<h4>Chapter 1145: Chapter 1145</h4>


    "Toote," she whispered.


    The fire exploded upward.


    Jude threw his arm in front of his face as heat roared toward them. A shadow surged through the trees, Rose’s silhouette.


    Natalie stood in an instant, her smile twisting, her eyes now glowing.


    She turned to Jude, lips parting in something like a moan. "You almost had me."


    And then she was gone.


    Running into the woods.


    Rose and the others followed.


    Jude’s heart pounded.


    This time, it wasn’t Susan who vanished.


    It was Natalie.


    And they had failed.


    The forest was darker than it had ever felt. Not just night-dark, but drenched in something deeper, thicker, like a shadow that had sunk into the ground itself. The six of them stood frozen in ce long after Natalie had vanished, long after Rose and the others had disappeared into the woods like smoke, taking the fire’s glow with them. Only the faint hiss of dying embers remained, and the soft whisper of wind in the trees.


    No one spoke for a long time.


    Then Sophie exhaled. "We lost her."


    Jude didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He was still staring at the space where Natalie had stood, where her eyes had flickered with something soft, something real, for just a breath before the glow returned. For that one moment, she’d been hers again. Herself.


    Ste wrapped her arms around Lucy from behind, burying her face in her shoulder. "They’re noting back, are they?"


    Jude turned. "We don’t know that."


    "They’re hers now," Emma muttered. "All of them. Grace. Susan. Natalie. And the others, they’re just getting better at it. Faster. If we don’t stop this, "


    "We will," Jude said. His voice was low but steady. "We will."


    He didn’t know how. But he knew they couldn’t just keep watching them disappear, one by one.


    Sophie touched his arm. "They’re building something. Something big."


    "The bone structure," Emma said. "It’s not just decoration. It’s a ritual site. And it’s almost done."


    Jude nodded. "Whatever it is... we destroy it. Before they finish."


    They didn’t go back to camp.


    Instead, they set up a small fire near a rocky ridge by the river, hidden beneath a thick canopy of trees. Jude stood guard for the first few hours while the others rested. Sophie stayed beside him, eyes on the darkness.


    "I keep thinking about her," she whispered. "Natalie. The way she looked at you. I think she was trying to say goodbye."


    "She was trying to say help me," Jude said.


    Sophie didn’t reply.


    They stayed there in silence until the sun began to rise, painting the sky in a pale gold. Jude could feel something shifting in the ind again. It had always moved, always breathed, but now it watched. The ind had grown eyes.


    By midmorning, they moved again.


    Not toward the clearing. Not yet.


    They needed supplies, weapons, anything they could use to fight if it came to that. Jude and Lucy gathered sharpened sticks and stones. Emma reinforced their des. Ste and Sophie returned with berries, roots, and a hollowed gourd filled with river water. The preparation was silent but efficient.


    They all knew what wasing.


    When they finally approached the clearing again, the structure was bigger. The roots had grown upward, wrapping around each other like veins. Bones had been stacked into a circle around its base, spines, ribs, skulls polished white. The symbols had multiplied. There were more now, etched into the soil with blood or something that looked very much like it.


    And the others were there.


    Rose stood in the center, arms raised. La and Zoey moved around her in slow circles. Scarlet knelt near the base, whispering to Grace. Susan was weaving vines into the ribcage of the structure. Natalie, her hair now braided with ck feathers, stood guard with a nk expression.


    Then Jude saw it.


    A seventh figure.


    Just outside the circle.


    Emma inhaled sharply. "Lucy..."


    Lucy took a step forward. "It’s Ste."


    She was walking slowly, barefoot, her dress soaked at the hem. Her eyes were wide, her expression distant. But she wasn’t smiling. Not yet.


    Rose held out a hand.


    "Come into the center, Ste," she said softly. "She’s waiting."


    Jude didn’t wait.


    He charged into the clearing. "Ste, don’t move!"


    Rose turned.


    And smiled.


    Jude ran faster, dodging La as she lunged for him. Zoey tried to grab his arm, but he slipped free, catching Ste by the wrist and yanking her back.


    "Jude?" her voice cracked. "What’s happening?"


    "You’re still you," he breathed. "I got you in time."


    Rose stepped forward. "You can’t stop this."


    Jude shoved Ste behind him. "Watch me."


    Then Sophie burst into the clearing with Lucy and Emma, screaming Ste’s name. Grace tried to block them, but Emma’s de was faster, shing through the air and forcing her back.


    Jude turned to Ste. "Run. Go with them. Don’t look back."


    She hesitated, but then she obeyed.


    The forest erupted into chaos.


    Zoey lunged at Lucy. Scarlet tackled Emma. Natalie grabbed Sophie by the arm, but Sophie twisted and broke free. The structure behind them began to hum, low and resonant, as if the bones were singing.


    And Rose...


    Roseughed.


    "You’re toote," she said. "She’s almost here."


    Then the roots of the structure began to pulse.


    The ind groaned.


    And the sky turned ck.


    The clouds rolled in too fast for nature. One blink and the blue sky dimmed to gray. Another blink, and it was nearly ck, as if night had mmed over the ind without warning. Wind roared down from nowhere, bending trees and sending leaves scattering through the air like feathers. Jude stood in front of Ste, arms wide, heart pounding so loud he couldn’t hear anything else. The ground trembled beneath them.


    Sophie grabbed Lucy’s hand and pulled her back into the forest, screaming at Ste to run. Emma followed with her de drawn, trying to keep the group together. But behind them, at the edge of the clearing, Rose was standing tall and calm, arms outstretched toward the rising storm. Her hair whipped around her face. Her smile never faded.