A soft, tired smile touched his lips. Carefully, he closed the jotter and set it aside. He stood up, turning to gently scoop her into his arms. She was warm and limp, making her easy to carry, if she had been in her original form. Then things might've been more trickier than he'd liked.

He laid her back in the bed and tucked the blankets around her once more. This time, when he lay down next to her, careful to keep some space between them, her sleeping body had a mind of its own.

' You've gotta be kidding me.'

She immediately turned and shuffled closer, her head finding its way back onto his chest, one arm and one leg flopping over him like a living, breathing blanket.

He froze, feeling awkward and stiff. Her chest rose and fell against his side, her grey hair tickling his chin. He thought about pushing her away, but she looked so peaceful. And honestly, she was surprisingly warm.

' You know what, maybe it wouldn't hurt to let her sleep like this.' He let out a long, slow breath and relaxed into the bed, deciding to let her be.

Staring up at the dark ceiling, with the weight of the wolf-girl on his chest and the memory of the Gorgon's picture burned into his mind, after reading the doctors jotter, he secretly felt worried for her, even though it was said in the book that she possessed regenerative abilities the thought of that gruesome wound of hers still had him feeling skeptical. Not to mention that one of her weaknesses was the cold.

Moreover, he still wanted to know why she had seemed so apologetic after killing him.

In a few short moments, he made a decision. Tomorrow, he would go back. He needed to see that clearing again, to look at it with new eyes, with the knowledge from the book and his now present curiosity. He needed to check on the Gorgon girl.

And like that, he stayed with that thought till he fell asleep, he had tried staying awake just in case Grey might secretly be up to something but. After seeing her sleeping so soundly by his side. He decided there was no point to it, moreover, his exhaustion also played a role in getting him to give in to his bodies needs.

The first thing Adrian became aware of the moment he woke up, was a weight on his hips. It wasn't the heavy, comforting weight of blankets that was for sure. This was different, it felt comforting yet strange at the same time.

' Just what is happening now... can't a guy get a few more minutes of sleep first.' Adrian felt a bit tired since he hadn't gone to bed early last night.

He blinked his eyes open, the grey light of morning filling his small room, but non of that entered his eyes because he was currently focused on the person he had spent the night with.

Instead of simply cuddling close to him like she had done last night, Grey was currently straddling his waist, her soft perky rear pressing against his warm lower half that felt strange at the moment for obvious reasons. her pale grey eyes staring down at him with a simple, harmless look on her face.

"...."

He was so stunned he couldn't even move, well because of suprise and the fact that his dick felt good with her sitting atop it, and from the looks of it. The darn thing had already gotten hard from the stimulation she had given him in his sleep, fortunately he had woken up in time. Less his pants got stained in his sleep.

She was still wearing his old tunic which he'd given her, the cloth looked rumpled from sleep. She looked utterly oblivious to how… unusual this position actually was.

When she saw his eyes were open, she didn't scramble off in embarrassment. Instead, she just pointed a finger at her own mouth, then pointed vigorously toward the door leading to the kitchen. A look of anticipation in her eyes.

' So she was just hungry.'

Adrian's sleep-addled brain finally translated, for some reason he felt relieved, for a second there he thought that she might've been up to something nefarious but from the looks of it, she wasn't.

A slow, amused smile spread across his face. He couldn't even find it in him to be angry or flustered. How could he blame her? She was basically a wild animal learning how to be a person. Social rules like privacy and personal space probably weren't high on her list.

"Okay, okay," he mumbled, his voice rough with sleep. " Just give me a moment so that I can—"

Adrian was in the midst of speaking when the door to his room creaked open. "Adrian, dear, You're finally awake aren't you?"

"I thought I heard—" His mother, Melissa, stepped into the room, she looked as cheerful as ever, which meant that she probably had a wonderful night last night. And that was something Adrian could be happy about, but.

Her eyes landed on the scene before her, the sight of her son, flat on his back, with the mysterious grey-haired girl sitting squarely on top of him made her words cut off mid sentence, while she gasped in shock. Her eyes went wide, her face flushed a bright, embarrassed red.

"Oh! Oh, my! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" she stammered, backing out of the room so fast she nearly tripped over her own feet. She pulled the door shut with a definitive click, her muffled apologies still audible from the other side.

Adrian groaned, dropping his head back onto the pillow. "Mom! wait, it's not what it looks like!" he called out, but he knew it was useless. The damage was done and no matter how much he disliked it, there was nothing he could do about it.

Grey, completely unaware of the social catastrophe she had just caused, just looked from the closed door back to Adrian's face and repeated her gesture. She pointed to her mouth, and then to the kitchen. As if on que, her stomach let out a loud, impatient gurgle to emphasize the point.

He sighed, his amusement warring with a deep sense of awkwardness. " No need to remind me. I'll go get you some food." He gently nudged her hip. "But you have to get off first. Otherwise I'm not sure anyone of us is getting any breakfast this morning."

She tilted her head, confused, but she complied, sliding off him and standing by the bed. He dragged himself out of bed, running a hand through his messy hair.

He didn't need a horoscope or fortune teller to know that this was going to be quite a day.

' Hopefully this time I won't end up dead...' he thought to himself, or more like he pleaded with himself.

*****

Later in the morning, they were both sitting on the floor of his room, each with a wooden bowl of warm porridge. Before this, Adrian had managed a brief, flustered explanation to his mother, who had accepted it with a nod and a look that said she absolutely did not believe a word of it. The atmosphere in the main room had been so thick with unspoken thoughts he'd retreated back to his space to eat.

He poked at his food with his spoon, his mind a thousand miles away. The jotter's contents still continued to swirl in his head, the sketch of the Gorgon, the descriptions of her and all the other creatures He had managed to read about.

And yet, In the end, he could only think about the Gorgon girl, all he could ponder about was that he needed to find her. But how?

The forest was vast. He couldn't just wander around hoping to stumble upon her, what if he encountered something else instead. The thought of it sent a faint chill down his spine.

Grey, meanwhile, was devouring her porridge with the same simple-minded focus she'd shown with the stew. She finished with a loud, final slurp and then noticed his full bowl. She looked from his untouched food to his preoccupied face. Without a word, she reached out and tapped his knee, then pointed at his bowl, a question in her eyes.

' It looks like I almost forgot about my guest' Adrian joked to himself when he realised that he'd been thinking too much about the Gorgon girl, completely forgetting the monster girl he had at his side at the moment.

" You want my share too don't you?" Adrian smiled at her before grabbing his bowl, which he handed to her.

" Here. Go ahead, I don't think I've got an appetite right now so why don't you just take it."

Grey didn't stand on ceremony, she took the bowl and dug in. Seeing her eat like an animal, Adrian couldn't help but remember that she wasn't human but just looked like one.

' I wonder if she can turn back if she wishes to?' he thought to himself. ' I must say, it's quite a nifty ability.'

' Now that I think about it, Mr Miller's far more interesting in comparison.., if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was a magician but... there can't be anything like magic in this world right?.'

' No... who am I kidding, there's gotta be magic in this world after that stunt he pulled, not to mention this annoying ability of mine isn't exactly scientific either.' he thought to himself, recalling how the doctor had saved the poor girl yesterday.

Thinking about it made him remember something from the jotter.

' Come to think of it. I remember reading about that spell he used in the book but it seems to be the only one in it.' He wasn't sure whether it was intentional but that was the only spell or should he say, ritual, listed in the jotter. At the time he didn't think much about it but staring at Grey, he realised how much of a supportive spell it was. The spells only use was to bond the souls of two together. Once bonded they could share things with each other and of course these things weren't objects but wounds, fatigue, and even ones physical abilities.

' Since Grey isn't human, I'm not quite sure if this spell will have a different effect on me.' Adrian wondered to himself in silence, staring at her face as she continued to eat his breakfast.

' Wait... If we can both share abilities, then could I use Grey's abilities as well as my own to look for her?!' Adrian's eyes widened with realization.

' Hahahaha, I've been thinking about it all wrong.'

' How do you find a monster that doesn't want to be found? You don't. You simply up your reckon skills! Hahahaha.' Adrian chuckled inwardly like a child who'd just figured out something he believed others couldn't.

The thought landed in his mind with a cold, clear certainty. He wasn't a helpless herb gatherer anymore. He now had an advantage, not just to find her but if he ever encountered danger again in that forest.

' I need to– No, I mean, we need to test it out!' Adrian said to himself, barely containing his excitement.

He stood up abruptly. Grey, who had just licked the last of the porridge from his bowl, looked up, startled.

"Come on," he said, a new energy in his voice. "We've got work to do!" He was excited to test out their bond but first, he still had some preparations to do.

Grey scrambled to her feet, placing the empty bowls neatly together, and followed him out of the room, her curiosity evident in every step.

******

The small backyard behind the cottage was a cluttered, homely space, holding a woodpile, a rusted old wash-tub, and a single, thick tree stump they used for chopping kindling. The air today was still crispy and cold like any other day.

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