Chapter 1689.2

Sophie turned toward the trees, toward the river, toward the heart of the island. "The island always shows us how when we're ready."

Jude took a breath, then stood. The others followed one by one, reluctant but eager, scared but willing. They walked in silence, the golden moss glowing faintly beneath their feet, guiding them not back to the heartstone - but past it.

Beyond it.

To a part of the forest they had never seen before.

The trees grew taller here, almost impossibly so. Their trunks were wide enough to house entire rooms, their branches intertwined like the fingers of giants. And in the center of the clearing they came upon, the air shimmered - not light, not mist, but something in between. It looked like a veil woven from starlight and breath.

Emma reached out first. Her fingers passed through the shimmer and vanished. She gasped but didn't pull back. "It's soft," she said. "Warm."

"Alive," Grace added, stepping beside her.