In need of rest before being fed on again. The rest have backed off a pace and the chanting has ceased. The crackle of torches compete with the faint ...clash of steel far down the passageway. We stare, for a moment, me looking from hood to hood. The tension, the fear, is palpable.Another figure steps into my field of view. Robed like the others but his hood is down to reveal a round ruddy face under an unruly mop of blond hair. He hesitates, steps forward. Bows. "Master." Master? "The enemy will. Neither will he let me touch his much better office PC or his laptop, even though he can’t use ‘em both at the same time. I only met Jake again for five minutes before he’d given me his cool iPhone, properly showed me how to use a couple of great apps on it and trusted me with it all day. When we were kids and you left us in the copy shop, he used to be great. He always gave us loads of things to do and took an interest in us and what we were doing, set us puzzles or exercises and checked over. One had to go on and hope for better things to come along down the line. What Sam really needed he knew was his mom. She was gone, but Aaron Bradshaw, was pretty sure he knew how she would have handled things were she still alive and with them. That she wasn’t was the sad reality, but he felt, Aaron Bradshaw felt, that she was there with him in spirit; yes he did.He would go to his son, their son. He would get him to listen to reason no matter what. That was his mission in life. He just had to. That I find the right balance, which includes taking some opportunities. Some. But not going crazy.”Sofia laughed, “What’s her definition of crazy? You have me, Bethany, Kara, Penny, and Elyse herself, plus Tatyana. Jennifer is a special case, I guess, because she’s going to be here alone which puts her off-limits.”“It has to do with girls outside the core group. Elyse felt I was pushing back too hard against my own insecurities and was working myself into a real funk. Her prescription was for.