Chapter 1819

The boy took a small step forward.

"The house opens when everyone remembers."

Before Jude could ask what he meant, a woman’s voice came from inside.

"Jude, please."

It was the real Layla.

"I’m waiting."

Jude moved towards the house.

Serena caught his arm.

"Careful."

He nodded.

Then he approached the entrance.

The woman who looked like Layla stood near the table, arranging the plates.

She turned as he entered.

"Finally."

Jude kept his distance.

"Where are the others?"

She gestured towards the chairs.

"They’re all here."

"No. Where are they?"

She frowned.

"Jude, you’re behaving strangely."

He looked at the thirteen plates.

"Why are there thirteen?"

"Because we’re thirteen."

"Sol isn’t included?"

The woman looked towards the doorway.

For a moment, her expression became blank.

Then she smiled.

"Sol doesn’t eat with us."

The boy stood outside.

His face was unreadable.

Jude looked at the chair covered with pale cloth.

"Who’s that place for?"

The woman followed his gaze.

"Someone important."

"Who?"

She didn’t answer.

Jude approached the table.

There was food on every plate. Fresh bread, vegetables, fruit and a bowl of soup. The smell was familiar, comforting.

It was exactly the kind of meal they would prepare after a long day.

But there was something wrong with it.

The food was completely untouched.

Even the steam above the soup was motionless.

Jude leaned closer.

The surface of the soup reflected the ceiling.

Not his face.

Not the wooden beams.

Instead, it showed a night sky.

A sky filled with unfamiliar stars.

He stepped away.

"Don’t eat anything," he warned.

The woman looked disappointed.

"Why not?"

"Because we’re not hungry."

"You will be."

Her voice had become quiet.

"You’ve been away for three days."

Jude looked towards the windows.

The sun was still shining outside.

But the light entering the house seemed to come from somewhere else.

The shadows were falling in the wrong direction.

He turned towards the woman.

"Tell me something."

"Anything."

"What happened to the northern cave?"

She smiled.

"It collapsed."

"When?"

"Yesterday."

"Who went there?"

"You did."

Jude frowned.

"No. I went there three days ago."

She shook her head.

"You came back yesterday."

"That isn’t possible."

"Why?"

"Because we spent the last few hours beneath the mountain."

The woman looked at him for a long moment.

Then she said, "Did you?"

Jude felt his stomach tighten.

The woman walked towards the table.

"You should sit down."

He didn’t move.

She pulled out a chair.

"Come on, Jude."

The chair scraped against the floor.

A second chair moved by itself.

Then a third.

One after another, all thirteen chairs shifted away from the table.

Jude stepped backwards.

The woman looked towards the empty doorway.

"Where is everyone?"

He turned.

The women had not followed him inside.

They were standing outside, watching through the open entrance.

Serena’s expression was tense.

Sophie was holding Scarlet’s arm.

Sol stood slightly apart from them.

Jude looked back at the woman.

"They’re not coming."

The woman nodded.

"Then we can begin without them."

The pale cloth on the thirteenth chair moved.

Something beneath it shifted.

Jude stared.

"Who’s sitting there?"

The woman looked at the chair.

"Nobody."

"Then why did it move?"

She smiled.

"Because somebody is getting impatient."

The cloth slowly slid from the chair.

There was nothing beneath it.

Only a small wooden bird.

Jude recognised it.

It was identical to the one Sol had carved.

Except this one had perfectly symmetrical wings.

Its beak was pointed downwards.

And its eyes were two tiny silver stones.

Jude looked towards the doorway.

Sol was no longer standing there.

"Sol?"

The women turned.

"Where did he go?" Serena asked.

Jude rushed outside.

He searched the path.

The gardens.

The wooden walkway.

Nothing.

Then he saw a small figure near the orchard.

Sol was standing beneath one of the trees.

He was looking towards the northern mountains.

Jude hurried towards him.

"Sol!"

The boy turned.

"Come here."

Sol approached slowly.

"Don’t go near that house," he said.

"I know."

"It’s trying to make you sit down."

"Why?"

"Because once you sit, it can remember you."

Jude looked towards the shared house.

"What does that mean?"

Sol glanced at the windows.

"It means it can make a place for you."

"A place?"

"A place where you belong."

Jude frowned.

"I already have a home."

Sol looked at him.

"That’s what it wants you to think."

A faint sound came from the house.

Someone was moving chairs.

Jude looked back.

Through the window, he could see the woman standing at the table.

She was arranging the plates again.

Then she looked directly at him.

And smiled.

Sol stepped closer.

"There’s something I need to tell you."

Jude turned.

"What?"

"The first house wasn’t built for people."

The boy pointed towards the mountain.

"It was built to keep something inside."

Jude remembered the wooden house beneath the tree.

The pale woman.

The strange child who looked like Sol.

And the fourteen doors.

"What was kept inside?"

Sol hesitated.

Then he answered.

"Memories."

Jude waited.

Sol continued.

"Not the kind you remember when you’re thinking about the past. The kind that can walk, speak and touch things."

Jude looked towards the village.

"So Layla..."

"Some of her is still here."

"Some?"

Sol nodded.

"The house took something from her. It made another person out of it."

Jude’s voice became quiet.

"Can we bring her back?"

Sol looked at the northern mountains.

"Yes."

Hope rose in Jude’s chest.

"How?"

"We need to find the first house."

"Where is it?"

The boy pointed towards the forest.

"Under the oldest tree."

Jude looked in that direction.

Beyond the village, the northern forest stretched towards the mountains. He knew every path in that forest, every stream and clearing.

But he had never seen the house Sol described.

"How do we find it?"

Sol looked at him.

"Ask the tree."

Jude stared.

"Ask the tree?"

The boy nodded.

"It remembers the way."

Before Jude could question him further, a loud crash came from the shared house.