I got home, exhausted, frustrated, and disappointed. I snuck into my room through the window, hoping my parents didn’t notice that I hadn’t come home yet. It was already 5 in the morning, but at least tomorrow was Saturday, so I could sleep in.

  I changed into some shorts and got into bed. The cat hopped out of me and curled up at the end of the bed.

  “I know I said I’d feed you, but it’s gonna have to wait until morning,” I told it mentally while petting it.

  A soft meow echoed in my mind, and I could tell it didn’t mind.

  With a soft smile, I laid down and went to sleep.

  I didn’t wake up until late afternoon, still a bit exhausted from the night before. I felt the top of my head and noted the ears weren’t there. I got out of bed, stretched, then grabbed my phone off my nightstand. I was shocked to see multiple missed calls and ignored texts from both Claire and Mark. The oldest messages were asking when I’d arrive at Claire’s soccer game, and the most recent ones expressed their clear disappointment that I’d been a no-call, no-show, even though I’d promised to go.

  “Damn it,” I muttered under my breath through gritted teeth.

  I had completely let them down. I’d forgotten I’d even promised. With everything that had happened yesterday, the last thing on my mind had been a high school soccer game. There was a missing kid out there that we needed to find. I could patch things up with my friends later.

  I put my phone down and headed out of my room to take a shower.

  As soon as I opened the door, I saw my mother standing in front of it, about to knock.

  She was wearing an apron, and we shared the same brown hair color—hers was tied in a loose bun.

  "So, you do live here," my mother joked with a smirk. "We were beginning to think we never even had a son."

  I rolled my eyes. "I've been busy with... school stuff."

  "How much school stuff, Brian? Because your father and I haven't seen you in two days. Is there something you're not telling me? Are you okay?" My mother’s expression shifted, and I could tell she was giving me that look—the one that screamed, Don’t lie to me.

  I sighed, buying time to think about what to say. On one hand, I never liked lying to my mom, and besides, it never really worked anyway. On the other hand, I couldn’t exactly tell her that for the past two days, I’d been out fighting demons and investigating an abduction.

  She looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to answer. I’d gotten a bit lost in thought.

  "I'm fine, Mom," I said, putting on my best poker face. I figured it was better to try to lie than tell the truth. My mom’s eyes narrowed, her arms crossed, searching me for any sign of deception. Then, her gaze drifted past me and into my room.

  Shit, the ca—

  "Did you get a cat?" she asked, looking at the cat, which was curled up and sleeping at the tail of my bed.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Cat, wake up, I sent mentally, while responding aloud to my mom. "Y-yep, it was a stray. It was starving and…lonely, so I rescued it. You know me, heh" I said, coming up with the lie on the spot. My nerves were starting to get the best of me.

  The cat was awake now, and it must’ve heard what I said, because it was glaring at me.

  My mom noticed. "Heh, I don’t think it likes you very much. But you should’ve asked before bringing a stray animal into the house."

  "I know, Mom, I’m sorry, but it just looked so depressed and lonely," I said, trying to sound genuine.

  Go look at her with sad eyes, I sent to the cat.

  The cat sighed but did exactly what I said, walking up to my mom and looking at her with big, watery eyes. I had to hold back a laugh at the sight, but my mom folded immediately, picking up the cat and nuzzling it.

  "Oh, you’re so cute. I can’t just kick you out to the streets," she cooed. The cat looked at me, pleading for help.

  After a moment of that, she finally put it down, and the cat ran to my bed, curling up into a ball as if traumatized.

  "Well, I’ll leave you two alone," my mom said, turning to go. "But we’re having movie night at 7, so be home by then, Brian."

  "I will," I responded.

  She turned to leave, heading downstairs, but then paused and called back, "Oh, and breakfast is on the stove, honey."

  "Thanks," I said.

  She smiled warmly at me before turning and going back downstairs.

  I mentally asked the cat if it wanted to come shower with me, a smirk on my face as I asked.

  It ignored me, but I could feel that it didn’t find my joke funny. I closed my room door and headed to the bathroom to shower.

  ---

  After getting out of the shower, I went back to my room and got dressed. Once I was done, I decided to check my phone to see if the others had decided on a meeting time. When I checked the group chat, I saw that Aya had sent a text an hour ago, telling everyone to meet at her house. I guess I had taken too long in the shower.

  I mentally told the cat to hop into my body. When it did, I noticed the energy I could feel from it was significantly more than yesterday.

  That’s strange, I thought, but I shrugged it off. Opening my window, I climbed out, shut it behind me, and then started hopping from rooftop to rooftop.

  The trip to Aya’s wasn’t long since she lived nearby. When I arrived, I hopped onto the roof of her house, hung down from the ledge, and knocked on her window, grinning. Looking through the window, I saw everyone was already there. Aya and Becky were on Aya’s bed, staring at the TV. Amanda was sitting in a nearby chair, also watching. They were all wearing regular clothes, which was a bit surprising to me since I’d only seen them in our school uniforms. I noticed that Aya, in particular, was dressed a bit more classy than the others. It almost made her look…cute.

  When I knocked, they all flinched, as if they were on edge. Aya turned to the window, sighing in frustration. The grin on my face shifted to confusion as I wondered why she looked so pissed. Then I remembered—this was Aya.

  She opened the window, and I hopped in.

  "What's up?" I asked, a little sheepish.

  She scowled at me, arms crossed. "You're late."

  "I know, I know. I’m sorry," I replied.

  “You missed... a lot,” Amanda said with a concerned look on her face as she turned back to the TV.

  I followed her gaze and saw what was on the screen. It was a news story. The bottom headline read, “6 Kids Were Abducted Last Night.” The reporter was showing pictures of the missing children. After that, they cut to another reporter interviewing a group of people— the missing children’s parents. In that group, I saw the mother from last night. Her face was pale, and she looked like she hadn’t slept. She looked…broken.

  My fist clenched in frustration. To think it wasn’t just that one little girl but six kids. It was insane. We had to find them—all of them—and make whoever did this pay.