Chapter 25 · Don't Touch Her

"Don't touch her."

My voice came out wrong. Two voices at once. Mine and something else underneath it, all static and metal.

Rook flinched. Actually flinched.

Old Smokes had his hand on her shoulder, pulling her back from me. His other hand was already up, palm out like I was a rabid dog.

"Kade!" Rook snapped. "Hey! Look at me, not at him!"

I was on my knees on the clinic floor. Couldn't get up. My left eye was on fire, chrome bleeding across the white. I could see it reflecting in the steel tray next to me. Solid silver. No pupil. No human left in it.

"I said don't touch her," I said again. My throat clicked. "Get your hand off her."

"Kid, you need to breathe," Old Smokes said. His voice was low, careful. Like he was talking to a bomb. "You just spiked. Your nervous system is lit up like a Christmas tree. You touch anybody right now and you'll cook them."

"I'm not gonna hurt her," I said.

"You don't know that," Rook said.

That hit harder than the chrome.

She was two feet away.