Page 57 of GlitchBorn Heart

Ash studies me like he can read every secret I’m trying to hide. “He thinks you’re not dead, Lyra. He told me you were in DreamNet together when the virus launched. He sent me to find you before it’s too late.” He looks at me from under the rim of the fedora. “Says he can just feel it somehow that you’re still alive.”

The words feel like chains. “So, what are you now? His messenger?”

His jaw tenses, raw emotion flickering in his eyes. “No.” His tone is soft, almost comforting. “He happens to give a damn if you’re alive or dead. He does have feelings, you know; he’s not a complete ass.” He steps even closer, the fedora shadowing his face but not hiding the protective look in his gaze. “We need to discuss this, figure out how to get you out of here.”

“I know why I’m here.” I stiffen. “The ‘complete ass’—Kael. He did this with that system of his. I was wrong about your corporate golden boy!”

The words taste like venom on my tongue; they fill my chest with a scorching, angry heat. His face runs in my mind, that quiet, controlled darkness, the way he looked at me in DreamNet as if he wanted to devour me. And now, it all clicks into place. The lab, the Corporation, his code that now cages me. He built this. The Anomaly Hunter, as the rebels call him. He planned this. Rage curls its fingers around me.

Ash shakes his head. “No, it’s not like that. Kael...”

CRACK!

A violent pop ripples through the night air. Gunfire bursts into deafening noise. Players spray bullets into the crowd, code unraveling into shards of light. One shot zips straight for Ash’s chest.

Without thinking, I move. This is my chance. I throw myself into its path, arms wide, leather jacket tearing as the impact slams through me. Fire, heat, light. My body crumples into code. “Lyra! No!” Ash grabs me in his arms.

For one brilliant second I think I’m free. This is the way out. This is how I wake up.

But then the world doesn’t turn to mist. It folds in, dark and cold. The gunfire silences, the jazz dies, and the stars disappear from the midnight sky. The city dissolves into a void of static and gray light.

And I’m still here. Still trapped. Now, just in the darkness again.

22

StaticBeneath

Playlist: Ghosted - Marcin Przybyłowicz, Wønder

Kael

A hot shower, a quick nap, and a glass of vintage whiskey. It’s all I let myself have before I return to VikkCorp. The lab is stone-cold quiet. Ember sits at her desk looking puzzled yet determined. She taps the side of her stylus annoyingly against the desk, a nervous rhythm that signals she’s deeply troubled by something.

Aren’t we all?

She called me at home to tell me strange things were popping up on the monitors all morning, systems stuttering, threads of code unraveling, whole programs vanishing like they’d been swallowed. I know it’s not random. She knows it too. Something was moving in the system, intentional, agitated. I second guess my decision to run the deletion protocols.

We’ve worked together a long time. Long enough for me to know she bites her lip when her self-confidence is lacking. “Dr. Ryudon, sorry to have bothered you again. Did you get some sleep?” She stands and brings over the LINKpad to show me some sort of digital log.

I haven’t seen these logs before. Evidently, while I was gone, she’s been tracking glitches, hiccups, anything strange happening in the system. Guilt is a powerful motivator.

“Yeah, still tired though.” I give her a half-smile.

“While you were out, there were some disturbances, anomaly flares, inside GameNet.” She sends the logs to the wall of monitors; her tired eyes lift to the data on display. “We also have some news from within GameNet. It’s running fine now, but you have to hear this.” Ember tilts her head in the direction of my office.

“We?” I turn my head awkwardly to look.

Ash comes barreling in like a walking violation of half the building’s security protocols, anxiety and energy bleeding off him. He looks completely out of place in the sterile glow of the lab. He’s a mess, bad decisions and danger barely contained. I glance over at Ember. Her face gives her away, attraction written all over it. She doesn’t just tolerate Ash’s chaos, she wants it.

“Kael, Bro, we need to talk about the game.” He’s wired, tattoos and eyes all aglow with ice blue.

“What game?” I snap, eyes locked on the feeds as the strange surge bounces back and forth, like a ball being thrown against a wall.

“Paris. GameNet. I was looking for Lyra’s signature vibration. I was in there, and...” He breaks off, and for a moment all I can hear is his rough breathing, like he doesn’t want to say whatever it is out loud. “She was there, Kael. Lyra. I found her! In GameNet!”

The surge spikes on the screen, almost in response, pink-and-gold static bleeding across the grid like a heartbeat.

My world stops.