“Warn everyone you care about not to reply to the message,” Ashton ordered, “I don’t know how far it has spread, but unrelated parties have already been confirmed to have received it.”

  Summer immediately fumbled her phone out of her pocket and quickly swiped to her first contact. A text might not be noticed in time, so she called. With any luck that could interrupt any reply to that suspicious text.

  “Mom,” she broke in the moment the phone was answered, “Block that text right now! It’s dangerous!”

  “Text?” her mother asked back in confusion, “Summer, what is going on?”

  Summer opened her mouth to explain, then hesitated. She was under a confidentiality contract. How much was she allowed to tell her? The text may have shown up outside of work, but the information about the dangerous contracts was something she would never have known if she hadn’t gone on that mission. On the other hand, was she willing to put her family in danger by keeping secrets from them?

  “If you see any texts about contracts they could be very dangerous,” Summer warned. She could at least say that much, right? “Please warn everyone you can.”

  “Is it that widespread?” Mrs. Aster asked with concern, “Very well. Call your father and I will handle the rest. I am sure news will be released shortly with an explanation if this is as far spread as you say.”

  “Thank you,” Summer told her, feeling an immediate relief. Her mother always knew just what to say. She didn’t have to worry about spilling too much information because it would all be explained soon. There would be no covering up something of this scale. Well, they might disguise it as some form of scam.

  As she was wrapping up her conversation with her mother, Ashton suddenly excused himself and rushed off somewhere. Was he going to personally warn someone? Did he even have anyone to warn? Summer felt a chill as soon as the thought formed. What a horrible thing to think! Of course Ashton had someone to warn. Even if he didn’t have family, he must have made some friends during his time at SI and Gale Research.

  To shake off any more dark thoughts, Summer quickly called her father and filled him in on the situation. Once that was done, she texted a few aquaintances she would rather not see become mindless contract zombies. Couldn’t that stupid text have waited until their picnic was over? Well, it was mostly over, but she still had to help clean up, divvy the leftovers, and do something with Ashton’s fitted sheet. Since Ashton was no longer there, she might just take everything to her place for now.

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  Kayla and the twins helped with the cleanup, but there was no sign of the relaxed mood from earlier. None of them spoke except when necessary to organize things, and Summer ended up with the majority of the leftovers since she had been the one who paid for the shopping trip. Maybe it was because things felt so much more real now, she couldn’t recall ever having mood swings like this from villain attacks in the past. It probably helped that her assigned villain had always been Shadow Phoenix.

  Later that night a public safety announcement was made warning people about the mass messaging scam. The scam was warned to be incredibly dangerous, and anyone who could should avoid opening any messages involving contracts or other such deals. Anyone who had answered the text was advised to seek help from the local authorities. Even with all of that, there was no information on what actually happened if you did answer it. Maybe even the government didn’t know yet.

  Ashton did not return until after that announcement was made, and he looked exhausted. Whatever he had been up to, it had been more than just warning a friend. They must have dragged him into the heart of the issue using his past as Shadow Phoenix against him again. Summer finally remembered the strange metal box. Had they finished examining it? If they didn’t, they might put it on the backburner during this emergency.

  “I saved some leftovers for you, and I have that sheet,” Summer greeted, stopping herself from asking all of the questions she really wanted to ask.

  “Thanks,” Ashton replied, “Is it alright if I pick them up tomorrow? We should all get some sleep.”

  “Of course,” she replied, trying to calm her nerves about the obvious insinuation of what tomorrow might bring. Whatever it was, she doubted it would be good news. “You make sure to get plenty of rest as well.”

  Ashton nodded before he disappeared into his apartment. It felt so lonely being left out like this, even though she knew he was sure to explain everything in the morning. It was no surprise that Summer had a difficult time going to sleep that night. Just when she was almost there, she received another message. She opened her notifications, bracing for a threat or more bad news. What she saw hit her harder than she expected.

  The text was from her father. “Aunt May’s family has fallen victim to the scam. Your youngest cousin replied to the message before the public safety announcement came out. They have not returned from the police station yet. Last I heard, the wait was long.”

  Realistically, Summer had known a mass messaging scheme like this would have plenty of victims, but to have one so close was still a shock. In a normal situation, no child would be able to sign a contract, but plenty must have fallen for this, just like her cousin. How far was Maskz willing to go? Was this really a part of the world he dreamed of?

  The next morning, Summer dragged herself out of bed. If she got any sleep it was in fits and spurts between her spiraling thoughts. She remembered a few nightmares of children becoming puppets, and Ned appearing behind and whispering evil orders in their ears. No matter how terrified she became, Summer resolved once again that she could not surrender until MysteriousMaskz was taken down for good.