The air in the room grew heavy, shimmering with a sudden, localized humidity. Elias looked at his glasses on the desk. He wasn't wearing them. He reached for them, but his hand stopped mid-air.
Elias hesitated. He had been searching for this specific thriller for weeks. Sophie Wester’s latest was rumored to be so realistic it bordered on the prophetic, but it had been pulled from every major bookstore overnight. This back-alley forum was the only place left to find it. He clicked.
He sat in his mismatched IKEA chair, the blue light of the monitor reflecting in his glasses, unaware that the download hadn't just brought him a book—it had granted someone else access.