Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1252

Chapter 1252: Chapter 1252

"You keep trying to hold us here. In fear. In doubt. You want us to question the island. But we’re not meant to fear it, Jude. We’re meant to worship it."

Zoey stepped forward. "This isn’t you, Grace. We’ve all been through things. We’ve all felt pulled and twisted by this place. But this - this isn’t who you are."

Grace smiled wider. "No. This is who I was always meant to be."

Sophie stood slowly, guiding Lucy to her feet. "What do you want from us?" she asked Rose directly.

Rose lifted her hand. "To join us. To stop running. The island isn’t trying to hurt us. It’s trying to complete us."

"And if we say no?" Jude asked.

Rose’s expression didn’t change. "Then it’ll wait. Because it knows. You’ll say yes eventually."

There was a long silence.

Then Sophie whispered, "Run."

Jude didn’t question her. He grabbed Lucy and pulled her toward the trees. Zoey took Susan’s hand and followed. Emma, too, broke into a sprint, Sophie right beside her.

Behind them, Rose’s voice rang out - not shouting, not angry. Just clear and certain.

"Don’t run too far, Jude. I’ll always find you."

They ran deeper into the forest than they’d ever dared before. Past familiar trees, past old markers and trails, into the thick of wild paths choked by roots and thorns. They didn’t stop until the forest grew so dense the light above barely pierced through.

They collapsed in a small clearing, hearts pounding, lungs heaving. Lucy sobbed quietly into Zoey’s shoulder, while Susan sat against a tree, her hands shaking.

Emma spoke first. "She’s gone."

Jude looked at her. "Who?"

"Rose. The woman we knew. She’s not coming back."

Sophie didn’t disagree. "This isn’t possession. It’s conversion. The island is transforming them."

Zoey’s eyes burned. "One by one."

"We still have each other," Lucy said, wiping her tears. "We still have time."

Jude looked around. "Seven of us now."

Sophie nodded. "The ones resisting."

He turned to Sophie. "You knew something was wrong with Rose even before this, didn’t you?"

"I felt it the moment she came back from the river. That smile wasn’t hers. And then Layla. Then Zoey. Then Stella."

Jude’s jaw clenched. "And now Grace."

"We need a plan," Zoey said.

Emma sat beside her. "We can’t fight them. Not directly. Not if the island is empowering them."

Sophie picked up a stick and started drawing shapes in the dirt - circles, lines, paths. "We go back to the shrine. The Offering Bowl. Whatever started this, maybe we can undo it."

"You think that’s possible?" Jude asked.

"I don’t know. But if the island feeds off devotion, maybe we can starve it."

"Or kill it," Zoey added.

Lucy touched Jude’s hand. "What if Rose comes after us?"

He squeezed her fingers gently. "Then we remind her who she was. And if we can’t... we run."

They moved again before nightfall, setting up a hidden camp high in the trees - something they hadn’t done in weeks. Jude tied hammocks himself, made sure each one was close together, that no one would be left alone. They didn’t light a fire. They ate in silence. Every sound in the forest felt louder. Every gust of wind through the branches could have been footsteps.

In the darkness, Jude lay with Lucy curled into his chest, Susan tucked behind him. Sophie sat awake on a branch nearby, legs swinging, her knife across her lap. Zoey watched the trees, her back against Emma’s.

No one slept well.

And in the darkest hour, a voice drifted through the trees.

"Jude..."

Soft. Lyrical. Familiar.

"Jude..."

Lucy buried her face in his chest.

"Come back to us..."

Jude sat up slowly, scanning the branches, the shadows. He didn’t see her, but he knew it was Rose.

And then the whisper was closer.

"You don’t have to be afraid anymore."

He closed his eyes and breathed through the chill crawling down his spine.

"She’s trying to lure us," he said.

"Then we don’t move," Sophie replied from the shadows. "We wait her out."

The whisper came one more time. And this time, it was Grace’s voice.

"We miss you..."

Then silence.

By dawn, the whispers were gone. But they’d left something behind - a feeling that they were being watched. Not hunted. Invited.

They left the treehouse without speaking much and headed for the shrine.

The journey back was slower, more cautious. Every snap of a branch sent nerves spiraling. But they made it to the arch, and then the tunnel beneath it, without encountering anyone. The shimmer in the arch was faint again - pulsing but weak.

When they reached the shrine, the basin still sat at the center, still full of the strange, glowing liquid.

Sophie approached it and stared down into the silver-blue depths. "It’s calling."

Jude stepped beside her. "To you?"

"To all of us." She pointed to the stone behind it. "But look - "

Symbols had changed. Fresh carvings. New spirals. A word, scratched in deep strokes: One.

Emma frowned. "That wasn’t there before."

Zoey ran her fingers along the edge. "It’s counting. We’re the ’one’ left."

Jude looked at Sophie. "What happens when we’re not?"

She didn’t answer.

Jude looked down at the Offering Bowl. Then he looked at each of them.

"No one drinks. No one touches it."

Zoey glanced at Emma, then at Sophie. "What if someone already has?"

Everyone turned slowly toward Susan.

She stood at the back of the chamber, her eyes wide, her hands clenched at her sides.

"I didn’t..." she whispered. "I would never..."

Jude stepped forward. "It’s okay. You’re still with us."

But as he reached for her, Susan stepped back.

"No. I... I dreamed of it. I dreamed I drank it."

"Dreams don’t count," Zoey said quickly. "They’re tricks."

"But I can still hear them," Susan said, voice trembling. "Calling me. Begging me."

Jude moved toward her again. "Then stay with us. Fight it."

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

And then she smiled.

It was small.

Almost imperceptible.

But wrong.

Just wrong enough.