Chapter 15 · Iron Arena - Chapter 15: Forty-Seven Seconds Gone

Ivy's clinic smells like burnt plastic and old coffee. The kind of smell that sticks to your clothes for days. I'm standing in the doorway watching Lila sit in the scanner chair, and I can't make myself go in.

She signed the contract yesterday. Right in front of me. Didn't even read the whole thing.

"You coming in or what?" Ivy doesn't look up from her screen. She's got Lila's neural map pulled up, all those bright lines running through her brain like highways. "Door's letting the cold out."

I step inside. Close the door. Lila's staring at the wall, jaw tight. She hasn't said a word to me since we left Victor's office.

"How long?" I ask.

Ivy taps something. The screen flickers. "Scan takes ten minutes. Results take however long it takes."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant." She finally looks at me. Her face is all hard lines. "You want me to tell you how long she's got before she ends up like you."

Lila's head turns. Fast. "Like him how?"

Ivy and I both freeze. I should've known Lila would hear that. She hears everything.

"Nothing," I say. "She's just—