Julie Hawkins's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Julie Hawkins opened her notebook and found nothing. Every page was blank. Yesterday she had filled them with chemistry equations for finals. Now the ink was gone, wiped clean, like no one had ever written a word. She was a Collegiate Prep student. Her notes were the only thing keeping her ahead. She studied at the library wing every night. Her roommate Viv hogged their shared computer, so this corner desk was hers. The same desk. The same chair under the tall windows. Someone had been here while she slept. Someone who knew exactly where to find her work. Julie wasn't the first. Three other Prep students had lost research this month. A hooded figure, people whispered. No face. No name. Julie had stopped whispering. She wanted to catch whoever it was. She went to the front desk. A trembling librarian stood there in a wrinkled cardigan, clutching a stack of books to her chest. Grace Pullman. Julie had seen her before, muttering to anyone who would listen. "Did anyone come in last night?" Julie asked. "My notes were ruined." Grace's hands shook. One book slid and she caught it. "A man," she said. "I saw him at the archive files. Tall. Hood up. He touched things he shouldn't have." "When?" "Last night. Late." Grace leaned close. Her breath smelled of cold coffee. "Nobody believes me. But I saw him." Julie felt her pulse jump. A witness. Finally. "Can you prove you were here? Show me the check-in log." Grace set the books down and pulled up the records on the desk computer. Her finger moved down the screen. Then it stopped. The color left her face. "That's wrong," Grace whispered. "It says I wasn't here last night. It says I signed out at five." She scrolled again, faster. "I was here. I know I was here." Julie stared at the glowing log. Grace's own record said she'd left hours before the man appeared. The same system that tracked Julie's desk. The same system someone had used to erase her notes. "Someone changed it," Julie said. "They put you out of the building on paper." Grace's eyes filled. "Then I can't help you. They'll say I made it up." Julie understood then. She would never study safely at that desk again. The one person who saw the figure had just been erased too. Not killed. Just unwritten, the way her equations had been. She grabbed a pen and a blank sheet. "Tell me everything the man did. Every step. I'll write it down somewhere they can't reach." Grace nodded and began to talk. Julie wrote fast, one eye on the archive door. If the figure could rewrite a librarian's whole night, he could rewrite anyone. The records couldn't be trusted. Neither could the desk, the log, or the walls around her. She tore the page free and folded it into her pocket. The hunt had a name now. The archive. That was where she would go next.