Chapter 16 · Use the Key

The key weighs nothing. That's the worst part.

It's a black crystal shard, about the size of my thumb, and it's warm. Nyx is in there. All of him. His voice, his smirk, the way he pulled me behind him when the Hollow Warden spawned adds. The way he didn't reset.

Echo's standing three feet away, arms crossed. She looks bored. "Any day now."

"Shut up."

"You wanted out. I'm giving you out." She gestures at the air and a terminal screen materializes. Pure white UI, no game skin. Just raw system access. "Plug him in. Read the terms. Hit the button. You go home."

Home.

I don't even know what that word means anymore.

My apartment had a cactus. I'm pretty sure it had a cactus. Or maybe that was someone else's apartment. The loops have been chewing through my memory for weeks now—or months, I don't know. Time's broken here. Nyx kept all my saves but I'm losing the stuff outside. My mom's voice. My favorite coffee shop. Whether I had a cat.

I tighten my fingers around the key.

"Vera." Echo's voice sharpens. "I don't have all day. The system's unstable.