Jude looked at them, his breath steady now. "There was someone who wanted it for themselves. The union. The Source. They wanted to own it. And that… broke something."
"They planted imbalance," Rose said.
Sophie crossed her arms. "Is it still here?"
"Not here," Jude said. "But… coming back. Like an echo. A ripple."
Grace moved close. "Then what do we do?"
Jude looked at each of them, feeling the memory still humming in his bones.
"We hold the bond," he said. "We stay united. That's the only thing the island has ever asked of us. Connection. Openness. Truth."
Zoey slid her arm around Stella. "Then we don't break."
Scarlet smiled. "We bloom."
Jude took Lucy's hand. She took Sophie's. And the chain continued, one to another, until they were encircled again. The pulse of their joined hands lit the orb once more - faint, steady.
And somewhere in the trees, far away but growing closer, something stirred.
Watching.
Waiting.
The island wasn't finished with them yet.
