Thankfully the heating works inside the library and it’s lovely and cosy, kitted out with plenty of comfortable sofas. There are stacks with a constantly shifting rotation of books out front, and huge numbers of other books behind, accessible by baku only.
We find a secluded corner and huddle together. The disappointment of not being able to find Mr Baird sinks into my bones. He was the only person who had been willing to help us before. ‘I don’t understand why he would have to go into hiding? BRIGHTSPRK were the ones who made him go undercover. Shouldn’t they be protecting him?’
>>Maybe putting him into hiding is part of their plan. Have him lie low until the storm passes.
‘Well, are there any other BRIGHTSPRK offices nearby where we can leave him a message?’
>>According to my research, there’s one north of Bloor Street. But there’s no Mr Baird registered as working there. And look at this. He projects a few news stories and a complicated-looking graph. >>This is a live stream of their latest stock price. It’s tumbling. No one is buying their halos.
Why would they? I think. Halos are like . . . the anti-baku. They’re cold and uninteresting, just circles of metal that are worn around the wearer’s head in a circle, from ear lobe to ear lobe. Some of the halos are so thin as to be invisible, whereas others can be customized in different colours. They’re so very . . . functional. It was a gamble for BRIGHTSPRK to offer something so unobtrusive, and so far – it looks like they’ve failed.
>>They probably can’t afford another scandal right now.
‘It did seem like Mr Baird was working on his own for a long time. Maybe he couldn’t find the support he needed in house.’ I chew my bottom lip. ‘Doesn’t change the fact that we might need all the help we can get at the end of all this.’
There’s a little buzz in my pocket. It’s Slick. >>According to my Maps data, if you leave now, you will arrive at school on time and won’t risk a late detention on your final day before vacation.
‘All right, Slick,’ I say, standing up from the comfortable sofa.
I look around the library. Jinx, I say in my head so that Slick can’t overhear. Do you think that we should look up Lake Baku while we’re here?
>>No – you heard what Paul said. If our search is flagged to Moncha then we’d be in big trouble. They might move Monica before we have the chance to find her.
I look around. All the librarians have little mice bakus, to scurry around the library finding books or restocking the shelves. Even though we’re not in official Monchaville, Moncha’s influence is everywhere throughout the city. I desperately wish that Mr Baird had left a way for me to get in touch with him.
But since he hasn’t . . . it looks like me, Zora and Team Tobias are on our own.
THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
SATURDAY MORNING COMES, AND ZORA is a nervous wreck on the car ride up to Tobias’s family cottage. We’re both bundled up in our warmest winter gear. I even dug out a pair of snow pants from the back of my closet that I’d bought second-hand for an ill-fated ski trip last winter.
‘I’m not sure this is a good idea,’ she says to me, as the driverless car Tobias provided for us speeds along the highway. ‘I’m not like you, Lacey – I don’t know these people that well, and they’re all from Profectus . . .’
‘You have no reason to be intimidated – you’re a better coder than any of them!’ I say.
‘It’s not just that. I mean, look how far we’re driving! Out in the countryside where there might be bears and wolves and stuff? What if we get snowed in? What if I need an emergency energy drink? I can’t just pop out to the store. You know I’m a city girl.’ She picks at the edge of her nail anxiously. Her eyes dart around the inside of the car, taking in the swish leather interiors, the baku resting places, the giant panoramic windows that show the Toronto cityscape rushing by.
I remember the first time I sat in one of Tobias’s family cars. They’re top-of-the-line and I doubt Zora has ever been in anything like one before. Linus seems comfortable enough though, nestled into a cosy hole lined with soft microfibre fabric designed to polish baku fur. ‘Are you sure that I can’t code from home?’ she continues. ‘This thing can turn around and take me back, right?’
I reach over and grip her hand. ‘Zora, remember the update? I need you on this. Right on the front lines. And anyway, I promise you there aren’t any wolves up there.’
‘Oh yeah? And what about bears.’
I shrug and she starts to make ‘Oh hell no,’ sounds.
I laugh. ‘I’ve reminded Tobias to stock up with all the top-of-the-line energy drinks.’ Something about coders and Red Bull. It’s like part of their DNA.
She exhales deeply. ‘Okay, if you say so. I guess it will be cool to see the Washingtons’ cottage. I bet it’s enormous. And Hot Guy has a brother, you say?’ She waggles her eyebrows.
I giggle but shush her. I’m not sure if these cars record our conversations but the last thing I want is for Tobias to get wind that we’re talking about him and his brother behind his back. His brother is such a touchy subject for him. I still don’t feel like I know enough about that relationship – only that the competitiveness between them is extreme.
Zora doesn’t stop. ‘If he’s half as fine as Tobias then maybe this weekend won’t be so bad after all.’ She grins, but then her face turns more thoughtful as she looks out of the window.
‘What is it?’
‘You’re still sure we can trust him on this?’ Her deep brown eyes turn to bore into mine.
‘Yes, I’m sure,’ I say, a little bit annoyed that this is coming up again. I trust Tobias with my life. He was the one who rescued me from the cold. He’s the one who showed up every day to visit me in hospital. He’s the one who came up with the plan to get us all to Lake Baku. Just because he flipped out for a moment when I suggested his dad might be involved doesn’t matter. I have to trust him.
‘It’s just that . . . you know me. How I see things. Something doesn’t quite add up in how easily this plan has come together.’
Zora has a point. She does have one of the best analytical minds I know.
I shrug. ‘I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe everything is coming together for once. And really, what’s so out of the ordinary? I mean, all we’re doing as far as anyone else is concerned is joining Tobias and his team for a little vacation. His parents host a pre-Christmas party every year.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ she replies, looking doubtful.
The rest of the journey disappears in a flash; the once nightmarish Toronto traffic, eased by the introduction of driverless cars, gives way to long, empty country highways as we wind our way further north, deep into cottage country. We pass by signs for summer camps, partially obscured by ice. Everything is a winter wonderland – pine trees draped in snow as if they are wearing thick fur coats.
After a couple of hours, we take a small turn-off, so discreet that I never would have noticed it. There’s no signage of any kind.
I keep my eyes peeled for any hint of the high-tech ‘security’ that Tobias mentioned. I wish Jinx was in the car with us, but as we don’t know what security measures are in place, we decided it was too risky. How he’s travelling – or how he’s going to get past security – is beyond me. But I trust Jinx.
Then, there’s no more time for thinking. Zora and I both gasp at the same time.
The cottage comes into view – but ‘cottage’ hardly seems like an appropriate word to describe it. Mansion? But it’s not like the mansion that Tobias lives in on Companioneers Crescent. Whereas that is a traditional building, all columns and red brick and big bay windows, this is an opus of glass and wood. Somehow, it’s designed in a way to complement the scenery all around, the pine trees seemingly blending into the architecture, the wooden beams painted a warm grey to match the bedrock of the Canadian Shield. Multi-tiered decking (all cleared of the snow) wraps around the outside of the building, the banisters themselves then all wrapped with greenery and bri
ght red ribbons for the Christmas season.
‘That must be a nightmare to heat,’ is all that Zora mutters, but then she catches my eye and we burst into laughter. As we draw closer, we can see that the interior is filled with fairy lights and there’s a giant Christmas tree decorated in white and gold beside a huge stone fireplace, with a chimney of grey and white brick that stretches up two storeys. ‘Are we travelling to some sort of Christmas movie set?’ Zora asks.
I don’t know how to respond. I knew that Tobias’s family was wealthy – his dad is in the upper echelons of Moncha Corp, after all – but I had no idea that there was this much of a disparity between my family and his. I cringe as I wonder what he must think of my crummy condo building and the locker that I spend most of my time in. I mean, my locker is probably smaller than any of the bathrooms in this place. Once, I might have found that inspiring – look what I could achieve if I worked hard enough at Moncha! But now I’m wondering whether the ‘utopia’ that Monica provides at Monchaville is really everything I’ve grown up to think it is . . . or whether it’s just another way to placate us just enough so that we don’t question the disparity at work. Would the other perks of working for Moncha – the affordable housing, the community amenities, the super clean sidewalks and access to healthcare and good schools and plentiful food – would all that offset the lack of privacy and personal freedom?
And now I get to spend a few days with my boyfriend’s impossibly rich and talented parents, who may or may not be involved in Eric Smith’s sinister plans. Joy.
However, my eyes light up when I see Tobias standing at the top of the stairs, waiting for us in the warm glow of the front porch. The car pulls around the semi-circular driveway and I get out, waving. But the guy at the top of the stairs doesn’t wave back. And then my stomach drops. Now that we’re closer, I can see that it’s not Tobias at all. That becomes especially obvious when his baku slides out from behind him: a gorgeous black jaguar that looks as if it should belong on a security team – but it’s obviously his personal baku.
‘Oh my days. Lacey, is that Tobias’s brother?’
My cheeks redden with embarrassment as I realize that I was creeping on my boyfriend’s brother. But Nathan is undeniably attractive. I take my time getting out of the car, grabbing my backpack from the trunk with deliberate slowness. I pull my hat down low over my forehead, hoping it covers up the fact that I didn’t even brush my hair this morning – that’s how early we left. Also, the longer I take, the more I hope Nathan will just get bored and leave us to it.
No such luck. I glance up and I can see he’s still standing inside the doorway, staring down at us with a look of mild amusement. I curse under my breath, wondering where Tobias and the rest of the team are – to save us from Nathan’s scrutiny.
‘Slick,’ I say, quietly under my breath. ‘Send a message to Tobias that we’ve arrived.’
>>Right away.
Zora, by contrast, is totally star-struck. If she were an anime character, her eyes would be literally bulging from her head. I take the stairs slightly behind her. When we get to the top, though, Nathan addresses me first. ‘So, you’re the famous Lacey Chu,’ he says, stepping out ever-so-slightly so that he blocks the doorway. I wish Jinx were here to fire a little quip into my ear and relax me. I’ve only got Slick riding on my shoulder, and Linus is tucked into the hood of Zora’s jacket. Our bakus pale in comparison to his, and he knows it.
‘Hi,’ I say, barely choking out the word. Our breath streams out in front of us.
‘Well, come on in,’ he says, finally stepping aside – but not before giving me an up-and-down appraisal with his eyes. ‘It’s cold out there. You must be pumped to be here for the convention.’
‘Convention? I thought it was a pre-Christmas party?’ Zora asks him, her voice betraying the same curiosity (and alarm) that is running through my head. The annual Moncha convention is scheduled for December 27th, as it is every year.
‘Didn’t you hear on the news?’
‘We didn’t listen to any on the way up . . .’
‘Oh, and I suppose your bakus are too low level to be programmed to give you any breaking news updates.’
I frown. If it was news to do with Moncha Corp then I’ve definitely set Slick to notify me. He’s been silent the entire trip.
Nathan doesn’t seem to miss a trick, examining our faces with the continued expression of bemusement. He might look like Tobias from afar, with his close-cropped black hair and rich brown skin, the same tightly muscled body, but he lacks Tobias’s natural warmth and kindness. Nathan seems harder around the edges, his jawline sharper, his temperament more quick to laugh, maybe – but I sense that his jokes are on the cruel end of the spectrum. He looks like he not only doesn’t suffer fools gladly, but that he’ll gladly point out all that fool’s faults and not let him (or her) make up for it.
As someone who can sometimes be a fool, it sets me on edge. I instantly dislike him – and it’s not just because of the stories Tobias has told me. He seems to relish holding this news over us.
Somehow, Zora seems to be immune to this. Her eyes are still starry as she looks at him. ‘So what’s going on with the convention?’ she asks, pulling her hat off from her head now that we have moved inside the lobby and running her hands over her braids to smooth them out.
‘It’s been moved up. Now we’re going to hear all about the new development on Christmas Eve instead.’
My stomach drops.
‘So you’ll be here to watch it all,’ Nathan continues. ‘And not even from the sidelines. The biggest surprise is that Eric has decided to move the announcement here. You girls are going to be right in the heart of the action.’
‘Wow, cool,’ says Zora. But all I can think about is: what if he’s planning to announce the update roll-out at the convention?
Zora nudges me and I remember myself. Nathan doesn’t know the real reason we’re here. So it would be weird of me not to be excited about this too.
‘Oh, uh, that’s awesome,’ I say, scrambling to make up ground.
Nathan’s eyes bore into mine, but thankfully we’re saved by a familiar voice.
‘You’re here!’ squeals Ashley. I look up to see the whole team gathered at the railing of a mezzanine balcony above our heads. I grin widely at the sight of them.
Tobias is the first one down the stairs. He rushes over and pulls me into a big hug. ‘Sorry we weren’t here to meet you,’ he says, casting a sidelong glance over to his brother. ‘I set up an alert to notify me when you arrived.’
Even though he spoke in a low voice, so that only I could hear him, his brother picks up on it. ‘Oh yeah, about that. I thought you would be too busy showing your other friends around so I rerouted the alert to come to Shasta here.’
Tobias glares at his older brother, and I swallow hard. Even though what Nathan has mentioned sounds like such a small thing, it would actually be quite a big deal to hack into the notifications system and switch the permissions around. I’m torn between being impressed and weirded out. Why does he care so much about being first at the door to meet us?
‘Well, I’ll leave you kids to it,’ Nathan says. ‘Nice to meet you both.’ He winks at Zora (who turns into a puddle on the cottage lobby floor) then clicks his fingers at his baku, who turns around on a dime and follows her owner out of the door.
The tension in the air when Nathan is gone finally releases and it feels like the first time I’ve been able to breathe. I look at Tobias, and he can tell that I have a million questions.
‘Not here,’ he says, answering my first unasked question. ‘Follow me upstairs.’
Without any further delays, we head up to the mezzanine. After a quick round of hellos, it’s all action stations. Zora and I barely have time to gasp at the beautiful interior before we’re ushered into a room that seemingly has no windows at all. ‘This is our media room,’ says Tobias. Now it begins to make sense – there’s a row of comfy sofas and a large blank wall at one end �
�� probably the screen for a projector. ‘It’s totally soundproof and we can get alerts if anyone is approaching. There’s no way that we’ll be overheard in here.’
‘Okay, brilliant,’ I say. ‘So what’s this about the convention?’
‘I know,’ says Tobias. ‘To be honest, it’s thrown everything here into complete turmoil. You should have heard my mom. I almost never see her angry side but she was fuming last night. I thought she was going to make us cancel this whole bloody visit up here. Luckily I managed to convince her that maybe having a few extra hands wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world . . . so apologies in advance if you get roped in to some tasks that you weren’t expecting.’
‘I’ve already been made to cut more Christmas cookies than I ever thought I would in my life,’ moans Kai.
‘You shouldn’t have been so good at it, then!’ says Ashley, laughing.
‘It’s not my fault I have such delicate hands,’ he replies primly.
Sounds like they’ve all been having a good time – when what we really need to do is work out how we’re going to find Lake Baku.
‘Don’t worry,’ Tobias says, as if he’s reading my mind. ‘I have a plan.’
EVERYONE IN THE ROOM LEANS forward, sitting up straighter after lounging on the squishy couches, suddenly alert. This is what we’re all here for. River shifts so that Zora and I can sit down, and we form a semi-circle around Tobias.
Aero spreads his wings and the map shimmers into view. ‘This is where we are,’ says Tobias. We all lean forward. The cottage is perched right at the edge of a long, thin lake, labelled as Lake Washington.
River lets out a low whistle. ‘This is like billionaire cottage country,’ he mutters. He’s not far wrong either. All around the lake are cottages marked with the names of the richest people in the country. Monica Chan and Eric Smith both have cottages on the map.
Unleashed Page 12
