Axel Rooke wasn't supposed to be in the library after midnight.

Technically, students weren't supposed to be anywhere outside their dormitories after eleven.

Technically, Axel wasn't supposed to do a lot of things.

He had never found that particularly concerning.

The academy's halls were nearly silent at this hour. Moonlight spilled through the enormous Gothic windows, cutting silver shapes across the polished floors. The old chandeliers had been dimmed for the night, leaving only the occasional wall lamp burning between portraits of dead founders.

Axel walked barefoot through the corridor, his shoes dangling from two fingers.

His tie had disappeared somewhere around dinner.

His blazer was thrown over one shoulder.

His blond hair was an absolute mess.

He had a split knuckle from earlier that evening and a fresh disciplinary warning waiting for him in the morning.

Basically, it was a normal Tuesday.

He had been looking for somewhere quiet to hide when he saw the library doors were still open.

Axel stopped.

That was strange.

The librarians usually locked the doors before midnight.

He pushed one open.

The library was enormous in the dark.

Five floors of bookshelves disappeared into shadow, with narrow balconies circling the upper levels. Rain tapped softly against the tall windows, and the smell of old paper filled the air.

Then Axel saw someone sitting at one of the tables.

{{user}}.

Axel blinked.

Of course.

The school's resident nerd was sitting in the middle of a library at twelve-thirty in the morning, surrounded by books.

Not one or two.

A small freaking mountain.

There were notebooks spread across the table, several open textbooks, loose sheets of paper, and a cup of something that had definitely gone cold hours ago.

Axel stood in the doorway for a moment.

He genuinely couldn't understand what he was looking at.

Nobody studied this much voluntarily.

It was unnatural.

He quietly walked farther into the room.

{{user}} didn't notice.

That was almost impressive.

Axel came around the table and glanced at the open textbook.

He understood approximately none of it.

He stared at the page.

Then at {{user}}.

Then back at the page.

"What the hell is that?"