<h4>Chapter 1154: Chapter 1154</h4>


    She saw it first when they reached the clearing.


    A small circle of stones. Bones arranged in spiral lines. Leaves ckened by some burn that hadn’te from fire. And at the center of it all: Susan, Grace, and Natalie. Kneeling.


    Zoey’s heart caught in her throat.


    They weren’t moving.


    They weren’t praying.


    They were waiting.


    Rose stepped into the circle without hesitation. La followed. And then Zoey saw it, Rose reaching out her hand. Not to the others. To the ground. To something beneath it. And when she whispered, the stones pulsed with light, not golden, not watcher-light. A deep, sickly crimson.


    La stepped beside her, lifted her hand, and began to speak. The words were not in anynguage Zoey understood. They were soft, melodic, almost like watchersong, but wrong. It wasn’t calling something. It was inviting. Weing. Opening.


    The roots around the clearing began to stir. And Susan looked up. Her eyes were wet. But she was smiling. Grace lifted her hands to the sky. Natalie let out a soft moan, like something inside her had finally stopped hurting. Zoey’s body moved before her mind could stop it, she stepped forward, breath held, heart racing.


    She stumbled on a branch.


    Rose’s eyes snapped toward her.


    La turned, slowly.


    And then,


    Everything stopped.


    Rose smiled.


    La stepped toward Zoey. "You followed us."


    Zoey swallowed hard. "What are you doing?"


    Natalie stood. Her expression was soft. "We’re making space."


    "For what?" Zoey whispered.


    Rose’s voice was like silk. "For her."


    Zoey backed away. "You said she was gone. We pulled her out of you. We saw it."


    Rose stepped closer. "You pulled out one part. But she was never just one thing. She was always many. And now... she’s waking again. In all of us."


    Zoey looked into Rose’s eyes and saw something she couldn’t exin. Not malice. Not kindness. Just... devotion. Pure and terrible.


    La reached for Zoey’s hand.


    And for one breathless moment, Zoey didn’t pull away.


    She let her fingers touch La’s.


    And something entered.


    Not through touch. Through feeling. Through want.


    The part of her that had always longed to belong, to be held, to be part of something bigger than herself, something deeper, ancient, was suddenly so close. The warmth of La’s touch, the fire behind Rose’s smile, the peace in Natalie’s eyes, it all called to her. She didn’t resist.


    She let herself fall into it.


    She let it in.


    When the others arrived hourster, Jude, Sophie, Emma, Lucy, Ste, they found Zoey standing with Rose and La in the clearing. Her lips parted in a soft, blissful smile. Her eyes shining with a strange inner light.


    She didn’t speak.


    She didn’t need to.


    The smile was enough.


    The same smile Rose had worn.


    The same smile La now wore.


    The same smile that was spreading to all of them.


    Jude didn’t want to believe it at first. When he saw Zoey standing beside Rose and La, her posture too perfect, her smile too serene, he convinced himself it was just coincidence. Fatigue. Maybe even relief. But the moment she turned to him and said nothing, just smiled with that eerie, knowing calm, he knew. Something had happened in those woods. Something had changed her, just like it had changed the others.


    Sophie stood frozen beside him, her hand tightening around his wrist. "She’s one of them now," she whispered.


    They stood at the edge of the clearing, hidden just beyond the brush. The ritual was over, if it had even been a ritual. The bones and stones that had formed the spiral pattern were gone, scattered as if they’d never been arranged. The roots that had shifted beneath the ground were still. But the air... the air was not right. It smelled too sweet, like flowers wilting in heat. The silence wasn’t peaceful. It was waiting.


    Zoey brushed a hand down her thigh, casually, and turned toward Grace, whispering something that made them both smile. Natalie, seated nearby, leaned into Susan’sp while Scarlet braided her hair. Everything looked soft. Intimate. But Jude saw it, how synchronized their movements were. How not one of them had looked toward him, even once.


    Except Rose.


    She turned then. Her eyes met his.


    And her smile widened.


    It wasn’t gloating. It was inviting.


    He stepped back.


    "Don’t," Sophie whispered, grabbing his arm. "Not yet."


    "We can’t let them, "


    "Not yet. We don’t even know what it is they’ve be. We don’t know how to stop it. If you rush in, you’ll just lose yourself too."


    Jude clenched his jaw and looked away. She was right. But that didn’t make the tightness in his chest any easier to bear.


    They waited until nightfall to return to camp.


    By then, the others were already there, Zoey, Rose, La, Natalie, Grace, Susan, and Scarlet, acting like nothing had changed. Dinner was cooking over the fire. Lucy and Emma were talking quietly with Ste, who hadn’t yet joined the others in their newfound serenity. The shift was subtle, but Jude could feel it. The way conversations paused when he approached. The lingering gazes. The gentle, knowing touches exchanged between the converted wives.


    Rose kissed his cheek when he sat. "You look tired."


    He didn’t answer.


    Zoey brought him a bowl of food and smiled as she ced it in his hands. "You’ll feel better after you eat."


    Her voice was gentle. Loving. Just like always. But it wasn’t her. Notpletely. There was something elseyered beneath it. Something ancient. Something sure.


    He ate anyway.


    And the whole time, Sophie never left his side.


    Later, while the others drifted into sleep or soft murmured embraces, Jude and Sophie sat by the river. The moonlight cast soft silver over the water. Fireflies blinked in the trees. It should have been beautiful. It should have been safe.


    "I think it’s spreading," Jude said, staring into the current.


    "It is," Sophie replied. "But not randomly. She’s choosing them. One by one."