Chapter 1213
The light burned brighter, not with warmth, but with a terrible intensity, like staring into something sacred and wrong all at once. The faceless woman stood still at the edge of the clearing, her presence cutting through the air like a blade. The trees behind her bowed inward. The very forest seemed to shrink from her presence.
Rose didn’t hesitate. Her fingers moved with purpose, sketching watcherscript in the dirt with a shard of bone Jude hadn’t seen her pick up. The runes curved and spiraled in precise strokes, glowing faintly with each completed line.
"Don’t look at it," she warned. "If it catches your full gaze, it binds you to it. That’s how it spreads."
Jude held Susan tighter. She was shaking but not resisting. Her eyes were closed, her lips moving silently - he didn’t know if it was prayer or memory, but she wasn’t panicking.
Sophie circled behind him, holding a blade low. "How do we know this will work?"
"We don’t," Rose said. "But if we hesitate now, it will take another one of us. And we might not get them back."
Zoey crouched beside Stella and Grace, who were both stirring slightly. "They’re waking. Should we - "
"Don’t let them move yet," Emma snapped. "Not until we know they’re themselves."
The light from the figure pulsed once, and everyone in the clearing felt it - a pressure behind their eyes, a memory trying to claw its way to the surface. For Jude, it was Susan, naked beneath the moon, whispering his name the first night they made love on the riverbank. But it wasn’t just that. It was twisted now, distorted, her voice echoing in too many tones.
He looked down at the real Susan in his arms. Her skin was burning again.
"It’s trying to pull her back," he growled. "Rose - now. "