“No!” Shad shouted. “That’s not right. We keep going this way—that’s final!” Malaiki and Victoria backed away. Quon hung his head. David turned red hot and his veins bulged, but when we all followed Shad, he joined us too, walking some distance behind. I checked on him now and then.

Looking at Shad, I couldn’t help but wonder if his days as a leader were numbered. In my years in business, I’d taught some leadership seminars—obviously, he could have benefited from them.

Quon was now deep in discussion with Shad, so I couldn’t resume our conversation yet. It irritated me. Dust stuck to my sweaty face, my shoulders sagged, and I rubbed my sore neck. I felt like kicking cats. Even Frodo was irritating me.

“Walk on your own, you lazy dog,” I said to him, putting him down abruptly. “You have to learn to keep up. I’ve got too much to carry already.”

“Getting rid of your bag of stones would help,” Victoria said. She pointed at my sack, which now, after another stop the night before, contained five more stones. Shad was starting his second bag. If this kept up, soon he’d look like Santa Claus. I didn’t know how the old guy could carry so much.

“Get out of my way,” a man said.

“Excuse you,” said a woman, glaring at me.

I glared back at them. It wasn’t cats I felt like kicking now.

Another man bumped into me. “Why are you traveling the wrong way?” I asked him.

“What do you mean?” he said.

“I mean away from Charis and back toward the chasm and Babel.”

“Who’s to say that’s the case?”

“Well, look, isn’t it obvious? There’s the City of Light.” I pointed toward it, but he looked at my finger, not the city.

“You’re saying I’m stupid and blind, is that it?”

“No, I didn’t mean to sound—”

“It’s your kind of attitude that convinced me to retrace the red road then get off on one of the side paths. I don’t like the company of the people on this road. They’re always telling me what to do.”

“I meant no offense, I just—”

“Did it ever occur to you that the great majority of us are walking this way, and it’s you who are walking the wrong way? Instead of pushing against us, why don’t you just turn around?”

“But the GuideBook says—”

“I need no GuideBook,” he replied. “I know what I’m doing.” He scowled and disappeared into the crowd.

Just for the fun of it, I turned around and walked about fifty feet with the crowd. It felt great.

“Nick! What are you doing? Get back here.” It was Quon. I turned around, weaving my way back. What a pain.