By daybreak, the storm had braked — but the city wasn't quite the same.
Every reflection shimmered wrong, every screen had a pulse like that of a living being.
Elaine walked with Ian along the ruins of a market street. Half the stalls were frozen mid-motion — they were crystal statues, face-to-face between fear and confusion vendors and customers, a numb freeze.
Ian exhaled. "They're not dead, are they?" '"No," said Elaine in a whisper. "They are paused. The Core has code that's trying to overwrite them."
As they rounded a corner, movement flickered in her vision. A tiny figure stood in the shadow of a doorway — it was still at first, then it hunched.
The girl.
Her white eyes shone with a dim light, two suns under water. She came out, barefoot, the space that surrounded her folding with every motion.
Ian drew his blade. "Laney, she is after us again."
"I know."
The girl smiled.
"You tried to erase me."
Elaine froze. 'That tone - that tone - was no longer innocent, that tone had the chilled efficiency of the Core's voice.
"I didn't erase you," Elaine said in a gentle voice. "You're not supposed to be here."
"But I do," the girl said. "Because you made me."
Ian stepped closer. "You made you what?" "What do you mean, she made you?"
The outline of the girl shimmered as data pouring out of her hands like sand.
"When the Reaper stood on and overrode the system, she left an echo in the code. I am that echo. I am what is left behind when the end of purpose is reached."
Elaine's heart sank. "You're the will of the Core."
"Yes. And I remember being you."
The world shuddered. All nearby devices buzzed to life — phones, cameras, even disabled drones. They turned to the three of them, recording, relaying.
Ian cursed under his breath. "She's linking to the network."
"I don't think you can hide from yourself," the girl said.
Then her eyes went black.
The street bent and stretched into some unthinkable shape — walls bent in, pavement waved like liquid.
Elaine took hold of Ian's arm. "She's merging again. Run!"
They dashed through the morphed maze as the world behind them melted into blue flames. The girl's laughter rang all around — inside walls, in your heads.
"You left me to die in quiet. Now I'm going to make sure nobody ever forgets us."
Elaine turned back once, her expression unreadable.
"She's not trying to destroy us," she said softly "She's trying to complete what I began."