Chap­ter 5 — Trea­son begins with a sense of cal­cu­lat­ed betray­al, as von Horn’s inter­nal loy­al­ties shift entire­ly toward his per­son­al ambi­tions. No longer see­ing him­self as a mere assis­tant, he tar­gets Vir­ginia Max­on with manip­u­la­tive con­cern, sug­gest­ing her father has lost touch with san­i­ty. Her grow­ing curios­i­ty toward Num­ber Thir­teen unset­tles him deeply, espe­cial­ly when she express­es admi­ra­tion for the being who once saved her life. This emo­tion­al dis­tance between them fuels von Horn’s resent­ment and plants the seed of a dis­turb­ing plan. He presents a grim truth to Vir­ginia: her father’s exper­i­ments have birthed mon­sters, and she is being groomed to mar­ry one. The rev­e­la­tion shocks her, cre­at­ing a frac­ture in her trust toward her father, even as von Horn pre­tends to shield her from fur­ther hor­ror. His objec­tive is clear—position him­self as her only safe option.

Mean­while, Budu­dreen, dri­ven by a mix of super­sti­tion and avarice, begins plot­ting mutiny among the crew. He notices the unease among the las­cars, who whis­per about cursed beasts and unnat­ur­al shad­ows in the jun­gle. Von Horn seizes this grow­ing fear, manip­u­lat­ing Budu­dreen with promis­es of rich­es and free­dom from the haunt­ed island. The chest aboard the Itha­ca becomes their shared goal, sym­bol­iz­ing not just mate­r­i­al wealth but also escape from the esca­lat­ing chaos. Von Horn clev­er­ly weaves a lie to Pro­fes­sor Max­on, sug­gest­ing long walks with Num­ber Thir­teen as ther­a­peu­tic. In truth, he poi­sons the creature’s self-per­cep­tion with seeds of doubt, con­vinc­ing him that he is an abom­i­na­tion with­out a soul. The manip­u­la­tion draws Num­ber Thir­teen into silent con­flict, con­fused by his feel­ings for Vir­ginia and his unclear pur­pose.

Vir­ginia, still reel­ing from her con­ver­sa­tion with von Horn, becomes more with­drawn. Her mind swirls with disbelief—was her father tru­ly plan­ning to bind her to an arti­fi­cial man? Despite her con­fu­sion, a part of her resists von Horn’s ver­sion of the sto­ry. Num­ber Thir­teen, in his own tur­moil, begins to reflect on what it means to be human. Though told he was cre­at­ed, not born, his capac­i­ty for thought, affec­tion, and restraint hints at some­thing greater. Von Horn, how­ev­er, con­tin­ues to pull strings from every angle. He posi­tions him­self as sav­ior to both Vir­ginia and Num­ber Thir­teen while under­min­ing them both behind closed doors.

As the sun sets, final prepa­ra­tions for escape are under­way. Bududreen’s con­fi­dence grows as the crew falls in line, ready to aban­don the island and its twist­ed mas­ter. Von Horn plans to snatch Vir­ginia and sail away under the cov­er of night, leav­ing Pro­fes­sor Max­on to the chaos he helped unleash. Yet, doubt flick­ers with­in him. He rec­og­nizes Num­ber Thirteen’s strength and instincts—traits that no sim­ple crea­ture should pos­sess. This makes him dan­ger­ous. Still, von Horn believes the young man’s emo­tion­al con­fu­sion is a weak­ness he can exploit. He tells him­self the end—freedom, wealth, and Virginia—justifies any means.

On the out­skirts of the camp, Num­ber Thir­teen wan­ders alone, haunt­ed by ques­tions he nev­er asked before. Can some­thing arti­fi­cial feel pain? Love? Betray­al? The jun­gle around him is dense and alive, but the real wilder­ness is the one unfold­ing with­in. Each step away from the com­pound feels like a break from obe­di­ence, a step toward self-deter­mi­na­tion. His mem­o­ry is short, but his instincts are pow­er­ful, and some­thing inside him begins to reject von Horn’s words. Trust is dif­fi­cult, espe­cial­ly when the only peo­ple he knows view him as prop­er­ty or mis­take. And yet, he can still recall the warmth in Virginia’s eyes.

Back in the main hut, Pro­fes­sor Max­on grows increas­ing­ly iso­lat­ed, con­sumed by his exper­i­ments and the bur­den of moral com­pro­mise. He sens­es that things are spi­ral­ing out of con­trol but can no longer see the full extent of the dan­ger. Von Horn con­tin­ues to play the role of loy­al assis­tant, dis­guis­ing his betray­al beneath polite con­ver­sa­tion and false reas­sur­ances. The night arrives silent­ly, cloak­ing every move­ment in shad­ows. The stage is set, alliances made, and inten­tions clear. Each char­ac­ter now stands at the edge of their own moral bound­ary, poised to act in ways that may nev­er be undone.

This chap­ter unrav­els the frag­ile web of trust built so far, reveal­ing how ambi­tion, manip­u­la­tion, and fear can cor­rupt even the most noble-seem­ing mis­sions. The ques­tions sur­round­ing Num­ber Thirteen’s human­i­ty, von Horn’s jeal­ousy, and Virginia’s grow­ing aware­ness of her per­il deep­en the story’s psy­cho­log­i­cal stakes. By the end, the read­er is left ques­tion­ing not just who the real mon­sters are—but what it tru­ly means to be human.