The tower was burning from the inside out. Sparks rained from the ceiling, scattering across the metal floor like angry fireflies.Finn coughed through the smoke. “We can’t stay here! He’s tearing the relay apart!”June was frantically typing on the console. “If I can isolate the core frequency, maybe I can push him back into the drive—”Shawn—or what was left of him—was standing in the center of the room. His body trembled as blue energy pulsed through his veins, crawling up his neck like lightning trapped beneath skin.Vivianne stepped closer, ignoring June’s warning. “Shawn! Listen to me! You have to fight him!”His eyes snapped open, glowing the same eerie silver she’d seen once before—years ago, in the lab where Project Lyra was born.“Fight me?”“You mean fight myself?”The voice that came from Shawn’s mouth was layered—his and the Director’s overlapping, discordant, almost melodic.Finn aimed his gun. “You shoot him, or you exorcise him, Vale, because I’m two seconds away from

June crouched beside the control panel, the glow of the holographic map painting her face blue. “The signal originated from here—old relay station forty-two. The same frequency Vivianne used before she vanished.”Finn’s jaw tightened. “Vanished or died?”She looked up at him, eyes cold. “You heard her. She’s still inside the network.”Finn exhaled. “Yeah, and that’s exactly what scares me.”They moved inside the ruined station. The air smelled of dust and ozone. Racks of dead servers stood like tombstones.June connected her tablet to the console. “I’m patching into the relay. If she’s trying to reach us again, this’ll catch the signal.”Finn scanned the shadows. “Feels like we shouldn’t be here.”“You say that every time we try to help someone,” she muttered.“This time it’s different.” He pointed at the faint blue flicker pulsing across the monitors. “That’s not a signal—it’s a heartbeat.”June froze. “Oh my God…”The pulse sharpened. A voice began to form through the static.“—nne…

The courtroom had become a nest of shouting voices, cameras, and flashing lights. Guards crowded Finn, hauling him to his feet. He fought like a man possessed, teeth bared, but two broad arms pinned him against the polished wood of the counsel’s bench.“Mr. Crawford, you will calm down!” the judge barked, pounding her gavel.“I will not calm down!” Finn spat. “She’s alive and you all sit there like you’re reading about some tragedy!”Shawn rose slowly, every eye on him. He folded his hands as if he were about to deliver a lecture, and the room leaned in. “We need order,” he said. His voice was honey-smooth. “This is not a forum for theatrics.”Vivianne pressed her palms together in front of her mouth. Her eyes were red-rimmed; she hadn’t spoken since the video.Finn strained against the guards. “You lied. You said she was gone. You said she wanted to be gone. You staged it.”Shawn’s smile didn’t waver. “I told you the truth twice: one, she left; two, she asked to disappear. What you s

The rain had not stopped for two days. It came down in thin, needling sheets that blurred the lights of the city and turned every sound into a whisper.Inside the safehouse, the air was heavy with the scent of metal and ozone. The walls hummed faintly from the shielding panels Mara had installed—a crude attempt to block any frequency scans from Cipher.Helena lay on the cot, pale and still. Her skin occasionally shimmered with faint, silver light—like static trying to break free.Finn sat beside her, exhausted eyes fixed on her face. “She hasn’t moved for twelve hours,” he muttered.Mara was at the terminal, hands flying across the keyboard. “Her vitals are irregular but stable. Whatever’s inside her isn’t trying to kill her—it’s trying to stay alive.”Finn frowned. “Kieran?”“Or something else.” Mara looked over her shoulder. “You said she mentioned him, right? That he was inside?”Finn nodded slowly. “She said if she lost control again, I’d have to kill her.”Mara exhaled through he

The static field stretched forever. It wasn’t sky, nor ground, nor air—just light, folding in on itself. Every breath Finn took sounded wrong, like he was inhaling through an electric current.Kieran stood a few meters ahead, his silhouette bending with the distortion. “You shouldn’t have come here.”Finn’s voice came out jagged, warped. “You dragged me in, remember?”Kieran smiled faintly. “I didn’t drag you. I just opened the door. You were the one desperate enough to step through.”Finn clenched his fists. Sparks flickered across his knuckles, wild and unstable. “I came to take her back.”“Helena?” Kieran tilted his head. “She’s safe—for now. But you don’t seem to understand, Finn. You’re not in the physical world anymore. You’re standing in the signal plane. Every thought here becomes real.”“Good,” Finn snapped. “Then I’ll think you out of existence.”He lunged. Electricity burst from his palms, tearing the air apart. But Kieran simply raised a hand. The surge froze midair, then