"I'm sorry you boys missed the BrainTech Hack kickoff," Headmaster Hayes says from the front of the car. Add chauffeur to his list of titles.
"It's ok," I reply. "That's like saying we missed seeing the paint dry."
G and Hayes both laugh at my comment, G much more so because he's an Explorer and knows what I mean. Hacking is an exercise of patience and skill, mixed in with a little luck—which is why the hack teams have a month to penetrate as deep as they can into the BrainTech network. And that's if they can even get in.
"I'm just glad to be out of the hospital," G says. He adjusts his splinted arm in the sling around his shoulder and grimaces.
"Me too," I add. But I swallow the words that really want to come out. Questions about Preston. So many questions. Most importantly about why Gwen's version of the story is so crazy in comparison to what G told me.
I can't stop fidgeting in my seat, shifting every few seconds.
"What," G asks.
"Hmm?"
"You've been acting weird all morning."
"Oh...yeah, I guess—just nervous to be back."
I scrunch the fabric of the seatbelt in my hand, frustrated. How do I bring up a dead roommate? After failling to speak my mind several more times, I take a deep sigh and finally whisper to little G, "Hey...um, I've been meaning to ask...um, what happened to Preston?"
His eyes go all shifty on me and flit between mine and the rearview mirror before he says, "What? Why are you asking—I already told you."
"I know," I reply. "It's just that you never said how he fell."
G leans closer. "Merlin," he says in a hushed voice, "where is this coming from? It was an accident. End of story." He looks at Headmaster Hayes again and then back at me. "Just leave it alone."
"But I—"
"Stop!" G almost yells.
"Everything ok back there?" Headmaster Hayes asks.
"Fine," G says. But the way he says fine sounds like a different kind of four-letter word.
* * *
"As you know, there are five phases to hacking," Kaz says, pulling on the draw strings to his white hoodie. He's a recent MIT grad from Ukraine who has our undivided attention. He was the first PC to successfully hack BrainTech—and that was before the BrainTech Hack event was a thing.
He points to the media screen behind him that shows the five stages.
1. Reconnaissance
2. Scanning
3. Access Point
4. Probing
5. Cover tracks
"A good hack," he says, pushing his black rimmed glasses against his nose, "is like a perfectly executed military operation. Your target should never know you're there until it's too late. And in the best of hacks they never figure out who was there."
The statement makes me look at G. He sits extra quiet at his desk, holding his splinted arm. And his face is drawn down, dark and gloomy. Cover tracks? I can't help but wonder what else he is hiding. He told me about his real name and his hacking skills, things no one else knows. But I guess that's what best friends do...which is why I'm so confused. G isn't talking to me, not since I asked him about Preston.
YOU ARE READING
Merlin's Curse
Science Fiction[8X FEATURED] Merlin is the greatest-eleven-year-old nerd the world doesn't know because his name has cursed him--he's all parts nerd and zero parts magic and all he wants is to be cool. When Merlin hacks a new encryption code designed to protect on...
