فصل 16

Chapter 16: Uploading Grace

Ian watched the guards until they left Mitchell’s street and started on the next. A few minutes later Jack and the rest walked back into the pool house. Jack had his arm around Mitchell, who was beaming like a conquering hero.

“How’d I do?” Mitchell asked.

“You should win an Academy Award for that performance,” Taylor said. “So who was the girl calling for ‘Mitchie’?” “That was me,” Jack said.

“Told you,” Zeus said to Abigail.

Jack scowled at him.

“Okay,” Abigail said. “Can we go to bed now? I’m exhausted.” “Me too,” McKenna said.

I looked at Taylor. She grinned. “Me three.” “Someone’s got to stand watch.” I looked around the group. “Anyone not tired?” No one said anything. Finally, Jack looked at Zeus. “If no one else is going to man up, I’ll do it.” “I’ll do it,” Ostin said.

I looked at him in surprise. Ostin was one of those guys who always went to bed at the same time and always before ten.

“Really?” I asked.

“If we can upload Grace, I’ll stay up and go through the files.” Grace had been so quiet I’d almost forgotten she was there. She took a deep breath. “Let’s get it over with.” * * *

While everyone else got ready for bed, Ostin, Grace, Taylor, Jack, and I followed Mitchell to his room on the second floor of the main house. Not surprisingly, his room was huge—larger than my room and my mother’s combined. It was also a mess, strewn with clothing, cracker boxes, and candy wrappers. The walls were covered with magazine pictures of cage fighters and Sports Illustrated swimsuit models.

There was a large, beige computer next to his desk with a huge monitor on the desktop. Ostin was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

“That’s a custom Alienware Aurora,” Ostin said. “Maybe the best gaming computer ever built. It looks brand-new. Have you even used it?” Mitchell shook his head. “Nah. My dad bought it for my birthday. I’m not really into computers that much.” “He means he doesn’t know how to turn it on,” Jack said.

“Neither do you,” Mitchell said.

“I would kill for one of these,” Ostin said, sitting down at the keyboard. He fired it up and the screen’s glow lit his face. “Let’s go, Grace.” “You’re not going to break it, are you?” Mitchell asked.

“Would you even know if we did?” Ostin said.

Mitchell just looked at him.

Ostin rolled his eyes. “No, we’re not going to break it.” Grace sat down in a chair next to the computer. She took a deep breath, put her hands on top of the CPU, then closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Files began filling the computer as sweat beaded on her forehead. Just a minute into the upload she began to shake and her eyes rolled back into her head like before.

“That’s creepy,” Mitchell said.

“No it’s not,” Taylor said indignantly.

“Shh,” Ostin said. “You’re slowing her down.” It took nearly five minutes for Grace to upload everything. When she was done she fell forward onto her knees, panting heavily like an athlete just completing a sprint.

Taylor put her hand on Grace’s shoulder and knelt down next to her. “Good job.” Ostin just stared at the screen. “Mitchell, do you have a pen and paper?” “We’ve got some downstairs.”

“I’m going to need a whole pad. Actually a couple. Is there paper in your printer?” “What printer?”

“Just get the pen and paper, Einstein,” Jack said.

I checked the printer drawer. “Looks full.” Ostin continued examining the file names, shaking his head in wonderment. “That’s a lot of data. It’s going to take me all night. At least.” Mitchell returned. “Here’s your pen and paper,” he said, setting two yellow writing pads on the desk next to Ostin.

“You’re sure about this?” I asked. “I can stay up if you want.” “I’m good,” Ostin said. “Everyone can go to bed.” “This is my bed,” Mitchell said.

“Not tonight it’s not,” Jack said. “Ostin’s got work to do.” “A few terabytes’ worth.” Ostin said this more to himself than us, and I could tell that he’d already started to slip off into his own world. I don’t think he even noticed when we left.