<h4>Chapter 1159: Chapter 1159</h4>


    Zoey gasped and stumbled. Susan blinked and dropped to her knees. Emma looked around in disoriented confusion, the eerie calm draining from her eyes.


    It was like waking from a trance.


    "What... what just happened?" Zoey whispered.


    Natalie clutched her arms, shivering. "I feel cold."


    Scarlet fell to the ground, weeping quietly.


    They were returning to themselves.


    But Rose remained still.


    She didn’t fall. She didn’t tremble. She just stood there, staring at the sealed ground where the entity had risen, rain pouring over her motionless body.


    Sophie pulled Jude away. "We need to go. Before it starts again."


    Rose whispered, "She’s not finished."


    And as the others stumbled through the rain, leaning on one another, confused and shaken, only Jude looked back.


    Rose stood alone, eyes fixed on the sky, her lips barely moving.


    She was still smiling.


    The rain kept falling, thick and relentless, soaking everything until the ground turned to mud and the trees wept with it. Jude’s boots slipped as he helped Sophie and Lucy guide the others back toward their shelters, the once-familiar path distorted by the storm’s fury. The windshed at their faces, but it wasn’t enough to drown out the memory of Rose’s voice, soft as it was chilling: , She’s not finished.,


    Every so often, Jude looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Rose following, but she didn’t. She remained in the clearing, alone beneath the downpour, a dark figure framed in flickering lightning, unmoving as if rooted to the spot.


    Zoey shivered violently as she stumbled along. "What happened? I remember the forest... Rose... and then it’s just nk."


    "Don’t think about it," Sophie said gently, steadying her. "We’re safe now."


    But Jude didn’t believe that. Not yet.


    When they reached the shelter, they copsed inside, bodies pressed close for warmth. Ste and Lucy started a fire with trembling hands, the sparks stubborn against the wet wood but catching eventually. The small ze flickered to life, casting pale light across their pale faces.


    Scarlet curled up against Natalie, her eyes wide and hollow. Susan clung to Grace as if anchoring herself to reality. Emma stared into the mes, saying nothing, but her lips moved silently, as if trying to form a prayer or a curse, Jude couldn’t tell which.


    They all felt it. The weight of what had almost happened. The presence that had nearly swallowed them whole.


    And Rose, , Rose.,


    Jude paced the edge of the shelter, heart racing. He could still feel her eyes on him, even now. Still feel the pull she had over him. And it scared him, not just because he might fail to resist it, but because a part of him didn’t want to.


    Sophie’s voice broke his thoughts. "We need a n."


    He stopped, running a hand through his soaked hair. "We had one. It fell apart."


    "No," she said firmly, rising to stand with him. "We survived. That counts for something."


    Lucy came closer. "She’s not wrong. We broke the ritual. We stopped whatever that thing was froming throughpletely."


    "For now," Jude said.


    Ste added, "Then we figure out how to make ’for now’ permanent."


    Outside, the storm raged, but the sound was oddlyforting, real, natural, not some ancient entity trying to seduce or devour them. Just wind. Just rain.


    They talked through the night, voices low so the others could rest. They spoke of symbols they’d seen on the ground, of the light in Rose’s veins, of the chasm that had opened and sealed. Every detail might matter. Every memory might hold a key.


    But no matter how hard they nned, Jude couldn’t shake the image of Rose standing alone, rain dripping from hershes, smiling at nothing.


    When dawn finally broke, weak and grey through the thinning storm, Jude stepped outside. The ind felt different in the morning light, cleaner, quieter. But he knew better. The peace was an illusion.


    He felt her before he saw her.


    Rose.


    She was there at the edge of the trees, watching him.


    The storm had washed her clean, but not changed her. Her hair clung to her face, her dress to her body. Her eyes, soft and haunting, held him captive.


    She lifted one hand slowly, palm out, as if asking him toe.


    But she didn’t move closer.


    She just waited.


    And still, she smiled.


    Jude’s heart pounded as he stood frozen in the soft mud, the morning light casting long shadows across the clearing. The rain had stopped, leaving the air thick and heavy, the scent of wet earth mingling with the salt of the nearby sea. Rose didn’t say a word. She didn’t have to. That single outstretched hand spoke louder than any plea. It was an invitation. A promise. A trap.


    He took a step back.


    Her smile widened, slow and deliberate, as if she knew he couldn’t resist forever. As if she had all the time in the world to wait for him to break.


    Behind him, Sophie’s voice sliced through the haze. "Jude, don’t."


    He turned his head just enough to see her, standing at the shelter’s edge, eyes fierce, hair still damp and wild from the storm. Lucy and Ste appeared beside her, equally tense, watching the silent standoff.


    "I’m not going to her," Jude said, his voice hoarse. "I’m not."


    But inside, a part of him wanted to. That part remembered Rose’s touch, her scent, herugh when things were simple. That part wanted to believe she was still in there somewhere, beneath whatever darkness had imed her.


    Rose took a slow step forward, her bare feet silent on the wet ground. She lowered her hand but kept her gaze locked on his, soft and steady.


    "Please," Sophie said behind him. "Come back inside."


    He forced himself to look away from Rose, to break the spell of her eyes. He turned and walked toward Sophie, feeling the weight of Rose’s stare on his back like heat. Sophie grabbed his hand the moment he was close enough, pulling him into the shelter, into the safety of their circle.