Chapter 1797

The beach appeared gradually between the trees. Pale sand stretched along the coast, bordered by dark rocks and scattered pieces of driftwood. The sea was calm, and small waves moved gently toward the shore.

The mist was much thicker here.

It hovered just above the water, obscuring the distant rocks.

Jude stepped onto the sand and looked around.

"Something happened here."

Sophie followed his gaze.

A long line had been drawn across the beach.

It began near the rocks and continued toward the water, as though something heavy had been dragged over the sand. Beside it were several scattered pieces of driftwood.

"Perhaps the storm brought something ashore," Serena suggested.

Jude crouched to examine the marks.

The line was unusually straight.

And it did not appear to have been made by a boat or a fallen tree.

Scarlet walked toward a cluster of rocks.

"There’s something over here."

The others followed.

At first, Jude thought it was another piece of driftwood. Then he noticed a small hand resting beside it.

He stopped.

"Sophie."

She looked where he was pointing.

Her expression changed immediately.

A child was lying on the sand.

He appeared to be a boy, perhaps eight or nine years old. He wore a simple dark shirt and trousers, both strangely clean despite the wet sand around him. His black hair fell across his forehead, and his face was turned toward the sea.

He wasn’t moving.

"Is he breathing?" Serena asked.

Jude hurried forward and knelt beside him.

"Let’s find out."

He gently turned the child onto his back.

The boy’s face was pale, but there was no obvious injury. Jude checked whether he was breathing and found a faint, steady movement in his chest.

"He’s alive."

Sophie knelt on the other side.

"Poor thing. Where could he have come from?"

Jude looked around the empty beach.

There were no footprints leading toward the child.

Only the strange line in the sand.

"Let’s get him away from the water."

Serena removed her outer cloth and placed it beneath the boy’s head. Jude carefully lifted him into his arms.

The child felt strangely cold.

Not the ordinary chill of someone who had been lying near the sea. His skin was cold enough to make Jude pause.

"Is he injured?" Scarlet asked.

"I don’t think so."

Sophie touched the boy’s forehead.

"He’s freezing."

"We’ll take him home," Jude said. "Susan can prepare something warm, and we can find out what happened."

They began walking back toward the village.

After a few steps, Jude glanced over his shoulder.

The line in the sand was gone.

He stopped.

"What’s wrong?" Serena asked.

Jude looked toward the place where the strange mark had been.

The sand was smooth.

The scattered driftwood remained, but the long, straight line had disappeared completely.

He stared at it for a moment.

"Nothing. Let’s go."

The journey back seemed longer than usual. Jude carried the boy while Sophie walked beside him, keeping the child’s head supported. Serena and Scarlet followed, occasionally looking back toward the beach.

The mist remained behind them.

And the faint ringing had stopped.

When they reached the village, Rose was the first to notice the child.

"Jude? What happened?"

"We found him on the beach."

She hurried toward them.

"A child?"

Susan came out of the cooking shelter, followed by Emma and Grace. The others soon gathered as well.

Jude laid the boy carefully on a thick blanket near the fire.

"Can someone bring another blanket? He’s very cold."

Grace hurried inside her cabin.

Susan knelt beside the child and examined him.

"Where did you find him?"

"Near the western beach," Sophie answered. "He was lying on the sand."

"Was anyone else there?"

"No."

"Any boats?"

"Nothing."

Susan looked at Jude.

"Did you check for injuries?"

"Yes. I couldn’t find any."

Layla arrived with a small bowl of warm water and a clean cloth.

"Has he woken up?"

"Not yet," Jude replied.

They wrapped the boy in blankets and placed him near the fire, careful not to bring him too close to the heat. Grace returned with another blanket, and Emma brought a cup of warm water.

Susan gently wiped the sand from the child’s face.

His features were delicate, and he looked younger than Jude had first thought. His hair was almost black, and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, as though even in sleep he was troubled by something.

Stella stood beside the blanket, watching him.

"He doesn’t look like anyone from the island."

"No," Jude said.

"Could he have come from another place?"

"That’s what we need to find out."

Zoey and Lucy exchanged worried glances.

"But how could a child reach the island?" Lucy asked.

Nobody answered immediately.

They all knew how difficult it was to leave the island, let alone arrive from somewhere else.

Serena folded her arms.

"Perhaps he was on a boat during the storm."

"There were no boats at the beach," Sophie replied.

"He could have been washed ashore."

Jude looked at the boy.

"It’s possible."

Layla examined the child’s clothes.

"They don’t look like anything we’ve made here."

The shirt was plain and dark, without any stitching pattern they recognized. His trousers were made from a soft material that did not resemble the fabrics they usually produced from island plants.

There was something else.

A small black cord was tied around his right wrist.

Attached to it was a tiny silver object shaped like a crescent moon.

Jude carefully examined it without removing it.

"Does anyone recognize this?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Scarlet leaned closer.

"It looks expensive."

"It’s just a small pendant," Rose said.

"Still. Perhaps he comes from somewhere wealthy."

"Or perhaps someone gave it to him," Emma suggested.

The boy suddenly moved.

Everyone fell silent.

His fingers curled slightly beneath the blanket, and his head turned toward the fire.

Susan leaned closer.

"Can you hear me?"

The child did not respond.

Then, slowly, his eyes opened.

They were dark.

Almost completely black.

He stared at the wooden roof above him before turning his head toward the people surrounding him.