Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1209

Chapter 1209: Chapter 1209

Zoey’s hand grabbed Jude’s. "Now or never."

And behind the wall, from deep in the crack of the spiral, something else moved.

Not the creature they had seen before.

Something older .

A low rumble started in the depths of the spiral’s fracture, like stone grinding against bone. The light pouring from the crack was no longer warm or rhythmic - it was wild, jagged, chaotic, sparking across the cavern like lightning in slow motion. The watcher-being in the pool shuddered, the liquid form rippling in spasms as if something inside it had turned against itself.

Rose staggered back two steps, her eyes locked on the growing break in the wall. Layla caught her arm, but Rose didn’t look at her. For the first time since the river, there was fear behind her eyes. Not confusion. Fear.

"What is that?" Grace whispered.

"It’s not part of the spiral," Rose answered.

And Jude realized something chilling.

Rose wasn’t in control.

She never had been.

The spiral - the watcher - it used her. Channeled through her. But whatever had just awakened inside the wall... it was something else. Not spiral, not island-born, but older. Perhaps not even alive in any way they understood.

And it had noticed them.

Cracks spread like veins across the stone face, and from within them came a sound unlike any they’d heard - a soft, rattling whisper that seemed to speak in every voice they had ever loved . Susan’s laugh. Grace’s song. Natalie’s moan. Emma’s breath. It wasn’t real, but it felt true , and it almost brought Jude to his knees.

Sophie grabbed his wrist. "Don’t listen."

"It’s trying to seduce us," Zoey snapped, pulling Stella away from the center. "Just like the other one."

"But it’s not the same," Emma said tightly. "This one... it’s not trying to be beautiful."

The watcher-being in the pool began to thrash, tendrils lashing at the air in jerking spasms. The spirals on the walls blinked rapidly, like dying stars. And then, with a final convulsion, the creature collapsed into itself, imploding silently into black water, leaving nothing behind but ripples.

The silence afterward was absolute.

And then Rose screamed .

It was not a human scream.

It split the cavern like a knife through glass.

She clutched her head and dropped to her knees. Layla cried out and knelt beside her, trying to steady her, but Rose was shaking, writhing, her hands clawing at her scalp as though something were crawling beneath her skin.

Grace staggered back, her expression panicked. "What’s happening to her?"

"She was the vessel," Sophie whispered, stepping closer.

The light from the fracture intensified again.

And this time, it emerged.

No form. No shape. Just motion and shadow and vibration - an intelligence that pulsed in a slow, terrifying rhythm that was not bound by time or matter. It didn’t enter the room. It had always been in the room, only now it had chosen to be seen .

And the wives - Rose, Layla, Grace, Susan, Natalie, Stella - fell to their knees like puppets with strings suddenly yanked. Their mouths opened, but no sound came. Their eyes rolled back. Their hands convulsed in perfect unison.

Jude started toward Rose.

Sophie caught him again.

"She’s not gone yet," he said. "She’s fighting it - look at her!"

And she was.

Rose’s fingers were digging into the stone, trying to anchor herself. Her jaw clenched as if she were holding something back.

Then, barely audible, she choked out one word:

" Jude... "

His heart stuttered.

Zoey’s eyes filled with tears. "She’s in there."

Lucy stepped forward. "Then we help her now ."

But before anyone could move, the shadow pulsed once more.

And everything shifted.

They were no longer in the cavern.

They were in memory .

The beach when they first arrived.

The forest when they first built.

The river when it was calm.

Every moment - layered on top of each other. The spiral’s dream, unfolding like a book, flipping backward through time. The wives were scattered across it - laughing, dancing, kissing Jude under moonlight, swimming naked in the river, their bodies golden and free.

It was the life they had made.

And the shadow was rewriting it.

"No," Sophie whispered. "It’s trying to trap us in the dream. Make us forget what’s real."

"We hold onto now ," Emma said, grabbing her arm. "Don’t look too long."

But Jude’s gaze locked on Rose in the dream.

She stood on the shore, backlit by sunset, smiling - not the corrupted smile, but hers . Her real one.

He took a step forward.

"Jude," she said. "Come back to me."

Behind him, Sophie’s voice cracked. " No! It’s bait - don’t let it use her against you - "

But Jude moved anyway.

He stepped into the memory.

The sand beneath his feet was warm. The ocean breeze real. And Rose - god, she looked like she did before it all twisted. She reached for him, her fingers trembling.

"I can’t hold it," she whispered. "Not much longer."

"You’re stronger than it," Jude said. "Fight it. Just hold on - "

The sky above them began to crack , spiraling into black.

Rose screamed again, and this time, it was both memory and present. Her body twisted in two realities. The dream began to fall apart - trees upside down, rivers running into sky, words spoken backwards.

The spiral was collapsing.

And Rose was at the center of it.

" Pull her out! " Zoey shouted.

Jude ran.

He didn’t know how - but he ran .

Through sand and memory and light and past. Until his hands closed around Rose’s.

" Now! " he shouted. "I’ve got her!"

Sophie grabbed him from behind.

Emma grabbed Sophie.

Lucy grabbed them both.

Zoey held on to Lucy.

And with a final blinding pulse, the memory shattered.

The cave roared back into existence.

Jude collapsed to the floor - with Rose in his arms .

She was shivering. Breathing. Her eyes wide and hers . No smile.

Layla and Grace lay unconscious beside the pool. The others were sprawled nearby, dazed.

The shadow had vanished.

The spiral on the wall was cracked, glowing faintly, but dormant .