Chapter 10 · Your Debt Collector Is Coming Upstairs

The lights go out. Not flickering. Not dimming. Just gone.

I feel the power drain like someone pulled a plug straight out of my chest. The employee lounge goes black. Ivy's breathing hitches. I can still sense her through the floor sensors, heart hammering, hand clamped around that hunter badge.

"Noah."

Her voice is steady. Too steady. The kind of calm people use when they're about to bolt or fight.

"I'm here." My voice crackles through the nearest speaker, barely audible. The interference is back. Worse than before. "Don't move. Something's in the west hall."

"No shit." She's already moving. I feel her boots shift, weight redistributing. Combat stance. "Who was that? The voice on the speaker."

"I don't know." And I don't. That wasn't me. Wasn't my system. Someone else is in my network, and I can't see where.

I push a trickle of power into the emergency lights. They flicker once, twice, then die. Whatever's draining me, it's fast.

Ivy swears under her breath. I hear the rasp of steel. She's got her blade out.

"Can you see anything?" she asks.

"Barely." I'm running on fumes.