Jude rubbed his eyes and stood slowly, careful not to wake the others. The wooden floor creaked under his weight as he crossed to the open window and looked out over the camp. The early mist had settled like a blanket across the treetops, veiling the world in softness that belied the fear coiling in his gut. What had happened last night wasn’t a shared dream or hallucination. Sothing had *spoken* through them. It had used their bodies, their voices. And it had known things only he should know.
His palms still itched where he had touched Stella’s shoulders, rembering how her skin had felt colder than it should have, like she had been underwater for hours before erging. And then all of them, simultaneously, looking at him with that unnatural stillness. The voice, no, voices, fused together like strands braided from separate minds. He couldn’t shake the last thing they’d said, whispered directly into his bones.
"You will rember."
But rember what?
The door creaked behind him and Jude turned quickly, tension springing into his spine, but it was just Lucy, blinking groggily as she scratched the side of her neck. Her hair was a ss of tangles and her voice still thick with sleep. "Jude? What ti is it?"
"Early," he said. "Go back to sleep if you want."
She walked over to him instead and leaned on his shoulder, peering out of the window beside him. "It’s so quiet."
"I know."
She didn’t speak for a mont, then said, "I had a weird dream. All of us were... saying the sa thing. Like chanting. But I couldn’t understand what it ant."
He turned to look at her, watching the way her brow furrowed. "Do you rember what you said?"
"No. Just that I was speaking. I could feel the words coming out but it wasn’t talking. Then I blinked, and I was awake again."
She shook her head and looked down. "It scared , Jude. It didn’t feel like a dream."
"It wasn’t," he said. "I saw it. I was awake."
Her eyes widened. "What did we say?"
He hesitated. "I don’t think you want to know."
Lucy bit her lip. "Are we... being possessed?"
"I don’t know what this is. But it’s not random. It’s not an accident. It’s getting stronger."
Lucy nodded slowly and stepped back, turning toward the others who were beginning to stir. Grace yawned and stretched, Scarlett mumbled sothing into her blanket, and Emma sat upright with a sudden jerk, as if waking from a nightmare.
The treehouse filled with soft voices, quiet greetings, and the rustle of blankets being folded. Jude stepped out onto the deck, needing air, needing distance. From up here he could see their village, the elevated platforms, the rope bridges, the narrow footpaths that wove like veins through the forest floor. Smoke rose from a cooking fire soone had just lit, and the sll of roasted roots followed shortly after.
He took the ladder down slowly, then walked toward the edge of the clearing where the forest began. The tall trees stretched skyward like cathedral pillars, their roots thick and tangled like secrets. He stood at the border for a long ti, scanning the jungle for any sign of movent. Nothing ca.
Behind him, footsteps approached. He didn’t have to turn to know it was Emma.
"You’re looking for it, aren’t you?" she asked.
"I don’t know what I’m looking for."
"You think it’s coming from the forest?"
"I think it’s coming from the island," he said. "I just don’t know if it’s always been here or if we brought it with us."
Emma crossed her arms and stared into the trees with him. "I saw the blue light again, in my sleep. Not in the sky. Inside sothing. Like it was hiding in a cave made of ribs."
"Ribs?"
She nodded slowly. "Bone white. Curved. Like a ribcage, but massive."
Jude glanced at her. "That sounds like the inside of a creature."
Emma t his gaze. "Exactly."
They didn’t speak again for a while, but when they returned to camp, the others were gathered for breakfast. The mood was tense, everyone avoiding each other’s eyes. Conversations were quiet, nervous, and short. Only Stella seed unbothered, humming softly to herself as she peeled fruit for everyone, her hands moving with a gentle rhythm that almost seed hypnotic.
Jude watched her carefully. Was it still inside her? Or was she simply trying to forget?
After breakfast, he gathered everyone again. Not because he had answers, but because not speaking about it was worse. They sat around the firepit in a loose circle. No one joked. No one touched. The silence between them was too brittle.
"I don’t think we can ignore it anymore," Jude began. "Sothing’s happening to us. We’re not dreaming. We’re not just confused. Sothing is using us."
Scarlett looked down. "We know."
"I think it’s the island," Zoey said, her voice shaking. "I think it’s always been watching. Waiting."
"But why now?" Grace asked. "We’ve lived here for years. Why is it only now starting to act?"
"Maybe it needed ti," Emma said. "To study us. To understand how to... touch us."
"Or maybe we crossed so line," Susan whispered. "Sothing we weren’t supposed to see or do."
They all fell silent.
Jude exhaled and spoke the words he’d been holding onto. "Last night... it said sothing. All of you said sothing. Together. You told I was the key and the lock. That I brought you here."
No one responded.
"I didn’t understand it. But it felt true. Like sothing old. Like sothing I’d forgotten."
The wives exchanged glances, unsure whether to trust his words or even their own mories.
Then Stella looked up and said softly, "What if you *did* bring us here? Not just physically. But... what if this whole thing started because of you?"
"I’ve thought about that," Jude admitted. "But I don’t rember anything. I don’t rember planning any of this. I only rember waking up here after the outbreak."
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