Sphinx's Secret

Marcus's life was basically one long surveillance mission. Being sixteen meant constantly operating as a reluctant spy in your own existence—monitoring who was looking, who wasn't, and most importantly, who was watching who watch whom. His Instagram game was weak, his ability to casually lean against lockers nonexistent, and his conversational skills hovered somewhere between awkward and train wreck.

Then there was Sphinx.

She materialized in his backyard during sophomore year—a sleek, obsidian cat with eyes that held approximately zero respect for personal boundaries. Sphinx stared at him with what he assumed was judgment. Probably accurate judgment. She started showing up daily, demanding tuna and apparently emotional labor.

"You're the only one who gets me," Marcus told her, scratching behind her ears as she purred like a tiny motorboat. "Pathetic, right?"

Sphinx declined to comment.

The incident with Chloe happened two weeks before homecoming. Marcus had been low-key spying on her from across the cafeteria—not in a creepy way, in a poetic, longing-from-afar way that definitely wasn't creepy if you didn't think about it too hard—which he didn't, until the moment she caught him staring and he choke-coughed into his chocolate milk.

Mortifying. Absolutely catastrophic. The kind of moment that plays on an endless loop in your brain at 3 AM.

Later that afternoon, as thunder rattled his bedroom window, Sphinx was sprawled across his homework when lightning flashed, illuminating everything in that stark, blue-white electric moment. His phone lit up with a notification: Chloe had DM'd him.

*"Saw you watching me today lol"*

Marcus froze. This was it. The end. The social apocalypse.

*"...also your cat is in my backyard? thinks she owns the place"*

Marcus stared at Sphinx, who looked entirely too pleased with herself. She'd been living a double life. A double agent. His cat was better at having a social life than he was.

*"That's Sphinx,"* he typed back, fingers shaking. *"She's very loyal. To everyone apparently."*

*"She's cute. kind of like her owner ;)"*

Outside, another bolt of lightning cracked the sky open. Marcus's heart did something complicated and gymnastic. Sphinx yawned, stretched, and hopped off the bed, clearly done with his emotional breakthrough.

"You're still fired," he called after her. But he was already planning what to wear to school tomorrow.