<h4>Chapter 1125: Chapter 1125</h4>


    He turned to her. "Do you still hear her? Elyara?"


    Rose shook her head. "Not in my head. But I still feel something. Like... echoes."


    He didn’t ask if it scared her. He already knew the answer.


    Later, as the sun climbed higher, they caught two decent-sized fish and returned to the camp. The smell of roasted fruit filled the clearing. Grace had made something that looked vaguely like tbread, and Lucy was already tearing off pieces and stuffing them in her mouth.


    "Looks like you’re all back just in time for lunch," Zoey said. "We almost started without you."


    "You wouldn’t dare," Ste said, grinning.


    "Try me."


    Everyoneughed.


    And just like that, the day passed gently.


    There was teasing. Sharing. Food passed from hand to hand. No strange nces. No eerie silences. Just women and their man, resting under the canopy of a forest that no longer pulsed with hidden danger.


    That night, after everyone had gone to their hammocks or nestled into shared sleeping spaces, Jude stayed by the fire with Sophie.


    She curled against his chest, warm and sleepy.


    "I’m scared she’s not really gone," she murmured.


    "She’s not," he said. "But she’s not strong either. Not anymore."


    Sophie looked up at him. "We’ll face it together next time."


    He nodded. "Always."


    Her hand slipped beneath his shirt, resting over the spot where the stone had burned into him. There was no mark, but the warmth was still there, faint andforting.


    They kissed slowly, sweetly, the firelight dancing across their skin.


    And far in the jungle, beneath the roots of the fallen bone tree, something ancient stirred again. Not rising. Not reaching. Not yet.


    Just waiting.


    Watching.


    The air that morning was dense with humidity, thick with the scent of ripe fruit and wet leaves. Jude woke to the gentle rustle of Sophie’s hair against his chest, her breath warm, her arm tangled around him. For a few moments, he didn’t move. The world felt still. Peaceful. Real.


    But peace, on this ind, always held its breath.


    When he finally sat up, Sophie stirred and blinked at him, offering a sleepy smile. "What time is it?"


    "No idea," he murmured, brushing a kiss to her forehead. "But the light says it’s time for something."


    She stretched slowly, limbs long and catlike. "Mmm. I’lle with you."


    The camp was already half-awake. Scarlet and Natalie were gathering bundles of berries near the edge of the forest. Lucy hummed to herself while fashioning a ne from colorful seeds and dried vines. Susan was bent over a stone, drawing watcherscript slowly, like tracing a memory back into the world. Emma sat beside her, quietly cleaning her spear.


    Rose was nowhere in sight.


    Nor was La.


    Nor Zoey.


    Jude’s stomach tightened.


    He scanned the de once more. Sophie noticed his gaze narrowing and slipped beside him, whispering, "They’re probably just gathering fruit."


    "Maybe," Jude said.


    But he didn’t believe it.


    A flicker of red in the trees caught his eye, Rose’s braid vanishing behind a thick curtain of vines. He turned to Sophie.


    "We need to follow her."


    Sophie’s jaw clenched but she nodded. "We do."


    They moved quietly, slipping between the trees, careful not to draw attention. The jungle greeted them with its usual tricks, paths that curled where they should’ve been straight, stones that glowed faintly underfoot, sounds that seemed toe from everywhere and nowhere.


    And then, voices.


    Soft. Laughing.


    Too synchronized.


    They followed the sound to a mossy ridge overlooking a shaded grove. Below, Rose stood at the center of a circle etched into the dirt with watcherscript. La was seated beside her, arms bare, expression serene. Zoey stood opposite them, shirt clinging to her back, her face tilted toward the trees.


    They were whispering something together. A chant. A rhyme. Their voicesyered like a song, one Jude couldn’t fully hear, but could feel, each word a tug in his chest, a vibration in the soles of his feet.


    Sophie grabbed his arm. "Look at their faces."


    They were smiling.


    Not wide. Not forced.


    But eerie.


    In perfect sync.


    La’s smile was the same one Rose wore when she returned from the river. And Zoey’s, Zoey, who had once suspected something was wrong, now wore it too.


    Sophie whispered, "She has them again."


    "No," Jude said, voice low. "Not again. Still. It never left."


    Below, Rose turned.


    And looked straight at them.


    She didn’t call out. Didn’t move.


    Just smiled.


    And kept chanting.


    The watcherscript on the ground red with soft, pink light, rippling like breath.


    Jude backed away, pulling Sophie with him. "We need to tell the others."


    They returned to camp in silence, hearts pounding.


    Back in the clearing, Susan looked up at their approach. "What did you find?"


    Jude didn’t answer at first.


    Sophie did. "They’re doing a ritual."


    Grace stood, wiping her hands. "What kind of ritual?"


    "The kind with watcherscript," Jude said. "The kind that glows."


    Natalie frowned. "They said they were just foraging."


    "They’re not," Sophie said.


    Susan crossed her arms. "And the smiles?"


    "They’re back," Jude said.


    Silence settled across the group.


    Emma rose from her seat, eyes narrowing. "Then it never really ended."


    "No," Jude said. "We only paused it. But it kept going, underground."


    Scarlet stepped beside Susan. "What do we do now?"


    "We stop it," Jude said. "Before it spreads again."


    Lucy hesitated, then asked, "What if it already has?"


    That night, no one slept easy.


    Jude kept watch beside the fire, Sophie on one side, Emma on the other. Across the camp, Rose returned just before moonrise, slipping silently into her hammock, her expression unreadable. La followed minutester, hair wet with dew. Zoey camest, her eyes closed like she was walking through a dream.


    They said nothing.


    No one asked.


    But when Jude looked across the camp before dawn, he saw Zoey sit up in the dark.


    And smile.


    The fire had long since burned down to glowing embers when Jude stirred.