Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 903 - 905

Chapter 903: Chapter 905

They reached the shore near the south point and found two of the traps had been disturbed. A few of the wooden stakes had been uprooted, possibly by crabs or large fish. Jude knelt beside the wreckage, examining it carefully.

Grace crouched beside him. "This looks like it was pulled. Not broken by water."

Jude nodded. "Yeah. Something knew how to take it apart."

Natalie stood further back, scanning the treeline. "Could’ve been one of those monkey-lizards again. They’re smart."

"Smart, but not this smart," Jude muttered. "This feels deliberate."

He looked back at the forest and caught movement from the corner of his eye. Natalie stiffened.

"What was that?" she asked.

They all turned.

There, just barely visible between two tall trees, was a swirl of blue mist, thin as silk, floating no higher than a man’s chest. It glided soundlessly, almost with intent, as though choosing its path. Then it curved and slipped behind a tree and was gone.

Grace saw it too. "Did you see, "

"Yeah," Jude whispered. "I saw it."

Natalie blinked. "What? What did you see?"

"You didn’t?" Grace asked.

"No... nothing."

Jude exchanged a look with Grace. "We need to go. Now."

They left the fish traps where they were and moved quickly through the trees, not quite running but faster than their usual cautious pace. Jude checked behind them more than once, but the mist didn’t return. Grace’s face was pale. Natalie kept glancing between them, confused and more anxious with each unanswered question.

By the time they reached the clearing again, the sun was overhead and the others were trickling in for lunch. Stella was carrying a bundle of long yellow fruits, and Emma had what looked like a wild yam, dirt still clinging to its roots. They greeted each other with quiet nods. The energy was strange, too polite, too careful.

While the food was being prepared, Jude moved between the groups, watching, listening. He noticed small things: Scarlett’s hand trembling as she passed a bowl to Amelia. Susan whispering to herself under her breath while braiding a rope. Serena pausing mid-task to touch her chest as if she’d forgotten something important.

It wasn’t just memory. It was control. Something was taking hold of them, one at a time.

Dinner was quieter than usual. The fire burned lower, casting longer shadows. Jude waited until everyone had eaten, until the plates were set aside and the night settled around them like a heavy curtain. Then he stood.

"We need to talk again," he said. "Really talk."

Eyes rose to meet his. Faces already braced for the worst.

"I saw something today," he continued. "A mist. Blue. Floating through the trees. Grace saw it too. Natalie didn’t. But just after it passed... Natalie’s behavior changed."

Natalie’s eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"You started acting strange," Grace said. "Like Emma did at the beach. Like Lucy in the hut. Like Zoey when she, "

"What are you saying?" Zoey interrupted, voice sharp.

"I’m saying it’s not a coincidence," Jude said, trying to keep his voice steady. "There’s something on this island. Something in the air or the land, or the forest itself. It’s watching us. Maybe studying us. Maybe... something worse."

"Are you saying we’re being possessed?" Susan asked quietly.

"I’m saying something is influencing you," Jude replied. "And when it’s done, you don’t remember it."

A long, trembling silence followed.

Emma stood slowly. "I want to remember. I want to know what it’s doing."

"So do I," Scarlett whispered. "But how?"

Jude looked around the fire, heart pounding. "Tomorrow\... we try something different. We pair up again, but this time, we keep watch. If someone changes, blanks out, don’t touch them. Just observe. Take notes if you have to. And when they wake up... we tell them."

Stella frowned. "You want us to spy on each other?"

"No," Jude said. "I want us to protect each other. This thing, whatever it is, it thrives in confusion. If we shine light on it, maybe we can fight it."

Grace added softly, "We have to try something. We can’t keep acting like this is normal."

Heads nodded, slowly at first, then with growing resolve.

Above them, the trees creaked in the wind. But the sound wasn’t right. It echoed too long, like something breathing.

The fire sputtered. Jude felt his skin prickle. Not from cold. From knowing.

They were not alone.

The sun hung low in the sky, the late afternoon light filtering through the thick canopy and laying golden trails across the camp clearing. Jude sat on a fallen log near the firepit, cold embers still glowing from last night, and sipped water slowly. His eyes moved across the small garden where Grace, Lucy, and Emma knelt side by side, tending the young shoots of peppers and beans that had survived the recent storm. The air was heavy with birdsong and insect hum, yet the world felt tense, as if waiting for a storm that might never come.

"Morning," Jude said softly when Grace looked up, her hair falling in a loose braid damp with sweat.

"Half-day," she replied, voice gentle. "Roots need hilling, and the fish traps need checking."

He nodded. "Natalie and I will take care of the traps. I want us all on guard today."

Grace laid down her hoe. "Agreed."

He stood and walked toward Natalie, who was kneeling by the low fence, splicing vines to reinforce the bean trellis. She reached for the water flask he handed her, and the moment their hands brushed something like static flickered between them, and vanished. He swallowed and kept walking toward the stream.

Lucy and Zoey were already there, clearing debris from a trap under the bridge. The water roared over stones, clear but shallow. Small fish darted in pools. Jude crouched beside them.

"You guys sound like you slept," he said quietly.

Lucy nodded, not looking up. "Tore myself from earth again. Could’ve stayed all night."

Zoey offered a thin smile. "I dreamed of standing in water up to my waist, staring at my own reflection. It smiled before I did."