They skidded down the slope, leaping over rocks and broken limbs. Behind them, laughter echoed, too synchronized to be real. Jude dared a glance back and saw them at the ridge, silhouetted by moonlight. Not giving chase. Watching.
"They’re letting us go," Sophie gasped.
"They want us to think we escaped," Jude said. "This is a ga to them now."
When they finally slowed, heartbeats thundering, Sophie collapsed beside a fallen log. Jude dropped beside her, arms braced on his knees.
"I can’t believe Stella’s gone too," she whispered. "I thought, "
"She lasted longer than most," he said. "But it’s not over."
"She kissed earlier today," Sophie said softly. "It felt... real."
Jude closed his eyes. "Maybe so part of them is still in there. That’s why this hurts so much."
They sat in silence, the jungle humming around them.
And then a new sound broke through the night.
Footsteps.
Not rushing. Not quiet. Just... steady. Approaching from the east.
Jude stood, his body stiff. Sophie rose beside him.
From the trees, Emma erged, clutching Natalie’s hand. They both looked winded but unhard.
"We made it to the old watcher site," Emma said quickly. "Nothing happened. No response."
"It’s like the watchers are gone," Natalie added. "Or hiding."
Jude turned toward the ravine. "Then it’s just us."
They gathered there, the four of them, the last uncorrupted. The fireflies blinked lazily around them, like they didn’t notice the war growing beneath their wings.
Sophie moved to Jude and wrapped her arms around his waist. "We’ll get them back," she said. "Sohow. One at a ti."
Emma crouched beside the log, fingers digging into the dirt. "We need a new plan."
"We need faith," Natalie whispered. "And love."
Jude leaned his chin against Sophie’s head and nodded.
But just as the words left his lips, a shadow flickered in the treetops.
Not a corrupted wife.
Not a bird.
Sothing else.
Sothing massive.
It didn’t make a sound, but all four of them felt the shift in the air, the sudden stillness. They turned in unison toward the canopy.
The creature lood above them, almost invisible in the darkness, only the faint outline of writhing limbs and eyes gleaming in the moonlight.
It wasn’t watching.
It was waiting.
The presence above them lingered like a curse, silent but suffocating. None of them moved for a long ti. The branches above barely shifted, but the shape remained, dark, looming, unnatural. Jude’s arms tightened around Sophie as she breathed in shallow bursts, her cheek pressed to his chest. Emma rose slowly, eyes narrowed, her hand already reaching for a sharp rock by her foot. Natalie didn’t even speak, she just stared up at it, at whatever it was, the outline that seed to pulse with a slow, cruel rhythm.
It didn’t attack. It didn’t flee. It simply watched.
And then, it vanished, so quickly it was like it had never been there at all.
Natalie let out a soft gasp. "It’s gone."
"No," Jude said quietly, "it just doesn’t want us to see it anymore."
They stayed like that, close, bodies still shaking from the sight of the thing. When they finally moved, it was back toward the forest edge, walking in silence with fingers brushing for comfort, for warmth. By the ti they reached the clearing again, dawn was stretching orange fingers across the sky. The others were already awake.
Rose stood by the fire pit, turning sothing on a skewer, her expression calm, controlled. Layla sat beside her, laughing softly with Zoey as if nothing had happened. Grace was braiding Lucy’s hair. Scarlet was humming.
The picture was perfect, except for the stillness behind their eyes. And the identical curl of their smiles.
Jude tried not to look too long. He felt Sophie’s fingers close around his own again.
"Morning," Rose said sweetly, glancing over. "Sleep well?"
"Like stones," Jude replied, voice neutral.
Natalie looked away. Emma didn’t answer at all.
Breakfast passed with odd calm. Rose passed food to each of them, her touch lingering, her glances filled with so secret warmth that made Jude’s skin crawl. Layla pressed a kiss to Sophie’s cheek and whispered sothing that made her laugh, too quickly. Zoey fed Jude a piece of fruit with a grin that felt almost... nostalgic.
And yet, none of them said a word about the night before.
Not about the creature. Not about the chase. Not about the feeling that so invisible net was tightening around them.
By midday, they had split into groups again.
Rose suggested foraging near the southern ridge. She took Layla, Zoey, and Grace with her.
Jude didn’t object. He had other plans.
He led Sophie, Emma, Natalie, and Stella, who hadn’t said much lately, toward the north edge of the forest, near the river’s twist. The place was familiar and distant all at once. Roots spiraled unnaturally around the trees. The moss had taken on a bluish hue. And the air slled faintly like ash.
"This is where we saw the symbols," Emma whispered. "The watcherscript."
"They’re still here," Natalie said, fingers brushing the bark. "But dim. Like sothing’s fading."
"Or being erased," Jude said.
They spent hours there, digging around the edges of old mory sites, hoping for so clue, so sign of watcher presence. Sophie stayed close to Jude’s side, and when they rested, she leaned into him, resting her head on his lap, fingers idly playing with his hand. It was quiet, strangely peaceful, until Stella wandered off.
They noticed it when her voice, which had been humming a soft tune, suddenly stopped.
"Stella?" Sophie called out.
No answer.
Emma ran ahead, but only got a few steps before they all heard it.
Laughter.
High. Musical. Familiar.
They followed the sound to a nearby thicket, where Stella stood beside a tall rock wall, one hand pressed to the stone. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were curled in a blissful smile.
"What are you doing?" Natalie asked, her voice trembling.
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