<h4>Chapter 1175: Chapter 1175</h4>


    Rose extended a hand across the stream, her fingers delicate and pale, glowing faintly. The waterpped at her feet, the current sluggish, thick, as though reluctant to flow past her. The thing beneath stirred again, the surface of the stream quivering, hinting at coils or limbs toorge to name, too dark to see clearly.


    Lucy was at Jude’s side now, de drawn, her voice low and fierce. "She’s not alone. That thing-it’s using her, Jude. It’s *through* her. You step in that water, you might note back out."


    Sophie grabbed his other hand, fingers digging in. "Please. We’ll find another way. We’ll save her-but not like this."


    Jude’s heart raced. He looked at Rose’s face, at the shimmer of tears that glistened in her silver-lit eyes, and saw the agony there. A silent plea. A war within. And he knew that stepping into that stream would be surrender-not just of himself, but of everything they had left.


    He shook his head slowly, lowering his foot back onto solid ground, stepping away from the water’s edge. "I’m not giving you up," he said, his voice breaking. "But I won’t let that thing take me too."


    Rose’s smile faltered, the silver glow flickering as if a breeze had touched it. For an instant, her hand wavered, as though she longed to reach for him, to cross the water herself. But then the thing beneath the stream rose higher, its presence swelling like a tide. The water darkened, the glow around Rose ring bright once more, swallowing that fleeting moment of weakness.


    Her voice came softer now, almost tender. "Soon, Jude. You’ll see. You’ll understand."


    The thing beneath surged, sending a wave across the stream that nearly sshed at their feet. The ground trembled beneath them, and Rose began to retreat, her glow fading as she stepped backward into the trees, swallowed once more by shadow and mist.


    Jude stood frozen, his breath ragged, his heart aching with the loss of her, the fear of what waited next. Around him, the others gathered close, their faces pale but resolute.


    Zoey’s voice shook as she spoke. "That was too close."


    Lucy wiped her de against her sleeve, eyes hard. "She’s leading us somewhere. We can’t let her do it on their terms."


    Sophie cupped Jude’s face, forcing him to meet her gaze. "We’ll save her. We’ll break whatever this is. But we do it together. Always together."


    Jude nodded, the warmth of her hands anchoring him again. "Always."


    And as the mist closed in, the forest grew still once more, but the stream’s dark water continued to ripple, as ifughing at their defiance, as if promising that the game was far from over.


    The forest swallowed thest glimmer of Rose’s silver light, leaving behind only the soft ripple of the dark stream and the ragged sound of their breathing. The air felt heavier now, thick with moisture and the scent of moss and earth, as if the ind itself was holding its breath. Jude stayed frozen for a heartbeat longer, staring at the ce where she’d disappeared, willing her toe back, to fight whatever force had its ws in her. But the shadows gave no answer, and the silence was as deep and unyielding as the sea.


    Sophie’s fingers slid from his face to his hand, linking them together tightly. Her touch steadied him, reminded him that he wasn’t alone in this. "We can’t stand here," she said gently. "We have to keep moving."


    Lucy scanned the dark water, her de still drawn. "It’s watching. Whatever that thing is-it’s waiting for us to slip. We stay on dry ground. No one goes near that stream again unless we have no choice."


    Zoey exhaled, her breath shaky. "She wanted him to follow. That... thing. It was calling him through her."


    Jude tore his eyes from the water and looked at them, each face illuminated by the pale dawn light filtering through the canopy. They were tired. Frightened. But beneath that, he saw the fire that bound them all-the same fire that burned in him. They wouldn’t give up. Not now. Not ever.


    "We follow," he said, his voice rough but certain. "But we stay smart. We stay together. She’s leading us somewhere, and whatever’s waiting-" he nced at the stream, at the ce where the water still rippled unnaturally, "-we’re going to face it on our terms, not theirs."


    Susan touched his arm. "Where do we start?"


    Jude looked at the trail Rose had left behind: faint marks on the moss, bent grass, the shimmer of silver on a low-hanging branch. He pointed. "There. She wants us to follow. Fine. But we do it our way."


    They moved as one, stepping carefully around the stream’s edge, deeper into the forest. The air grew cooler as the trees thickened, their branches arching overhead to form a living tunnel. The light dimmed to a dusky green, the mist returning, coiling low around their ankles like the memory of the night before. The ind felt alive beneath their feet, the ground soft and warm, the very earth humming with tension.


    Every so often, they found another sign: a scrap of fabric, a footprint in the mud, the faint scent of salt and something sweet and wrong. Each clue drew them deeper, and with every step, the forest seemed to close tighter around them, as if trying to keep them from turning back.


    Scarlet, walking near the front with Jude and Sophie, spoke quietly. "She’s not gone. I felt it. When she looked at you-she’s still in there. We can reach her."


    Jude wanted to believe that with all his heart. He clung to the memory of the tear he’d seen, the brief flicker of Rose behind that hollow smile. "We will," he said. "We have to."


    Hours passed in a haze of green and shadow, the forest endless, the trail winding and treacherous. The air grew thick with the promise of rain, the wind sighing through the leaves like a voice too soft to understand. But they didn’t stop, not until the trail led them to another clearing.


    This one was different.