Jude eased himself out from beneath Rose’s head, gently laying it on a folded shirt. He kissed her forehead before slipping past the others. He needed a mont, even if it was just to hear his own thoughts over the quiet murmur of the waking camp.
He reached the river first, the air cool on his skin. He didn’t bother with clothes - none of them had, not since they began sleeping so openly. The current danced around his legs as he stepped in, the water biting cold but welco. He cupped a handful and splashed his face. When he opened his eyes, Sophie was already beside him, her feet just in the shallows, arms folded over her chest.
"You didn’t sleep much," she said.
He shook the water from his hands. "You were watching?"
She gave him a look. "I always watch."
He chuckled softly, and she stepped closer, brushing a hand through his hair to smooth it back. "You’re worried."
"I saw sothing last night."
She stiffened slightly. "What?"
"In the trees," he said. "Watching us. It didn’t co closer, but it was there. Tall. Thin. Shadowed."
"It didn’t attack?"
"No." He hesitated. "It felt... patient."
Sophie’s hand dropped to his chest. "You think it’s waiting for sothing."
"I think it’s testing us."
Layla’s voice drifted from behind them. "Or it’s part of her."
They turned. She stood near the rocks, wrapped loosely in a shawl Zoey had stitched weeks ago. Her hair was damp from the mist, her eyes shadowed. But she looked more present than she had since her return.
"You an the island?" Sophie asked.
Layla nodded slowly. "When I was inside it... I saw more than mories. I saw pieces of it. Eyes, mouths, thoughts. All of them disconnected but reaching. That shadow last night - it could be a piece of what’s left. What it’s trying to beco."
Jude stepped from the water, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. "Then we keep it from becoming anything more."
Back at camp, the others were moving. Susan and Stella had already begun to gather fruit, with Natalie helping strip bark to patch one of the smaller shelters. Zoey and Lucy were filling canteens at the eastern stream. Emma was sharpening sticks for fishing, though she paused often to glance toward the forest edge.
Rose stood with her back to a tree, watching them all with a strange expression. She looked serene on the surface - relaxed, even. But Jude saw the way her fingers tapped restlessly at her side, like she was listening for a sound no one else could hear.
When he approached, she gave him a sly smile. "Checking on ?"
He raised a brow. "Should I be?"
Her smile widened as she leaned back against the tree. "Would it matter if I said yes?"
He stepped closer until his hands frad her waist. "It would matter if I couldn’t trust you."
She tilted her head, brushing her lips near his ear. "You trust too easily, Jude."
"Not anymore," he whispered back.
Their lips t, slow and warm. Her hands slid into his hair, tugging slightly as their bodies pressed together. The taste of her still made his pulse spike, and when her thigh brushed up between his, he nearly forgot why he’d co to her in the first place. But then her hand flattened over his heart, and her eyes searched his face.
"I’m not one of them," she said softly. "Not anymore."
"I know."
"But I was," she added. "Part of still hears it sotis. Like a song stuck in the back of my head."
"We’ll find a way to silence it," he said, and she leaned into his chest, letting him hold her without saying more.
As the sun climbed higher, the group split into pairs and trios for the day’s tasks. Sophie and Susan went to collect mushrooms near the ridge. Emma, Zoey, and Natalie followed the animal tracks to find eggs or berries. Jude stayed with Rose and Layla, helping reinforce the main structure. Grace and Stella went to wash clothes at the river, their laughter faint and fleeting between trees.
It felt almost normal.
Too normal.
And that was what made the fear worse.
That night, they sat around the fire again. This ti, Jude passed around a small bottle of fernted fruit wine they’d been saving. Lucy took a swig and made a face, coughing. "Ugh, still tastes like mangoes rotting in a shoe."
"Which was exactly how we made it," Zoey said, winking.
Laughter rippled through them.
Stella leaned into Grace, her voice low. "Feels like the old days."
Layla watched the flas. "Do you think it’s really over?"
No one answered.
Instead, Jude took her hand, and kissed her fingers.
Later, in the privacy of their treehouse, Layla sat in Jude’s lap, facing him. Her legs wrapped around his waist as her fingers traced the line of his jaw. He kissed her neck, then her shoulder, slow and reverent. She sighed against him, her hips rolling with a need she hadn’t dared touch since returning. When Rose joined them, slipping behind Jude and kissing his spine, the breath left his lungs in a rush.
Their bodies tangled together again, but this ti it wasn’t just passion. It was reaffirmation. A promise. They moved like people who had tasted death and chose life instead.
And when Layla whispered his na, again and again, Jude knew they were winning.
But the island hadn’t given up.
The next morning, Emma didn’t wake up.
She was breathing.
Her eyes were open.
But she didn’t speak.
Didn’t blink.
Didn’t move.
Just stared at the ceiling with an eerie smile.
Jude was the first to reach her. He crouched beside her bedding, gently brushing a hand over Emma’s cheek. Her skin was warm, slightly damp with the morning heat, but her eyes - those bright, determined eyes - stared blankly ahead, unmoving. Her lips were parted just enough to show breath passed through them. But she didn’t blink. Didn’t react.
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