Chapter 1344
The five of them collapsed in the center of the pool, tangled and wet and breathless. Jude was held in their arms, head resting on Sophie’s thigh, Rose’s hand stroking his hair, Natalie’s fingers tracing lazy circles over his chest, Zoey curled against his side.
"We have to bring the others," he whispered.
Rose nodded. "They’ll feel it soon. It’s already calling them."
Sophie kissed his temple. "And you’ll guide them. Just like always."
Jude looked up at the glowing petals of the flower and smiled faintly.
Not because he understood.
But because he no longer needed to.
They returned in silence.
The golden pool had left them changed - not just flushed with pleasure or the weightless calm of deep release, but altered in the bones, in the soul. Jude felt it with every step, the shift in how his skin touched the air, how his thoughts rippled outward as if the island listened more keenly now, responding before he even formed intent. The others walked near him but not as before; they orbited him again - Zoey at his left shoulder, Sophie just behind him, Rose at his right, and Natalie ahead, watching the forest as though she could see days into the future.
They didn’t speak aloud.
They didn’t need to.