Chapter 31 · The Sync

My knee buckles, and the wall catches me before the floor does.

"Keep moving, Ivy." Ash's voice drifts from somewhere behind me, thin with pain. "Don't come back."

Fire roars through the tunnel. Zero went back to finish him. My right leg is numb, the rune is crawling up my jaw, and every step sends acid through my kneecap.

"Shut up, Ash. I'm coming."

The tunnel splits ahead. Chemical smoke pours from the left fork and burns my throat. I keep moving until a figure steps through the haze.

No mask. No suit. Jeans. Black jacket. Scuffed boots.

The exact clothes she died in.

"Lily?"

She doesn't answer. Her eyes shine too brightly, as if a screen is glowing behind them.

I grab the wall when my leg gives out. "Lily, you were in the tank. I watched you burn."

"You watched a body burn." Her voice is hers. Exactly hers. "That wasn't me, Ivy. Not all of me."

The rune flashes across my collarbone. "Then what the hell is this?"

"A backup."

She taps the air beside her temple. Her finger never touches skin.

"The Core kept everything," she says. "Every memory. Every choice.