Chapter 1851

He fell through the wooden floor.

The air rushed past him.

The upside-down village grew larger.

He reached out, trying to grab a branch, a walkway, anything.

Then someone caught his wrist.

A hand.

Warm.

Familiar.

Jude looked up.

Serena was holding him.

"Got you," she said.

She pulled him onto the wooden walkway.

For a moment, Jude could only stare at her.

"Serena?"

She nodded.

"Are you all right?"

"Where are the others?"

"Here."

Jude turned.

All twelve wives were standing along the walkway.

Susan.

Rose.

Serena.

Layla.

Natalie.

Zoey.

Lucy.

Stella.

Emma.

Grace.

Sophie.

Scarlet.

They looked real.

Their clothes were dusty, their hair untidy, and each had the familiar expression of someone who had been through something they did not understand.

Layla approached him.

"Are you hurt?"

Jude stared at her.

He remembered the reflection.

The silver line.

The woman outside the window.

He stepped backwards.

Layla stopped.

"What happened?"

"Your chest."

She looked down.

There was no silver line.

Jude looked into her eyes.

"Do you remember the first house?"

Layla frowned.

"Of course."

"What happened there?"

She looked towards the others.

"We found the passage beneath the mountain. Then the chamber. Then the room with the doors."

"And after that?"

Layla hesitated.

"After that, we came back."

"Who brought you back?"

She looked confused.

"You did."

Jude felt a chill.

"Where did you come from?"

"Jude, what is this?"

"Answer me."

Layla’s expression tightened.

"I came from the eastern river."

Jude went still.

That was exactly what the other Layla had said.

He looked towards the others.

"Do you remember the afternoon we planted the little tree?"

Susan nodded.

"Of course."

"What did I say afterwards?"

She smiled faintly.

"You said it would grow into the tallest tree on the island."

Jude stared.

That was true.

He looked at Layla again.

"What did I say about building a house beyond the mountains?"

Layla shook her head.

"You never said that."

The walkway trembled.

The women looked down.

Far beneath them, the upside-down river began flowing faster.

Jude turned towards Serena.

"Where is Sol?"

The wives exchanged glances.

Natalie stepped forward.

"He’s with us."

Jude’s stomach tightened.

"Which one?"

Nobody answered.

Then Sophie pointed towards the shared house.

A child stood on its roof.

Dark hair.

Pale face.

Small crescent pendant.

Sol.

He was holding a wooden bird.

But the bird had no wings.

Jude stared at him.

"Sol!"

The child looked down.

Then he raised one finger to his lips.

Behind him, another figure appeared.

A second Sol.

Then a third.

Then a fourth.

All four stood on the roof, each holding a wooden bird.

The wives moved closer to Jude.

Scarlet whispered, "There are too many."

"No," Sophie said.

She was staring at the house.

"Look carefully."

Jude looked.

The four children were not standing together.

They were arranged at four different windows, each looking out from a different room.

One was on the roof.

One was behind the upper window.

One stood in the doorway.

And the last was visible through the kitchen window.

The fourth child slowly raised his hand.

He was holding something.

A small wooden key.

The same key Jude had received in the little room.

Jude reached into his pocket.

His hand found nothing.

The key was gone.

The child on the roof smiled.

Then all four Sols spoke together.

"Which one of us did you bring home?"

The shared house began to turn.

Not physically.

The entire structure seemed to rotate through different versions of itself.

For one moment it was the familiar house, with its wooden walls and wide windows.

Then it became the enormous root-covered structure from the first house.

Then it became a small room beneath a tree.

Then it became something older, a dark chamber with no walls at all.

Jude watched the transformations.

The wives held tightly to one another.

"What’s happening?" Emma asked.

The house stopped.

Its front door opened.

A woman stepped out.

She was not Layla.

She was not one of the twelve wives.

She was a stranger.

Her hair was silver, and her clothes were made from the same pale material that had covered the mysterious chair.

She carried a small wooden box.

The moment Jude saw her, the fourth Sol’s words returned to him.

That’s the one who made us.

But the stranger did not look like the man from the little room.

She looked directly at Jude.

Then she opened the wooden box.

Inside was a small seed.

A single black seed with a silver line running through its centre.

The twelve wives fell silent.

The stranger placed the box on the walkway.

"You have found the children," she said.

Jude stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

The woman looked at him with an expression that was almost pity.

"I was the first person to ask the tree for something."

"What did you ask?"

She smiled sadly.

"To remember."

The upside-down river stopped flowing.

The mountains went silent.

Even the wind seemed to disappear.

The woman lifted the seed.

"And this is what it gave me."

Jude looked at it.

"What does it have to do with the first house?"

The stranger glanced towards the shared house.

"Everything."

"Who are you?"

The woman looked at Layla.

Then at the other wives.

Then at Jude.

"I am the promise you never made."

Jude stared at her.

The stranger held out the seed.

"Take it."

He did not move.

"Why?"

"Because the tree is dying."

Jude looked towards the mountain.

The blue crack along its ridge had widened. Its light was fading now, replaced by a deep, pulsing darkness.

"What happens if it dies?"

The woman lowered her hand.

"The house will open all its doors."

"And?"

She looked at the four Sols.

"And the things that were never allowed to happen will come looking for their lives."

The child on the roof dropped his wooden bird.

It struck the tiles.

A tiny sound came from inside it.

A heartbeat.