A heart-to-heart.

"Is he out of your head?"

"Yes." Sam said softly. "He's not here for now."

Janet rushed over and embraced her sister. "We'll get you out of this, I swear! Whatever this freak did to you, we'll find a way to undo it. You're gonna be the old you again, Sam!"

Sam slowly lifted her arms to return the hug. "That would be nice. It's stressful being tied to him."

Janet pulled back and looked her sister in the eye. "You're like all stoned, right? Because he's asleep?"

Placing her hands back in her lap, Sam replied evenly. "I'm not stoned. I just feel very... apathetic. It's like his mind is dominant and when it's gone mine remains passive."

"So, like, you don't care about stuff? You're sluggish? Is that it?" Sam realized that Janet was gauging her capacity to resist Jake.

"Sort of. I'm me and only me, but I'm somehow faded."

"Do you want to escape him?"

Sam frowned. "No. I want to fix whatever is wrong with me and go back to normal, but I'm not a captive. I mean it when I say Jake had no hand in this. I'm no longer under his influence but I still believe that he's innocent."

Having said this, she shifted her eyes downward. Janet thought for a moment.

"This can't be the first time this has happened to someone. We need to google it, see if other people have had similar experiences. In the meantime, do you think you can get away from him? I'd like to take you home but would that, like, hurt you?"

Sam replied coolly. "I don't think it would hurt me but it wouldn't improve things either. At best it would antagonize Jake, and he is a necessary ally in all of this. Besides, his influence is easier to deal with when he's nearby. If we were separated I could be suddenly hit with all sorts of thoughts, emotions, and sensations with no context or warning."

Janet was so glad to have her sister back. Not some weird puppet half-parroting what some guy thought, but her actual sister. It occurred to her that she should use that to her advantage. Her sister was clever and bound to be a good source of ideas, even in her diminished state.

"Sam, what do you think we should do to deal with this?"