Chapter 1118

Emma's eyes softened. For a brief moment, something flickered there, remorse? Memory? But then she turned and followed Rose into the dark.

Sophie's fingers clutched Jude's shirt. She was shaking.

"Don't let them take me too," she whispered.

"You're stronger than that."

"No. I'm scared."

He kissed her forehead, pulling her in close. "Then we'll be scared together."

That night, they didn't sleep.

The jungle was too quiet. The watchers, once ever-present with rustling, whispers, and glow, had gone silent. Even the stars above seemed dimmer. Jude stayed by the dying fire, sharpening a stick into a spear out of instinct more than need. Sophie curled beside him, eyes open and glassy.

At dawn, they searched.

Emma was nowhere. Neither were any of the others.

Only footprints in the soft earth, strange, repeated spirals, marked their absence. Sophie knelt beside one of the spirals, running her fingers through the pattern.