25
He awoke to the sound of low conversation and easy laughter coming from the living room below. Pulling himself from beneath the covers, he straightened the pallet and briefly opened the single window’s shutters to glance outside. Though he saw only the shuttered windows of the next apartment complex opposite, the light outside was still a hazy, red-gray glow, so he knew he couldn’t have slept more than six or seven hours.
When he made his way down the stairs, he realized it was no longer just Aaron, Marya, and himself in Cephas’s apartment. It sounded like a crowd, and he recognized with relief the rumble of Cephas’s voice amid the hushed conversation. Then he stepped around the corner at the bottom of the staircase and looked upon the gathering in the living room.
The brothers Yaako
