Chapter 144 CHAPTER 144
Sebastian sat on his desk as he rolled the pen between his fingers, back and forth, back and forth, until the plastic grew warm against his skin.
The classroom buzzed with low chatter, chairs scraping, someone laughing two rows behind him. The teacher’s voice floated from the front, words moving but not landing. None of it stayed. None of it mattered.
His eyes were fixed on the blank page in front of him.
He had been like this since morning - awake, present, breathing, but not fully there. Like someone had reached inside his head and pulled something loose, left it rattling around where it didn’t belong.
Something had happened to him - he knew that much.
The note.
That was the last solid thing he remembered.
He remembered standing up and walking towards the locker rooms.
And then…
Nothing.
Just a blank space where time should have been.
No matter how hard he pressed, no matter how deep he dug, the rest of the memory refused to rise. It was as if his mind hit a wall and slid off it every time he tried, leaving him with the same hollow ache and the same terrifying question.
What happened to me after that?
Sebastian squeezed his eyes shut.
Come on, he thought. Just one piece. One second. Anything.
That was when he heard it – A distant voice.
“Se-ba…”
His head snapped up.
The room was the same. The teacher was still talking. No one was looking at him. The voice must have been in his mind.
“Kael is that you?” Sebastian asked in his mind, he hoped it was Kael even though the voice sounded nothing like him and he couldn’t feel the familiar bond he felt when communicating with Kael.
The voice came again - faint, distorted, like it was being dragged through water.
“Se-ba-st….” He could swear the voice was calling to him. But it was too far away to hear clearly.
His heart kicked painfully against his ribs.
He closed his eyes again, slower this time, afraid that if he moved too fast, the sound would disappear.
“Kael?” he whispered under his breath.
Static answered him. Sharp, buzzing, invasive.
Then, through it…
“Don… tru…st…”
The words broke apart, stretched thin, snapped.
“Trust…”
“Kael…” Sebastian murmured, fingers digging into the desk. “Kael, what are you trying to say?”
The static flared louder, painful now, like pressure building behind his eyes. Names began to bleed through the noise, disjointed and overlapping.
“Liam… Lisa…Kane…Don’t…”
There was another static.
“They did something to me… You have to…”
His breath caught.
The princess.
The sound cut off abruptly, like a wire yanked free.
Sebastian’s eyes flew open.
The classroom slammed back into focus too fast. His pulse roared in his ears. His hands were shaking.
That wasn’t real, he told himself.
But his chest still burned like something had been torn away.
He pushed back from the desk so hard his chair screeched. A few students glanced at him. Someone whispered his name.
Sebastian didn’t care.
He bolted for the door.
The boys’ bathroom was empty when he stumbled inside. He went straight to the sink, turned the tap on full blast, and shoved his hands under the cold water.
He splashed his face once. Twice. Again.
Water dripped from his chin as he stared at his reflection - wide eyes, flushed skin, panic written too clearly to ignore.
“Get it together,” he muttered.
He pressed his palms against the sides of his head, fingers digging into his temples like he could physically hold his thoughts in place.
This is just stress. That’s all.
But the fear didn’t listen.
What if I’m losing it?
The thought came uninvited, sharp and cold.
What if I really was losing my mind?
I’m doing things I don’t remember.
I’m finding myself in places I can’t remember going.
And now… now I can hear voices in my head.
Sebastian squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his fingers into his temples as if that might push the thoughts away.
What if I’m going crazy?
What if the sickness never really left? What if whatever was wrong with him - the thing that made Kyle abandon him - was still there, buried deep in his mind, slowly rotting it from the inside out?
The images of the previous day suddenly flooded his mind
The locker room.
The screaming girls.
Their accusing faces.
The way they’d looked at him like he was something twisted, something wrong.
He swallowed hard.
Future Alpha - his mind supplied bitterly.
If he was going to be the future Alpha of Silverpine, he couldn’t afford this. He had already lost his wolf. If he lost his mind too, then what was left of him?
What kind of Alpha couldn’t even trust his own memories?
His chest tightened as another thought crept in - one he hated.
His younger brother.
The image of someone else standing where he was meant to stand, wearing the title that had been his since birth, made his stomach twist. If he broke, if he failed, if he lost control… he would be replaced. Just like that.
I can’t let that happen.
He dragged in a shaky breath.
He had to get a grip. On his thoughts. On his body. On whatever was happening to him. He had to find Kael. He had to understand what was wrong before it swallowed him whole.
The bell rang suddenly, loud and sharp, cutting through his thoughts.
The sound jolted him back into motion. He dried his hands on his shirt and pushed out of the bathroom, still dizzy, still half-disconnected from his body.
He barely registered the collision until a familiar voice snapped sharply in his ear.
“Don’t you watch where you’re going?”
It was Sarah.
He grabbed her wrist before she could step away, pulled her into the narrow space beside the janitor’s closet and shoved the door open with his shoulder.
“Sebastian…” she laughed softly as the door shut behind them. “If you wanted me alone, you could’ve just said so.”
She leaned in, lips curving, eyes glittering. “You want it that bad? Right here? At school?”
“No,” he said hoarsely. “Stop.”
Her smile faltered - just for a second.
“Something’s wrong with me,” he said, hands tightening on her arms. “I need you to listen.”
She tilted her head, feigning concern. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t remember things,” he said. “Whole pieces of time. They’re just gone.”
Sarah’s brows knit together. “Since when?”
“Since yesterday.” His voice cracked. “I keep hearing voices. Or I think I do. I don’t know anymore.”
She frowned surprised. “What kind of voices?”
“I don’t know” His grip tightened unconsciously. “I think I’m losing my mind.”
She placed her hand on his chest, stopping him.
“Sebastian,” she said softly, tilting her head just enough to look concerned. “Slow down. Start from the beginning.”
Her tone was gentle. Her eyes were sharp.
He tried to explain. The words came out uneven, frantic, tripping over each other. Sarah let him speak without interruption, her fingers curling lightly into his shirt as though anchoring him. She nodded in all the right places. She murmured small sounds of concern. She even pulled him closer when his voice faltered.
Inside, she counted every breath.
She already knew this part.
When he spoke about the gaps - about time slipping away, about waking up without knowing how he got there - her expression tightened with satisfaction. The spell had held.
Good.
She pressed her cheek briefly to his shoulder, hiding the faint smile that threatened to surface.
Then he mentioned the voices.
Sarah stiffened - just enough to be noticed.
“Voices?” she asked, carefully measured, as if the word unsettled her.
He nodded, hands trembling, trying to make sense of something that refused to stay whole. As he spoke, her brows knit together, her lips parting slightly in what looked like worry. But her mind was already racing ahead, adjusting, calculating.
When he mentioned the warning - don’t trust them - her grip on him tightened.
If Kael came back, then this would be bad for her, she thought. He had already stopped her once; she knew he could do it again.
Then he mentioned the princess...
Something flickered behind her eyes.
She relaxed.
Slowly. Deliberately.
He dragged a hand through his hair. “If this keeps going, I’m going to ruin everything. I can’t be like this.”
Her voice softened. “What do you think caused it?”
The answer rose before he could stop it.
“Lisa.”
Sarah’s eyes flickered.
“Since I saw her again,” he continued. “Since Cindy – Lisa - came back. I think she’s doing something to me.”
He reached into his pocket, pulled out the folded note with shaking hands and thrust it at her.
Sarah unfolded it slowly, though she knew every word by heart.
She studied it as if seeing it for the first time, then folded it again and pressed it back into his palm
“Well,” she said after a pause, her voice low and thoughtful, “that doesn’t surprise me.”
He pulled back slightly, searching her face.
“She was humiliated,” Sarah continued gently. “Rejected. Publicly.” She lifted a hand, brushing imaginary dust from his shoulder. “And now she’s powerful. Surrounded by people who would do anything for her.”
She let the implication hang.
“You’re human now,” she added, softly. “You wouldn’t even feel it if someone did something to you. Especially if it wasn’t meant to hurt you. Just… weaken you.”
His breathing turned shallow.
“You’re not crazy,” she said firmly. “You’re being targeted by the princess. You should be careful with her.”
The relief that washed over his face was immediate - and intoxicating.
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him before he could think too hard, pulling him into her chest. Sebastian sagged against her, shaking, desperate for something solid.
Sarah held him easily.
Her chin rested against his shoulder. Her fingers traced slow, soothing patterns into his back.
Behind his head, her smile returned.
Small. Cold. Triumphant.