SPECTRE

8| ACCOUNT INSECURE

I narrowed my eyes at the screen. "There's something wrong with your computer," I said, as Isla came behind me.

She frowned and leaned down. "What?"

I pointed at the bar on the top right of the screen. "There's a little picture there, instead of the 'Government-Sanctioned Technological Device' badge and watermark. Wait, hold on. Let me zoom in."

I promptly erased the applications from the home screen and selected the object, then punched in a special algorithm I had figured out to turn a bitmap picture into a vector one for easy, high-definition zooming. The area was enlarged, and both of us reeled back in shock and fear.

It was a picture of a grey, graphic octopus, the symbol for OPTIS.

"No way," Isla breathed. "I thought — I thought they — "

"Evidently, they still care about you," I said stiffly. "Have you done anything illegal on this computer?"

She rubbed her chin, in deep thought, her coppery-red hair cascading down the side of her face. "Uh, a few hacks, but those were only to get extra tickets to funfairs and stuff. Nothing too drastic."

I suddenly noticed a faint, nearly unnoticeable blinking red light beside the camera pinhole, and nearly threw up.

"Isla...is there any way you've given out your identity and location on this computer?" I asked slowly, hoping with all my heart that it was a no.

She laughed. "Of course! I mean, I need to give out my info to get accounts on websites sometimes!"

Oh, no.

I hadn't even installed SPECTRE on this.

I could soon be exposed, and that could not happen, ever.

I stood up immediately and blocked the camera pinhole with a book, covering it with the pages. "Isla, we're being tracked."

Her eyes widened. "We're being what?"

I walked to the door. "Tracked! I'm sorry, I have to go now. You're probably safe if you claim you had no idea what relation I had to OPTIS, but I'm guessing they'll be here in an hour."

"But what does OPTIS want with you?" she cried desperately. "There's no way they would've waited and checked for you all this time!"

I turned around, my hand on the doorknob. "They have always wanted me."

"Why, though?" Isla yelled. "Why would they want anything to do with you?"

"One, according to them, I'm the best asset and hacker they have ever known. Two, I'm weirdly neurologically enhanced, not technologically enhanced, and they would like to use me as a lab rat. Three..." At this, I turned back around, facing the door.

"I'm the only one who had the information to stop them, once and for all."

Isla's voice, soft and pleading, begged one more time. "But I want you to stay."

"And I have to go, or I'll endanger you too much," I replied, and headed out the door. "You shouldn't go after me."

I ran up the steps to the rooftop, and stood there, surveying the sudden amount of red vans around the building.

Isla would be when I had gone.

Then, I took a running step towards the edge of the building, and jumped, firing my grappling hook, and swung up onto another building.

And I did it over and over again, to get away from Isla's house.

So that I wouldn't endanger any more people.

I closed my eyes as the memory flashed before my eyes.

"Querido niño, what are you doing? Are you lost?" A kindly man's face appeared before me, stopping me from grappling over another wall. "Come, I'll take you to my house. My wife would love to meet you."

I accepted gladly.

A few days later, OPTIS found me. They burned the place down to reach me.

Only I survived.

And to this day, I still can remember their broken corpses as the kind couple who had taken me in burned, hugging one another, one last time.

I started singing their favourite song, which had eventually become the prophecy of their doom.

"So one last time,
I need to be the one who take you home
One more time,
I promise, after that — "

"Nice singing, Spectra."

Isla???

I whipped around. "I thought I'd told you to stay at home!"

She shrugged. "Nah."

"You are so frustrating," I grumbled.

"One of my best points."

Suddenly, ten people landed on the rooftop, surrounding us in a circle.

Oh, great.

"Oh, and another of my best points?" Isla added, walking towards me.

No. It wasn't possible.

"I'm pretty good at acting."