I landed on the roof of my house, which, conveniently, wasn’t too far from Aya’s place. Luckily, I had left my window open this morning in my rush to get to school, saving me the trouble of sneaking through the front door. I didn’t have a strict curfew, but I was pretty sure my parents wouldn’t be too happy about me coming home at one in the morning.

  Climbing inside, I took a quick look around. Nothing had changed—my bed was still unmade, clothes were scattered on the floor, and my PlayStation sat on my desk next to my monitor and laptop. For a brief moment, I considered playing, but exhaustion weighed me down.

  Sighing, I changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before collapsing onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

  My mind wouldn’t stop racing. The events of today felt surreal. I had powers now—ones I was actually getting the hang of. I had made new friends. And I had been introduced to a world that had existed right under my nose my whole life—a world most people wouldn’t believe even if I told them.

  As my thoughts continued to swirl, exhaustion finally won out, and I drifted off to sleep.

  Night came and went in an instant, and before I knew it, I was waking up. My eyes were still closed, but I felt something pressing down on my chest. Confused, I cracked one eye open—what I saw nearly made my heart stop.

  Curled up on my chest was a small black kitten, fast asleep. Two tiny horns poked out from its head.

  Startled, I jolted upright, tumbling out of bed and taking the kitten with me. I landed on the floor with a thud, groaning as I sat up to recover from the fall. Meanwhile, the kitten simply stood, stretched, and walked over to me, completely unfazed.

  I stared at it in disbelief. “Are you the cat that bit me yesterday? What are you doing here?”

  The moment the words left my mouth, I realized how dumb I sounded. Cats couldn’t talk.

  The kitten just looked up at me, meowed, and started licking its fur as if nothing had happened.

  I frowned, trying to piece things together. The last I heard, this thing had disappeared after biting me, so how the hell did it end up in my room? Had it somehow tracked me down? That seemed... impossible.

  Before I could dwell on it further, a sharp clang sounded from my window. There was only one person that could be.

  Claire.

  I turned to the kitten. “You stay here,” I said, pointing at it sternly.

  The kitten meowed in response—before hopping onto my bed and curling up like it owned the place.

  I sighed, rubbing my temple, but as I headed toward the window, a sudden realization hit me.

  My ears. My tail.

  I froze mid-step. I couldn’t let Claire see me like this—I didn’t even know if the rest of the group wanted this kind of information getting out. Panicked, I reached up instinctively to feel for the cat ears… but felt nothing.

  What?

  I grabbed my phone and flipped on the front camera. My reflection stared back at me—hair its usual brown, ears nowhere in sight. I twisted around and checked my back. My tail was gone too.

  “…That’s weird,” I muttered to myself.

  Clang!

  “Dammit, Claire,” I grumbled before finally heading to the window. I slid it open and looked down to see her waiting impatiently, her navy-blue hair swaying in the morning breeze.

  “Hurry up, we’re gonna be late,” she called up.

  “Alright, alright, give me a sec,” I said, shutting the window again.

  I grabbed the uniform I had tossed on the floor last night, but it was still dirty. Sighing, I rummaged through my closet, eventually finding a spare. As I changed, I kept glancing at the kitten, which was lounging on my bed, watching me with unblinking eyes.

  I wasn’t sure what to do. I couldn’t just leave it in my room—what if it got hungry, needed to use the bathroom, or made noise and got caught? But I obviously couldn’t bring it to school either. The only thing I knew for sure was that I needed to tell the group about this—both about the cat and the fact that my ears and tail had vanished.

  As I stood there lost in thought, the kitten tilted its head, watching me curiously. Then, without warning, it leaped from the bed—straight into my chest.

  No—through my chest.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  A shiver ran through my entire body, and I gasped, staggering back. But after everything I had gone through yesterday, this barely even made the top ten weirdest things.

  I took a deep breath, considering the possibility that had been nagging at me. When I was panicking about what to do, the kitten had looked at me, almost like it was… reading me. Maybe it was.

  Closing my eyes, I focused. Just like yesterday, I could sense the energy flowing in the center of my body—but this time, there was something else. Another distinct presence, nestled within me.

  The cat.

  You stay hidden in there, alright? I thought, testing the connection. If you do, I can take you with me.

  In response, I heard a faint meow inside my mind.

  So it could understand me. Great. That solved one problem.

  With that settled, I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs. As expected, my parents and sister were already gone, probably since I had overslept. I made myself four sandwiches to make up for missing dinner last night, then stepped outside, locking the door behind me.

  Claire was standing in front of the door when I stepped outside.

  “Finally. Let’s go,” she said, turning on her heel and setting off toward school.

  As we walked our usual path, my mind was elsewhere. My new abilities… What exactly could I do with them? Would I be able to get stronger? Maybe even find a mentor—someone who could help me unlock my full potential? Would any of the gods even consider taking me under their wing?

  “-ian!”

  Claire’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Blinking, I turned to see her staring at me, arms crossed, an annoyed look on her face.

  Crap. I’d been completely ignoring her.

  “Sorry, Claire. I was just lost in thought. What were you saying?” I asked, rubbing the back of my neck.

  She rolled her eyes. “I said I have a game tonight at eight. I tried calling you, but, of course, you didn’t answer. Mark already promised he’d be there, so you better show up too.” She lightly punched my arm for emphasis.

  I winced, rubbing the spot. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there. Don’t worry.”

  “Good.” She flashed a small, satisfied smile.

  The rest of the walk to school was uneventful, just like always. When we arrived, we headed to homeroom and caught up with Mark. Across the room, I spotted Amanda talking with her group of friends. Our eyes met for a brief second, and we exchanged a subtle nod—an unspoken agreement to keep our demon-slaying lives separate from everything else.

  The school day dragged on, my mind constantly drifting back to the kitten. It hadn’t caused any trouble, but I still couldn’t shake my anticipation. I needed to meet up with the group. I needed answers.

  By the time the final bell rang, I was already halfway out the door, heading straight for the clubroom.

  I entered the clubroom to find everyone already inside, gathered around the table.

  Aya was leaning back in her chair, one arm crossed over her chest while the other—wrapped in a cast—rested on her lap. Next to her sat Amanda, her hands neatly folded, watching intently as Becky held up a clear orb, a proud grin stretched across her face.

  They all turned toward me as I stepped in.

  “Hey,” I greeted, walking over to the table.

  Amanda and Aya both returned the greeting, though for some reason, Aya’s cheeks were slightly flushed.

  “Brian! You’re just in time for my demonstration,” Becky announced excitedly.

  “Demonstration of what?” I asked, curious.

  “Go stand over there.” She pointed toward the space in front of the window.

  I hesitated for a second before obliging, standing where she directed.

  Becky raised the clear orb in her hand. “When I imbue energy into this orb…” she began, and as she spoke, the sphere slowly filled with a bright white glow. “It stores that divine energy and—”

  She suddenly flashed me a mischievous grin. Before I could react, she hurled the orb at me at lightning speed.

  I barely had time to register what was happening. Without enough time to channel energy into my legs to dodge, I braced myself for impact.

  The kitten, however, had no such intentions of taking the hit with me. It leaped out of my body, landing neatly on the nearby table.

  “Traitor,” I muttered.

  A second later, the orb struck me, detonating in a small explosion. The force sent me crashing through the window, shards of glass cutting into my skin as I tumbled outside.

  Luckily, that window faced an empty parking lot, so at least no one had seen me get blown out of the building.

  Groaning, I pushed myself to my feet and climbed back through the shattered window. As I stepped inside, energy naturally flowed through my body, quickly healing the cuts and scrapes.

  Amanda rushed up to me, eyes wide. “Oh my god, are you okay?” she asked, then paused as she saw my wounds closing before her eyes. “…Oh. Never mind.”

  “Yeah, he’s weird,” Aya remarked, watching with mild amusement.

  I turned my attention to Becky, who had her hands clasped behind her back and was very obviously avoiding my gaze.

  “…Sorry, Brian. I guess I got a little carried away,” she admitted, guilt evident in her tone.

  I sighed and waved it off. “It’s fine. I’m not hurt. Besides, it’s a pretty cool invention.”

  Her eyes lit up instantly. “I know, right?!” she beamed, crossing her arms proudly.

  The kitten hopped off the table and trotted back over to me. It glanced around at the others before effortlessly phasing back into my chest.

  “Oh, now you want to come back inside?” I thought at it, mildly annoyed that it had left me to take the explosion on my own.

  It meowed in response. I could swear I sensed amusement in its tone.

  Before I could dwell on it any further, the clubroom door swung open.

  We all turned as Jamie walked in. His eyes flicked between us, the broken window, then back to us again. His jaw dropped slightly, shock written all over his face.

  “…What the hell happened?”