Page 192 of GlitchBorn Heart

But I’m not really. It’s not me. Instead, I’m thousands of tiny particles of light in various colors, and I’m spilling out into the air. The sensation of falling fades, but I swear I feel a piece of myself pulled toward Jett. A single piece of pixelated light, tugging loose and seeking him out.

I look up as I fall. The purple sky flickers between light and shadow, two worlds colliding. My new body is waiting for me, but I can’t tell which part of me wants to go into it and which part wants to stay in tiny pieces floating through the ether.

Air hits my lungs like fire. My body convulses, foreign and fragile, a thousand sensations flooding in all at once. Cold air, the metallic taste of blood, the weight of gravity pressing me down. It’s overwhelming and sparks something in me to flee. But I can’t.

Because someone’s calling my name.

“Lyra?” The voice drags me through the white noise, kind of familiar, warm, broken at the edges. I blink, fighting through the blur until light carves out a shape above me: broad shoulders, dark eyes, veins of light glowing orange beneath skin slick with sweat.

“Taiyō,” I hear a whisper. “You’re safe. You’re home. I’m here...right here. Take your time. I know this all feels new.”

I’m a blank slate. My eyes widen with confusion. My chest is heaving now. I feel the urge to run from fear again. It’s like an instinct flooding my system. In a split second, I flinch, someone’s trying to touch me. I scramble off the table, and back into the corner, knocking over equipment with a speed that is incredibly inhuman.

“Where...” My voice cracks like I’m learning speech for the first time. “Am I?”

I should feel safe; it should feel right. But it doesn’t.

I jerk back, swallowing down the dryness in my throat. I’m alive and breathing again, but it doesn’t feel right. I feel threatened and unsafe.

“It’s me,” a voice whispers. “Lyra...it’s Kael.”

I recoil harder, my magic flickering violently and bleeding all over every screen in whatever lab I’m in. The Corporation must have me.

I stand up so quickly, the air snaps. I’m not moving from this corner until I figure out what’s happening here. I hear data humming in the back of my head, and my eyes obey by narrowing, taking in exits, threats, and angles. Instinct taking over.

I tilt my head, eyes never leaving the two men. What is that annoying sound? A humming, electricity, like I’ve never heard it before. One of the men moves, and I’m across the room and in front of him in the blink of an eye, data running through my vision, as I quickly scan all the ways I can take him down if he moves another inch.

There it is again, the feeling of being invincible flooding through my veins. I curl my fingers and my skin glows briefly, a faint magenta-gold pulse that spirals up my arms then fades. More colors follow and then disappear. I’m finally out of the system, reborn, but something’s still missing.

“Well now, Lyra...look at you.” He’s speaking, but I don’t hear anything; my system is too busy running data, and my magic is calibrating to new levels. I don’t like the way his eyes rake over me. He steps closer, setting off alarms in my head. His hands are in his pockets, non-threatening, but something in me still calculates a risk percentage.

“Do you have any idea what you are now? What you could be?”

Another step closer but smiling now. In my vision, a percentage flashes.

RISK: 42%

“The rebellion won’t just rise with someone like you.” His gaze locks with mine. “It will win. You’re incredible.”

He circles me like I’m a sight he just can’t look away from. “Well damn, sweetheart.”

That puts me on high alert, but before I can react with the appropriate strike, the other man is lunging at him, and they’re both engaged in an exchange.

I freeze in place, watching, waiting; even my breath stops. The weight of my hands feels so heavy, and I’m filled with the urge to strike something. I move in a blur and catch myself on the counter, palm slapping down with extreme force but I’m so precise, the table doesn’t move.

Stars. I’m strong...and fast. What have I become?

I look up. “What did you do to me?”

“Nothing, Taiyō.” His voice stumbles, nervous, broken. “You’re back. Back with me, where you belong. You’re free from the system.” He moves toward me and begins to put his arms around me.

Taiyō. That’s not my name; he must be mistaken. Alarm bells ring throughout my mind: more threat detection. “Don’t.” I shove at his chest. “Don’t touch me.”

He freezes, a look of shock in his dark eyes. “Lyra...”

My pulse hammers so loudly, I lift my hands to cover my ears. The room tilts, warps, too much sound, too much light, too much him. I withdraw and quickly take him to the floor with a sweep of the legs. My arm presses to his throat, cutting off his air. I hear him try to cough, but he doesn’t even attempt to defend himself.

His world stops. I see it in his eyes; he looks as if his heart is cracking open, and the color drains out of him. “Taiyō, it’s me.” Tears fill his dark eyes, but he doesn’t let them fall. “I love you.”

Three words.

Well, I have three for him too.

I press harder on his windpipe. “Who are you?” I demand.