After my little talk with Comet, I'd hurried back to the clock tower to meet up with Gabe and Olivia. The chimes sounding before the building was even in sight told me I was late. When I got there, I saw the two of them sitting on a bench not far from the entrance. Gabe was putting his inhaler back into his pocket. I hadn't seen him use that thing in years; I tried not to be worried about what that meant. Even from as far away as I was, I could hear him wheezing.

I sat down on the opposite side of the sidewalk and meowed to get their attention; I didn't want to get too close to him if I didn't have to. Olivia checked her phone before putting it back in her pocket.

"Where do you think he is?" she asked. Apparently, she hadn't noticed me yet. But with all the students still filing back and forth, I wasn't all that surprised.

"He'll be here, don't worry." Gabe said, his voice sounding scratchy.

"Maybe you should go back to the dorms and lie down," Oliva said. "You look kind of terrible."

She was right. His eyes were red, and I could still see that, despite the inhaler, he seemed to be breathing harder than normal.

"No way," Gabe shook his head. "I've known Evan for forever— I'm not going anywhere."

I really couldn't tell you how glad I was to hear Gabe say that. I'd been having a pretty rough time the past couple of weeks, and it was good to know that I wasn't completely alone; I had backup here.

"I know he's your best friend and everything, but I'm sure he wouldn't want—" Olivia started. Gabe put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head, stopping her mid-sentence.

"It's not like I've ever had to go to the hospital or anything for this," he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat and continued. "It looks worse than it is, trust me."

"...Are you sure?" Olivia asked, clearly trying to decide whether or not she believed him.

Gabe nodded, smothering a cough. I wasn't any more convinced than Olivia was, but Gabe's insisting that I wouldn't kill him did put my mind at ease. I hadn't actually realized how much the possibility was bothering me until then.

I meowed again, louder this time. I was starting to feel weird; it was like I was spying on them. Olivia looked up. When she saw me, she burst into a grin. Gabe looked over, following her line of sight. I got a good look at his face, and I would have sworn he was actually sick. But he still gave me a nod of greeting, trying to act like he wasn't feeling as bad as I was sure he was.

"Come here," Olivia said, motioning me over with her head. I hesitated, looking over at Gabe. Gabe nodded.

"I'm fine," he rasped.

I gave a short nod before darting across the walkway, avoiding the horde of feet trudging to and from the cafeteria.

"So, did you meet up with that Comet cat?" Olivia asked. She was clearly talking to me, but she was facing Gabe. I understood why she didn't want to be seen having a conversation with a cat, but I couldn't say I particularly liked it.

I gave a short nod. Olivia must have been watching me out of the corner of her eye, because she gave a nod of her own.

"Good," she said.

"Did he tell you how to revers—" Gabe broke off, coughing. Olivia was already getting out her laptop.

I started to nod, when something caught my ear. Chirping. And it was coming from the trees just behind the bench.

"Are you sure he's just a domesticated cat?"

Now, I'd been sniped at enough recently to recognize a bird's voice when I heard it. I looked casually around, trying to pretend I didn't know they were talking about me as I pinpointed their location.

"He's sitting there with humans, isn't he?" another one snapped.

I jumped up on the back of the bench, trying to get a better look. Olivia turned towards me, surprise on her face.

"Evan?" she asked quietly.

"What's wrong?" Gabe wanted to know.

I didn't bother to respond to either of them. They wouldn't understand me, and I suddenly had more important things to worry about than how to explain it anyway.

"He was over by the pond only a few minutes ago," the first bird insisted.

The bird was right.

Not only had I managed to crash a secret meeting of the Conspiracy, but I'd been seen at least twice with Comet. Had any of the birds noticed? And what about the time Comet and Rain were actually outside Olivia's window? If any of the birds had seen that, they might realize that Comet had been trying to solicit help from humans.

They almost definitely didn't know that I used to be human— I had almost no doubt about that. When those birds had been asking each other this morning if I was just a regular cat, the possibility that I might have been human at some point was never brought up. I was also pretty sure that they hadn't been discussing the possibility during the meeting I'd interrupted at the pond. If any of the birds had mentioned it before I got there, I was sure Comet would have let me know during our own meeting.

As the two birds continued twittering to each other, I made a decision. I couldn't let them know I understood them. If I was going to be sneaking into their headquarters tomorrow night, then I really couldn't afford for them to be suspicious. I also couldn't let them hang around and watch as I told Gabe and Olivia everything I'd learned. I only thought about it for a minute before leaping into action. They already thought I was a moron, so why not lean into it?

Without warning, I jumped off the back of the bench and made a beeline for the tree. I was scrabbling up into the first branches in a matter of seconds. Of course, the birds flew away before I was even halfway up the trunk. But that didn't really matter— I had absolutely no intention of catching a live bird anyway.

As they flew away, squawking about how much they hated cats, I meowed mournfully after them, trying to sound like I was crushed that they'd gotten away. Of course in truth, I was glad they were gone. After listening a few seconds to make sure I didn't hear any other birds, I climbed back down to where Olivia and Gabe were waiting. As I sat down in front of the bench, I couldn't help but notice that they both had strange looks on their faces.

"What was that about?" Olivia asked.

"Just felt... like a little bird chase?" Gabe asked gravelly.

I just shrugged. Then, I stood up and slowly made my way a few feet down the path. I turned around pointedly, waiting for Gabe and Olivia to get up and follow. They looked at each other for a minute before Olivia shrugged and stood up.

"I guess we can go somewhere else," she said.

Gabe nodded, a why-not? look on his face.

Satisfied that they were following, I made my way back to the courtyard at the library. I'd thought about going back to the dorms— it would definitely be bird-free. But I knew we couldn't go back to Gabe's room, and I wasn't sure if Olivia's roommate was in. At least the trees in the courtyard here were thin enough that I'd be able to spot any birds before they saw me talking to my friends.

Olivia opened her laptop and turned it on. As we waited for it to boot up, Gabe looked over at me.

"You look... cleaner," he croaked.

"...Yeah," I said, giving a kind of shrug.

"Did you take a bath?" he grinned.

I hissed; I didn't like the look on his face.

"You did!" Gabe beamed. He started laughing, but it quickly morphed into a series of coughs. Thankfully, Olivia's laptop came to life, and I could ignore Gabe.

"So what did Comet say?" she asked, setting the computer in front of me.

The birds are the Corvidae Conspiracy, I typed.

"Really?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Gabe nodded.

"What?" I asked, completely forgetting about the laptop. Why would he be acting like that was obvious?

Gabe looked at me with my head tilted to the side and broke into a grin. Apparently even as a cat, my confused face was unmistakable.

"Don't you know what—" he coughed. "What Corvidae means?"

I shook my head.

"Some English major," he said gravelly.

I snarled slightly, and his grin only grew wider.

"It's a family... family of birds," he said, his voice cracking as he did. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Crows, ravens... magpies... jays..."

Oh. Well, that actually did explain a few things. I wished I'd known that earlier. Maybe I would have done things a little differently if I had.

"So what do we have to do?" Olivia asked.

We? I asked.

"Of course. You know we'll help you," Olivia said. "I assume they want you to do something before they change you back?"

I nodded. But still, I hesitated. Gabe noticed and spoke up.

"There's no way we're letting you do this on your own," he told me. "Besides, right now you're kind of...tiny. You don't think you'll need backup?"

I shrugged. He did have a point.

There's a tree with some ley lines. We need to stop their ritual, I told them.

"Ok," Gabe nodded. "How?"

I shrugged. I had absolutely no idea, and Comet hadn't exactly been helpful.

"Well, where is this tree?" Olivia asked.

Near the English building, I typed.

"Wait, that big—" Gabe coughed. "That big oak?"

I nodded. Then I typed, Tomorrow.

"Tomorrow?"  Gabe asked, eyes wide. "...Not a lot of time, is it?"

"At least it means we'll get Evan back sooner," Olivia said. "I mean, the real Even— err... back to how he should be, I mean," she added quickly.

She cringed slightly at what she'd said, but I didn't let it bother me; I knew what she meant. And I agreed completely. I couldn't wait to get back to my real life and put all of this madness behind me.

"Well then," Gabe wheezed. "We need a plan... So, tell us everything you know."