The morning sun in Forks was more of a suggestion than a reality. A thick fog clung to the ground like a nosy neighbor peeking through your blinds, and the overcast sky filtered the light into something more akin to a soft gray whisper. Still, for Sebastian, it might as well have been the opening act of a divine comedy.
He stood on a mossy hill that overlooked Forks High School like a stalker with slightly more style. Wrapped in his hoodie, hood up, hands in the pockets like a rebellious anime protagonist, Sebastian observed from the treeline.
Below him, the students of Forks were arriving one by one, trickling in like sluggish ants. The lot was a parade of secondhand cars, worn tires squealing faintly as they rolled onto wet asphalt. The school itself looked… mundane. Perfectly average. A few brick buildings, clean-cut lawn, an American flag flapping half-heartedly in the misty wind.
And then, the plot arrived.
A beat-up red truck came into view, pulling into a parking spot that clearly hadn't been repainted since the Reagan administration. The truck sputtered like it had more years than horsepower.
Bella Swan.
The walking plot device. Future chaos magnet. The girl who would unknowingly trigger a domino of emotional breakdowns and sparkly drama.
Sebastian tilted his head, watching as she stepped out of the truck. Ske looked a bit overwhelmed already, eyes scanning the school like she expected it to burst into flames. Her aura radiated main character energy even from this distance.
"Yep," Sebastian muttered. "That's her. One existential crisis away from setting off the narrative bomb."
He leaned forward slightly, brushing a branch aside as another car entered the lot.
This one sleek. Shiny. Clearly compensating for something.
The Cullens had arrived.
One by one, they stepped out like a magazine ad for immortal beauty. Rosalie, cold and stunning. Emmett, all brawn and overconfidence. Jasper followed behind, walking closely beside a girl with reddish-brown hair and kind eyes- Emely.
Sebastian smirked,
"Ah, so that's the mate Jasper ended up with. Not bad. Doesn't look like they bite each other. Much."
They moved in pairs, Rosalie and Emmett, clearly mated. Jasper and Emely, close but steady, a soft kind of bond that didn't scream passion but hummed with familiarity. Each of them walked in step, their movements too synchronized, too fluid to be anything other than practiced.
And then came the two outliers.
Edward, brooding as ever. Alone. Walking slightly apart from the others, his face drawn in that classic tortured-artist expression that made Sebastian want to hurl a sarcastic poem at him.
And her.
Alice.
She walked like she didn't quite touch the ground. Short, sprightly, dressed with that odd balance of whimsy and fashion. her spiky black hair bounced with each step, and though she smiled at her siblings, there was something distant in her eyes.
And then… she paused.
Her head tilted.
Her entire body stilled.
Sebastian's soul practically convulsed.
The tether- the golden pull he'd felt for days, lit up like a star gone supernova. His heart thudded, one, the again harder. The world around him shifted just a little, like the entire forest had inhaled.
She sensed him.
Alice turned, her sharp, curious gaze scanning the trees. Not frantically. Almost dreamily. Like she knew something, someone, was watching her.
Sebastian moved.
Fast.
A shift in vectors. A flick of energy.
He blurred out of the clearing and vanished into the woods before her eyes could lock onto his form. The mist swallowed him like a magician's curtain.
Back against a tree, he sucked in a breath.
"Holy hell. That's her."
His voice barely a whisper, filled with awe, nerves, and something dangerously close to vulnerability.
The mate bond had fully snapped in place.
And it was her.
Alice Cullen. The precog fashion icon. The psychic ball of glitter and sunshine.
Sebastian laughed, soft and disbelieving. "Of course it's her. Of course the universe hands the most unhinged romantic connection possible to me."
The tether was still there, vibrating faintly. Even hidden, even with distance, he could feel her on the other end of it. A presence not in his mind, but in his being.
He peeked back through the trees.
She had resumed walking, but slower now. Pensive. She glanced over her shoulder once more before catching up with her family. Her brow was furrowed, lips slightly parted.
"She knows I'm here," Sebastian muttered. "She felt it. And she doesn't even know what it is yet."
He grinned again, the smirk returning with a vengeance. His earlier nervous awe melting into something far more Sebastian.
"Well, at least we're starting off mysterious. Gotta keep the mystique alive. I'll be the cryptid in the fog until further notice."
With a flick of his fingers , he redirected a few mist particles just for fun and turned away from the school.
Tomorrow, he'd meet her properly.
Tomorrow. the threads would tangle.
And tomorrow, the chaos would begin,
But for now?
He disappeared into the woods once more, humming the Mission: Impossible theme again, still off-key, but with slightly more confidence.
END CHAPTER 8