Jace returned downstairs shaken, but he tried to steady his breathing as he resumed wiping counters. Ren watched him closely, worry etched into every line of his face.
"You okay?" Ren asked.
"No," Jace admitted.
"Fair."
Before either could say more, the overhead lights flickered violently. A deep vibration traveled through the floor, rumbling like a storm held beneath the tiles.
Ren swore. "It's happening again—"
But this time it wasn't a flicker.
It was a surge.
The café pulled at Jace—not metaphorically. Literally. His vision blurred, threads of gold and violet curling around his wrists like spectral ropes.
The café was choosing.
Ren lunged forward. "Jace! Fight it!"
Jace tried. He really did. He braced his feet, grabbed the counter, but his fingers slid—reality sliding with them. The café's pull deepened, wrapping around his mind like vines tightening.
He saw flashes—
Faye in the pastThe last barista fadingCustomers' lives he helpedThe Loom calling him back
A chorus of intention, need, hunger.
Ren grabbed him by the shoulders and shook hard.
"HEY! Stay with me—come on—Jace!"
Jace gasped, the world snapping in and out of focus. "I—I can't—Ren, it wants—"
"I don't care what it wants," Ren snapped. "You're a person, not a battery!"
The lights above them shattered—glass raining down like crystalline rain.
The café hissed.
Actually hissed.
Jace heard something inside it—words without sound.
Stay.
A pure command.
Stay.
Jace dropped to his knees, clutching his head. His thoughts fragmented.
Ren grabbed him tighter. "You're not staying! Look at me—look at me!"
Jace forced his eyes up. Ren's expression was fierce, terrified, human.
And that was enough.
Jace pushed back—mentally, emotionally—every ounce of will he had left.
"NO!" he shouted.
The café recoiled.
Lights blew out. The espresso machine sputtered. The air pressure shifted violently.
And then—silence.
Jace collapsed forward. Ren caught him.
Faye rushed down the stairs moments later, eyes wide. "I felt it—what happened?"
Ren replied in a shaking voice,"The café just tried to take him."
Faye's face drained.
"It's beginning the binding," she whispered. "We are out of time."
Jace, trembling, whispered the truth he'd been avoiding:
"I have to decide… now."