My cat Urus - 4

Brad finally made it home without getting spotted. A miracle, really, especially considering the whole being a girl thing. He’d used his hoodie to hide most of the changes, ducked into the side gate, and snuck back into his room like a thief.

The second the door clicked shut behind him, he collapsed onto his bed.

“Okay,” he muttered, staring at the ceiling. “Not doing that again.”

“Why not?”

The voice was so close and casual it almost sounded human. Urus drifted down from the ceiling, materializing slowly like mist becoming solid.

“You already know why not,” Brad snapped, sitting up. His voice was back to normal, deeper, familiar. The transformation had faded sometime on the ride home, thankfully.

Urus gave him a smug look. “But you were graceful. The form suits you.”

Brad pointed a finger at him. “We need rules. If you’re going to be in my head, in my life, there are going to be rules.”

Urus tilted his head, curious.

Brad took a deep breath. “You want to observe humans? Fine. I’ll help you. But no more random transformations. No tricks, no experiments unless I agree to it. Got it?”

Urus drifted in slow circles above the bed. “And if I refuse?”

“Then I stop talking to you. You get nothing. No learning, no reactions, no insight. Just a silent teenager ignoring the glowing alien in his bedroom.”

The silence that followed was oddly heavy.

Finally, Urus descended and coiled into a feline-like shape near the pillow.

“Very well,” he said slowly. “I will not transform you without permission. However…”

Brad narrowed his eyes. “However?”

“You showed a remarkable response to the shift. There is… potential. If you agree to allow the transformation again, under your terms, your timing, I will comply.”

Brad hesitated. He didn’t want to agree, but some part of him knew this thing wasn’t going to give up. And worse, some very, very small part of him was curious about what had happened.

He folded his arms.

“Fine. On my terms. Only when I say so. And only for a limited time.”

Urus’s eyes glowed faintly. “Deal.”

The air shimmered between them for a second, a ripple of agreement, unseen but felt. Brad exhaled.

“Good,” he muttered. “Now leave me alone. I have homework.”

The next morning, things seemed… normal.

Brad brushed his teeth. Wore his usual clothes. Grabbed his bag and biked to school. Urus was strangely quiet, as if he was giving Brad space.

Classes started. Brad chatted with Marcus again. At lunch, he joked with Jenna and even managed to forget, briefly, that a magical space-being was watching his every move.

Until third period.

As he sat down, a strange warmth bloomed again in his stomach, not the full-body rush from before. Just a flicker.

Something was off.

He shifted in his seat. The hem of his shirt felt longer. The collar tugged a little differently at his neck.

He glanced down.

His shirt was… the wrong cut.

Slightly more curved. Slightly more fitted.

His heart stopped.

“Urus,” he whispered harshly.

No response.

He looked around the room, tense. No one noticed yet. He kept his head down and tugged his sleeves. Maybe he was imagining it.

Then he saw it.

A faint shimmer outside the window, a floating glimmer that pulsed with amusement.

“Urus!” Brad snapped under his breath. “We had a deal!”

No answer.

His jeans were tightening again.

He bolted up, pretending to excuse himself, heart hammering as he rushed for the bathroom, again.

“Urus, I swear to god..!”

As he passed a group of students in the hallway, one girl turned and said, “Hey, new girl, you okay?”

Brad didn’t stop running.