Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1100

Chapter 1100: Chapter 1100

Rose appeared soon after, walking straight toward them, her dress clinging to her skin like a second layer of light. She knelt beside Jude and reached out to touch his arm.

"You haven’t smiled all day," she said, her voice a honeyed murmur.

"I’m not in the mood to smile," he said, his tone flat.

She tilted her head. "That’s sad. I used to be your reason to smile."

Jude held her gaze. "I remember a lot of things."

Her fingers traced down his arm. "Do you remember the first time you kissed me? The way your hands trembled?" She leaned in, her lips brushing against his jaw. "You told me I tasted like something forbidden."

He closed his eyes against the sudden rush of memory, heat, longing. She was using everything, every shard of his past love to bend him now.

"Don’t," Sophie said sharply.

Rose turned to her, smiling. "Why? Don’t you want to see him happy again?"

"He’s not your toy," Sophie snapped. "Neither are the others."

"They’re not toys," Rose said, standing slowly. "They’re mine. Because I love them."

"And what happens when you have them all?" Jude asked.

Rose walked backward toward the sun, her smile blooming wider. "Then we begin."

As evening fell, Sophie pulled Emma aside. They sat near the edge of camp while the others prepared for dinner, Rose orchestrating it all like a queen with her court.

"I need you to listen to me," Sophie said. "There’s something wrong with her."

Emma nodded slowly. "I’ve felt it. Since Zoey came back. Then Lucy. And now... even Susan. They’re not just acting strange. They’re connected. Like a single mind with different faces."

Sophie exhaled, relieved. "We’re planning something. We don’t have all the pieces yet, but we’re close."

"What do you need from me?" Emma asked.

"To resist. As long as you can. And watch for signs. She’s not finished. Not yet."

Jude stood with Natalie later that night, near the lake. The moon painted everything in soft silver. Natalie was humming softly, leaning close, her fingers absently tracing the shape of a spiral in the sand. Her smile was dreamy, lost. When Jude asked if she remembered the night they climbed the cliffs together, she nodded, but her answer didn’t match the memory. She was fading. Disappearing beneath something else.

And then Rose appeared beside her, slipping her arm around Natalie’s waist.

"She doesn’t remember the cliffs," Rose said, smiling. "But she remembers me."

Natalie smiled wide, leaning into her like a flower drawn to light.

Jude swallowed. "You’re turning them all into echoes of you."

"No," Rose said gently. "I’m waking them up."

He turned away, his fists clenched, and walked back toward the shelters.

Emma met him halfway.

"She’s trying something," Emma said. "Tonight. She sent Lucy and Zoey off into the woods."

Sophie appeared moments later. "We follow."

The three of them slipped away, quiet as breath, and followed the trail into the forest. The path twisted and curved like it was alive, and after nearly an hour of silence, they reached the clearing where the watcher tree once stood.

And there they saw it, Lucy, kneeling in the grass, Zoey behind her, arms wrapped tightly, mouths locked in a kiss that didn’t end. The air shimmered with heat. Their bodies moved in perfect rhythm, slow and reverent. Rose stood nearby, watching with eyes that glowed.

When she turned to them, she wasn’t surprised.

"Come," she said. "This is the final act."

Emma stepped forward, her blade drawn. "You’re not taking anyone else."

Rose tilted her head. "You think it’s about taking? This is a gift."

Sophie grabbed Jude’s hand. "We need to leave. Now."

But the moment snapped when Lucy turned to look at them. Her mouth glistened with Zoey’s kiss, and her smile spread in that slow, too-perfect curve.

The same smile Rose wore.

The same one Zoey wore.

And now Lucy had it too.

Emma didn’t sleep that night. She sat near the edge of the clearing, her spear beside her, her eyes flicking from shadow to shadow, alert and tense. Every sound, the rustle of leaves, the whisper of wind through branches, the soft laughter drifting from the shelter where the others slept, twisted her stomach with unease. Lucy’s smile was still burned into her memory, that same unsettling curve she’d seen before in Zoey, in Layla, in Rose. It wasn’t just a smile. It was a signal. A transformation.

By morning, she hadn’t moved an inch, and when Jude stepped out of his hut, rubbing sleep from his eyes, she met him with a look that said she hadn’t let down her guard once.

"They’re all together in the far shelter," she said without preamble. "Laughing like everything’s normal."

He nodded, jaw tight. "I heard it. Even in sleep, I felt it."

"They’re too quiet now," she added. "Too synchronized. It’s like one mind split across several bodies."

Sophie emerged a moment later, looking similarly unrested, her eyes scanning the camp. "They’re going to take another one. I can feel it. Whoever’s next, it’s going to happen today."

Jude turned toward the forest, hands clenched. "We need a plan."

But before they could say another word, Rose came into view, as if summoned by their thoughts. She wore a wrap of green vines and deep red leaves that clung to her body in hypnotic curves, her long dark hair soaked and trailing over her shoulders. She looked like she had just emerged from the river, wild and freshly born. Beside her were Layla and Zoey, both laughing softly, and Lucy trailing them like a shadow with eyes too wide and empty.

"Good morning," Rose purred, brushing past Jude like she didn’t feel his glare at all. "The river’s calling. It’s a beautiful day."

Layla slid her fingers across Sophie’s arm as she passed, murmuring something too low to hear. Sophie flinched.

"We’ll catch breakfast," Rose added over her shoulder. "Unless you’d rather go hungry."