed

L: Are you there? It’s me, Lacey.

L: SOS.

Within a few seconds, I get a reply – and I breathe a sigh of relief for the fact that Zora constantly monitors her inbox.

Z: Everything OK? SOS?

L: Jinx is gone. I think someone stole him.

Z: ???!!!???

Z: How are we messaging right now??

L: I’m on an old computer in the St Agnes library.

Z: WHAT?! I’ll be there. Wait for me.

True to her word, within a minute, I hear the clompof Zora’s boots on the linoleum floor.

‘Jinx is missing,’ I say again, once she catches up to me.

Zora gets down to business straight away, pulling over one of the wheeled office chairs to sit in front of the screen with me. ‘Let’s check his last GPS location. You can do it through the old Moncha database.’

I smack my palm to my forehead.Why didn’t I think of that?I type in the address forMoncha Corp database, then I stare at the log-in screen. I haven’t had to use my old log-in and password in years. I set it up when I got my first cell phone, at ten years old. Finally, from somewhere deep in my memory banks, I dredge up the password.

Then I scream in frustration. There’s a second layer of security. How did people used to do it back in the day? Remember the random combinationof letters and numbers, of mother’s maiden names and first streets and pet names, whether something is in upper or lower case, whether it contains numbers or symbols or letters or some combination of everything. Eventually, however, I remember what my ten-year-old’s answer to ‘what’s your favourite movie’ is, and I crack my way in to my old Moncha homepage.

The layout of the page is so clunky,it makes me cringe to think that this was once the norm. I type Jinx’s unique identity code into the section which would show his last recorded GPS location.

Of course. Of course, it says Moncha HQ. Why did I expect anything different? According to the computer, Jinx should have been exactly where I left him: in the arena.

‘Have you reported it to the police?’ Zora asks.

‘Not yet...’

Ilog out of my Moncha account and turn off the computer. Linus races down Zora’s arm. ‘Here, use Linus to make the call.’

I nod. ‘Linus, call Moncha’s stolen baku line.’

There’s a brief pause as Linus connects.

‘Moncha guard. How can we help?’

‘My name is Lacey Chu and I need to report my baku as stolen.’

‘Baku unique identity code please.’

‘J1NX89.’

There’s a silence that feels a momenttoo long. ‘I’m afraid we have no baku registered to you under that number.’

‘J1NX89,’ I repeat. ‘I’m a student at Profectus school...’

Zora raises one of her eyebrows at me.

‘There’s no baku registered to you at all, Miss Chu.’

‘What? That’s not possible. You can look at my records—’

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