Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1224

Chapter 1224: Chapter 1224

No voice answered.

But something deep in the earth pulsed once in return.

The forest was a whispering hush around them the next morning, filtered sunlight dancing across damp skin and tangled limbs as they began to stir. Jude woke first, slowly peeling himself from the warm knot of bodies nestled against him. Rose lay draped over his chest, her breath even, eyelashes still fanned across her cheek. Lucy had curled up along his other side, her bare thigh slung across his. Sophie’s arm rested across his hips, fingers twitching in her sleep like she was still dreaming.

He eased himself up, careful not to wake them, and stepped into the fresh light. Dew sparkled on every leaf, the air thick with moisture and sweetness. A kind of sacred quiet hovered over the island, the memory of the glowing stone still vibrating faintly in his chest. He couldn’t stop thinking about how it had felt when all of them touched it together, how it had pulsed in response not just to him, but to each of them in turn. As if it had needed their bond, their unity, to awaken fully.

Soft footsteps approached from behind. Susan, her shirt barely clinging to her shoulder, hair a glorious disarray from sleep. "You always wake up before us," she murmured.

"I like the quiet," Jude replied. "It helps me think."

Susan stepped beside him, following his gaze across the forest. "You’re wondering if it changed us."

"I think it already has." He reached for her hand, lacing their fingers. "That stone - it wasn’t just a message. It was a response."

"We called it," Susan whispered, then glanced at him. "That’s what Zoey said."

"She was right."

From the trees, Zoey appeared next, brushing sleep from her eyes, a fresh wrap tied around her hips. "You talking about me?" she teased.

Susan smiled. "Always."

Zoey stretched with a catlike grace, then walked up behind Jude and pressed herself to his back. "Something’s stirring. I don’t know what yet. But it’s close."

"You felt it too?" Jude asked, turning slightly.

"Since I opened my eyes." She looked past him into the dense trees. "The air’s changed."

A rustle came from behind them as more of the wives stirred - Stella and Natalie emerged first, arms around each other, followed by Layla, still barefoot, leaves tangled in her curls. Emma and Grace trailed behind, their quiet closeness speaking louder than words. Finally, Rose stepped forward, already awake with sharp eyes and slow steps, her expression unreadable.

They gathered in a loose circle, the remnants of sleep slowly leaving them.

"We’re all feeling it, right?" Layla said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Like the island’s... awake in a new way?"

Rose nodded slowly. "I felt it the moment I opened my eyes. The stone didn’t just show us a path. It anchored something."

"Not watchers," Lucy said, eyes narrowed. "Not anything we’ve met before."

"It’s us, " Sophie said quietly. "I think we’ve made something new."

"We changed the island," Emma added, brushing a vine from her shoulder. "Or it changed with us."

Jude took a breath. "Whatever it is, we need to understand it before it understands us more than we understand it."

Rose tilted her head. "Then we should start by returning to the stone."

"We only just came back," Stella said, resting against Natalie’s side. "Shouldn’t we wait? Rest?"

"No," Zoey said, stepping forward. "It’s calling again. I can feel it."

Without another word, they gathered what they needed - water, a few provisions, cloth wraps, and their blades. But there was no fear in the preparation, no urgency. Only purpose. They were no longer reacting to the island. They were moving in rhythm with it.

The journey back to the clearing took less time than expected, like the island wanted them to return. The path was clear. The vines no longer tangled their ankles. The undergrowth opened as they moved, the light shifting gently overhead.

When they stepped into the clearing, the stone still stood where they left it. But now, its surface shimmered faintly - not with light, but with heat. A wave of energy rippled from it in pulses too slow to measure, and the air above it warped subtly, like rising steam.

Jude approached first, placing a hand on the stone’s surface. It was warm. Alive. And it pulsed in response to his touch, a slow deep thrum he felt not just in his hand, but in his ribs, his spine, behind his eyes.

The others joined him. One by one, their hands returned to the stone, forming a ring around it. As the final hand - Rose’s - touched the surface, the pulse shifted again, and this time it didn’t stop.

Energy flowed into them.

Not blinding.

Not overwhelming.

Just deep.

Memories that weren’t their own. Visions of places the island hadn’t yet revealed. A vast stretch of water reflecting stars, mountains carved with symbols in an alphabet they didn’t recognize. A sky that split open to reveal threads of gold and light.

Then - all of it stopped.

They staggered back, breathless.

"Did you see that?" Layla gasped.

"I saw... everything ," Emma said, eyes wide.

"It showed us more than before," Sophie whispered. "Farther. Deeper."

"But what is it?" Natalie asked. "It’s not watcher. It’s not spirit."

"It’s us, " Zoey said again. "Or what we’re becoming."

The stone pulsed once more, and this time, the light on its surface reshaped. The patterns on the rock - once spirals and threads - shifted into glyphs.

New ones.

Not watcherscript.

Not anything they’d seen before.

Symbols they somehow understood.

Not because they’d learned them.

Because they’d written them.

Jude touched one glowing symbol, and warmth flared under his skin. "It’s responding to us. It’s growing with us."

"It’s writing our story," Susan whispered.

"No," Rose said, voice low. "We’re writing it. "

They didn’t stay long after that. They knew it wasn’t done with them - but they didn’t need to push. Not today.

Back in the forest, the energy didn’t leave.