Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1214

Chapter 1214: Chapter 1214

Jude didn’t move. He couldn’t. His feet were rooted, his pulse thundering in his ears. Rose stood at the edge of the scorched watcher script circle, her fingers flexing like she could feel the thing writhing beneath her skin. Her eyes glowed faintly, not with the blank white of the spiral’s possession but with something darker. Intentional. Awake.

Sophie stepped beside Jude, blade in hand. "Rose," she said cautiously, "whatever it gave you - whatever it showed you - you can still fight it."

Rose tilted her head. "Fight it?" Her voice was soft, airy. "Why would I fight it? I asked to see. And now I do. I understand things none of you ever could."

Susan managed to stand, Jude catching her before she wobbled. "It tricked you," she croaked. "It showed you what you wanted, and you let it in. "

Rose’s gaze shifted to her, warm and almost... sad. "It didn’t trick me, Susan. It trusted me. It let me see everything. Not just the island’s truth, but what we really are here for. Why we were brought. Why we’re together. "

Emma pushed past Zoey, blade raised. "Then start explaining before I cut that thing out of you."

Rose didn’t blink. "You couldn’t. It’s not in me. It is me now. Or I’m it. There’s no separation. That’s the difference."

Sophie’s voice was sharp now. "You said you wanted to stop it. You helped bind it. Was that all a lie?"

"I did want to stop it," Rose said. "When I was still separate. But I was just a sliver of myself then. Now I see the spiral never wanted to control us. It invited us. We’re the ones who made it a monster."

"No," Susan said. "It took us. It tried to erase us."

Rose stepped forward. The others tensed. Jude felt Susan grip his arm tightly.

"It doesn’t erase," Rose said softly. "It sheds. All the fear. The ego. The fragile need to be one self instead of many. Don’t you see? We were never meant to be twelve women and one man. We’re meant to be one whole."

Zoey hissed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Rose looked at her, and for a flicker of a second, her face changed. Not her features - her expression. It became Zoey’s. The exact same smirk Zoey wore when she teased Jude two weeks ago by the river, soaking wet and laughing.

Zoey stepped back. "That’s not funny."

"I’m not trying to be," Rose said, and now her voice carried two tones - hers, and Zoey’s.

Lucy whispered, "She’s becoming us."

"It’s all memory," Rose said. "All bond. It weaves through our love, our fears, our desires. That’s how the spiral reaches. And I - " she paused, smiling wider - "I’m the loom now."

Jude’s mind was racing. If the spiral had merged with Rose, then this wasn’t like before. It wasn’t about extracting the infection. Rose had embraced it. Invited it.

Which meant...

"She’s not going to stop," Susan said aloud, voicing what Jude couldn’t.

"No," Rose agreed. "Not until we’re all one. All woven. I won’t force you. That’s not how the spiral works. You’ll come willingly."

Emma moved like lightning.

But Rose was faster.

In an instant, she sidestepped the strike, grabbed Emma’s wrist, and twisted. Not brutally. Gently. Almost lovingly. Emma dropped the blade with a gasp, falling to one knee.

Rose whispered something only she heard - and Emma froze .

Her eyes unfocused. Her mouth parted.

Then she looked up at Rose.

And smiled.

"Emma?" Sophie asked, her voice cracking.

"She’s fine," Rose said. "She remembers now. Don’t you, love?"

Emma stood slowly and turned back to the group.

"Yes," she said. "I remember everything."

Her voice echoed with Rose’s.

Sophie’s hand trembled on her weapon. "No."

"Don’t be afraid," Rose said. "You’ve been running from yourselves for so long. But it’s here now. The truth. The island didn’t trap us. It freed us. The spiral isn’t a monster - it’s a mirror. It only shows you what you already are underneath."

Jude stepped forward. "If that’s true - if it only reflects - then I’m looking at something twisted."

Rose met his eyes, smiling. "You always were the hardest to reach. But that’s what makes you the center. The thread everything wraps around."

Sophie moved beside him. "If you try to touch him - "

Rose laughed gently. "I wouldn’t. You’ll come when you’re ready. All of you will."

She looked around slowly, and Jude felt a cold pit grow in his stomach.

Because Stella and Grace were standing now, silent, eyes half-lidded.

Natalie had stopped blinking.

Layla had her hand over her heart, smiling softly.

Only Lucy and Zoey looked terrified.

Susan was still shaking.

And Sophie - Sophie was burning with fury.

Rose raised her hand, and the air thickened. Behind her, a glow rose from the ground - not fire, but watcherscript, spiraling upward in a beautiful, terrible helix.

"This is the beginning," Rose said. "The spiral turns inward now. Soon, there will be no fear. No separation. Only love."

Jude’s grip tightened.

Sophie whispered, "She’s going to try to take us all tonight."

Jude’s voice was steady now, clear. "Then we don’t sleep."

Rose smiled wider. "Then I’ll see you at dawn."

And just like that, she vanished into the trees - Emma behind her, walking like a shadow. Grace, Stella, Layla, Natalie - all following without hesitation.

Only Lucy, Zoey, Susan, Sophie, and Jude remained.

Jude looked around.

"We hold this ground," he said.

Sophie nodded. "And we fight the spiral from inside us ."

But as they stood together under the trembling trees, Jude couldn’t shake one final thought.

Rose hadn’t lied.

She hadn’t forced anyone.

They chose her.

And tomorrow... someone else might too.

The night hung heavy with silence after Rose vanished into the forest. Jude could still feel the pressure in the air, like the spiral hadn’t truly left but simply folded itself into the trees, watching through the eyes of those it had already taken. He stood close to Sophie, Susan between them, with Zoey and Lucy flanking the edges of the dim fire they’d built up again - small, flickering, but necessary.