Heidi
The archives always smelled the same—dry parchment, cracked leather bindings, and the faintest trace of cedar from the wooden shelves. I’d spent hours buried in these old records before, but tonight the air felt heavier, like the pages themselves were holding their breath.
I was deep in the restricted stacks of Wolf’s Haven University, tucked away in the farthest corner beneath a sloping ceiling. The single overhead bulb cast long shadows, and the chill in the room made my fingers ache as I turned another fragile page.
I didn’t know what I was hoping to find. Only that something about Gavin… about the way he’d changed… didn’t sit right.
And then I saw his name.
Helios.
My breath caught. The passage was written in old script, barely legible under the faded ink and time-stained p
