Chapter 9 · Level One Pain

"Don't touch that door." Cael caught my wrist before my hand reached the access panel.

His grip locked around me. Not hard enough to break anything. Hard enough to remind me he could.

The panel flashed red. My vision flashed with it.

For half a second, the corridor split into three copies. Three Caels. Three doors. Three sharp alarms screaming through my skull.

"Let go," I said.

"You were about to open a live security gate."

"And you were about to let us stand here until the whole block came down on us. So we're both making choices."

His eyes narrowed. "You can't even see straight."

"I can see you just fine. You're being annoying in every version."

The three Caels snapped back into one. His fingers stayed around my wrist.

That was the problem. My body kept changing its mind about what was real. One second I felt the heat of his palm. The next, his hand was cold metal. Then nothing at all.

The System burned a warning across my vision.

[NEURAL DESYNC: 61%] [HOST SIGNAL UNSTABLE] [LEVEL 1 ACCESS: PARTIAL]

I shoved the message away.

Cael saw it anyway.