“Neither did I.” I studied the pouch between my fingers, turning it this way and that. “It’s so quiet without it. My thoughts are so hard to find. I didn’t realize how little of what went on in my head was my own.”

Isaak flopped down on the hard rock beside me. “It seemed like such a nuisance to me. Like when you talked, I’d get feedback in my ear because the System would try to translate what I already understood. It drove me crazy. I should have realized it wouldn’t feel the same to someone who’d been hooked up to it her whole life.” He smiled halfheartedly. “And I guess it was handy when I didn’t quite understand everything you were saying.”

I drew my knees up into my chest, wrapping my arms tightly around them. I didn’t want to say it, but I was more afraid of saying nothing. So I whispered, “I’m scared.”

Isaak furrowed his brow. “Why?”

“Everything feels so fuzzy without the System. What if I start forgetting, more and more? What if someday I don’t remember how to speak?”

Isaak nudged me gently in the ribs. “Come on. I’ve gone my whole life without the System, and I manage to get by.”

“But I don’t know how.” My voice cracked, just slightly, but I felt like a failure all the same.

Isaak was quiet for a while. Then he said, “I could teach you.”

I looked at him. “Do you think you could?”

“I can try.” He smiled. “And you can teach me. Everything you know about Iamos. I think you’re underestimating your own mind, Nadin. It’s pretty powerful on its own, even without the System.”

I tucked a hair behind my ear. “Even though the geroi think I’m a fool?”

Isaak rolled his eyes. “You know that’s a lie. You’re smarter than all of them put together.”

I grinned in spite of myself. “All right, then. Maybe I will.” I stretched my legs out, my feet just brushing the floor. “But first, pass me my pack, will you? I’m famished.”

Chapter 27

Over the next several days, Nadin and I talked until our throats were raw and sore—to say nothing of our backsides from all the riding. I’d never truly understood the concept of saddle sores until now. It was almost enough to make me wish we could hurry up and get to Elytherios already. But who even knew what would be waiting for us when we got there? I hoped this trip wouldn’t wind up being for nothing.