Novels by WREN GRAY

KAIRoom 412.I stood outside the door for a full minute before I could make myself go in.It wasn't the first time. I'd visited Mom almost every day since I could walk again, sat in that hard plastic chair next to her bed, held her hand, told her I was fine even when I wasn't. But it never got easier. Not even a little.Every time I walked into that room, I saw her getting smaller.That's what diseases did to people. It didn't just attack your body—it shrank you. Made the woman who used to fill every room she walked into shrink down to something that barely took up space in a hospital bed.I pushed the door open.The room was quiet. The only sound was the steady beeping of her heart monitor and the low hum of the IV machine dripping medication into her veins. Curtains drawn halfway, letting in thin strips of afternoon light that made the whole room look pale and washed out.Mom was lying still, her eyes closed. She looked small under the white hospital blankets—impossibly small for t

KAI Two months.I'd been in this hospital for two whole months, and today I was finally getting out.Parts of me had healed—the ribs were mostly better, the lung was working again, the worst of the bruising had faded to a sick yellow-green color that almost looked normal in the right light. But other parts... other parts were still broken. Just not the kind of broken that showed up on X-rays.I sat on the edge of the hospital bed, staring at my phone. It had been charging on the nightstand for weeks, powered off, ignored. I hadn't had the courage to check it. I hadn't wanted to see the messages, the missed calls, the evidence of a world that had kept turning while I was stuck in this room doing push-ups and fighting with a system only I could see.But today was different. Today I was leaving. And I needed to face whatever was waiting for me out there.I pressed the power button.The phone vibrated to life, and immediately—immediately—notifications started flooding in. Hundreds of the

KAIKAII tried to lighten the mood. "So, uh, did Chen Wei at least look cool doing it? Should I be honored that I got killed by the next big thing?"Nobody laughed."Too soon?" I asked."Way too soon," Ricky muttered."Chen Wei is an asshole," Danny said flatly. "He didn't even stop when the ref called it. Tony had to physically pull him off you.""Yeah, well." I shrugged, and immediately regretted it when pain shot through my shoulders. "I knew what I was signing up for.""Did you though?" Mira's voice was quiet. "Did you really know you might die?"I looked at my sister—her tear-stained face, her school uniform wrinkled from days of sitting in hospital chairs, her hands gripping mine like I might disappear if she let go."Yeah," I said honestly. "I knew.""And you did it anyway.""I had to.""No, you didn't!" Her voice rose. "You didn't have to—Mom wouldn't want you to—""How is Mom?" I interrupted, needing to change the subject before Mira started crying again. "Is she okay? Does

KAIIt was a dream. It had to be a dream.I stared at the words floating in front of my face—[SYSTEM ACTIVATED]—and blinked hard, trying to make them disappear. They didn't. Just hung there in my vision like someone had projected them onto my eyeballs.[INITIALIZING...][LOADING USER DATA...][DAILY TASKS PENDING...]"This isn't real," I whispered. My voice came out rough, like I'd swallowed gravel. My throat burned. Everything burned, actually. My chest felt like someone had parked a truck on it. My ribs screamed with every breath.I looked around the hospital room, trying to ground myself in something real. Beeping monitors. IV poles. Tubes running into my arms—one, two, three different lines. A catheter I definitely didn't want to think about. Heart monitor showing a rhythm that looked way too erratic to be healthy.And that damn glowing text still floating in front of everything:[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE][WELCOME, KAI WANG][LEVEL: 1]"No," I said out loud. "No, this is—I'

INTERLUDE---The hospital hallway smelled like disinfectant and despair.Mira sat on the floor, her back against the wall, school uniform wrinkled and stained with tears. Her whole body shook with sobs that wouldn't stop, couldn't stop. Every breath hurt. Every second he stayed dead was another second her world crumbled."He can't be gone," she kept saying, over and over like a prayer. "He can't be. He promised. He promised he'd figure it out. He promised—"Ricky crouched beside her, one hand on her shoulder. His eyes were red. He'd cried in the bathroom ten minutes ago where no one could see, but now he was trying to hold it together for her."I know, kid," he said quietly. "I know.""He was supposed to save Mom," Mira continued, her voice breaking. "He was supposed to fix everything. That's what Kai does, he fixes things, he doesn't—he doesn't just—"She couldn't say it. Couldn't say the word "die" because saying it made it real.Danny stood a few feet away, staring at the closed d

KAI"Yes."The word left my mouth before I could stop it. Before I could think. Before I could understand what I was really agreeing to."Yes," I said again, stronger this time. "I accept."The seven figures seemed to shift, though they didn't actually move. Like reality bent around them for just a second. I felt something change in the air—or maybe it changed in me. Something fundamental. Something I couldn't name."Good," the center woman said, and I swear I heard satisfaction in her voice. "You've made the right choice, Kai Wang.""Then send me back," I said. "My mom needs me. My sister—""In time," one of the men interrupted. "First, you must understand the terms fully."My stomach dropped. "What terms? You said I'd get a second chance. You said—""We said you would receive power in exchange for service," the center woman said. "And you will. But service requires... specificity.""What does that mean?""It means," another woman said, her voice cold and clinical, "that you will fig