Chapter 37 · The Ghost Inside

"Don’t touch the door. It isn’t a door. It’s bait."

Jax’s voice hit me from somewhere behind my skull.

I spun toward it and found a hand clamped around my wrist.

Not Jax’s hand. Mine.

It dragged me backward through a field of white noise. My boots scraped against nothing. There was no floor, no ceiling, no walls—just a flat, blinding void packed with broken images that flashed and vanished before I could grab them.

"Let go."

"I’m trying. You’re the one holding on."

I looked down. My fingers were locked around his wrist.

Jax stood three feet away, though his hand was still in mine. The glitch made his outline jump, pixel by pixel. One second he wore his black jacket. The next, he was barefoot in a white shirt stained with blood. Then he was back again, jaw tight, eyes fixed on me.

"You pulled me in here," I said.

"No. Your neural lock dragged us both in."

"Then fix it."

"That’s what I’m doing. Stop trying to stab the memories."

A blade appeared in my free hand.

I hadn’t felt it arrive. The handle fit my palm perfectly. My thumb found the safety groove.