Happy Columbus Day, everyone! I know it's also Indigenous Peoples' Day, but I'm just going to refer to Columbus Day, 'cause that's how I know it. Either way, it's special.

So here you go! Enjoy!

"Jeez, Vinny Lee," DJ remarked as we headed up Orianna to Fairview, "you seem to attract a lot of bad attention."

I'd just told them the story of what had gone down last night – how Hardwell had given me the device, only for me to lose it to Hollins. (Imira assured me that it was not my fault. The creep would've found it one way or another – her words, not mine.)

"Why, that creep," Amos muttered. "Couldn't he just grab another one of those things? Rob another toy store?"

"I don't think he had the resources for it," DJ replied. "Probably it was easier for him just to retrieve the one Hardwell gave to Vinny Lee. And I think we can all guess where it's going."

"Back in Hardwell's car?" I asked. "Or in some other red vehicle?"

"Why do you say that?" Amos asked me. "I didn't think it was color coded."

"There's a modelo. I can tell, it's like –" We arrived at the school, and I pointed in front of me. "Like that."

As Tails had speculated yesterday, the Pride flag was back up. The muttering was worse than before. If they kept putting it up unchecked, someone was going to file a complaint, I knew it. There would be a worse kerfuffle than what happened with Camford. Mayor Thomsen… would have no choice but to act.

I smiled at the thought, even if I didn't like what I was seeing.

The school was still organized – at least, as organized as you could get for even a normal Friday. But I remembered Madame Chabin's warning – He is working with things he should not. He will endanger lives if the youth are not there in two days' time. Which meant mañana he had something planned. Something to do with the doohickey he'd stolen from me.

"What was that thing, anyway?" Imira asked as we headed up to history class. "Of course he got the device, so we can't answer that –"

"He got it, sí. But there's one thing he didn't get." I yanked my history notebook out of my tote.

"Seriously, why would he go after your history notes? It's not like he's flunking that class. He's a teach–"

I yanked the notebook open to my sketch of the device, complete with Tails' annotations. "¿Qué fue eso?"

Imira paused. "Oh. You scrawled it in the margins? Dang, girl!"

"Talk about hiding stuff in your school books," Amos muttered. "Like a little erotic fantasy – Ow!"

Imira punched him. "Thanks for the commentary, Darvosky. I dunno why Mitchie boy didn't take it, though."

"It was in my tote. I figured it was safe because it was the last place he'd think to look."

"Doesn't sound like he's trying too hard to cover his tracks, either," DJ commented.

We decided to table the discussion until lunch, as the first class was history, and I didn't want to miss it. Luckily, I'd finished touching up my Egypt essay just before dinner and Hollins' attack/visit. I'd come up with Ramesses, as 80 percent of the class had. I was just thankful it was a personal opinion assignment. I was pretty sure someone like Ellie would have struggled with something like that. She is very one-opinion.

I bring this up because Ellie bumped into me during study hall.

She was quite a bit taller than me, with a black t-shirt, black pants and black heels which gave her a disturbing resemblance to a vampire. An Indian vampire. That effect was ruined, however, by the pink headband she wore in her dark hair – a suggestion from Carmel Beaumonchais, the group's fashion lover and unofficial leader.

"Hey, are you Vinny Lee?" she asked me.

"Uh, sí," I replied. "Why? Have you heard something?"

Ellie glanced over to make sure no one else was listening in. I was pretty sure Hollins hadn't put a bug on me, and even if he had, I was wearing different attire to school, as I'd stayed female in the morning. But I supposed other people might hear her spreading chismes. Then she said, "Phillips' car nearly took off on him."

"¿Qué?" Now the modelo fell into place. Phillips was one of the few people who owned an orange Subaru. (Tails had looked it up once, and I'd seen it around Fairview often enough.) If Phillips had his car go out of control…

"No kidding. It took off yesterday. I looked when I arrived – it was already parked – and I saw something out of place. Some sort of antenna? But who puts it on a steering – what?"

It hardly surprised me that she'd peeked into Phillips' car. Miss Asura was a natural snoop, with a real habit of sticking her nose where she shouldn't. Kinda like my dear friend Miriam.

She'd simply reminded me of something. The antenna! I yanked out my history notebook and showed her the sketch.

"Did it look like that?" I asked her.

Ellie assessed the drawing. "Whoa. You know what, it kinda did. Why? Has this been happening elsewhere?"

Now it was my turn to look around and check the hall. I didn't know how many snoops Hollins might've planted in Fairview – or even if he had planted any – but I wasn't taking any chances. "Have you heard of GABAFFS?"

"Hold on. That old group – you think they're responsible for all this?"

"Sources say sí – and they're very reliable. Pretty sure they've already upset some other vehicles –"

"Dang. Not just Phillips and Mrs. Beaumonchais?"

"Wait, who?" Carmel's mother was a pet groomer around where Fairview was based. I often saw her purple Princess Pet van outside Fairview when she was picking up Carmel – and it was pretty hard to mistake, as there weren't many purple vehicles out there. I'd heard talk that she'd painted it that way herself.

"Carmel's mom had her van go out of control. Would've been totaled, too, if some maniac walking his dog didn't stick it with a knife in the tire."

"Maniac?" It sounded like an avatar. They often were mistaken for maniacs, with their ADHD battle instincts and habit of carrying real weapons. Flattening a tire to stop an out-of-control vehicle seemed like a very avatar thing to do. And one avatar in particular…

"German shepherd behind him. Eyes glowing. Didn't even tuck his shirt in all the way."

Nate. Definitely Nate. We were going to have a talk.

But I was more concerned about Mrs. Beaumonchais. I wasn't even sure she would have a van if this went on. Say what you will about Carmel or her crew, but I didn't think she deserved her mother losing her main source of income.

Besides, it all made perfect sense now – the date, the time, the method. Hollins had gone out of his way to cajole the device out of me, but when that didn't work, he didn't even try using weapons. He didn't want to risk damaging his device.

Something occurred to me – the geeks. They needed a way to prove that the resistance here was effective. They hadn't gotten that in the last two cities. And what was the most effective way of reaching them?

I was still puzzled over it when we hit lunch.

We'd gotten burgers as a repast to our old times in the summer. They were generally what we favored when it came to junk food. It fell within Amos and Imira's religious sanctions, and it just tasted good.

I explained what I'd heard from Ellie about Carmel's mom and Phillips, and my suspicions it was all connected to the protest, and the plans for GABAFFS to bring it all out tomorrow –

"Tomorrow?!" Amos yelled. "Are you kidding me? It'll be Shabbat!"

"I know, Amos," DJ said, "I don't like it either. But…" She turned to me. "Did you say he hijacked Phillips and Princess Pet, now?"

"What would he want to do with a pet groomer, anyway?" Imira muttered, taking a sip of OJ. "Or our principal? Why frame them?"

"It's not their occupation," I said, realizing just now what had unsettled Tails at the dinner table last night. "They're color coded for some reason. Hardwell has a red Tesla. Theo drives a taxi – they're amarillo, to get attention. Chabin's car is verde. Schultz has a blue car. And Phillips' orange Subaru – the purple Princess Pet van –"

"It's like the abomination outside." DJ bit her lip, probably keeping back a curse not appropriate for a school setting.

"You mean the Pride flag?" Amos looked even more shocked by this than that Hollins was planning this for his Shabbat. "But how would he… Oy. He's remote controlling them."

Well, that explained the antennas in the steering wheel. GABAFFS had really gotten smart, if they were hacking cars. But that brought up another question – remote control them to where?

Which was right when a buzz came from Amos's phone. "Oh, come on!" he muttered. "I'm in school, you know –" He paused.

"What now?" Imira asked. "A text from a new friend?"

"Hardwell," Amos replied. "The Pride flag on his lawn? He sent a picture."

He showed us. The rainbow flag wasn't nearly as large as the one outside. Almost as if…

"Fairview's the target," DJ muttered. She was definitely biting back a curse now. "Go big or go home."

What are they going to do about it? We'll see soon. Verse for the update: Isaiah 35:6.

Please review, no flames, and stay tuned for more.