Jake's choice (#41)

[julygreen.livejournal.com]

I've been doing a mass reread in the last while, and I've been thinking about #41, with its extremely ambiguous ending.
 
Obviously, it's very much left open to interpretation what Jake decided ... the way he calls Cassie at the end could play into either scenario.

My personal opinion is that Jake chose to sacrifice Cassie.  To me, this book marks a turning point in his character, and the events here set the stage for him to make the decision that he did in 53.  In light of how he acts later, I think it seems inevitable that he did choose to sacrifice her here.


What do you guys think Jake chose to do?
 

Also, what do you think of the theory that the being at the end is The One?  To me, it doesn't seem like it.  The way it spoke was rather dissimilar to The One.  But another high-up omnipotent being is hard to swallow - unless it's some kind of Ellimist squared, on a par with The One (who I always thought of  as basically Crayak^2).  (Ooh, fanfic idea ...)