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microphone and began to ask questions.
    â€˜You’ve made quite an impact on the Pink Shadows since you joined the band earlier this year,’ started the interviewer. ‘How are you settling in?’
    â€˜I’m like totally having a blast,’ replied Shady Lady.
    â€˜Your song lyrics are wild, Shady, so imaginative, they’re almost like a secret code. Where do you get your inspiration from?’ she asked.
    â€˜Well, you know, it’s like, I just kind of feel it, and it comes together out of the shadows and into my head, into my music.’
    â€˜Okay,’ said the interviewer, looking a little confused. ‘Your live shows are amazing. How does it feel to be on stage?’
    â€˜I love performing, it’s so totally my life, youknow,’ said Shady Lady. ‘I can, like, connect with my Shadow peeps, take my message to them.’
    â€˜Is there any truth to the rumours that the other band members feel you are taking over, sending a different message than the one they want?’
    EJ noticed that Shady Lady suddenly looked less relaxed, even a bit scary. The singer sat up in her chair and her eyes narrowed.
    â€˜No,’ she said sharply, glaring at the interviewer, ‘next question.’
    â€˜And what can the fans expect from the Decoder Tour?’ asked the interviewer, a little nervously.
    Shady Lady lounged back on the chair, at ease again. ‘It’s, like, our best yet. It’s like totally sick. Everyone will be racing to upload our songs. And for our last song at our last gig, we’ll play a brand new, never before heard re-mix of “Rock ’n’ Shine”. I guarantee you,’ said Shady Lady turning to face the camera with a not completely friendly gleam in her eye, ‘it will be chaos!’
    â€˜Thanks Shady Lady, I think,’ said the interviewer, turning to face the camera. ‘Now let’s take a lookat the Pink Shadows, live in concert at one of their earlier shows.’
    EJ watched, entranced. The concert was amazing, especially Shady Lady who danced and leapt all over the stage, dazzling the audience. She even sang one song hanging upside down from a trapeze.
    Shady Lady certainly doesn’t have a problem with stage fright, thought EJ as her mind wandered back to her own band and the We’ve Got Talent competition. Thinking about it again made her feel nervous, nervous about performing, nervous about letting her friends down. Her friends, that reminded EJ, she needed to upload her mission BESTie.
    SHINE understood that no agent could do everything by herself and that everyone needed help—with knowledge, guidance or sometimes just moral support. BEST stood for Brains, Expertise, Support, Tips and every agent had a network of people she could call on to help her. The BESTies, as they were known, were screened by SHINE HQ and cleared to help the agent on missions. Sometimes they helped with codes,sometimes they had expert information but more often they were there to support the agent when the mission got tough. The BESTies could ask no questions and an agent could never discuss her work with them when a mission was over. And there was another rule—an agent could only choose one BESTie for each mission.
    Who will be able to help me on this mission? wondered EJ, twisting her bracelet absent-mindedly. She flicked through her contacts, Elle, Hannah, Isi, Mum ... EJ thought back to when she and Elle were singing and dancing at her house. All of EJ’s BESTies were great to have as back-up, but they each had different things they were good at. EJ tried to think who would be the best BESTie for this mission? There seemed to be a lot about music in this mission and that made EJ think Elle could be a good choice. Elle knew all the words, all the dance moves, everything about the Pink Shadows—and she always got EJ up and dancing, made her feel good. EJ uploaded Elle, who would now be sent a text message