Chapter 13 · The Blackglass Protocol

"Don't touch her."

The voice comes from the drone hovering three feet above Iris's body. Noah's voice, flat and mechanical through the speaker.

I've got my hand on her shoulder. She's cold. Too cold. The blue light under her skin pulses in time with the hum filling the twelfth floor.

"Step back, Cade. You don't understand what you're interrupting."

"Then explain it."

"No."

The drone shifts left. I count four more behind it, spread in a half-circle. Red targeting dots float across my chest. I don't move my hand.

"She's still breathing," I say. "That means I can still get her out."

"She's not leaving." Noah's voice drops lower. "Neither are you. Not until you see what she really is."

Iris's lips are parted. Her eyes are open but wrong—pupils blown wide, irises ringed with that same electric blue. The patch on her neck gleams like wet glass.

"What did you do to her?"

"I activated what was already there." A pause. "What she agreed to. What she built."

I slide my other hand under her neck, feel for the edge of the patch. It's warm. Slick. My fingers can't get under it.

"Cade." Noah's tone shifts. Almost gentle.