Chapter 968

Jude stepped to the edge. One figure stood in the fog.

Not a watcher.

Tall. Robed in ragged cloth. Head bowed. Its hands were human. But its presence was cold. Alien.

Jude called softly, "Do you come in peace?"

The figure didn't answer. It raised its head. Eyes like empty wells stared back.

Not peace. Not war. Return.

Then it turned and vanished.

The fog rolled back.

Jude stood still for a long time.

When the sun finally broke the sky, he gathered the wives.

"It's coming," he said. "Not a watcher. Something older. It knows us. It spoke."

Emma crossed her arms. "What did it mean? Return to what?"

"I don't know," Jude said, "but we're not alone here. The watchers were the island's whisper. This thing, it's the memory buried beneath."

They looked at each other. Twelve wives. One family. One truth.

They would hold the orchard.

And they would face what came next together.