Chapter 10 · Ghost in the Machine

"Get out of my head!"

Zero screamed, but it wasn't a sound from her throat. It was a psychic blast that slammed into Kael’s skull, making his vision fracture into a thousand jagged shards of white light.

He didn't let go. He couldn't. Their nervous systems were fused, a jagged, electric bridge of pain and static. He could feel her heart hammering against her ribs—not like a human heart, but like a piston in a failing engine, desperate and overclocked.

"I can't—" Kael gasped, his voice sounding like it was coming from miles away. "I can't let go, Zero. If I break the link now, your brain will fry. Just hold on!"

"It hurts!" she shrieked. The thought wasn't a word; it was a raw, bleeding sensation of ice water being poured into an open wound. "Make it stop! Kael, please, make it stop!"

He forced himself forward, ignoring the way his own muscles seized. He reached out, his hand trembling as he gripped her shoulder, trying to anchor her. The contact sent a surge of feedback through the link—