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“We should tell Sophie Ashbourne about this,” Sonia said. “Last time I spoke to her, she’d persuaded the government to let Eric and her merge the kids from their project into the new school and she would recognise Dan and Lisa. I don’t think she’d drop us in it but why antagonise an ally by not trusting her in advance?”

Matthias nodded thoughtfully. “That’s not a bad idea. I’ll let you handle it. And speaking of training, have you sorted out a plan for how we’re going train Drew’s friends at home without them having to join this program?”

“I haven’t, but Sal came up with something while she was sorting them out so they wouldn’t emerge violently,” she said. “They’re all members of Drew’s little club and no one is going to be surprised that a paranormal investigation club is still going strong, given the amount of obviously paranormal stuff that has happened. So we’re going to use that as cover.”

“Oh yes, that works,” Matthias said. “You’ll need to come up with a training plan as well.”

“I do know that, Matt.” Sonia sounded a bit exasperated. “But we need to figure out what their affinity spreads are first. After she’d made sure they were stable, Sal gave them a dream-based crash course in control and reinserted them into their homes before they were missed. She’d only had chance to check their affinities in general. We’ve sketched out a rough plan from that information but we’ll need to check in more detail before we firm it up.”

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m telling you how to do your job, aren’t I?”

“Just a bit,” she said. “Don’t fret so much. Sal and I have everything in hand, I promise.”

“Will we be able to help with that?” Andrew asked.

“You still need more training yourself, Drew,” Naria said before Sonia could answer. “So you probably should deal with that before you start teaching others.”

Andrew’s face fell. “That’s true. I am still way behind.”

Naria squeezed his hand. “It’s not your fault, Drew, and you’ll soon catch up. You’re really quick.”

“It’s true that you do need more training,” Sonia said. “But actually, I do think you can help as well.”

“Really?” Andrew asked hopefully. “I want to help my friends if I can.”

“Yes,” Sonia said. “You say you’re behind, which is true to a degree, but you’re still well ahead of your friends and I think that you’re the sort of person who can learn through helping other people learn. It’s the repetition, helps embed the information.”

“And even if you can’t, you can still be moral support,” Anthony said. “You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of that.”

Andrew smiled. “That would be better than nothing but I hope Mum is right.”

“I hope so too.” Sonia smiled at that. “We’ll soon find out. But for now, we all need to go and finish our dinners and then go and pack. I’m looking forward to getting home even if we are still going to be a bit crowded.”

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