Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1246

Chapter 1246: Chapter 1246

Jude was the first to reach her. He crouched beside her bedding, gently brushing a hand over Emma’s cheek. Her skin was warm, slightly damp with the morning heat, but her eyes - those bright, determined eyes - stared blankly ahead, unmoving. Her lips were parted just enough to show breath passed through them. But she didn’t blink. Didn’t react.

"Emma?" he whispered, tapping her shoulder. "Hey. Emma. Look at me."

She didn’t.

Behind him, Layla entered, still stretching sleep from her muscles. "What is it?"

Jude moved aside. "Something’s wrong."

She knelt beside Emma, gently cradling her face and trying to tilt it toward her. But Emma didn’t resist or respond - her head moved, but her gaze stayed fixed upward.

"Emma, it’s me. Can you hear me?"

Still nothing.

Layla turned toward the others just as Sophie burst in through the side curtain of vines. "I felt something. Something weird. Like - " Her eyes landed on Emma. "No."

The rest of the wives gathered one by one. Their expressions shifted from curiosity to confusion to a rising fear that spread through the camp like a slow venom. Emma had always been one of the strongest. One of the most present. The idea of her going silent, falling into this state - it was like watching the roots of a tree rot while the leaves still shone green.

Rose pushed her way through the circle and sat next to Emma. Her hand hovered just above her chest, her eyes closed. "She’s not gone," she said softly. "But something’s touching her."

"Is it the same thing?" Zoey asked, stepping forward. "What got into me? Into Layla?"

Rose opened her eyes. "No. It’s not possession. It’s a thread. Something’s pulled her somewhere else."

"Like it did with Layla?" Sophie asked.

"No," Rose said. "Worse."

Lucy dropped to her knees beside Emma, tears brimming. "She just got better. She was smiling last night. Laughing."

Jude looked at her face again. Emma’s lips had curled slightly at the corners - not in joy or amusement, but something... else. A stillness that felt unnatural. The same stillness they’d seen before.

He looked at Rose. "What do we do?"

"We need to follow her."

"How?" Sophie asked. "We barely got Layla back. And this time we don’t even know where Emma is."

Rose turned toward the fire pit, her eyes narrowing. "We make her show us."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

Rose stood and walked to the center of the treehouse, picking up the coals from the fire with a hooked stick. She dropped them into a stone bowl, then scattered dried leaves and herbs they’d found near the river. Smoke rose instantly, thick and fragrant, curling with a strange rhythm.

"Everyone sit in a circle," she instructed. "Close. Like we did when we broke the island’s grip."

Sophie hesitated. "You think this will work again?"

"It’s not about the same thing," Rose said. "We aren’t breaking her free. We’re reaching in."

Reluctantly, the wives obeyed. One by one, they formed a circle around the smoldering bowl. Jude sat across from Rose, flanked by Sophie and Layla. Lucy held Zoey’s hand, while Susan and Natalie pressed close beside Grace and Stella.

Rose lifted the bowl slightly. "Breathe it in. Think of Emma. Think of her laughter. Her anger. Her stubbornness. Anchor yourself to her."

The smoke thickened, spinning upward like a serpent of mist. Jude inhaled. It was sweet at first - then bitter. Sharp. The air shimmered slightly around the fire, and he felt something pull at the edges of his mind, like fingers trailing across the inside of his skull.

Sophie exhaled, eyes closed. "I feel her."

"Where?" Layla asked.

"In the trees. Watching. She’s... behind something. A veil."

Rose murmured, "Ask her to come back."

Jude closed his eyes. Emma. Come back to us. You’re not alone. We’re here.

The air shifted. Jude felt cold fingers ghost across his spine. The smoke swirled violently.

Then Emma moved.

Just slightly - her head tilting. Her lips twitching.

Then she spoke.

"You shouldn’t have followed me."

Her voice wasn’t her own. It was hers, but layered, like someone else was speaking beneath it.

Rose’s eyes flew open. "Emma?"

Her gaze slid toward them slowly. "I warned you."

"Emma, it’s us," Jude said. "You’re safe."

"There is no safe," she replied. "There’s only before and after. And you’re already after."

The fire roared to life in the bowl, flames erupting from the coals with unnatural speed. A gust of wind burst through the treehouse, scattering leaves and pulling at hair and clothes. The circle broke - Natalie shrieked, stumbling backward, and Zoey grabbed Lucy to steady her.

Jude leapt forward and caught Emma by the shoulders. "Emma - fight it. You’re stronger than this."

Emma blinked. And suddenly, she was there. Her eyes wide, her mouth gasping as if surfacing from water. She clutched Jude’s arms like she was drowning.

"Jude - don’t let it - "

And she screamed.

Not in pain.

In warning.

Behind them, the wind stopped. The fire died instantly.

And every bird in the forest fell silent.

Rose turned slowly toward the open window.

It stood there.

Not far.

The monster.

Not imagined, not glimpsed in shadows. Whole. Real.

Seven feet tall, humanoid but wrong - its limbs too long, its skin too smooth, glistening like something that had never known sunlight. Its face was empty, flat, except for two holes where eyes might have once been. Bones protruded from its back like broken wings, twitching.

Jude didn’t move.

None of them did.

The thing cocked its head.

And smiled.

It had no mouth. But they felt the smile. Like it had slid under their skin.

Then it stepped back into the woods - and was gone.

For a moment, no one breathed.

Then Lucy said, trembling, "We all saw that, right?"

Jude’s voice was a rasp. "Yes."

Emma clung to him. "That’s where I was. It’s what I saw. And it’s... not alone."

Zoey whispered, "There are more?"

Emma nodded. "That one’s just the beginning."