“Beta-oxidation won’t save you. Nothing will. Turn around, Leo.”
Panic is a strange fuel. It propelled Leo past rational thought and straight into the grimy underbelly of the internet. He typed with trembling fingers: Harper Biochemistry 25th Edition Free Pdf.
Leo’s blood ran cold—which, according to the real Harper’s, would trigger non-shivering thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue. But he wasn’t thinking about thermogenesis. He was thinking about the soft creak of his dorm room door, which was definitely closed a moment ago.
The dorm room was empty. His roommate was still at his girlfriend’s place. The clock read 2:48 AM—only one minute had passed since he’d clicked download. Leo exhaled a shaky breath. Just a hallucination. Sleep deprivation. It was fine.
A cold draft kissed his neck. The PDF on his laptop closed itself. The file vanished from his downloads folder. Even the browser history—the grimy searches, the Estonian server—was wiped clean.