Chapter 1055
The air was still when Jude opened his eyes, the weight of the silence almost soothing in its constancy. The forest around the treehouse hummed softly with the usual rhythms, wood creaking, leaves rustling, wind curling around thick branches, but beneath it all, a subtle tension threaded through the morning. It wasn’t new. It had been building quietly like pressure under the skin, the kind that you didn’t notice until someone touched it and made it hurt.
He rolled to his side, Layla’s warmth still lingering in the sheets though she was already gone. Her scent, faint smoke and something sweet like crushed fruit, clung to the pillow. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, scanning the space for movement. Nothing yet. Just the low golden light of morning filtering through the thick canopy, casting lazy shadows on the wooden floor.
By the time he made it down, most of the others were already awake. Scarlet and Susan were whispering near the fire, their faces neutral but their postures tense. Grace was sharpening a knife in rhythmic motions. Natalie and Sophie passed a basket back and forth, sorting through the fruits they’d gathered. The fire crackled, eggs sizzled in a pan over the flames, and no one said a word about the thing they’d seen in the woods. Because now, it wasn’t strange. It was expected.
Jude stepped beside Zoey, who handed him a cut slice of roasted root with a quiet nod. Her fingers brushed his. A flicker of comfort passed between them. Then, out of the corner of his eye, movement. Not fast. Not loud. Just a slow shifting shadow at the tree line.
He turned his head slowly. It stood there again.
Tall. Lean. Unmoving.
Like a statue cast in shadow. No face. No features. But it looked. It always looked.
Zoey saw it too. Her fingers tightened on the knife, but she didn’t speak. Jude didn’t either. Neither did Grace, whose eyes briefly flicked toward it before returning to her blade. Everyone saw it. Everyone looked away.
When Jude turned back, it was gone.
Breakfast passed in quiet coordination. Stella and Emma gathered baskets for a fruit run. Susan and Scarlet walked toward the east trees with hunting tools. Jude was about to follow them when Layla appeared behind him, slipping her hand into his without a word. Her fingers were warm. Steady.
"River?" she asked.