"What? You mean the birds?" I asked, surprised.

Was he saying that all this time, their big, bad nemesis was a bunch of birds? Though I guessed that would explain why all the birds I'd seen recently seemed to hate me on sight. I'd just assumed they hated me for other, more mundane reasons. After all, I'd been more than willing to try catching one just this morning. I suppressed a shudder at the thought of what'd I'd have done once I did.

"Of course the birds," Comet scoffed. "You idiot! Who else would I be talking about?"

"So...the birds are the ones trying to take over the school?" I asked again. Somehow, I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. I'd been hyping myself up for some big, bad cabal of supervillians. Human supervillians.

"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable," he scoffed. "Weren't you paying any attention when Lady Butterscotch— I mean, Rain— and I found you in that human domicile?"

I scoffed, acting like of course I remembered. I was pretty sure they'd mentioned something about it, at least. But I hadn't really cared at the time. When I didn't say anything, Comet apparently felt the need to continue with his dressing-down.

"Why are you here anyway?" he snapped. "We thought you'd gone feral."

"Feral?" I asked, not liking the sound of that. It had never occurred to me that he'd noticed what I'd been up to lately. Somehow, that hit just a little too close to home.

"We tried to reach out to you. Several times. You didn't respond," he said matter-of-factly.

I thought back. I vaguely remembered a black cat coming up to me once when I'd managed to grab part of a steak taco that someone had left behind. I'd chased him off, fiercely defending my prize; it was the best meal I'd managed to get the entire time I was out here. I guess that cat could have been Comet. And there was that other cat I'd seen who looked like a short-haired Siamese...

But if I wasn't defending my food, I had a tendency to run away any time anyone came near me— human or cat. Was it possible that I actually had seen them? And how long had I been out of it?

"We hate to see it, but it does happen," Comet said.

"...Does it happen a lot?" I asked. Were there others like me?

I thought back to the Missing posters plastered around the school. Of course, the ones I'd remembered were the ones I'd seen of me. I was still a little horrified to admit I hadn't recognized them until this afternoon. Were there posters of other kids that these cats had just made disappear?

"...More often than we'd like," he admitted slowly.

"How often do you actually do this kind of thing?"

"Only when absolutely necessary."

I wanted to ask if it was absolutely necessary for them to do it to me, but I didn't. Apparently, the school and then the world at large were at stake. And if they truly believed that, then yeah, I guess this would probably fall under that category. 

"Good job not actually talking to the Corvidae, by the way. It seems you've managed to convince them you're feral too." Comet said, interrupting my thoughts. "You could actually be the best spy we've had in a long time."

And that brought me back to why I'd sought him out in the first place.

"So what is it you want from me?" I asked.

"To help save the world," Comet said, with a little too much grandiosity.

"Yeah, no kidding. What's that mean exactly?"

Comet sighed.

"During the lunar eclipse, the ley lines will light up. You'll be able to follow one from the corner of the gray building with the strange statue out front— the one that looks like a human head rolled on its side."

I nodded. I knew exactly where that was. It was the building across from where where Professor Ekster taught. I'd always wondered what that statue was all about. But I pushed that thought aside— if I ever wanted a chance to find out, I was going to have to focus on what Comet was saying. This was going to be important, and I couldn't afford to fail.

"Follow the ley line from there, to where it meets up with all the others." Comet continued. "It'll be somewhere near the old oak tree in the middle of campus."

"But you don't know where exactly?" I asked, wondering how that could be possible.

Some soldiers they turned out to be! Was I really the last hope for all of this? I'd kind of suspected they were incompetent, especially when they cursed me without any explanation or discussion. Did they know if I wanted to do it? If I had the skills? Clearly not— I'd been harrowingly close to losing my mind and abandoning the entire mission. Still, I was a little shocked by the sheer depth of ineptitude on display.

"They're only visible in the moonlight. How often do you wander around campus in the dark?" Comet asked pointedly.

I shrugged, not willing to acknowledge that he might— just this once— have a point.

"They'll only be visible when you're less than two feet from them. Any higher, and you won't be able to see the glimmer they emit. Remember, you'll only have one chance to stop the cult."

I nodded, figuring that if I failed, they'd be onto me and we'd have to come up with a whole new plan.

"Ok. So I'll take a look around, try to get a feel for what's going on near the tree. Then, we can meet back here," I told him. With any luck, I'd be able to get enough information to figure out a plan.

"Don't be ridiculous," Comet cut into my thoughts, "You'll be going tomorrow night."

"...To check the place out?" I asked, even thought I got the distinct impression that wasn't what he was talking about.

Comet sighed like he was truly, fundamentally disappointed in me as a person.

"Tomorrow, you'll be putting a stop to The Conspiracy once and for all," he said.

"What do you mean?"  I'd just gotten on board with this mission like three minutes ago. They weren't even going to give me a few days to see what I was up against?

"The lunar eclipse is tomorrow." Comet said.

"But...how can it be tomorrow?" I asked incredulously. "You told me it was like three weeks away."

"I did," Comet confirmed. "Two and a half weeks ago, when I'd tried to debrief you."

"...That wasn't... I wasn't... How could it be..." I just stared at him, trying to process that.

I could hardly think. I knew I'd lost a little perspective there for a while, especially time-wise. And yeah, mentally I had definitively been more cat than Evan. But it couldn't have been for more than two whole weeks! Could it?

"You've been running around this campus by yourself for a long time," he said solemnly. "And I am sorry about that."

He did seem sorry at least.

I started shaking my head in disbelief. What he was saying didn't even make any sense. I would have sworn I was only on my own for a few days— a week at the absolute most. Although, when I thought back on it, I had become quite the expert in pizza-hunting down at the quad.

How many days had I spent running from the janitor, stealing food and making my little hideout into a home of sorts? How many days had I wandered around the school, first as a sort of distraction, and then as a way to try remembering? And that didn't even take into account the days I'd spent after I'd forgotten.

"We should have prepared you better for this," he admitted.

"Was it really more than two weeks ago?" I asked.

Comet held his head in shame, and I knew my answer.

"I do apologize for how we handled this," he said.

I nodded, taking in a deep, somewhat shaky breath. The whole thing was definitely disturbing, but it did make sense. But I had more important things to worry about at the moment. Because apparently, these ridiculous cats had pinned their tiny hopes on me. And that meant that it didn't matter how they'd tricked me, or how long I'd been roaming around campus in a daze. I was going to have to sneak into the headquarters of the Corvidae Cult and put a stop to all of this once and for all.

I turned back to Comet. I listened intently as he told me everything they'd managed to learn about the Corvidae Conspiracy and how I was supposed to stop them.