The sky was completely dark as I walked down the path in the middle of campus. The streetlamps, however, were shining disturbingly brightly, reflecting off the damp concrete in front of me and making me feel exposed.

Normally, I would have scrambled through the bushes, or at least clung to the shadows at the edges of the buildings. Being out in the open like this felt dangerous, especially when this was supposed to be a covert mission. But I couldn't help it; Gabe and Olivia were too big to hide. I decided to move to the side of the path, as a kind of compromise.

The two of them walked behind me, hand-in-hand, acting like any ordinary couple out for an evening walk. I pretended to ignore them, not wanting any stray birds around to know that they were with me— or that I was with them. Still, I could hear them talking behind me.

"I can't believe we're really doing this!" Olivia said, She'd been trying to keep her voice down, but it still carried easily to my ears. She sounded almost excited, which caught my attention. "A fight between good and evil, magic, talking animals? It's like a modern-day fairy tale!"

Hearing that, I actually turned and stared at her, one paw still in the air. She seemed to be almost bouncing on her toes as she walked. Gabe had a look on his face that seemed to be a perfect reflection of my own thoughts: this was anything but a fairy tale.

I'd always thought fairy tales were nice little stories that started with 'once upon a time' and ended with 'and they all lived happily ever after'. If this was a fairy tale, I couldn't imagine anything worse. Besides, in my experience, there was no such thing as happily ever after. Things just didn't have a tendency to work out that well for me, as my current situation would attest to.

"You think this is a fairy tale?" Gabe asked, his voice reduced to a near-whisper from the sheer amount of time he'd spent around me. And while I did feel bad about that, I was still glad to know he was willing to help despite it.

"Well, sure," she shrugged. "Why not?"

"Well, there are no talking animals for one." Gabe told her.

"Evan talks," she countered. "Well, types. And he talks to cats. That counts."

Gabe just shook his head, and I couldn't help but scoff.

"Well, if this is a fairy tale, it's a terrible one," Gabe murmured.

I agreed wholeheartedly. At least it would all be over after tonight; either I'd succeed and get my life back or...

Well, the or just didn't bear thinking about. Instead, I focused on what Comet had told me yesterday.

"When the lunar eclipse starts, the ley lines will light up. They'll keep getting brighter and brighter as the moon moves into the earth's shadow. Once the moon is completely within the earth's shadow, the total lunar eclipse will start. The moon will glow the color of blood, and the evil Corvidae Conspiracy's ceremony will begin. The lunar eclipse will last for a total of three hours, thirty-nine minutes, and thirty-two seconds. During that time, you must sneak inside and put an end to this once and for all... And don't let them start up again after you disrupt them."

"That's... an oddly specific amount of time," I said. And here I'd thought I was the only cat on campus who could even tell time.

"Are you questioning me, human?" Comet asked. I couldn't help but bristle at his tone.

"I was just wondering how you knew it down to the second," I replied.

"This is the most important mission of our lives. Do not think we would be unprepared."

"And what, exactly, are you going to be doing for this mission?" I'd asked. So far, I'd been left with the distinct impression that I'd be doing this solo.

"Rain and I have gathered our forces," Comet said, sounding almost annoyed that I'd dared to ask the question at all. "We'll be stationed around the perimeter— on the ground, in the trees— to prevent them from calling in reinforcements. The only members of the Corvidae Conspiracy that you should encounter will be the ones already at the ceremony."

Now, I just had to hope that was true.

We were still walking down the path when I thought I spotted something on the ground, ten or fifteen feet in front of us. I couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it seemed to be reflecting the light in a weird way. I paused, trying to figure out what I was looking at. I wished I was taller— then maybe I'd be at a better angle to see it. Finally, I decided I'd have to take a closer look.

I bounded over, leaving Gabe and Olivia behind. As I approached, I could see a kind of shine on the ground that seemed to get brighter the closer I got. I was practically on top of it before it finally started to dawn on me. Could this be the ley line that Comet had been talking about?

It looked almost like someone had dragged a line of sparkly Day-Glo green paint across the concrete. It stretched into the grass, but I couldn't see it more than a foot or two into the lawn. If the grass was a little bit shorter, it'd probably be easier.

I gingerly put my foot down on the line. Nothing seemed to happen. I'm not sure what I'd been expecting, exactly. Maybe a flash of light, or maybe the line would extinguish itself altogether. Wouldn't that have been nice? It'd probably mean I'd ruined those stupid birds' plan from all the way out here, and I could just head on home now. But nothing that dramatic occurred. I thought I felt a slight buzz running through my forepaw up to my shoulder, but that was about it. And if I were being honest with myself, even that wasn't particularly noticeable.

"Evan?" Gabe asked.

I jumped, not realizing they'd come up so close behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Gabe snickering.

"You're much easier to scare like this," he said, trying to wipe the smirk off his face. Once he'd gotten a reasonable amount of control over that grin, he asked, "What'd you find?"

"Here," I mewed, tapping on the line. He just wrinkled his brow. Did he really not see it? It looked like Comet was right about them being more-or-less invisible if you were over a certain height.

"What?" Gabe asked again. But Olivia was narrowing her eyes in thought.

"You found one, didn't you?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Really?" Gabe asked. He made a move like he was going to bend down before stopping himself. He took a few steps back, looking almost apologetic as he did. Then, he lowered himself to the ground a few feet away from me. "Hey, you're right," he said, sounding surprised.

"Great— then let's follow it, shall we?" Olivia asked. Gabe and I both nodded.

I made my way through the chest-high grass, my friends in tow. We'd only cut the corner of that particular lawn, and then I darted through a hedge, back onto another walkway. I'd been about to continue following that line, but Olivia called after me to wait up as they took the long way around the hedge. I had to admit, I'd almost forgotten that they wouldn't be able to just follow me.

At this point, they'd completely abandoned their attempts to look like they were just out for a casual stroll. I kept an ear out for any birds as I stalked at a slight angle down the path and into yet another stretch of lawn.

I walked with my head angled down slightly, staring only at the line in front of me. The neon-green glow on the forest-green grass wasn't exactly a glaring contrast. I'd been so focused on the foot or so in front of me that I didn't actually pay attention to where we were going. It wasn't until I heard Gabe grumble something about that big tree that I even looked up.

We were in the middle of the grassy area just behind my old English building. Directly in front of us was the giant oak tree I used to sit under when I'd first started going to this school. In the almost non-existent light, it looked forlorn and haunting. Clearly, we were going to be giving that thing as wide a berth as possible.

As we approached, the glow from the ley line kept getting brighter. I thought it was because I was getting better at tracking it— it was only a straight line, after all. But then Gabe's voice directed me towards the sky.

"Look at the moon," he whispered.

I turned and looked over my shoulder at where he was pointing. The moon was already starting to turn a deep shade of blood red. Clearly, the eclipse was upon us.