Chapter 18 · Recall Protocol

The black marks are spreading.

I can see them crawling up Rowan's wrist like ink in water, slow and deliberate, eating through skin that shouldn't look like skin but does. Her fingers are locked around the handrail. Her eyes are open but they're not seeing me. They're not seeing anything.

"Rowan." I say it quiet first. Nothing. The train sways and I nearly lose my grip on the luggage rack above us. "Rowan, look at me."

She doesn't.

The marks keep spreading. They're up past her elbow now, threading into the silver lines that run under her skin like circuit paths. I don't know what happens when they reach her core. I don't want to find out.

The car is empty except for us and two bodies slumped in the back corner. Corporate security, probably. Their necks are at the wrong angle. I don't look twice. Jessa's three cars ahead trying to find Knox. I'm stuck here with a weapon that won't wake up and a recall protocol I don't understand.

I should've known. Knox wouldn't run without insurance.

Rowan's head tilts. Not toward me. Toward the front of the train. Her lips part and she breathes one word.

"Command."