<h4>Chapter 1155: Chapter 1155</h4>


    "Then why hasn’t shee for you?"


    Sophie looked at him, her expression unreadable. "Maybe she has. Maybe I said no."


    Jude turned to her. "Would you tell me if she had?"


    Sophie leaned against his shoulder. "Would you believe me if I did?"


    He didn’t answer.


    They sat in silence for a while.


    When they returned to camp, the fire was low and the air smelled of smoke and warm bodies. The others were curled together like petals closing in on a flower, Rose and La pressed chest to chest, Zoey lying across Susan’sp while Grace ran her fingers through her hair. Natalie and Scarlet were asleep, arms intertwined, faces peaceful. Everything looked normal.


    It wasn’t.


    The only ones still awake were Ste and Lucy. They sat apart from the group, whispering in low voices, eyes flicking now and then to the others.


    When Jude and Sophie approached, Lucy stood.


    "We know," she said simply.


    Jude exhaled. "Good. Then we’re not alone."


    Ste nodded. "Not yet."


    That night, Jude didn’t sleep. He watched them instead. Watched as the ones touched by Rose’s influence breathed in unison, shifted toward one another like mas, as though drawn by something deeper than instinct.


    And Rose, lying at the center of it all, opened her eyes in the dark.


    She stared straight at him.


    And smiled.


    The sun rose slowly, filtered through thick clouds that dulled its warmth but didn’t erase the strange stillness in the air. Jude was already awake, sitting at the edge of the forest with a sharpened stick in his hand and a thousand questions running through his mind. Beside him, Sophie stirred and rubbed sleep from her eyes, then reached for his shoulder.


    "Another sleepless night?" she asked.


    He nodded without looking at her. "Rose didn’t close her eyes once. She just stared at the sky. I kept pretending not to notice."


    Sophie sat beside him, her legs drawn up, chin resting on her knees. "Zoey’s different now. You can feel it."


    "She moved like her yesterday. Joked like her. But when I touched her, it felt like a mask was smiling at me."


    Sophie said nothing for a moment, then leaned against him, her voice low. "We need to stop pretending. They’re noting back. Not unless we do something."


    A rustle behind them drew their attention. Lucy emerged from the trees, her braid undone, skin slick with dew. She looked tired but determined. "Ste’s already at the river. She thinks she saw something again. Wants us to check it."


    Jude stood quickly. "Anyone else see her?"


    "Rose was with La and Zoey. They were bathing in the cove. I didn’t stay long. It’s... intense."


    "Intense how?" Sophie asked.


    Lucy shook her head. "You need to see it yourself."


    They made their way toward the river, passing beneath hanging vines and stepping over twisted roots. The sound of running water grew louder as they approached, and then Ste appeared through the trees. She was crouched low, staring at something on the rocks. Jude hurried to her side.


    "What did you find?" he asked.


    Ste pointed at the stone. On its surface was a smear of dark residue, not blood, but something that shimmered faintly in the light. Violet and ck, almost iridescent.


    "It was dripping from the tree when I got here," she whispered. "And this, " she held up a feather, glossy and unfamiliar ", was stuck in the bark."


    Sophie took it carefully. "This isn’t from any bird I’ve seen."


    Lucy looked around. "Do you think... she’s changing again? Growing?"


    "Not just her," Ste said. "Them. All of them."


    The four of them moved quickly after that, circling back toward the clearing before the others could notice their absence. The moment they returned to camp, they saw them, Rose, La, Zoey, Grace, Susan, Natalie, and Scarlet, gathered together,ughing over something unseen. They stood too close, their eyes shining with the same unnatural rity.


    And in the middle of them was Emma.


    Jude froze.


    She hadn’t been among the changed.


    Not until now.


    Her lips were glossy with color. Her hair braided down her back by Susan’s skilled fingers. And her smile, soft, dreamlike, was unmistakably theirs.


    Sophie’s breath caught. "No..."


    Emma turned toward them, gaze settling on Jude.


    "Good morning," she said sweetly.


    Then she walked forward, arms open, and hugged him like she always did.


    But her body felt too warm. Her breath too steady.


    And when she leaned in to kiss his cheek, her lips lingered a second too long.


    Behind her, Rose smiled.


    Lucy grabbed Ste’s arm. "We have to move. Now."


    Jude hesitated. "We can’t leave Emma."


    "She’s already gone," Sophie whispered.


    Emma stepped back and folded herself between Zoey and Grace, their bodies merging into one mass of heat and motion. Rose said nothing, only watching Jude, her head tilted slightly.


    Later, as the sun fell low and the camp gathered near the fire, Ste made a quiet signal to the others. The ones who had not yet been changed, Lucy, Sophie, Jude, and Ste, pulled away slowly, pretending to search for herbs near the edge of the trees.


    "We’re losing them faster now," Lucy said under her breath.


    "Emma was too strong," Ste said. "If they got to her..."


    "They’re getting better at it," Sophie murmured. "More seductive. More natural."


    "We have to do something before we’re next," Jude said.


    From the firelight, Rose turned to look toward them again, her gaze locking with his across the clearing.


    And just behind her, Emma smiled.


    The night wrapped the forest in velvet silence, but even in the stillness, Jude couldn’t find peace. He sat with his back against a tree just outside camp, his hands clenched in the dirt, listening to the soft rustle of leaves above and the whisper ofughter from the fire behind him. It wasn’t the kind ofughter he used to cherish, the kind that came with teasing and kisses,te-night stories and yful bickering. It was too smooth now, too synchronized. Almost rehearsed.