The tree behind them no longer shimmered violently. It glowed soft now, like candlelight, watching, satisfied. The bark bore the twelve circles and Jude's mark at its center. Something had changed. Not just in them, but in the island.
When Lucy finally moved, she did it like a cat stretching across warmth, her bare thigh sliding over Jude's as she rolled onto her belly and propped her chin up on her hands. "We're not the same anymore," she murmured, voice thick and dreamy.
"No," Stella agreed from behind her, curled against Grace like vines wrapped around one another. "I feel… wider. Like I go beyond my body."
"It's her," Rose said without lifting her head from Jude's chest. "She's part of us now."
Sophie pressed a kiss to Jude's shoulder. "Then what are we part of?"
Jude's hand moved slowly over Rose's back, fingers tracing lazy patterns. "Something that doesn't want to hurt us."