Chapter 1184
Jude looked at each of them in turn-their faces determined, their love fierce-and he felt that old familiar fire rise in him. Whatever the island wanted, whatever the spire represented, they would meet it side by side.
He stepped forward, pulling Sophie and Rose with him, until they stood at the very edge of the pool. The hum grew louder, the spiral’s glow brighter, the air thick with anticipation.
"What now?" Zoey asked, her voice steady but filled with tension.
"We listen," Jude said. "We watch. And if it shows us the next step, we take it together."
The silence that followed was broken only by the rush of the river beyond the pool, by the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze, by the sound of their breaths. And then the spire responded-not with speech, not with movement, but with light. The spiral markings flared brighter, casting the clearing in silver, and the water around the spire began to ripple outward in slow, perfect rings.
The light touched them all, and Jude felt it like a warmth in his bones, like a memory he couldn’t quite grasp. Rose gasped softly beside him, her eyes wide, her hand tightening on his. Sophie leaned into him, her heart pounding so hard he could feel it through her skin.
"It’s calling us," Rose whispered, her voice trembling with awe. "It wants us to come closer."
Lucy’s grip tightened on her blade. "Or it’s luring us in."
Jude shook his head, though he didn’t take his eyes from the spire. "No. It’s showing us that we’re part of this. That we’ve always been part of this."
The ripples spread farther, reaching the shore, lapping at their feet with cold fingers. The glow of the spiral deepened, shifting from silver to a pale blue that seemed to shimmer like moonlight. And then, in the heart of the spire’s markings, a new symbol appeared-one none of them had seen before. A circle within the spiral, like an eye opening, watching them.
Natalie drew in a sharp breath. "What does it mean?"
Jude felt the answer before he could speak it. "It means the island sees us. And it’s waiting for us to see it back."