Chapter 1: Shattered Purity

The silence of the library’s deepest wing wasn’t empty; it was heavy, smelling of vanilla-rot and old binding glue. Chase sat in an oversized leather chair, the kind that swallowed a person whole, lost in a text that felt more like a conversation with the dead than a school assignment. He liked it here. He liked that the air felt stagnant and safe.

He didn’t hear her approach. He only felt the sudden, sharp displacement of air as a shadow fell across his pages.

Chase blinked, waking from a trance. He looked up to see a girl standing over him. She was about his age, give or take a year. She looked frayed, her eyes wide and darting, vibrating with an energy that felt predatory and panicked all at once.

Chase offered a small, tentative smile. “Uhh ... hello?” he murmured. “Can I ... do you need help finding something? I know this section inside and out, honestly, I think I’m the only one who’s ever actually in here.”

He didn’t have time to realize how vulnerable that admission was.

The movement was a blur. She didn’t speak; she lunged. The suddenness of the attack left Chase paralyzed, his brain unable to process the transition from a polite encounter to a physical struggle. He felt her hands, cold and frantic, grabbing at his waist.

The world slowed down as the invasion began. He felt her fingers snag the waistband of his trousers, pulling them down with a violent efficiency that left him gasping. There was a sharp tug, and suddenly the cool air hit his hips as his pants were shoved past his knees, pinning him further into the leather chair. Then came the underwear; he felt the fabric stretch and snap as she yanked them down, exposing his skin to the dim light of the library. He had never been touched like this, never been kissed, never seen a naked body, never even felt the heat of another person’s skin against his own. He was a blank slate of experience, and he was being rewritten in a matter of seconds.