<h4>Chapter 1143: Chapter 1143</h4>
They moved quickly, silent, signaling Sophie as they passed. She rose instantly, barefoot and alert. Lucy stirred, blinked after them, and followed without asking questions. Ste woke next. Grace and Susan were slower, rubbing sleep from their eyes, but the way they looked toward the trees said they already knew. Something was happening. Again.
This time, they didn’t stay behind.
They followed.
The path the others had taken curved away from the river, winding through thicker underbrush and into deeper woods. There were no lights ahead. No voices. Just darkness and the asional sh of movement between the trees. It felt like a dream, the kind where sound didn’t carry, and the air pressed against your ears until even your heartbeat felt muffled.
Then they saw it.
The clearing.
Rose stood at its center, her arms outstretched. La was on one knee before her. Zoey and Scarlet knelt on either side, hands resting against the earth. Natalie stood behind them, tracing lines in the air with her fingers. Lines that glowed faintly, just enough for Jude to recognize the shape.
It was the pattern.
The same one they had erased.
But now it floated in the air, drawn with light instead of dirt.
Emma grabbed Jude’s wrist. "She’s casting."
Sophie whispered, "What for?"
Before anyone could answer, Rose spoke.
"Come forward."
Her voice echoed, too clear for the distance.
They didn’t move.
Rose smiled. "You’vee to see her too. Haven’t you?"
La stood. "She’s waiting. She’s always waiting."
Jude stepped forward slowly, ignoring Sophie’s hiss of protest. "Who is she?"
Natalie turned, her eyes glowing faintly now. "She’s the one who loves us. The one who made the ind breathe."
"She gave us peace," Zoey said.
"She gave us each other," Scarlet whispered.
The symbol pulsed behind them, growing brighter. The trees trembled slightly. Jude felt it in his spine, something enormous just beneath the surface, watching them from underneath the soil.
Then Rose turned fully.
And behind her, something rose from the ground.
It wasn’t flesh. It wasn’t stone. It was shadow and light and shape without form, a thing that wasn’t meant to be seen all at once. It moved like water, but sounded like wind. It had no eyes, but it looked at him.
At all of them.
Even the unconverted.
Lucy stepped back.
Emma pulled out her de.
Sophie grabbed Jude’s hand again, tight.
And that’s when Grace screamed.
Everyone turned.
She was on her knees, shaking, hands over her ears, her face twisted in terror.
"No no no no, she’s in my head, she’s in my head, "
Susan dropped beside her, trying to hold her, but Grace pushed her away, tears streaming. "She wants me, she’s pulling, I can’t, "
Jude lunged forward, but Rose was already moving.
"Let her choose," she said calmly.
"No!" Sophie shouted, stepping between them.
But Grace stopped screaming.
She stood.
Slowly.
And smiled.
Jude’s stomach dropped.
Another one. Taken.
He looked around, wild-eyed.
Rose. La. Zoey. Scarlet. Natalie.
Now Grace.
Six.
Half of them.
Gone.
The fire had burned down to its final coals by the time they made it back to the camp. The sky was still dark, but the forest felt too quiet, too breathless, like the whole ind was waiting to see what they would do next. Jude walked beside Sophie, their hands stillced together, but neither of them spoke. Behind them, Emma moved with clenched fists, her knife still tucked into her belt. Lucy and Ste followed close, and Susan kept ncing at Grace like she didn’t trust her to stay upright. Grace, for her part, said nothing. She simply walked, barefoot and smiling, as if she had never screamed at all.
They didn’t talk about what they had seen. Not yet. Because Rose was watching.
Rose sat near the old fire pit again, legs crossed like a queen receiving her court. La sat beside her, ying with a strand of her own hair. Zoey stood behind them, arms crossed, quiet and alert. Scarlet and Natalie were preparing something at the edge of the clearing, a bowl of herbs, some ck stones, a handful of red berries that looked like blood. The air felt warmer than it should have. Almost thick.
Sophie led Jude away from the center of camp, toward the shelter of their treehouse. "We need a n," she whispered.
"We’re running out of time," Emma added, her voice low. "If Grace is really, "
"She is," Lucy said, her eyes ssy. "That smile. It’s the same."
Ste bit her lip. "What happens when it’s all of them?"
Sophie looked at Jude. "Then we’re alone."
They gathered in the treehouse that night, the six of them huddled close: Jude, Sophie, Emma, Lucy, Ste, and Susan. They didn’t light a fire. They didn’t eat. They only whispered, careful not to let the sound travel beyond the leaves.
"We stop sleeping in shifts," Emma said. "Two awake at all times. Minimum."
"They’re watching us," Lucy murmured. "Even when they’re not looking."
"I can still feel her voice," Susan whispered. "The one that came out of the ground. She didn’t say anything, not really, but... she wanted something. From us."
"Maybe from Jude," Ste said quietly.
They all looked at him.
Jude didn’t deny it.
"She looked right at me," he admitted. "If that thing even had eyes. It felt like... she knew me. Like she was waiting."
"What for?" Sophie asked.
Jude shook his head. "I don’t know."
They didn’t sleep much. Every time someone started to doze, the memory of Grace’s scream would snap them awake. Outside, the others were too quiet. Noughter. No talking. Just movement. Shapes at the edge of the clearing. That soft hum Rose had started to sing earlier, drifting in and out like a luby from a nightmare.
By dawn, they were exhausted but determined.
"We follow them again," Emma said.
"They’ll know," Ste said.
"Then we hide better."
They waited until just after sunrise.
Rose and the others gathered near the northern path, the one that led deeper into the mistier parts of the forest.