Page 21 of Jinxed
The next face to flash up is captioned ‘Gemma’. In contrast to Tobias’s calm appearance, she looks fierce, her copper-bright hair tied back in a long plait, an impressive tiger baku pacing at her feet. The others are introduced: Dorian, Pearce and Elektra. All the seniors have thesame aura of barely contained excitement, a mix of confidence and aggression simmering under the surface.
Eric Smith speaks again. ‘Let me first say a special thanks to our team captains – for putting their bakus on the line for this demonstration. The outcomes here will have no bearing on the battles themselves – they will officially start at the end of this month, as per usual. But, as always,my advice is the same – battle to win.’
Tobias rolls his shoulders back, cricking his neck from side to side in an attempt to loosen up the tension. I feel tense as well, my knuckles white as I grip the bench by my side to lean forward and get as close to the action as possible. A Baku Battle. I never thought it would be possible. It shouldn’t be: bakus are programmed not to fight.
>>Look at his wing, Jinx says.And her paw.
I try to see what Jinx is referring to. And then I catch it: a little gold circle attached to all the bakus. Maybe that’s what overrides the code that prevents one baku from attacking another in the real world.
‘Players, play to win. You have thirty minutes. And so... begin.’
Dr Grant’s owl baku releases a piercing screech and the teams are off.
The preambleis so short – there’s no ready, steady, go. Tobias immediately makes a hit on Dorian’s snarling wolf baku, his eagle stretching his talons out, wings spread wide to keep him hovering – and to enable a quick getaway from the wolf’s surprisingly high jump.
The eagle makes short work of the wolf, one of his talons snaring a key wire from behind its neck and rendering it useless in less than thirtyseconds.
I clutch Jinx tightly to my chest. The bakus in front of my eyes are being torn apart, their wires shredded, bodies mangled by metal claws and teeth and talons. There are no yelps of pain but there are electronic whines and the agonized cries of the fighting students. When their baku is pronounced ‘dead’, the student’s face goes grey on the screen.
Within a matter of minutes, the onlyfaces that are illuminated are those of Gemma and Tobias. They look utterly serious now, all trace of previous bravado and play gone. All they can focus on is winning. The eagle flaps his wings, the tiger prowls on the arena floor, their eyes lifted and locked in each other’s gaze. There’s highwire excitement all around the gymnasium as we wait to see who is going to be the final winner. My heartis thumping inside my chest. If this is what it means to baku battle, I am equal parts thrilled and appalled.
The lights turn up, flooding the stage in a bright white glow, and I recoil, throwing my arm in front of my eyes. I’m not the only one. Almost everyone groans, so caught up in the action that the bright light is like being forced awake from a riveting dream. Tobias and Gemma freeze, theirbakus turning their attention to the centre of the room.This would be the moment to strike, I think.If someone wanted to win.
Tobias and Gemma have almost the exact same thought at the exact same time. There’s a flurry of movement on both sides, but a buzzer sounds – and a clock on the jumbotron reaches 0:00. I hadn’t even noticed the countdown, I’ve been so engrossed in the battle.
Eric Smith’svoice rings out above the thunderous applause. ‘Congratulations, Tobias Washington and Gemma Morris. You are the joint winners of this Baku Battle demonstration. You can stand down your bakus.’
There’s hesitation on both sides, but the gold tags drop off their bakus and so they have no choice but to retreat. My eyes leave Tobias and Gemma, however, and turn to the losing students, cradling themess of their ruined bakus. None of them – even the eagle and the tiger – has escaped totally unscathed. Everyone is going to need some sort of repair.
The floor closes back over the arena, and I blink – it’s hard to believe I’m not actually dreaming.
‘What do you think?’ asks Jake.
‘I think... I think that was the coolest thing I think I haveeverseen.’
‘Pretty awesome, right? But I couldnever be on a team,’ he says, running his hand over his dog baku’s back.
‘These are the Baku Battles,’ says Dr Grant, silencing us all once again with her voice. ‘Making it on to the team is a position of honour for any student – and first years... you’ll have your opportunity to prove yourself very shortly. But if you don’t make it on to a team, don’t worry. There will still be plenty tokeep you busy. The team captains will be watching you during your class orientations and making their selection by the end of the day. To end off orientation, I’d like to thank Eric Smith for visiting us and helping to usher in this new Profectus school year.’
‘It’s my pleasure. Good luck, everyone. I’m sure I’ll be seeing some of you before too long.’
I glance around at all the students andI can see how everyone is looking at the team captains. With admiration and respect. They’re really a part of something. And the determination I can see in Tobias and Gemma’s eyes is something that I recognize.
This could really be where I shine.
Life at Profectus is shaping up to be more exciting than I could have possibly imagined.
‘YOU SHOULD ALL HAVE YOUR CLASS schedules now. Older students, you may head off – but freshmen, would you please stay behind,’ says Dr Grant. The podium descends and all around me, students are standingand preparing to head off to their first classes of the day.
I look down at Jinx’s back and, sure enough, my schedule for the week is displayed. Next up is a class called ‘Gathering’ – and it’s repeated every morning for the rest of the week. That must be the Profectus-equivalent of ‘Homeroom’. Apart from that, I can see some of the standard classes I would have taken at St Agnes: Maths and English,French, Phys-Ed (ugh)... but also in the mix are somemuchmore interesting options: Coding, Design and the one I’ve been waiting for, Companioneering. We have fifteen minutes in each classroom today, meeting the teachers and finding out what’s expected of us.
‘Now you know what kind of gambling can go on at this school,’ says Jake.
‘You bet on the Baku Battles?’
‘You bet we do!’ Jake laughs.‘You going to try for a team?’
‘Do you think I should? It looks so exciting but...’ I cling tightly to Jinx. I can’t imagine wanting to see him torn apart after all the hard work I’ve done putting him back together.
