Chapter 1551

Emma shook her head. "No. This place will call others. It will grow without us."

"Then where do we go?" Zoey asked, smiling as she brushed her hair back from her flushed face.

"To the next place," Rose said. "The next city. The next world. Wherever they've forgotten how to dream."

Layla laughed and leaned against Jude's side. "Gods with wandering feet."

"Lovers with open hands," Natalie added.

"And mouths," Grace whispered, making everyone laugh.

Below them, the city changed again. The streets softened. Roads unraveled. Parks erupted with strange flowers that hadn't existed before. Entire blocks dissolved into forests of bioluminescent trees. Water flowed where no river had ever been. And at the center - where the square had been - stood the spiral tree, pulsing like a second sun.

And the people?

They danced.

They made love beneath trees.

They whispered confessions.