Chapter 24 · Spare Heart

Kade's hands close around her throat before she can breathe.

Mara doesn't think. She slams her palm into his wrist, trying to twist free, but his grip doesn't budge. His eyes are wrong. Flat. The green she knows is buried under something else, something that looks at her like she's a target grid.

Her mom's last words are still hanging in the air. Spare heart. The download finished thirty seconds ago. Now Kade's got her pinned against the server rack, and the edges of her vision are starting to gray out.

"Kade." Her voice comes out crushed. "It's me."

Nothing. His thumbs press harder. She can feel his pulse through his hands, slow and mechanical. The core in his chest isn't glowing red anymore. It's ice-white, the same color as the Oryx override frequency Juno warned her about two days ago.

She's such an idiot.

Mara stops fighting his hands and goes for his face instead. She digs her nails into his jaw, forcing his head down so he has to look at her. "Kade. You're in there. I know you are."

His expression doesn't change. But his fingers twitch.