Chapter 1878

"Can you stop them?" Jude asked.

The boy nodded slowly.

"How?"

"I don’t know."

The four Sols stepped forward.

The first placed his hand against the ground.

The second held out his pendant.

The third opened his wooden bird.

The fourth closed his eyes.

A thin silver light appeared between them.

The roots stopped moving.

The walkway steadied.

Serena helped Sophie and Scarlet cross.

One by one, the women reached Jude.

The four Sols lowered their hands.

The light disappeared.

The smallest boy stumbled.

Jude caught him.

"Are you all right?"

The boy nodded.

Then he looked towards the staircase.

"It knows where we are."

The older Jude approached.

"We need to leave the village."

"Where?"

"Anywhere away from the centre."

Jude looked around.

The village was no longer the village he knew.

The wooden houses had shifted.

Some stood higher than before.

Others had moved closer together.

The central firepit was now a circular opening, and the staircase descended through it.

Beyond the village, the island’s familiar landscape was changing.

The northern mountain was no longer a single mountain.

Its slopes had separated into enormous stone arches, each containing a glowing doorway.

The eastern river was flowing uphill.

The western waterfall was pouring into the sky.

And the sea...

The sea had disappeared.

Beyond the beach was an endless forest.

Its trees were enormous, their branches stretching across a sky filled with unfamiliar stars.

Jude stared.

"That’s the forest."

Sol nodded.

"The one beyond the door."

The older Jude looked towards the horizon.

"No."

"What?"

"That isn’t the forest."

He pointed towards the stars.

"That’s what the forest was hiding."

Jude looked again.

Between the trees were distant structures.

Towers.

Bridges.

Houses suspended from branches.

And far beyond them stood a vast white structure that resembled the first house.

But it was much larger.

Its walls disappeared into the sky.

A pale light shone from its highest window.

The older Jude whispered:

"The room before the first house."

Jude turned.

"I thought the room was beneath the tree."

"It was."

"Then what is that?"

The older man did not answer.

The faceless figure had disappeared.

So had the cradle.

Only the silver staircase remained.

A bell rang from somewhere beyond the forest.

The smallest Sol lifted his head.

"They’re calling us."

"Who?"

The child looked towards the distant white structure.

"The ones who never came through the door."

The four Sols exchanged glances.

The first Sol stepped forward.

"I remember."

Jude turned.

"What do you remember?"

The boy looked at the white structure.

"There were more of us."

"How many?"

The child hesitated.

"Not four."

"Five?"

He shook his head.

"Not five."

Jude waited.

The boy whispered:

"There were twelve."

The women went silent.

The second Sol stepped forward.

"And they weren’t children."

The third looked towards Layla.

"They were promises."

The fourth looked at Jude.

"And one of them was yours."

Jude felt a chill.

"What does that mean?"

The smallest Sol answered.

"It means you weren’t the only one who was made."

The staircase suddenly lit up.

At its base, a wooden door appeared.

The door had thirteen small windows.

Twelve were dark.

The thirteenth shone with a silver light.

Above it was an inscription.

THE FIRST HOUSE REMEMBERS THE FIRST FAMILY.

Jude approached.

The older Jude grabbed his arm.

"Don’t open it."

"Why?"

"Because the first family is not the family you think."

The boy beside Jude looked at the door.

"I want to see."

The older man shook his head.

"You don’t know what you’re asking."

The child looked up.

"I want to know why I was buried."

The older Jude closed his eyes.

Jude turned towards him.

"You said you tried to bring him back."

"I did."

"You said you buried him."

The older man nodded.

"Then why?"

"Because the door was not closed."

Jude looked at the door.

The older man continued.

"The first house had already begun to remember him. Every time he came near it, the roots reached for him. The house tried to pull him back inside."

"And you buried him?"

"I hid him beneath the tree."

"Twice?"

The older Jude looked down.

"The second time, I was not the one who did it."

Jude remembered the cloth.

THE SECOND BURIAL WAS NOT DONE BY THE FATHER.

"Who did?"

The older Jude looked towards the twelve women.

Then towards the four Sols.

Finally, he looked at Jude.

"You did."

Jude stared.

"No."

"You did."

"I wasn’t there."

"You were."

The older man spoke softly.

"You came back through the door. You found the child. You knew what the first house wanted. You knew that if it remembered him completely, it would open."

Jude shook his head.

"I would never bury a child."

"You didn’t bury him to punish him."

"Then why?"

The older Jude’s eyes filled with sadness.

"You buried him to save everyone else."

The smallest Sol slowly released Jude’s hand.

He looked down at the silver mark over his heart.

Then he looked at Jude.

"You left me under the tree."

Jude could not speak.

The child continued.

"You told me you would come back."

The older Jude looked away.

"But you didn’t."

The boy’s voice was quiet.

"You came back as someone else."

Jude knelt.

"I don’t remember doing that."

The child nodded.

"I know."

"I’m sorry."

The boy looked at him.

"Are you?"

Jude felt the question settle heavily between them.

"Yes."

The child studied his face.

Then he reached into his pocket.

He withdrew a small silver leaf.

Jude recognised it immediately.

The same kind of leaf that had stopped the statue beneath the mountain.

The boy placed it in Jude’s hand.

"Then don’t forget again."

The staircase door opened.

Beyond it was a small room.

A wooden table.

Two chairs.

A window.

And a little bed.

Jude recognised the room from the memories.

The room before the first house.

But something was different.