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They gathered around the dining table. Otis and Sally gave each other an uncomfortable, sideways look, and Mary realized that they already knew what the topic of this family meeting was going to be.

Mary and Ryan had decided that they needed not only to talk about the photo, but to talk about everything that had been happening. All of it, from the very start.

‘So,’ Mary said. ‘I’m guessing you saw the photo? First things first – it isn’t me.’

‘I know that, Mom,’ Otis said, in a quiet uncertain voice. ‘And I’ve told my friends. It’s just some AI bullshit.’

‘But how did it get posted?’ Sally said. ‘Someone must have done it. Who would do that?’

‘We don’t know,’ Ryan said. ‘Or why.’

‘It’s weird,’ Otis said. He looked distant, as though in shock. Mary knew how embarrassing this must be for him.

‘There’s more to this,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, but there is.’

Otis frowned, a look of alarm crossing his face. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Someone has been’ – she paused, searching for the right words, if there were any – ‘playing games on me.’

‘What kind of games?’ Sally said.

‘Someone has been leaving notes for me to find,’ Mary said.

‘Leaving notes?’ Otis said. ‘What kind of notes?’

‘Someone posted a note on a post downtown,’ Mary said. ‘It said something like I’m watching you and now you belong to me.’

‘Oh my God,’ Sally said. ‘That’s really creepy.’

‘I know,’ Mary said. ‘At first I thought it was some kind of stupid prank, but then I received some further notes. One was in my car after your game, Otis. Others have been at the house.’

‘At our house?’ Otis’s face creased in alarm. ‘What else did they say?’

‘The same kind of thing,’ Mary said. ‘Stuff about me. Personal stuff, that not many people know.’

‘Who’s doing it?’ Sally said.

‘We don’t know,’ Ryan said. ‘But we’re going to find out. We’ve talked to the police – in fact Gray Turner’s coming over shortly – and they’re going to help us get to the bottom of this. Initially, when this was just some notes, there was not a lot they could do. But now this post has gone up they will probably be able to find out who put it there, and then we can bring this whole thing to an end.’

‘We don’t want you to worry,’ Mary said. ‘But we need you to know this has been going on.’

‘Not worry?’ Sally said. ‘How can I not worry?’

‘You’re going to be OK,’ Mary said. ‘We’re all going to be OK.’

Mary was relieved to see the worried looks on her children’s faces ease, a little. Evidently they believed what she had said.

She just wished that she believed it, too.

Is This Illegal?

Gray Turner sat in an armchair, opposite them. He held the notes in one hand, and Ryan’s phone in the other. Liz Sandiman had taken the post down, but before she did Ryan had taken screenshots.

‘Is this illegal?’ Ryan said.

‘Yes,’ Gray said. ‘All this AI stuff is a bit of a grey area, but something like this would certainly be a problem. I doubt the perpetrator would face very stiff consequences, but there would be something we could do.’

‘And the note?’ Ryan said.