**[APARTMENT ]**
Alex couldn't sleep.
He had tried. For two full hours, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the distant sounds of the ocean and the harbor.
But sleep wouldn't come.
Just that feeling—persistent, irritating, impossible to ignore.
Someone was watching him.
He sat up in bed, rubbing his face with both hands. The room was dark except for the silver moonlight filtering through the window that looked out over the sea.
Grim stirred from his cushion in the corner, red lights flickering to life.
**"Master. Not. Sleeping. Again."**
"I can't," Alex admitted quietly. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."
**"System. Feels. It. Too."**
Alex blinked, turning toward the small skeleton. "The system talks to you directly?"
**"Not. Talk. Directly. But. I feel. Its. Warnings. Through. Bond."**
Interesting. Apparently his connection with Grim ran deeper than he'd realized.
He got up, padded barefoot to the window, and looked down at the city below.
