Chapter 1400

The pool released them gently, laying them out on soft moss in a clearing none of them had seen before. It was dawn again. The sky above was pink and silver, clouds slow-drifting like lazy dreams. The trees around them pulsed with gold light, the same that now shimmered softly in their veins.

None of them moved at first.

They were dazed, wrecked, glowing.

Jude blinked up at the sky, Lucy's head on his shoulder, Sophie's hand on his chest, Rose curled against his hip. Their breathing slowly fell into sync.

"I feel… new," Emma murmured.

"You are," Natalie said, running her fingers over her glowing skin. "We all are."

"We crossed through something," Zoey whispered. "Did we die?"

"No," Rose said, her voice sure. "We were reborn."

Sophie sat up slowly, her hair wild around her face, eyes fierce and alive. "Then what comes next?"