Chapter 1571

Jude looked up at the great tree. The bark had sealed again, but its light pulsed with each of their heartbeats. He could feel it inside him now, in his chest, his blood, his breath. A tether. A promise. A purpose.

"We need a place," Grace said softly, brushing moss from her thigh. "A true place. Not just a camp. A home."

Zoey grinned. "You mean like a temple?"

Stella laughed. "Or a palace."

"No," Sophie said, folding her arms. "Not something we build to worship. Something that breathes with us. Something we are ."

Rose stepped forward, the last petals sliding down her shoulders like a blessing. "Then we let the island show us. It knows now. It's watching through us."