Chapter 867 - 869
Jude looked at her. "That whatever’s inside the island, whatever’s in that smoke, it’s part of what I came here to find. And now it’s waking up."
Sophie shook her head slowly. "You’re saying... this was planned?"
Jude’s voice cracked. "I don’t know anymore."
No one spoke for a while. The fire crackled. The forest groaned around them.
Finally, Grace leaned forward. "Then we need to find the rest of the truth. All of it."
The others nodded, one by one. Emma was last. She moved beside Jude and placed her hand in his. "Whatever you were before... you’re ours now."
That night, they all slept together again. No dreams. No smoke.
But when Jude woke just before dawn, something was missing.
He sat up instantly, scanning the room.
Lucy was gone.
He didn’t shout. Didn’t wake the others. He moved silently to the ladder and climbed down. The mist was thicker than ever, curling around his feet like fog from a cauldron. He followed the faint trail of footprints, bare, light, careful, leading toward the edge of the forest.