Before the Gray Gets In

Marker Bear Cave smelled like cedar and something electric — the kind of smell that meant a good day was coming.

Ms. Marker Bear stood at the cave entrance, arms crossed, watching Artwood City wake up. Below her, the streets were alive with color. Shopkeepers painted their signs in tangerine and teal. A goat in a yellow apron swept his bakery steps. Two bear cubs chased a red balloon down Cobblestone Row.

She loved this view. Every single morning.

"You're staring again," said Pip.

Ms. Marker Bear glanced sideways. Her neighbor — a small deer with spectacles and an ink-stained vest — had climbed up to sit on the flat rock beside her.

"It's a good city," she said simply.

Pip pushed his glasses up. "It is." He paused. "You ever get the feeling something's... off? Down below, I mean. Under the streets."

She frowned. "Like what?"

He shrugged. "Can't say."

What the Parrot Knew

Ms. Marker Bear was still thinking about what Pip had said when something hit the cave window.

Thwack.

She spun around. A small green parrot — with a red band around one leg that read CITY WATCH — was pressed flat against the glass, looking dizzy.

She opened the window. The parrot tumbled in and landed on the kitchen table.

"The market," the bird gasped. "Cobblestone Row. Go now."

She didn't bother changing. She flew.

From above, Cobblestone Row looked wrong. The goat in the yellow apron — the one she'd watched sweeping just an hour ago — was standing in the middle of the street, staring at his hands. His apron was gray. His storefront sign was gray. The red balloon the bear cubs had been chasing was gray.

A woman with a cart of flowers called out: "It started underground! There was a sound — like something being pulled out of the earth!"

Ms. Marker Bear landed hard on the cobblestones. The gray was spreading outward from one spot — a perfect circle — right in front of the bakery.