The underground didn’t contact Albert and his friends until Friday afternoon, almost a whole week since they were interrogated by the S.E.A. He knew they were trying to wait for the manhunt to slow down so there would be somewhere safe for them to meet. Albert and the others tried to give the underground coded messages of what happened to them, but knew the best way would be face to face. Finals were Monday, and Albert felt the added stress of that on top of the underground expectations. And, as always, the underlying worry for Marie.

They were given an address when they came home from school, and a time to meet, one in the morning. Albert didn’t bother taking a nap beforehand. He couldn’t sleep anyway.

They made their way out of their apartment to a relatively quiet street. It seemed like the S.E.A. was scouring the middle class section of the city, so they were meeting in a safe house in the poorer section. Albert thought all the safe houses were compromised, but he figured this one at least had to be safer than the others.

They entered the back of what looked like a museum. Harriet was there to meet them. She motioned for them to follow her.

They got to a storage room and Harriet led them inside. It was full of art the museum wasn’t showing at the moment. Harriet pulled back the rug on the floor to show a trap door and opened it, ushering them inside. Billy’s eyes were dancing in excitement.

Albert followed Abe. They barely got down the set of stairs when Marie came out of nowhere, hugging Abe tightly, making a sound of a stifled cry.

“I was so worried about all of you,” she said.

“We’re fine. We’ve got lots to report, but we’re fine,” Abe said.

Marie broke away, as she went to Billy and hugged him tightly. She gave an awkward high five to Poe before throwing her arms around Albert and hugging him tightly. Albert found himself smiling as he wrapped his arm around her. It almost felt like the old days, before she started hating him. Albert caught Billy’s gaze.

“Not glaring,” Billy mouthed as his eyebrows wiggled up and down in their own happy dance. Albert felt a colony of butterflies move into his stomach region.

Marie broke away from hugging Albert. He could see the realization dawning on her that she was supposed to be still mad at him. Marie dropped her hands to her side, immediately looking uncomfortable.

“Um, right,” Marie said.

Albert didn’t know what to say. He knew he should say something, but the butterflies in his stomach were still rather aggressive. Billy’s knowing look did not help either.

“We’ll start when Charles gets here,” Marie said.

“Yeah. Good.” Albert said.

Marie cleared her throat. “I’ve got to go check in with my dad,” she mumbled as she turned and walked toward a door. As soon as the door closed, Billy slowly turned his head, giving Albert a good long stare. Albert felt another jolt of the butterfly colony.

“What? Now?” Albert asked.

“Follow her,” Billy said.

Albert rubbed his forehead. This wasn’t as terrifying as being interrogated by Mr. McCarthy, but it was pretty close. He gathered every ounce of courage he had and followed after Marie.

***

Marie entered her dad’s room. Between Sam, Charles, Alice, and Harriet, they were able to smuggle quite the chemistry set to them. She saw her dad looking through a microscope at a sample of her blood.

“How’s it looking?” Marie asked.

He twisted the knobs a bit, a frown evident on his face. “Not bad, but not good either.”

Marie nodded, a reminder of the insane length she went to get to this point. She’d do it all over again, though, if given the chance.

The door opened and Albert stuck his head inside. “Hey, Marie. Oh, hey Vlad. What are you working on?”

“It’s Marie’s-”

“Nothing,” Marie said as she felt her heart plummet. “It’s nothing.”

Her dad gave her a surprised look, and Marie felt heat creep to her cheeks. Albert didn’t know, and now her dad realized that Albert didn’t know.

“Is there something we can help you with?” Marie asked as Albert was looking curiously at her.

“Um, yeah. Can I talk to you?” Albert asked, thankfully looking as though he’d forgotten what Marie was trying to hide.

Marie raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Sure.”

There was a pause. Albert’s eyes rested on her dad. “Um, privately?”

Her dad returned his attention to his microscope, and Marie could have sworn she saw him smiling. Marie hesitated again before shrugging and following Albert out of the room.

Albert looked flummoxed as he studied the safe house. “Is there anywhere to talk?”

“Yeah, over here,” Marie said, her fingers wrapping around his wrist as she led him to another door. It was more like a roomy closet than anything. Marie flipped on the light and they entered. Albert closed the door and it was then she realized how extremely close Albert was to her. Marie reached up and started playing with a lock of her hair.

“Is everything okay? What happened to you guys?” Marie asked.

“Oh, fine. We’ll give a more detailed report when the meeting starts. I just…” Albert’s mouth froze, and Marie got the impression that he was nervous about something.

“Albert? What is it?”

Albert gave a sigh, then rubbed his head. “I’m so sorry, Marie. For what I did to Abe.”

Marie froze. The old anger she felt towards him flared up again, but softer than before. She wanted to forget that even happened, but she knew she never could. “Right.”

Albert couldn’t look her in the eye, though she could read the shame clearly on his face. “I was so incredibly angry that he left you there.”

“I told him to go,” Marie said.

“I know. He told me that, but I was still just so angry.” Albert paused, then ran a hand through his hair, making his wavy locks stick up the tiniest bit. Marie’s mouth twitched in a smile before she forced it away.

“That doesn’t give you an excuse to beat him up like that,” Marie said.

“I know. There is no way I’m defending myself for what I did. I’m explaining why I did what I did, but more importantly, I want you to understand I know it was wrong. Everything I did was so wrong. If I could make it so my apology could wipe away what I did to one of my closest friends, I would willingly apologize every day for the rest of my life. I know better now. It won’t happen again. Ever.”

Marie said nothing, not even sure what she should say. She simply stared at him. Her heart was difficult to understand, but she could tell the anger she felt for him was gone. The worry she felt after they’d been pulled in for questioning had been on the forefront of her mind all week that she forgot to be angry at him. Eventually she would have remembered, but the fact that he was here, apologizing, it was almost like he offered to get rid of the anger for her, and she realized she wanted it gone.

“Are...you okay?” Albert asked.

Reality returned, and Marie noticed the obvious agitation in Albert’s face and voice. She had no idea how long they’d remained silent, but however long, it was clearly torture for Albert.

“Yeah, fine. I mean, I’m sure your underdeveloped prefrontal cortex played a part in it too,” she said, not looking at him as she tucked some hair behind her ear.

The silence made her glance over at Albert. Something played across his face that she couldn’t quite understand. Albert cleared his throat quietly. “Yes, well, even if it did play a factor,” he started to say, “you’d think I’d have enough maturity to realize it was one of my best friends I was beating up. It was still completely inappropriate.”

The smallest hint of a smile crossed Marie’s face. She said it all in jest, of course, but his answer, she couldn’t quite place it. She just really liked his answer. She reached forward and touched his arm without realizing it. “Thank you. For that.” She winced, then shook her head, giving a small laugh. “I’m not great with stuff like this.”

Albert gave a tiny laugh. “Me neither.”

“But thank you, Albert. For what you said.” Marie smiled as she looked at him. “I really appreciate it.”

“Yeah.”

They were quiet again. Marie felt her face turning red. She wasn’t sure why.

“I guess we could go back,” Albert said.

“Yeah. Yeah. I guess we could.”

Neither one of them moved. Marie stared right back at Albert who was making no move to return to the group.

“Did you have something more to say?” Marie asked.

Albert gave a small sigh, still staring at Marie. “Tons. And none of the social skills to say it without feeling like an idiot.”

Marie giggled, then covered her mouth. “I’m sorry. I just...” A realization came over her. Albert had feelings for her. She wasn’t sure how deep, but she knew he was going to try and pursue them. She had to let him know about her future.

“Marie?” Albert asked. She glanced up and saw his face. He must have read something there. “Are you okay?”

Marie swallowed, feeling the lump in her throat. “Albert,” she said, her voice hoarse. “There’s something you need to know.”

He looked concerned. “What is it?”

It tumbled out before she could find a way to sugar coat it. “I’m dying.”

Albert’s face froze. Clearly, whatever he expected, that wasn’t it. “I’m sorry, what?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

She told him, as softly as possible, all about the hobos and the formula. She told him the details of what was in the formula she injected into herself. Albert stared at her, alarm clearly in his eyes. When she finished, he ran his hand again through his hair. At this point it was starting to stick up pretty bad.

“Macbeth,” Albert swore. He almost said something else, then shook his head. “Macbeth.”

Marie couldn’t look at him. “So that’s what my dad was working on. He’s going to try and reverse it.”

Albert swallowed, and looked at Marie. Marie could read in his eyes that her dad would soon have a partner to work with to try and undo what Marie did.

“I feel like an even bigger idiot,” Albert said.

Marie frowned. “What for?”

“You have had all this stress, the underground, the hobos, your dad, and... and your future.” Albert was rubbing the back of his neck. “And I’ve been stupid. Selfish.”

“Well, it’s a step in the right direction, what you did tonight.”

Albert looked at her. “Thank you for telling me. About...” Albert could not bring himself to say it. “Who else knows?”

Marie chewed her lip as she thought. “I think everyone in the underground. Except Billy, Abe, and Edgar. And Sophie.” Marie dropped her gaze as she thought of her best friend in the entire universe. “Sophie doesn’t know.”

Albert seemed to sense the pain this revelation gave. “Is it... I don’t want to overstep my bounds, or anything, but... could I hug you? Again?”

Marie didn’t say a word. The stress she felt made her wrap her arms firmly around him, hugging him tightly. This time, she lingered, and he didn’t seem like he wanted to pull away any time soon. She breathed in his scent, memorized how it felt to have his arms around her. Her heart glowed, and she allowed it to fill her body with its warmth as the stress was instead put on hold. She remembered before she crossed over the wall, when Albert accidentally admitted he had feelings for her, she felt the tiny spark. She felt this same way now, except the more she remained in Albert’s embrace, the more the spark turned into a flame.

Albert placed a hand on the back of her head as he held her closer. Marie knew this revelation wasn’t going to be easy for him to come to terms with. She only just remembered that Albert still had the chip in the back of his head, and she hoped nothing she said would trigger it.

There was a quiet knock on the door. Albert immediately broke away, a certain sadness in his face Marie didn’t like to see.

“Hey Marie? Albert? It’s Billy.”

Albert was still trying to process what Marie had said, so she answered. “Yeah, come on in, Billy.”

Albert looked at Marie, the deep sadness still there. The door opened and she watched as Albert tried to pack away the hurt. Billy knocked on the slightly open door again.

“Charles is here,” Billy said, still not opening the door completely. “We’re about to start.”

Albert sniffed, his acting skills coming to him. “Oh, come on, Billy. What exactly do you think we’re doing in here?” Albert asked, trying to make a joke. Marie’s cheeks grew hot as she smiled.

Billy peeked inside, a sheepish grin on his face. “I mean, you guys have been in here for a while.”

“We’re coming,” Albert said. He glanced at Marie, then gave her a smile. Marie did not expect her legs to melt.

They walked out, Marie keeping her arms folded. She couldn’t help but notice Abe was very distracted with what seemed like an ordinary scrap of paper, looking far more depressed than when she first saw him. She also noticed her dad who seemed to take in the two of them, studying them closely. He seemed to frown when he noticed Albert’s messed up hair. Marie had a sudden realization that most, if not all of the people sitting around the table assumed they had gone in the room to make out. She looked for some sort of escape and noticed Sophie was missing.

“I’m going to see if Sophie wants to join,” Marie said to Charles.

Charles gave a small nod and Marie slipped away. She knocked softly on the door of the small room she and Sophie shared. Sophie was on the bed, reading.

“Hey, the meeting is about to start,” Marie said.

Sophie flipped a page. “I’m going to sit this one out. Just in case.”

Marie wasn’t sure how to react to that. What did she mean ‘just in case’? Just in case of what? Marie couldn’t think of a single thing that would need someone to sit out on. Unless Sophie was thinking about returning to her parents, and she didn’t want to know too much information. If Sophie didn’t want to attend a meeting where the underground talked about what they needed to do in the foreseeable future, did it mean Sophie didn’t want to be a part of it?

“Marie? Coming?” Charles asked.

“Yeah,” Marie said.

Fighting down her panic, Marie gave a quiet nod to Sophie and left her to her reading.