<h4>Chapter 877: Chapter 879</h4>


    Later, he went with Serena and Amelia to check the southern traplines, the ones closer to the shallow cliffs near the coast. The ocean roared below, foaming waves crashing against rock with rhythmic violence. The traps had caught three fish, small but edible, and arge crab Jude would need to cook soon before the meat spoiled. They worked with quiet efficiency, but even that had ayer of unease.


    Amelia spoke first. "Do you think we’re marked?"


    Jude looked up. "Marked how?"


    "Like... chosen. The ind picked us. Or it made us stay. What if there were others before us? What if it didn’t let them leave either?"


    Serena shook her head. "We would’ve found signs. Graves. Campsites. Remains."


    "Would we?" Amelia asked, tying the crab’s legs. "What if it ate them?"


    Jude didn’t like the silence that followed that question. It was a silence full of possibility.


    On the walk back, they passed a tree that was bent at an unnatural angle, bark split like something wed it open. Jude touched the trunk. It wasn’t new. Whatever did it had done it weeks ago. Maybe months. But the wound in the tree pulsed faintly beneath his palm, like something inside still remembered the pain.


    That night, the campfire felt colder. Even though the mes burned strong, they radiated no warmth. Everyone sat close, shoulders brushing, knees folded, tes in theirps. Conversation was minimal. Laughter had disappeared. Only the sound of chewing, the asional cough or shift of posture, and the ever-present crackle of the fire filled the space.


    Jude watched each of them. The smallest gestures stood out now, Grace ncing over her shoulder every few minutes. Lucy pressing her fingers into her thigh as if to ground herself. Susan biting her lip so hard it turned white. Natalie didn’t touch her food at all.


    When the meal was done and tes were stacked, Jude leaned forward.


    "I want to try something," he said.


    They all looked at him.


    "I want each of you to write down anything strange you remember. Even if it feels like nothing. Anything out of ce. You don’t have to put your name. Just write it, fold it, and drop it in the pot. We’ll read them together."


    There was hesitation, but no one objected. He passed around a small bundle of charcoal sticks and strips of bark he’d cut earlier. One by one, they wrote. Some quickly, some slowly. Some stared at the bark for minutes before starting. Jude watched each of them. No one refused. When the pot was full, he brought it back to the fire.


    Sophie offered to read. She pulled the first note.


    "I woke up in the river. My clothes were dry. My hair was wet."


    Another.


    "I saw my reflection smile when I wasn’t."


    A third.


    "I called someone the wrong name. But they looked like someone else for a moment. Not anyone here."


    Another.


    "I keep dreaming of babies crying. But when I wake up, I can still hear them."


    Jude’s breath caught. He didn’t show it.


    The notes kepting.


    "My fingers bent backward for a second. I looked away and they were normal again."


    "I kissed Jude, but when I opened my eyes, his face wasn’t his."


    "I feel like I’ve already died."


    "I remember a room of fire. And chains. But I’ve never seen either on this ind."


    Sophie’s voice faltered on that one. She handed the rest to Jude.


    He unfolded the next one.


    "There’s something in me. I don’t know when it got there."


    And the next.


    "I’m afraid if we try to leave, it will make us stay."


    And thest.


    "Sometimes I want it to take me. Because at least then I’d know what it wants."


    The fire popped, shooting sparks into the air. No one spoke.


    Then Grace stood up abruptly and stumbled back from the fire. Her eyes were wide, her breathing short and shallow. "It’s here," she said.


    They all turned toward her.


    "Right now," she whispered. "It’s... it’s watching through my eyes."


    Jude stood. "Grace, "


    But she backed away, hands in her hair, fingers wing.


    "I don’t want it, I don’t want it to see, get out of me!"


    She copsed. Jude rushed to her, but just as he reached out, she gasped and sat up again. Her face was pale, her mouth trembling.


    "What... what just happened?"


    "You said it was watching through your eyes," Jude said carefully.


    She blinked. "No. I didn’t say anything."


    "You fell. Screamed."


    "No. I was just cold. I got up... to get closer to the fire."


    Zoey whispered, "It took her again."


    And then Natalie shouted, "Behind you!"


    They all turned.


    For the briefest second, standing at the edge of the forest, just outside the circle of light, a figure stood. Human-shaped. Barely. Made entirely of twisting blue smoke. A faceless, shifting shape with the vague outline of a head and limbs, but nothing else. It didn’t move. It just hovered there.


    Then it vanished.


    Jude’s heart thundered in his ears.


    "Everyone," he said, voice tight. "Back into the shelter. Now."


    They obeyed without question.


    Inside the treehouse, they huddled together, weapons nearby. Jude stood by the door, watching the forest through the slit in the wall. Nothing moved. No sound came.


    Amelia whispered behind him, "It’s not hiding anymore."


    "No," he agreed. "It wants us to know it’s here."


    Serena clutched a nket. "What does it want?"


    Jude didn’t answer.


    Because he’d already started to understand.


    It didn’t want to hurt them.


    It wanted to be them.


    And the only thing keeping it from doing thatpletely... was him.


    He stayed up the entire night, watching the trees, feeling the ind breathe around him. Every so often, he thought he saw the smoke drifting between the branches, but it never came close. Not now. Not when they were all together, awake, alert.


    But the next time someone fell asleep... it would try again.


    And next time, Jude wasn’t sure he could stop it.