It wasn't just the city, of course. Or that other place they've just come back from. Adam is Adam, will always be Adam, but Adam isn't simply only a little boy. But Anathema must know that - she's one of the few who do.

Do those six years that might not have exist compare to what he went through in a single day back at home? Well, depends on your perspective. No one really knows how the boy's mind really works.

It's quiet now. The look he dons is similar to the one he would, in that place, when things were serious. When plans were being made. When risks were being assessed. When he metaphorically held a foot somewhere inside his psyche that was his own, where too many thoughts circled.

"Which part?" He finally says. He'll tell her everything, of course. He just needs a starting point.