“You okay?” Marie asked.

Sophie glanced up at Marie. “Yeah, fine. Totally fine.” She pulled the math notes from their chat before and pretended to look like she’d been studying them the whole time.

Sophie answered too quickly. Anxiety began pulling at Marie’s heart. Sophie had been sitting at the table, but had been staring out the window when Marie noticed her. It seemed like she was staring for quite some time. What was Sophie thinking about? It was driving Marie crazy that Sophie wasn’t confiding in her. She was about to say something when Alice’s bedroom door opened.

“Marie, Vlad. Tom wants to see you,” Alice said.

Marie paused only a moment to exchange a look with Sophie before getting up. She and her dad entered Alice’s bedroom. Tom was on the bed, looking pale but awake. He was sitting up now, resting against the headboard. He had a clean shirt on, and his leg was in a cast. His face still had the obvious signs of torture, the bruises in every stage of healing and the cuts Charles and Alice had stitched up. He was eating some soup when they walked in.

“Have a seat,” he said, placing his soup on the end table.

Two chairs were set out for them. Marie took one of them. “What’s this about?”

Tom gave a small sigh. “Both of you don’t have a chip in, and both of you are going to be hidden by the underground, so even though the S.E.A. is searching for you, you won’t be singing any time soon and alerting the S.E.A.”

Marie frowned. “What are you saying?”

Tom closed his eyes. “Getting kidnapped by Ben was enough to realize I’m not immortal. I have so much information on him, and it’s time that information spread.”

Marie paused, then leaned forward. “You’re going to tell us about Ben?”

“Everything,” Tom said. “This is dangerous information to have, and it brings a risk. Mainly the wrath of Ben, which is deadly if you get caught. If you do not feel comfortable knowing this, you are free to leave. But I feel like it’s time to tell others about this, just in case. And if you wish, Marie, you can tell Sophie, but I will leave that up to you.”

Marie didn’t know what to say, other than to nod. She felt a tremor of excitement inside her. Her curiosity would finally be fed. Another part of her felt sick. Did she trust Sophie with information? Was she going to start keeping secrets from her best friend?

Her dad glanced down, distracted by his shoelace. “I feel like I know a little already. You were quite delirious a few months ago, and told me a lot.”

Tom nodded. “Yeah, I thought that might happen. I was afraid I was going to die. But it’s time I tell the full story.”

Marie leaned forward, trying not to look too eager. There might be something in Tom’s story that would help defeat President Arnold. Tom sighed and sank deeper in the bed, looking like he had the weight of the world on him. “About forty years ago I became roommates with two gentlemen. One was Benedict Arnold. The other, Nikola Tesla. We became fast friends in a violent world. We were all freshman at a university that no longer exists. Nothing of the old world exists anymore.

“We were the top students at the time. There was a call for help from anyone, young or old, to keep our world safe from the weapons and evil running rampant.”

Tom wasn’t looking at them. He was staring off in the distance as though reliving the story he told. Marie realized she was listening to a history lesson no one had ever heard before and was fascinated by it.

“Nik had the idea of creating a chip, a sort of mind control without people realizing it was mind control. We would implant it, and force people to sing their deepest feelings to be recorded elsewhere for later inspection. Then proper authorities could monitor them. We could hide it behind the singing and the dancing, claiming we needed to change the old world completely and bring back the arts.”

Tom glanced up at them, looking so tired. “Please understand, thousands of people were dying every week. I thought the chip was a necessary evil, but Nik, he saw it as a masterpiece that would live on through the ages. I thought this would only be temporary, but Ben had other ideas. Nik and I spent all our free time during freshman year on it. Ben didn’t do much, because science wasn’t his strength. He was more into the politics. When Nik and I finished it, Ben proved invaluable. He had the charm to get his foot in the door and the charisma to sell our invention. He at first passed it off as a collaboration, then just him and me, then just him. He said it was too confusing to have multiple people inventing it. And like idiots we went along with it.”

Tom rubbed his forehead. “He promised in the safe new world we would all live like Kings. That’s what he promised at first when it was introduced and implemented. He called Nik and I his trusty advisors. We did live well for a while.

“Nik disappeared three years after we finished the invention. He disappeared on his own terms, mind you. Ben has no idea where he is. However, that’s when Ben started getting super paranoid. Those closest to him don’t know his secret. The less people knew about it the better, in Ben’s eyes. People started disappearing. People close to him started having deadly accidents happen that they still haven’t solved. I was disgusted by him when he showed up on my doorstep, begging for help.”

“What did he need your help with?” Marie asked.

Tom folded his arms. He looked conflicted, like he was about to announce a grievous sin. Tom closed his eyes. “The chip. He still has no idea how it works. When the S.E.A. was in full power, they realized they needed to update the chip and add more features. The one we created was barely better than a prototype. So Ben came to me, telling me if I’d do it, he’d give me enough to live on until the next time he needed an update. And the security of knowing I and my family wouldn’t die.”

“And you helped him?” Marie asked, surprised at the disgust she felt towards her old teacher.

“It’s complicated, Marie. I agreed to help, as long as he swore I would be the only one to update it. You may think the chip is evil now, but in the wrong hands, it could be so much worse. If I’m the one giving the updates, I get to call the shots for what those updates are. I did just enough so Ben didn’t get suspicious, which was difficult. He threatened my life and went as far as to threaten the lives of my wife and children, back when my wife was still alive, but he needed me. As much as I hated it, I felt better knowing I was the only one doing the updates.”

“Then what changed? Why did they kidnap you?” Marie asked.

Tom opened his eyes. “You happened.”

Marie didn’t know why her face flushed crimson. “Why me?”

“When you left with the information about what happened to the hobos, Ben panicked. Panicked in a way I haven’t seen in a very long time. Ben’s got something big in the works that he wanted me to help with. I deduced from Marie’s disappearance that going over the wall was a safe haven, so I had my children and grandchildren leave Musical Land as quickly and as safely as possible so Ben couldn’t hold them over me anymore. I was done helping him.”

Marie winced. She couldn’t help it. Knowing that people thought the clearing was safe made her insides churn. Who knows what Josef would do to them if any of them had an inclination towards the arts. She secretly hoped Tom’s talents in science passed down to every child and grandchild he had.

Tom seemed to notice her look. “It’ll be okay, Marie. Though I am now concerned with the information I’ve heard about Josef. I’m going to help you in your cause. We’ve got to bring President Arnold down, and we’ve got to get rid of people like Josef who give scientists a bad name.”

Marie nodded, trying to smile. It was a noble cause, but sometimes she wished it didn’t sound so incredibly hopeless.

“So what is this big thing President Arnold has planned?” her dad asked.

Tom shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell me until I gave him my complete loyalty. And I never did.”

“But it has something to do with the chip?” Marie asked.

Tom nodded. “Undoubtably.”

Marie leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. “So as long as the S.E.A. doesn’t get you, then we should be fine.”

“I wish it was that easy,” Tom said. “As you recall, I still had a third roommate.”

Marie frowned. “But it seems like he’s good at hiding.”

Mr. Edison shook his head. “They’re getting close, and even someone as crafty as Nik will mess up sometimes. They’ve found traces of his handiwork, his science experiments, scattered throughout the city. No, Nik can’t hide forever.”

“So… then we need to find him first,” her dad said.

“Again, I wish it was that simple. I can’t even be certain Nik will want to join us. There’s a very good chance this man hates me. Almost as much as Ben does.” Tom frowned. “No, there’s a chance he hates me worse than Ben.”

Marie rubbed her forehead, frowning.

“Can the underground hide him without him knowing they’re hiding you too?” her dad asked.

“Possibly, but this man is…” Tom hesitated before looking away. “He’s probably where Ben got the term mad scientist from. The guy is insane. Back in college I’ve seen some of the blueprints for other inventions he would have worked on if not for the chip, and they would have rivaled the chip, and the other dangerous weapons being used at the time.” Tom took a deep breath before letting out. “I’m not even sure the underground can hide him. He’s a wild card the underground needs to know about. He might join Ben, he might not. Maybe the safest thing we can do is make sure no one discovers Nikola Tesla.”

Marie stared at the carpet, feeling like she found more pieces to a puzzle she was trying to put together. It was both encouraging and overwhelming at the same time. Tom brought his soup back on his lap and drank from it deeply. There was a soft knock on the door.

“Come in,” Marie’s dad said.

Alice walked in, and Marie noticed the agitation in her face. Marie stood up, getting ready to hide in the closet again.

“Is everything okay?” her dad asked.

“I just got off the phone with Charles. He gave me a coded message, but there’s no way to misinterpret this.” Alice’s eyes fell on Marie. “Billy, Abe, Albert, and Edgar are being taken to the S.E.A. interrogation room.”

Marie gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

“Charles and Harriet have found a safehouse in the poor side of town that Harriet has verified is still secure. They’re coming so we can move you there. Just in case things don’t go well,” Alice said.

Marie felt tears prick her eyes and her father found her hand. “They’re some smart boys you found, Marie. They’ll be okay.”

Marie tried to believe him.