Mind Control 5

Jace wondered if she knew her hand had involuntarily touched her halberd. "You're going to drag me back with you?"

"If I have to!"

"I thought you might say something like that." Jace backed away. He had to consider every possibility. "Goodbye, Jori."

***

"Wait," she found herself saying. "Jace. Wait. No. . ." Her voice trailed off.

Jori shook her head and looked around. The encampment wasn't far now—another day's hike would have her back there to warn them. She had made good time without the tenderfoot mind mage to slow her down. It had only been a few days since she had convinced Jace—

—Right?—Yes?

She furrowed her brow.

. . .Yes.

—since she had convinced him to go on to the Eye without her. It had been the smartest option. He just needed to see the bigger picture.

She stopped hiking. What had she just been saying to herself?

"Wait, Jace, no?"

She scanned around, feeling like she needed to get her bearings. The sky above her was much as it had been for the past several days—broad and blue, and peppered with clouds and the occasional floating hedron, limitless and familiar and yet somehow odd. She felt an unsettling sensation, as if the dome of sky had just somehow bent into a new shape, suddenly and just outside her field of vision. She swiveled her head around. The grass and stones and distant trees all looked as they should. She looked at a stone on the ground. She kicked it.

"Goddamn it, Jace."

She heaved a breath and shook her head.

She adjusted a strap on her armor and walked on, on toward Sea Gate.

THE BELIEVERS' PILGIMAGE