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A/N: A new chapter of Haventon went up yesterday. Don’t forget to check it out.

Andrew and Melissa spoke to Sonia immediately after his session had finished. Sonia listened to Melissa’s idea with a frown.

“Well, we know that he was trying to avoid a repeat of the previous disaster he’d had, and we know the timing of the deaths coincided more with the tear widening – not the initial rip – so that seems reasonable. He may have thought all the problems were caused by the energy leaking in too fast. He was wrong in the case of the Lost Ones but he may have been right about the deaths.”

“He may not have been entirely wrong about the Lost Ones,” Melissa said. “Their transformation would have been slower with a slower leak, which would have allowed more time to find a cure.” She paused and scowled. “Which wouldn’t have made what he was trying to do any better but at least he would have done less damage.”

“That’s true as well,” Sonia said. “We’ll ask Caroline and Marian to have a look. It does change things if he wasn’t the one responsible for the worst effects of the pulse, even if whoever was responsible used his crime to piggy back on.”

“I’d feel better about it,” Andrew stared out of the window into the darkness. “It’s gotten late.”

“It has,” Sonia agreed. “And you are going to be very busy the next few days. You’ve committed to a lot of things.”

“I want to be busy,” Andrew said. “Takes my mind off things.”

“Which is fine in the short time,” Melissa said gently. “But you can’t leave things to fester and you need to be careful not to overwork yourself.”

“I know,” he said. “But it all needs to be done.”

“Well, we need to work you out a schedule in the morning,” Sonia said. “And as you said, it’s late. Lucas and Naria are waiting as well; we need to deal with that bond now. It is worryingly tangled.”

“Okay,” he said.

“Good,” Sonia said. “When do you want to talk to Drew again, Melissa?”

“The same time next week,” she replied. “Once the school term gets going, I’ll make regular appointments with him.”

“Oh!” Andrew said. “You work here?”

Melissa nodded. “My job is usually helping wild kids adjust to Brierthorne.”

“That’ll make it easier,” he said. “Thank you for you help.”

“Your welcome,” Melissa replied.

As he walked back to their dorm house with his mother, Andrew tried to suppress his nerves about having his bond with Naria altered but it kept gnawing at him. He knew it had to be done but the idea of someone messing in his head was still uncomfortable and as they approached the house he found himself slowing down until he dawdled to a halt without meaning to. His mother stopped and looked back at him.

“You okay, Drew?”

“Will it hurt?”

“What? Having your bond untangled?” Sonia asked. “No, it may be a little uncomfortable but it won’t be painful. Lucas is very skilled.” She gave him a piercing look. “And he won’t be nosing around in your head or altering your thoughts either if that’s worrying you.”

“Ah,” he said “How…”

“I know you, Drew,” she said. “You really don’t like people in your mind. So it’s not surprising that would worry you. But you’ll be able to see where he is and see that he’s not going deeper than you want. He’ll mostly be guiding you and Naria in tidying it up rather than changing it himself.”

“Okay,” Andrew said. “That sounds tolerable.” He started walking again and they headed into the cul-de-sac where the dorm house lay.

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