Page 68 of Jinxed

I take a deep breath, then I lift him to the leash at my ear. I feel the sync – a tiny spark – and the beetle comes to life, his legs wriggling against my neck. Thisis the experience I was supposed to have a few months ago.

A strip hologram projector lifts a series of texts into the air above his back.

>>Hello, Lacey! My name is...

There’s a pause as he waits for me to fill in his name. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. What am I supposed to call him? It doesn’t seem right to give him a boring name, but I can’t think for too long about it... I havea job I need him to do.

I think about what his colouring made me think of. An oil slick.

‘Slick,’ I say out loud.

>>Hello, Lacey, my name is Slick! Nice to meet you.

‘And you,’ I reply.

>>I’m just downloading your preferences now, so that we can be lifetime companions. Oh! I see that you’re a big fan of ramen noodles. Me too. I’ll help you locate the best ramen restaurants in Toronto.

Ican’t help the small smile that creeps on to my face. ‘Oh, well thank you.’

>>You’re a very popular person, Lacey. I’m receiving a lot of messages for you. Would you like to read them now, or do you want me to save them for another time? Whatever is convenient for you.

He’s so polite! I can see how it could be addictive, having something so nice and sweet in your ear. But I miss Jinx’s cheekylittle asides and backtalk – not to mention the fact that reading the text is a lot more cumbersome than having his voice in my head.

‘Let’s go ahead and read the messages.’

>>Here you go.

I’m flooded with connections – missed messages from Zora, a few Flashes, notifications from my social media, and an email from Profectus saying that since the battle was called off, lessons have resumed asnormal. My absence hasn’t gone unnoted. I don’t read any of them, just flick through notification after notification, hoping for something from Jinx.

But there’s nothing. Nothing that seems even remotely out of the ordinary.

>>Excuse me, Lacey?

‘Yes?’ I rub my eyes, wracking my brain to try and think of another way to find Jinx.

>>There’s a video here that’s been sent to your spam. Do you want me to auto-delete anything that is flagged as Spam, or would you like to view?

My instinct is to delete it: that’s definitely what you should do if you get sent strange videos over the internet. But this might be a way for Jinx to get through while staying under the radar.

‘Let me see this one,’ I say.

>>You got it.

My heart leaps up into my throat as the video projects on to the wallin front of me. It’s video feed from Jinx. He flicks his tail and shows me just a tiny portion of his body, and I would recognize it anywhere. It’s him.

‘Slick, please make sure you are recording back-up footage of this,’ I say quickly, just in case the stream stops running or gets deleted. ‘And make it as large as you can.’

Slick enlarges the view so it’s as if I’m immersed in the video. Iuse it to look around, trying to take in every detail. He’s being carried in a cage by someone. I catch a glimpse of a moving picture on the wall, the dream-like image of a waterfall, and the Moncha logo with a cluster of stars in the background.

Mr Baird was right. Moncha have taken him back.

My heart sinks. Maybe Monica has known about this all along.

No, not Monica.

The view shifts so thatI catch sight of a snout, the curve of a tusk. A boar baku.

Carter has him.

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