A Wolf's Desperate Call

Edric's apartment above Coastal Tomes was exactly what you'd expect from a bookish Grey—shelves lining every available wall space, texts in languages I couldn't identify, and that distinct smell of old parchment and leather bindings.

"Use this," he said, gesturing to an ancient-looking desktop computer set up in the corner of his living room. "It's secure and untraceable. If you're going to contact Kaelen, we need to be careful."

I sat down while Willow hovered anxiously behind me. The computer wheezed to life after I pressed the power button, the monitor flickering before stabilizing.

"How do you know so much about Greys?" I asked Edric as we waited for the system to boot up. "Are you one of us?"

He smiled wryly. "Not exactly. I'm what you might call a Guardian—a human with knowledge of your realm, tasked with watching over certain thresholds. I've been keeping an eye on your mother for years."

"And you just let her forget me?" The words came out sharper than I intended.