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"So I was up all night—Beth!" Talise cut herself upon noticing my presence at Rav's room's entrance. "Good morning! Sleep well?"

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I shot Camila an accusatory glare, ignoring the eyes of Talise, Dorian and Rav on me.

"I assumed you have your own alarm," she shrugged in response. "I wasn't going to ruin that."

   That still wasn't an excuse to let me sleep till almost nine am. When I realised I was the only one in bed when I awoke, to say I freaked out was an understatement. Everything I did afterwards to make myself presentable for the day was in an impulsive rush.

   And judging by the stares that hadn't faltered from where I was standing, it was an embarrassing open secret. 

   I blamed the creased overalls I made the dumb mistake of selecting as my outfit for the day.

"Here, Beth." Tali handed me the brown paper bag she'd fished out from her backpack. "I brought you doughnuts."

  She didn't have to tell me where she'd gotten them. The mouthwatering aroma that suddenly filled the room was a clear indication it was from 'Drinks and Reads' the coffee shop that formed the first half of the name, linked to Mr. Shin comic book store.

"Thank you," I mumbled as I took the bag, trying not to drool as the scent became stronger in my hands.

   I didn't think twice and dug in. Reality soon faded away as the sweet flavour of doughnut icing ravished my taste buds. I took my time with every bite, making sure I didn't miss the richness each delectable goodness had to offer.

  It was only when I raised my head to catch my breath that I noticed Dorian's eyes on me the whole time. It was impossible to figure out the expression he had on since his gaze instantly shifted when my eyes met his.

   What was a whole lot worse, however, was trying to understand the sudden thump felt around my chest area that seemed to travel to the pits of my belly in a heated hurry.

   Shit. I could only guess how long he'd been staring. Did he notice the one time I suffered trying lick off the syrup that dribbled down my chin?

"Before Beth walked in, I was about to announce some news." Talise looked up from her laptop on the desk in Rav's room. "All the hours that were spent without any sleep, excessive coffee breaks and occasional nervous breakdowns last night and this morning didn't go to waste. At almost exactly three am today, Zavlon Academia's system was infiltrated by your favourite genius! The system clicked on the malware link to evaluate the profile, granting me access to the deepest darkest corners of Zavlon Academia's system."

    Rav gave a resounding cheer and claps that the rest of us followed up with applauses of our own.

   Was I proud? Hell yes! I knew Talise could do it. Not to brag or take credit or anything, but everyone in this room could attest to the fact that I was the one who thought to include her in all this.

"Don't go crazy yet though," she yelled over the noise. "Our main focus is the algorithm."

"But you just said you have control of Zavlon's system," Dorian remarked.

"No, I said I infiltrated the system. That means access. And just because I have access to the system doesn't give me control of the algorithm. The only way I can exercise control over the algorithm is when it begins the selection. If I were to try to do so now, suspicions could be raised as to why there is activity with the algorithm but if it is during the selection of visitors, any foreign activity would be barely noticed. Worst case scenario, the Yunies detecting anything unusual will instantly lead them to think the algorithm is glitching. It's pretty old, after all."

"But then we never told you when exactly the algorithm makes the selection," Dorian said. "We couldn't even if we wanted to. No one knows."

"You just took the words out of my mouth." Tali nodded with a wry smile. "Ladies and gentlemen, the problem."

   She went on further to explain how she'd been glued to her computer all night, waiting for the algorithm to make its move. Any second could be the time the algorithm got to work.

    If Talise wanted to be able to control it at the exact moment it began the selection of people for Visitation Day, she had to monitor it at all times.

   Every single second of the day.

"Tali," Even as I called her name, she didn't seem to hear me. Her gaze was an unrelenting fix on her laptop's screen. "You can't do this all day. We'll help you. We can each take turns so that you don't have to ruin your eyes. Let's start right now."

"I'll go first!" Rav was at Tali's side. She didn't move though.

"Actually," Camila quipped. "I was thinking we could use today to discuss the plan for Talise's visitation to Zavlon. If we want everything to go well, we can't risk overlooking anything."

"Yeah about that," Dorian said. "I realised we never figured out how exactly Talise is going to get the cameras into the Zavlon. We can't just pile them up in her backpack and hope for the best."

"You're right," I avoided looking him in the eye as I spoke. Just like I'd been trying to do since I walked into Rav's room. The memory of our fight yesterday was still fresh in my mind. And so was my rage.
"When my mum and I went there for the first time, we were searched. All the visitors were. There was no bag left untouched. Metal detectors were also used on them and our bodies."

"And that was then." Dorian reminded Cami and me. "The Yunies are going to be a thousand times more careful now."

   But what can be done on our end? I read on one of the camera's boxes that the internal wiring was dominated by copper. The plastic exterior isn't going to change a thing.

"The magnetic field from the copper wires in the cameras are going to be impossible to hide from the metal detectors." I sighed after telling them my previous observation.

"There has to be something we can do." Camila shook her head. "How can we make a metal like copper undetectable? Those metal machines usually go crazy for metals like that."

"Metals like that," Dorian repeated Camila's last words like they were a foreign language. His thick eyebrows pinched together as he bore a pensive expression.

   Camila and I suddenly felt out of place when Dorian said nothing more. His features seemed to reveal someone who was lost in deep thought. It felt wrong even move at this—

"I've got it!" The snap that accompanied Dorian's words startled me into a flinch. "If we were to shield the cameras with similar metals, the metal detector would still be able to recognize the copper, but it would be fooled into thinking it's perceiving the other metals we'll surround the copper with and make more obvious."

"So instead of undetectable, we create a diversion," I smiled, my face feeling some degrees warmer when he returned one my way.

   Memories of my conversation with Camila about him flashed through my mind with full force.

   Then I frowned. What was I doing?

   How could my treacherous brain forget our whole Destiny Omaha exchange already? And the fact that it wasn't just the Virtual Dance he was lying about now. After denying what had occurred with him holding the camera on the roof, I should be expecting a whole list of lies from Dorian Mathers at this point.

   I wasn't supposed to be talking to him.

   And the fact that the idea he'd just come up with was pure genius made him even more infuriating.

   Why did he even smile back at me?

   Two faced jerk.

"That's a great idea, Dorian," Camila said. "So how are we going to make this diversion a reality?"

"I'm not sure yet." His teeth caught his bottom lip for some seconds before he set it free to speak, "The metals have to be used in a way that wouldn't be looked at twice. They should instantly fit in with whatever the other visitors may have."

  As small as the cameras were, finding a safe place to hide them was proving to be a pain. Every idea that my mind geared towards quickly ranged from 'wouldn't work' to 'you need help, you sick, sick, child'. I didn't blame my afterthought for yelling the latter range though.

   Especially when it did so right after I considered Talise sneaking the cameras into Zavlon, the classic prison style, if you know what I mean.

   Yeah...I was a terrible best friend in need of serious help.

  But then the final thought arose was my saving grace, an indication that perhaps I didn't have to worry about becoming Joker-like insane.

  Not yet, anyway.

"Okay, hear me out," I told them. "I'm not sure whether what I'm thinking is insensitive or not, but I want to make it clear that that is not my intention in the least. I do not wish to offe—"

"Oh my God, just say it!" Cami snapped.

   Okay, geez.

   I cleared my throat, "We could pretend Tali suffered from an acute injury which requires a leg brace. Then we'll place the cameras in certain areas of the brace we may find or even create. The brace will be the metal kind so that when the metal detector indicates anything, the first thought will go to Tali's leg."

"That's an amazing idea!" Camila exclaimed just as Dorian whispered the word "Genius" more to himself than me.

  Still, as I shrugged in reply, it was a struggle trying to ward off the chest-tightening sensation that unleashed itself at Dorian's compliment.

  I glanced toward Camila to notice she was typing away on her phone. After asking her what she was up to, she explained how she was looking up the prices of leg braces online in a matter-of-fact tone.

   It took a while for what she was looking up to load since the Wi-Fi at the motel wasn't so great and highly unpredictable, but the unnatural wideness that suddenly overtook her eyes was a giveaway the Wi-Fi had pulled through.

  But now, I was afraid to ask.

  Thankfully, Dorian, who seemed hesitant like me, did anyway. "So how much does a leg brace cost?"

"The websites I'm seeing here make them come in pairs. And they have a thirty to seventy range," she swallowed.

"I don't think our finances can cover that," I raised shocked eyebrows.

   Since I was the main source of our finances, I was our finances. And as much as it hated to, our finances was too broke to not disappoint.

"Then it's a good thing you cleared that up before I finished," Camila shoved her phone in her pocket. "Because it was thirty to seventy—"

"Yeah, you said that already." I mumbled. My ears couldn't handle the same torture twice.

"— thousand," Camila continued as if in a trance. "The prices ranged from thirty to seventy thousand."

   Shit.

   Dorian's face revealed he was thinking the same thing. Okay, so maybe this genius (not my words, remember?) had to come up with a new idea.

   Unless we were willing to sell our bodies on Druglane Avenue for two weeks straight, we needed a new idea that didn't involve pimping ourselves out to support it.

   Or did we? Did we real—

   Okay, fine, we did.

"Cami," I held out my hand. "Let me take a look at those leg braces."

A/N: Ohh... what do you think Beth has in mind?

QOTD: How are every one of my amazing readers doing🙂✨❤️?