Sera couldn’t sleep.

That wasn’t new. She’d had trouble sleeping for years, ever since the vampire attack, ever since she’d heard her best friend scream and done nothing. The nightmares came less often now, but the restlessness remained. The feeling that something was watching. That something was waiting.

Tonight was worse than usual.

The training had been brutal. Derek’s new staff had arrived, and he’d been testing it against everyone, pushing his ghosts harder than ever. Mason’s heat shields were holding longer. Cora’s phasing was nearly silent. Lucian had run them through drill after drill until their arms shook and their lungs burned.

Sera had performed well. Her life sense had expanded again—she could feel the pulse of everyone in the Keep now, could distinguish between the guards on the walls and the cooks in the kitchen and the senior hunters in their quarters.

But she couldn’t shut it off.

Every heartbeat. Every breath. Every shift of weight in a sleeping body. The world was loud, and she couldn’t make it quiet.

She pulled on a jacket, slipped out of her room, and walked.

The campus was dark. The lanterns from the festival had been taken down, and the only light came from the distant streetlamps and the half-moon overhead. The buildings were shadows. The trees were shadows. The paths were empty.

Sera walked without purpose. Past the dining hall. Past the library. Past the training yard where they’d spent so many hours.

Her life sense followed her, stretching ahead, feeling for threats. Nothing. Just sleeping students. Just quiet.

Then she felt something else.

Small. Warm. Alive.

Not human.

She stopped.

The presence was near the edge of the quad, tucked under a bench, its heartbeat fast but steady. Not afraid. Just... waiting.

Sera walked toward it.

A cat looked up at her.

It was small, grey, with patches of darker fur that looked almost black in the moonlight. Its eyes were yellow—not the yellow of sickness, but the yellow of old things, patient things. It didn’t run when she approached. Didn’t hiss. Just watched her.

"You’re not supposed to be here," she said.

The cat blinked.

"Animals aren’t allowed on campus. Health codes or something."

The cat yawned.

Sera crouched. "You’re not afraid of me."

The cat stood, stretched, and walked toward her. It stopped inches from her knee, sniffed the air, and sat down.

Its tail curled around its paws.

Sera stared at it. "You’re weird."

The cat blinked again.

She reached out. Slowly. The cat let her touch its head. Its fur was soft, warm, and something else—something that made her life sense flicker. The cat wasn’t just a cat. There was something beneath the surface. Old. Quiet. Watching.

"Okay," she said. "Fine."

She picked it up.

The cat settled against her chest, purring.

---

The common room was empty when she returned.

She sat on the couch, the cat in her lap, and stared at the dark windows. The cat purred. Its heartbeat was steady, calming, a small anchor in the noise of her senses.

She needed a name.

Not something obvious. Not Shadow or Midnight or any of the other cliches.

She looked at the cat’s fur—grey, with patches of dark. Like lightning. Like storm clouds.

"Bolts," she said.

The cat looked up at her.

"You hate it?"

The cat yawned.

"That’s a yes."

The cat started purring again.

---

The next day

Morning came too fast.

Sera had slept on the couch, Bolts curled on her chest, her life sense finally quiet. The others found her there.

Cora was first. She stopped in the doorway, coffee mug in hand, and stared.

"Is that a cat?"

Sera opened her eyes. "Yes."

"Where did it come from?"

"The quad."

Cora walked closer. Bolts lifted its head, regarded her with yellow eyes, and went back to sleep.

"It’s... not scared of me."

"It’s not scared of anything."

Mason appeared behind Cora. "Cats aren’t allowed in the Keep."

"Then don’t tell anyone."

He looked at Bolts. Bolts looked at him. Something passed between them—recognition, maybe, or just curiosity.

"That’s a weird cat," Mason said.

"They’re all weird."

Derek came in last, his new staff in hand, his ghosts trailing behind him. Bolts sat up.

The ghosts stopped.

Derek stopped. "What’s wrong?"

Bolts jumped off the couch, walked to Derek, and sat at his feet. It looked up at him. Then it looked at the ghosts.

Dr. Blackwood materialized, his translucent face unreadable. "That animal can see us."

"What?"

"It’s watching. It’s not confused. It’s watching."

Derek looked down at Bolts. The cat blinked slowly.

"Okay," Derek said. "That’s unsettling."

Bolts yawned.

---

The cat stayed.

No one officially adopted it. It just... remained. It slept on Sera’s bed. It followed Derek to training. It watched Mason practice his heat shields from a safe distance. It ignored Cora entirely, which drove her crazy.

And it confused the ghosts.

Dr. Blackwood refused to go near it. "The creature has no respect for the boundary between living and dead."

"It’s a cat," Derek said.

"It’s a spy."

"It’s a stray."

Dr. Blackwood muttered something about beastkin familiars and vanished.

Bolts sat in the corner, grooming its paw.

Lucian watched it from across the room.

The cat turned its head, met his eyes, and held the gaze longer than any normal animal should.

"What do you see?" he asked.

The cat blinked.

Then it looked away.

---

Sera found him later, standing by the window, looking out at the dark.

"You’re thinking about the cat."

"I’m thinking about a lot of things."

Bolts was on the windowsill, tail curled, eyes half-closed.

"It’s not normal," Lucian said.

"No," Sera agreed. "But neither are we."

She picked up the cat, cradled it against her chest. Bolts purred.

"We’re keeping it."

Lucian looked at her. Then at the cat. Then back at her.

"Fine."

Sera walked away, Bolts in her arms.

The cat’s yellow eyes stayed on Lucian until she turned the corner.

Then they disappeared.

And the Keep was quiet.