The library was empty. That was the problem.
Maya had walked in expecting a crowd, expecting noise, expecting the usual after-school chaos of students studying and gossiping and pretending not to watch each other. Instead, the place was silent. The lights were dimmed. The only person in the entire room was Jace, sitting at their table in the back corner with his notebook open and his head down.
She almost turned around and left.
"You are here," he said without looking up.
"Where else would I be?"
He did not answer. She walked over and sat down across from him, and the chair scraped against the floor and echoed through the empty room. He flinched at the sound and she pretended not to notice.
They worked in silence for a while, but it was not the easy silence from before. This one was
