Chapter 1832

Natalie came running down the walkway.

Behind her were Rose, Serena, Zoey, Lucy, Stella, Emma, Grace, Sophie, Scarlet, Susan and Layla.

Jude counted them.

Twelve.

All twelve wives.

They were real.

Or at least, they looked real.

Natalie reached him first and held his shoulders.

"Where have you been?"

Jude didn’t answer immediately.

He looked at each of them.

Then he looked towards Layla.

She was standing beside Susan.

Her expression was worried.

"Jude?"

He approached her slowly.

"Are you really Layla?"

She looked confused.

"Of course I am."

He studied her face.

The little scar near her thumb.

The familiar way she tilted her head when she was worried.

The small crease beside her eyes.

He looked at her hand.

There was no pale embroidered cloth.

No silver thread.

No wooden key.

Only Layla.

He exhaled.

Then he looked towards the others.

"Where is the other one?"

Nobody answered.

Finally, Serena stepped forward.

"There was another Layla?"

Jude looked at Sophie.

Sophie lowered her head.

"I didn’t tell them."

"Why?"

"Because I wasn’t sure which one of them would hear."

A silence followed.

Jude looked towards the shared house.

"What’s happening here?"

Scarlet folded her arms.

"We were hoping you would tell us."

"Me?"

"You disappeared into the mountain, Jude. Then the house disappeared. Then another house appeared where the old one stood."

Lucy pointed towards the roof.

"And now we have this."

Jude looked up.

At first, everything seemed normal.

Then he noticed a small wooden window above the entrance.

It hadn’t been there before.

A pale curtain moved behind it.

Someone was standing inside.

Jude couldn’t see their face.

But he could see a hand resting against the glass.

A small hand.

Sol looked up too.

His expression changed.

"That’s my room."

Jude turned towards him.

"What?"

The boy pointed.

"The window."

Jude looked again.

The curtain moved.

A small wooden bird appeared on the windowsill.

Then another.

Then a third.

Sol stepped backwards.

"Jude, we need to go."

But before Jude could respond, the front door of the shared house opened.

A figure stepped out.

It was the older Jude.

The same silver-haired man from the mountain.

He looked at the twelve women.

Then at Jude.

Then at Sol.

His expression became unbearably sad.

"You brought him back."

Jude moved in front of the boy.

"You said I shouldn’t have come here."

"I know."

"Who are you?"

The older Jude looked towards the house.

"I am what remains when the first house takes everything."

Jude frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I have already made your mistakes."

The women gathered closer.

Natalie looked between the two men.

"Jude, who is this?"

The older man looked at her.

For a brief moment, his expression softened.

"I’m sorry."

Natalie frowned.

"Sorry for what?"

He looked at all twelve women.

"For leaving you behind."

A strange silence settled over the clearing.

Then Rose stepped forward.

"Where have we met you?"

The older Jude looked at her.

"Once."

"Where?"

"In a house that no longer exists."

He turned towards the shared house.

"And in a village that has not yet been born."

Jude felt a cold sensation in his stomach.

"Stop speaking in riddles."

The older man nodded.

"All right."

He stepped away from the doorway.

"Then let me show you."

He opened the front door wider.

Beyond it was not the familiar hall.

It was a long corridor.

The walls were covered with hundreds of framed pictures.

Jude recognised the first.

It showed the village as it looked when they had first arrived.

The wooden houses stood around the central firepit. The gardens were new, the paths were uneven, and the waterfall could be seen in the distance.

The next picture showed the same village several years later.

Then another.

And another.

Jude walked closer.

The pictures continued through time.

The women appeared in different clothes, working in the gardens, repairing houses, cooking together, sitting beneath the trees.

Some pictures showed storms.

Others showed celebrations.

One showed the entire village gathered around the firepit beneath a sky full of stars.

Then Jude reached a picture that made him stop.

It showed the beach.

The day they found Sol.

Jude was standing near the water, holding the boy in his arms.

Serena and Sophie were beside him.

The others were approaching along the sand.

But something was wrong.

In the picture, Sol was not looking at Jude.

He was looking at the water.

And standing in the shallow waves was the older Jude.

Watching them.

Jude stepped closer.

"How?"

The older man stood behind him.

"You asked who I was."

"Yes."

"Look at the next picture."

Jude moved along the corridor.

The next picture showed the same beach.

But now the older Jude was standing beside Sol.

The younger Jude was nowhere to be seen.

The following picture showed the older Jude walking away from the beach, holding the wooden bird.

The next showed the village empty.

The next showed the northern mountain split by a silver line.

Then came a picture of the shared house.

Its walls were covered in roots.

Fourteen chairs stood around the table.

And one of them was occupied by a woman whose face had been scratched away.

Jude moved towards the final picture.

It was different from all the others.

There was no frame.

It was simply a piece of wood attached to the wall.

A drawing had been carved into it.

A child stood beneath a tree.

A man stood beside him.

Between them was a door.

And above the door were thirteen circles.

The fourteenth was missing.

Beneath the drawing was a sentence.

THE FIRST HOUSE DOES NOT REMEMBER THE FUTURE. IT REMEMBERS WHAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED TO IT.

Jude read it slowly.

Then he turned towards the older man.

"Are these memories?"

"Yes."

"Whose?"

The older man didn’t answer.

Jude looked towards the women.

"Why are they all here?"

The older Jude lowered his eyes.

"Because the house remembers them too."

"Why?"

"Because you brought them here."