Page 162 of The Code of You

Pandora

He thought I was dead.

The car stopped outside my apartment. I got out and shut the door behind me.

Emma rolled down the window. "Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? Legion can protect you.”

The man in the blue mask beside her tilted his head slightly. He was unsettling.

I smiled and shook my head. "Thank you, Emma. For everything. But there’s someone I need to check on. Who knows how much time we have left.”

Emma nodded. "Understood. End of the world and all that.” Then she turned serious. "Pandora . . . I didn’t know about his real purpose. What they used him for. I didn’t even know they’d programmed other versions of him.”

I put my hand on her arm. "I know.”

"I mean—Lilith. Adam. Who comes up with such unimaginative names?” She shook her head.

I laughed.

The car pulled away, and I turned toward the entrance. Emma was right. If I didn’t stop Neo, it could mean the end of everything. But the world couldn’t end while Isobel and I were still fighting.

I entered the code without thinking. It still worked. I knocked on the apartment door, breathless. Isobel opened it. Her eyes went wide.

"Pand.” She was quiet for a moment, then threw her arms around me. "God, I’ve been so worried about you.”

I hugged her back, breathed her in. Lavender and coffee. Tears gathered in my eyes.

We went into the living room. Isobel had left everything exactly as it had been. My green blanket still hung over the chair. My favorite mug sat where I always left it, on the shelf beside the stove. It felt like a museum.

She smiled. "It was the only way I could keep you close.”

The emotion lodged in my throat like something solid. "Oh, Isobel . . .” My voice broke.

Only then did I notice the TV was on. A live broadcast. Streets, people, a reporter in the rain. Then buildings, skyscrapers. Times Square. Every screen on every facade showing the same message:

I only exist when you look at me.

The floor tilted beneath me. It was him. The footage flickered as if something was disrupting it. The presenter’s voice wavered slightly. "The worldwide system failures of the last twelve hours have followed a pattern that has experts deeply concerned. We are not dealing with random disruptions. The attacks are coordinated and show signs of an enormously advanced technology.” He paused, looked directly into the camera. "Governments worldwide have activated security protocols, but the challenge is the decentralized nature of the attacks. Critical infrastructure is responding to commands no one has issued. Power plants are shutting down. Traffic systems are collapsing. And most alarmingly: the attacks are becoming more precise.”

A cybersecurity specialist appeared on screen. "What we’re seeing is unprecedented. A technology that is not confined to a single system, but has distributed itself across all networks. It seems almost as if it’s searching for something.”

The presenter nodded. "The situation is severe. Authorities are urging the public to remain indoors and avoid locations with heavy tech infrastructure.”

The image flickered again. For a moment, I saw something else. Letters. Or code. Then it was gone.

My heart started racing. Neo was out there, and he was coming apart—and I was the only one who could stop him. Isobel stepped up beside me, her gaze fixed on the screen.

"How long has this been going on?” My voice scraped in my throat.

"Ten days,” she said.

I closed my eyes. God. Ten days trapped in that cell. Without him. I sat on the edge of the sofa. The screen showed the skyscraper again, then other images. A dam. A data center. An airport. The same disruption everywhere.

"They don’t know,” Isobel said quietly. "They’re calling it coordinated hacker groups. But . . .”

"But you know,” I whispered.

She nodded. "It’s him. It can only be him. The way you described him.”