Chapter 1060
The sun hovered lower in the sky now, golden light casting rippling bands over the frantic surface of the water. They were all trembling with cold, but no one left. No one even suggested stopping. Each woman kept diving, pulling herself onto slick rocks for breath only to throw herself back under, lungs burning, hearts thudding with terror and stubborn hope. Jude had lost count of how many times he had dropped below, scouring the deepest parts of the pool, reaching into cracks where eels slithered and weeds threatened to tangle his arms.
But now something had changed. The water was calmer toward the outer edge, where the stream thinned and trickled off past a line of jagged rock formations. Jude had been staring in that direction for a while, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched. He swam there, slow and deliberate, like something was pulling him, some instinct clawing at the edge of his thoughts. Behind him, the others continued calling, diving, crying. He didn’t shout back, didn’t tell them where he was going. Something inside him told him to just move, just follow.
The water narrowed, growing colder, the current more subtle. Shadows pooled between the rocks here, strange shadows that moved in ways they shouldn’t. The trees above swayed even though there was no wind. Jude pushed past a formation that jutted up like broken fingers, his hand brushing the surface of a stone that felt... warm. Like the one near the ledge earlier.
He paused.
His heart kicked hard in his chest.
Then he heard it, not a voice, but a sound. A soft splashing, different from the chaos behind him. Careful. Gentle. Like something moving just out of sight.
He turned sharply.
Nothing.
He floated for a second, just breathing.
Then a shout came, Natalie’s voice, sharp and cutting. "Jude! Where are you?"
"Here," he called over his shoulder. "By the outer stream. Come quick."