Phoenix Maplewood b is for basil assaulted by bears

The man had a wife and a son that had been taken from him along with his eye. Though he was too young in the world for the emotion welling in him to be accurately named sympathy, Gideon certainly felt something for Yikaas upon learning this. How awful it must be to lose everything like that.

Gideon felt he could relate, though the thing keeping him from his family was not a force of violence. Rather, it was the fear of being taken again, and worse, the fear Isra might hurt one of his family membrs to do so. The questions she had asked led him to believe he was of particular interest to her; at least if he kept away, they would be safe, and he could return when he was sure enough time had passed.

How long would that be? He had no way of knowing.

Who took them? Gideon wondered, deciding then and there that "Them" must be the bad guys and Yikaas was a little bit like him. Lost, yearning for his family, hoping to reunite with them one day. He found it difficult to parse the meaning of what the man said next and assumed he meant that being alone made one strong. Well, he couldn't argue with that. He didn't know if that was true, but this fellow certainly looked powerful enough.

I want to be strong, he said. How?