Chapter 1113
That night, they lit no fire. They slept in silence, close together. Sophie clung to Jude. Emma kept a blade under her pillow. Only Natalie and Lucy were missing now.
And in the shadows, Jude could feel them circling.
Waiting for the last cracks to form.
The night didn’t end, it simply changed shape. Jude sat upright in the bed, the soft weight of Sophie curled beside him not enough to calm the tension coiled in his chest. He hadn’t slept, not really. Every sound from outside had him flinching, listening. Each gust of wind against the wooden walls could’ve been Rose. Or Layla. Or Zoey. Or now, Stella. Their numbers were dwindling. Their circle was shrinking. And the ones still holding on were running out of room to breathe.
He slipped from beneath the blanket carefully, pressing a soft kiss to Sophie’s temple before rising and padding silently to the doorway. The moon was high, casting long silver bars across the clearing. He could see Grace and Susan by the edge of the trees, laughing softly, their arms twined. The fire was long dead, but they didn’t seem cold. He watched them for a moment, noting the way they moved, like they floated just above the ground, like gravity didn’t quite have hold of them anymore.
Emma appeared beside him without a sound. "They don’t sleep," she whispered.
He nodded. "It’s like they don’t need to."
She glanced toward the trees. "Did you hear the humming again?"
"Only for a second," he said. "It’s quieter now. Like it’s not meant for us anymore."
"We have to act before it gets any worse."
He turned to her. "We’re outnumbered, Emma."