Forks High School had always been predictable.
It was routine. Static.
For years, it remained the same quiet, uneventful, filled with humans too absorbed in their own self-contained bubbles to notice anything outside their limited perception.
It made blending in easy.
It made ignoring easy.
But today that wasn't possible.
Something had changed.
And it started the moment he walked onto campus.
The Cullens were accustomed to attention.
They were used to the stares, the whispers, the fascination that followed them wherever they went.
Humans didn't know what they were, but they sensed something was different, something beyond them.
And yet this wasn't that.
This was something else.
Because for the first time, they were the ones watching.
Rosalie was the first to react.
Her eyes locked onto him the second he stepped into view, brows furrowing slightly. There was something about the way he moved not cautious, not hesitant, just deliberate, as if he had always known exactly where he belonged.
People reacted to him.
Not in the way they reacted to the Cullens not with admiration, curiosity, or intimidation.
No, this was different.
They stepped aside subconsciously, instinctively, like animals clearing the path for something bigger, something stronger.
Rosalie crossed her arms, tension coiling in her shoulders.
"Who the hell is that?"
Alice didn't answer immediately.
Her fingers twitched at her side.
Her visionsnormally perfect, precise, reliablewere flickering, unstable, refusing to settle on a future.
She had tried searching for information on the new student the boy with an unwavering stride, broad shoulders, and the kind of presence that shouldn't exist in a place like this.
But every time she looked ahead, the future refused to settle.
There was nothing.
No clear timeline. No defined actions.
Just fragments, distorted images slipping through the cracks of her foresight.
That had never happened before.
Ever.
She curled her fingers slightly, her expression controlled, but her mind was running through every possibilityevery scenario that could explain why this one person wasn't visible to her.
Edith folded her arms, golden eyes locked onto Kane's stride as he moved through the crowd.
"Not a normal human," she murmured. "There's something... off."
Jasmine inhaled slowly through her nose, picking up scents that didn't quite make sense.
Not blood. Not sweat. Not fear.
Nothing familiar.
"They're avoiding him," she noted. "Not consciously. Instinctively."
Emily huffed slightly, her jaw tightening.
"We avoid people too."
"Not like that," Edith countered, voice sharper than before. "Look at him. He's not scared. He's not nervous. He's not trying to prove anything. He's just... here."
That was what unsettled them the most.
Most people, especially teenagers, had an air of uncertainty about them.
They doubted themselves. They hesitated. They searched for approval, for validation.
But Kane?
Kane walked like he owned the ground beneath his feet like nothing could possibly challenge him.
Alice exhaled through her nose, still watching, still waiting for something in her visions to settle.
"I can't see him."
Rosalie turned fully now, her attention snapping toward Alice.
"What do you mean, you can't see him?"
Alice clenched her jaw slightly, frustration creeping into her tone.
"Exactly what it sounds like. He should have a future. He should be part of the timeline, but... I get nothing."
Jasmine exchanged glances with Emily, tension settling between them.
"That's not possible,"* Emily muttered. "Even humans have futures".
"So either he's not human," Edith murmured, "or something's keeping him hidden."
Silence stretched between them.
Alice watched Kane closely, scanning his posture, the way he carried himself.
His movements were too fluid, too controlled, yet never tense.
He wasn't on guard the way a typical predator might be.
He wasn't searching for danger.
He simply existed completely confident, completely certain, as if nothing in this world could touch him.
That thought made something cold creep down Alice's spine.
And thenhe walked past.
No hesitation. No acknowledgment.
Kane didn't slow, didn't look at them, didn't react to their presence at all.
And that made it worse.
Rosalie stiffened slightly, folding her arms tighter.
"He didn't even glance at us."
"Like he already knew we'd be watching," Jasmine muttered.
Alice felt it againthe shift, the movement in time, her visions struggling, flickering but still, nothing settled.
Edith watched Kane disappear down the hallway, her jaw tight, her thoughts calculated.
"I don't trust this," she murmured.
Alice hesitated for half a second before speaking, her voice just above a whisper.
"Neither do I."