Chapter 865

Jude moved through it all as if part of a dream, noting every detail. He saw the tiredness in Sophie's eyes as she stirred the breakfast stew, the way Zoey stood unusually close to him when they passed in the garden, the faint tremble in Amelia's hands as she sharpened a stick near the edge of camp. All of them acted almost normal. Almost. But there were cracks in the surface now, small enough to miss if he weren't paying attention.

He watched them. He spoke to them, gently and without suspicion, and they smiled like nothing was wrong. But Jude's mind churned beneath his calm expression. The voice in the forest, the blue flicker he'd seen, the seductive strangeness that overtook each of them, one by one, it wasn't over. It was evolving.

After breakfast, he called for Emma to help him inspect the fish traps again. It was an excuse, and they both knew it, but she agreed without question. She always liked being near the water.