Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1242

Chapter 1242: Chapter 1242

Jude looked around, counting.

Nine of them were still under.

Three were fighting.

One had come back.

And the shadow above them was weakening.

Then suddenly, Zoey screamed - not in pain, but in defiance.

Her hands flew to her head as if trying to hold herself together. "It’s too loud! It’s screaming!"

Layla grabbed her, holding her, trying to soothe. But her smile had cracked.

Jude rushed forward. "Zoey! You can come back. You remember me."

Zoey looked at him through wide, glassy eyes. "Jude..."

"Yes. That’s right."

"I was..." Her voice trembled. "I kissed you... the first night. You held my hand by the fire."

He nodded. "Yes."

"And you kissed my shoulder before the rain came."

"Yes. That’s real."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Then what is this?"

"A lie," Lucy said, reaching for her.

Zoey collapsed into Jude’s arms, shaking. The blackness in her eyes receded, slowly, like water drawn back from the shore.

"I remember," she whispered.

The sky screamed.

This time, everyone heard it.

Not a sound, not in air - but in their minds. A shriek that cracked across every thought, made the trees shudder, made their knees buckle. Emma dropped to the ground, sobbing. Grace held her head in her hands, rocking back and forth. Natalie lay flat, unmoving.

Susan crawled toward them, her hands trembling, her breath shallow. "It’s angry."

Rose stepped forward, raising the stone shard still clutched in her hand.

"It can’t survive without us," she said. "It needs us bound."

The sky cracked.

For a moment, it was like glass. A fracture of black veined through the stars, and light began to pierce through it - real light, warm and golden, like dawn.

Jude raised his voice. "Everyone! Remember! The fire on the beach! The songs! The storm we survived!"

Sophie joined him. "The night we all slept together under one blanket! The first mangoes we found! Jude’s terrible fishing!"

Laughter bubbled from Zoey through her tears.

Grace sat up, blinking slowly.

Emma reached for Sophie.

Natalie’s fingers curled in the grass.

One by one, the others began blinking, gasping, shaking - as if emerging from deep water. The blackness above faltered. Its shape unraveled.

But it wasn’t done.

The wind screamed.

Leaves ripped from branches. The ground buckled. The trees leaned toward the center of the clearing as if pulled. And then the shadow fell - one final lunge downward, a swirling black vortex of hunger and rage, aiming for the ones who defied it.

Lucy threw herself forward, dragging Sophie and Zoey with her. Jude reached for Rose.

But it wasn’t Rose the shadow reached for.

It reached for Layla.

Layla stood perfectly still, her arms slack at her sides, her lips parted. Her eyes were half-glazed, torn between worlds.

"Layla!" Jude shouted.

She blinked.

Her gaze found him.

And she smiled.

Not the sinister smile. Not the twisted one.

Her real smile.

And she whispered, "I’m still here."

Then the shadow struck her.

She screamed - this time not in fear, but in resistance.

The force of it sent shockwaves through the clearing. Trees cracked. The fire blew out. Everyone was knocked to the ground.

When the wind died, the light returned.

And Layla was gone.

Smoke lingered in the air even though no fire had burned. It tasted bitter on Jude’s tongue, metallic and dry like ash that never came from flame. He struggled to sit up, his arms shaking beneath him. Lucy was already on her knees, mud smeared along her arms, a cut blooming red along her shoulder. Sophie groaned beside her, rising more slowly, her face pale and eyes wide with disbelief.

"Layla..." Sophie whispered.

Jude’s heart pounded, trying to push back the shock. He stared at the spot where she’d been standing, but the clearing was empty. The earth had caved slightly there, a shallow crater in the mossy ground, and around it - no blood, no remains, just a soft black smear like soot or oil that refused to evaporate.

"She’s not gone," Jude said, his voice rough. "Not completely."

"She’s gone, Jude," Lucy said tightly, but her eyes didn’t meet his. "We saw it."

Rose staggered to her feet behind them. Her braid had come loose, strands of red hair clinging to her damp face. "No. She did what I couldn’t."

Sophie turned. "What do you mean?"

"She took it into herself," Rose said, her voice breaking. "But not to surrender. To hold it. Contain it."

Jude’s breath caught. "You think she... trapped it?"

"I felt it," Rose whispered. "The moment it struck her, something shifted. It didn’t consume her. It collided with her. And she... she held it in."

Lucy stepped closer to the crater, careful, like it might still burn. "Then where is she now?"

Sophie whispered, "Gone. With it."

"No," Jude said, shaking his head. "If she’s still fighting, then she’s alive."

Zoey stumbled forward from the trees, supported by Emma. Her cheeks were wet, her arms trembling, but the emptiness in her gaze was gone. "She looked right at me," Zoey said. "Right before it hit her. She smiled."

"She knew what she was doing," Rose said. "She chose it."

Natalie moved next, her body still unsteady but her voice clear. "Then we get her back."

Everyone turned to look at her.

She straightened her back. "If she’s holding it, then it means it can be held. And if it can be held, then maybe we can pull her out of it."

Jude felt something warm stir in his chest. Not hope, exactly. But purpose.

"We find her," he said.

The group moved as one.

Grace, Susan, Stella - all still shaken, their minds slowly emerging from the haze - joined the circle forming near the center of the crater. They didn’t speak. They just stood, shoulder to shoulder, eyes trained on the darkened ground.

The sky had lightened again, stars receding as the golden warmth of morning began its slow creep across the treetops. But none of them welcomed it. It felt false, like the island was pretending to be calm again. Like it was waiting.