<h4>Chapter 1132: Chapter 1132</h4>


    "I don’t think we can," he whispered. "Not this time."


    Scarlet’s lips moved.


    No voice came out.


    Just breath.


    And behind her, in the shadows of the trees, a second figure appeared.


    No face.


    No eyes.


    No body, exactly.


    But it was her.


    Elyara.


    Not inside someone. Not hiding.


    There.


    She stepped into the clearing, a body formed of shadow and skin and memories.


    Jude’s knees locked.


    Sophie hissed. "We have to run, "


    "No," Jude said, stepping forward.


    "Jude, "


    "She wants me. That’s always been it."


    Elyara tilted her head, a strange grace in her movements. Her limbs shimmered. Her face changed, became Susan’s, then Natalie’s, then Sophie’s.


    Every woman he’d ever loved.


    Every temptation he’d ever tasted.


    He took one more step toward her.


    Then one more.


    She reached out a hand.


    And behind her, Scarlet’s eyes changed.


    She blinked.


    Staggered.


    Then screamed.


    The sound shattered the stillness.


    Rose lunged forward, grabbing her and yanking her from Elyara’s shadow.


    Sophie dragged Jude backward.


    Elyara didn’t chase.


    She just stood there.


    Smiling.


    Until the jungle swallowed her again.


    They ran until the firelight of camp flickered into view.


    Everyone rose at once, questions, panic, shouts, but Jude just pointed.


    "She’s here."


    And when they looked behind him, they all saw it.


    Etched across every tree surrounding the camp.


    She has begun.


    The moment they saw the watcherscript circling the camp, a ripple of silence fell over everyone. The markings were fresh, carved not just into bark but into stone, wood, even their handmade furniture. The same phrase repeated in different patterns, spiraling outward like a pulse: She has begun. She has begun. She has begun.


    Sophie stepped in front of Jude instinctively, as if her body might block whatever wasing next. Scarlet stood behind them, pale, shaking, but awake now, her voice raw from screaming, her breath ragged. Grace reached out and touched her shoulder, but Scarlet flinched like her skin burned.


    "She took me," Scarlet whispered. "Not all of me, but she touched something inside. It felt like... I’d been opened."


    Emma circled the edge of the firelight, her spear out, eyes scanning the trees. "This isn’t just a threat anymore. She’s moving through the ind like blood in a vein. She’s in the roots."


    Susan turned to Jude. "What do we do now? We mark it all again? Burn the signs?"


    "No," Jude said. "We’ve tried covering her signs. She just makes more. We’re always reacting. That’s what she wants. It’s time we do something else."


    La tilted her head, watching him with a strange glint in her eyes. "Like what?"


    "We find her. Not just the echo. The core. The real her. The ce she’s strongest."


    Zoey frowned. "You want to go to her?"


    Jude nodded slowly. "She’s already inside the camp. If we wait, she’ll take more of us, piece by piece."


    Ste swallowed. "How do we find her? She doesn’t leave a trail."


    Rose spoke up, her voice t. "She does. But not for eyes."


    Sophie turned to her. "What do you mean?"


    "She leaves her path in want," Rose said. "You don’t see it, you feel it. She lures you. Pulls you where she wants. Like a current under your skin."


    "You’re saying if we follow our own desire, we’ll find her?" Natalie asked.


    Rose nodded. "Yes. If we stop resisting. If we let her draw us."


    "No way," Lucy snapped. "That’s how she wins."


    Jude stepped forward. "We don’t go in unguarded. We go in aware. We know what she is now. And we know what’s real."


    The fire crackled between them. No one spoke for several long moments.


    Then Sophie said, "If you go, I go with you."


    Emma stepped forward too. "Same."


    One by one, the rest followed. Even Scarlet, though her hands still shook. They made a n to move before dawn, when the ind was still half-dreaming. The ce they would follow the pull from was the basin, the site of theirst ritual, where Elyara had first left the word "Tonight."


    They left in pairs, Jude with Sophie, Rose with La, Susan with Lucy, Emma with Zoey, Grace with Scarlet, Natalie with Ste.


    As they walked, the ind shifted under their feet. Paths curved the wrong way. Trees they knew grew taller, older, as if watching them move. But they didn’t fight it. They let the feeling guide them, not fear, not doubt. Just the deep, slow pull of longing. A whisper in the blood.


    It led them to a ravine.


    A ce none of them had ever seen.


    Below it, a chasm opened in the earth. Not wide, but deep. And from within it came a sound, music, almost. Low. Hypnotic. Like breathing, but melodic. The trees grew away from the edge, as if afraid of whaty inside. No vines hung across it. No birds nested near it.


    They stood on the rim, looking down into the dark.


    "This is it," Rose said. "She’s here."


    Jude stepped forward. "Then let’s go to her."


    Before anyone could move, a gust of wind burst from the chasm. It wasn’t cold. It was warm. Intimate. Like the exhale of someone standing too close to your skin. The smell of flowers, sweat, wet earth. Desire.


    Natalie gasped.


    So did Grace.


    Then La began to smile.


    The smile.


    Like Rose once did.


    Jude spun toward her. "La, "


    But she was already walking toward the edge.


    Sophie grabbed her arm, but La twisted away with surprising force. "It’s okay," she said. "I can feel her. She’s calling me."


    Rose lunged and grabbed La’s other arm. "No. Not again. You’re stronger than this."


    "I don’t want to fight her," La said dreamily. "She understands me. She loves what I am."


    "She uses what you are," Sophie snapped.


    Jude stepped between them. "We do this together. If one of us steps forward, we all do."


    The wind blew again.


    This time, it carried a voice.


    Not loud.


    Not even words.


    Just sound. Laughter. Pleasure. Echoes of every night they’d ever shared. It came in each of their voices, Sophie’s breathless gasp, Susan’s sultry moan, Emma’s throaty whisper. All of it, twisting together.