“The treasures here are greater than any I’ve ever seen,” David said. “I won’t leave them for a journey with a destination I’m unsure of. I won’t let myself end up like Quon—I wouldn’t have thought you would either, Nick.”

I swallowed hard. He was right. I didn’t want to end up like Quon.

“Quon knows the truth better than any of us,” Malaiki said. “He’s already home.”

“Listen to the TravelGuide,” Shad said, not opening it, but reciting it, looking into my eyes. “Each day every man comes closer to the day of his death. Those who lay up their treasures in Thuros spend each day moving away from them. Those who lay up their treasures in Charis spend each day moving toward them. He who spends his life moving away from his treasures has reason to despair. He who spends his life moving toward his treasures has reason to rejoice.”

I finally stopped wrestling and gave in to what I knew was right. When I had first joined this group, I’d have never believed I would choose with old Shad and against David. But, as I stood on Mr. Bartholomew’s estate, I weighed my own houses and cars and possessions and treasures back on Earth in the scales of eternity. And I saw how little weight they carried. Yet the certainty, the clarity, I thought was forever mine in one moment suddenly wavered in the next.

“Come,” Shad said. “If David won’t walk the road to Charis, we cannot force him.”

“Are you staying or going, Nick?” David asked.

“Going,” I said weakly.

David handed me his backpack. “I won’t need this anymore. If you change your mind, the offer’s still open—but not forever.”

I nodded, hung my smaller pack over a hook on his, and slung them on. I gingerly positioned my left shoulder, better but still sore, then tied David’s pack at my waist. Though the weight was heavier, his pack was so balanced the overall load seemed less. Then I sighed, remembering my sack of stones, still in the living room.

We walked back to the house quietly. I picked up my stones, and when we stepped out the front gate, I looked back. I thought about that soft bed, the warm bath, those wonderful meals, the chance to work my way up again, and Sauto. I wanted to swallow my pride and run back.

We’d walked fifty feet on the red road when I heard Victoria’s muffled cries next to me and saw the longing in her eyes as she looked at David and the estate.

I stopped and stared at David, standing alone inside the gate. Trying to make the best of it, I waved to him.

He didn’t wave back.

17

“WHAT HAPPENED TO DAVID?” I asked as we sat around the evening’s fire after a long, silent day of walking.