Chapter 1071
As she spoke, the hum deepened, and a shadow flickered in the trees beyond the clearing. Jude turned sharply, hand on his knife. But nothing moved again.
Then, they heard laughter.
Low, feminine, drifting through the trees like mist. It was Susan’s voice. Then Zoey’s. Then Rose’s.
They were close.
Jude grabbed Sophie’s hand and pulled her behind a thick root system at the edge of the clearing. From there, hidden in the underbrush, they watched.
The four of them walked into the clearing hand in hand, heads tilted upward, eyes glowing faintly in the dim light. Rose was humming again. Layla followed, swaying gently. Zoey and Susan moved in perfect sync, steps matching, hands interlaced.
They circled the spiral slowly, then stopped at the obsidian stone. Rose knelt first, pressing her palm against it, whispering a language Jude didn’t understand. The others followed, touching the stone, whispering back.
The spiral pulsed.
Jude blinked. The ground didn’t move, but the spiral pulsed, like a heartbeat. The stone shimmered, and the air around it bent. Warped. The petals at the edges of the clearing lifted without wind, floating softly into the air like tiny moths.
And then, the shadows moved.
A tall figure emerged from between the trees. Slender, long-limbed, almost human but not. Its skin shimmered like oil and bark, its face obscured by a mass of twisting branches that formed something like a crown. Its fingers were too long. Its legs didn’t bend correctly.