Chapter 10 · The Memory Tax

The screen flashes red and I can't breathe.

Delete Vera.

Two words. That's all it takes. Someone on the outside just clicked a button and I'm supposed to stop existing.

"Nyx—"

She's already moving. Her hand closes around mine and the world fractures into black glass. We're falling—no, she's pulling me through something that feels like code and ice. My skin burns where she's touching me. The red warning bleeds across my vision and then we hit ground.

I'm on my knees in a place I don't recognize. Dark stone. No sky. Crystalline structures growing out of the floor like frozen data streams.

"Where—"

"Subzone cache." Nyx is crouched in front of me, golden eyes scanning my face like I'm about to vanish. "They can't target you here. Not directly."

My hands are shaking. "Someone just tried to delete me."

"Yes."

"From outside."

"Yes."

I want to scream. I want to laugh. I do neither because my chest is too tight and Nyx is still holding my wrist like she's afraid I'll dissipate if she lets go.

"Who?"

"I don't know." Her voice is flat. She's lying or she's scared. Maybe both. "The command came through admin access. Legacy override."