Page 69 of Jinxed

My heart beats so fast inside my chest, it threatens to burst out. I was so caught up, I didn’t even think to check whether Carter was in his team box at the Baku Battles. He must have nabbed Jinx while I was in the cylinder. But what is he doing with my baku?

There’s a crackle and suddenly there’s audio alongside thevideo. Carter is on the phone to someone. I can only hear one side of the conversation. ‘Dad? I’ve got the baku. No, I really think you need to see this... Well come back then! If you get on the jet now you can make it back this evening... Yes, I’m alone!... No, she’s not going to know where he is. I put one of those black marks on so he’s totally out of it.’

The audio crackles and dies.

Carter. I should have known. I’d seen the predatory look in his eyes as he looked at Jinx.

Now he wants to bring him like some sort of prize to his father. He probably thinks that’s a way of getting in his good books.

I ball my fingers into my fist and collapse down on to the floor. The sight of him locked up in a cage has cut me down to the core – but at least he’s in one piece still. And I’mnot going to leave Jinx. He might be a robot, but he has no one to protect him. I’m not going to give up.

But how, Lacey? How are you going to get through Moncha security alone?says a niggling voice in my head.

There’s a tiny tapping sound at my locker door. I open my eyes from my position on the floor. At first I see a pair of sparkly silver Converse, and next to them – the paws of a spanielbaku. Jupiter.

ISLOWLY SIT UP, PUSHING MYSELF INTO AN upright position.

‘Ashley?’ I say, blinking slowly – as if I expect in the span of one blink for her to disappear. But she’s still standing there.

‘Hi, Lacey,’she says. ‘Can I come in?’

I scan her hands for cans of spray paint, rolls of toilet paper – or something worse, but there’s nothing. She even holds her hands out in the open to show she’s ‘unarmed’.

‘I just want to talk.’

I nod. ‘Okay.’ I undo the bolt on the cage door to my locker and let her in.

Jupiter runs up to me, and I pet her on the head, before gesturing for Ashley to take a seat.She doesn’t. Instead, we stand there, looking at each other. I roll back and forward on my left sneaker, not sure what to say.

‘I...’ Ashley’s mouth opens and then closes again. She looks down at Jupiter, and tears well up in her eyes. ‘I’m not doing this for you,’ she says, her voice fierce.

‘Okay...’ I say, not sure about where this is going.

‘This is for Jinx. Jinx saved Jupiter. Ifit wasn’t for him... Carter would have destroyed her beyond repair. I know that. So if there’s anything I can do to help find him... then I want to.’

I chew at my bottom lip for a moment. ‘Really?’

To my surprise, she steps forward and engulfs me in a hug. ‘Are you kidding? Of course. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost Jupiter – or if he was taken from me. It would be horrible.’

I leaninto her hug, feeling just how genuine her concern is, and appreciating it. When we finally separate, I nod. ‘It is horrible. The worst.’

‘So let’s find him. What do you know?’

I take a deep breath, before launching in.

And yet, before I can, there’s even more commotion. ‘So that’s where our missing teammate has got to.’

Ashley and I both turn at the same time, to see Tobias, Kai and Riveroutside the locker.

‘You can’t just skip out on a team meeting like that,’ says Tobias, his arms crossed.

For a second, I think Ashley is going to waver on her offer – but she doesn’t. ‘The team meeting ended, and I have a right to do what I would like with my spare time.’

Kai and Tobias exchange a glance. ‘Were we this mouthy when we were starting out on the teams?’ Kai asks, but I hear amusementtinging his voice.

‘I’m sure that we had more respect for our elders,’ says Tobias.

‘Well come on, guys,’ says River. ‘Let’s not just stand here. If we’re going to help get this bloody baku back then that’s what we have to do.’

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