Albert knocked on the office door. It had been typed on his introduction pamphlet. The orientation was about an hour long, with a short tour of the cafeteria and going through the rules and regulations. Albert did his best to be the model intern.

The door opened, and he saw who he assumed was Mr. Reagan.

“You’re Albert?” Mr. Reagan asked as Albert walked into the office.

“Yes. Mr. Reagan?”

“Yep! A pleasure to meet you,” he said as he extended his hand.

“Likewise,” Albert said, because he wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Let’s start, shall we?” he asked before he dropped a huge pile of folders into Albert’s arms. Albert let out a grunt. “Being assistant to the junior official of communications means you need to travel a ton. All these memos and letters need to reach the officials by lunchtime.”

“Yeah, yeah of course. Um, where are these offices?” Albert asked.

“Maps on top there,” Mr. Reagan said. “Start on level seventy-five. When you’re done, come back here. I have another pile waiting for you.” Mr. Reagan placed a hand on a huge stack twice as big as the one he just gave Albert. Albert tried not to think about it.

“Okay,” Albert said.

It was like he was a freshman at school all over again, except worse. He had to hold the map and carry way too many folders, trying to deliver them in the small boxes outside the door while keeping a constant eye on the clock to make sure he did it all before lunch. He was still nervous the S.E.A. were going to wait for him to mess up, and it would be better if he tried to be one of their top interns.

He returned to Mr. Reagan’s room right at noon, trying desperately to hide his exhaustion. He finished the first batch, and was rather proud of himself for getting that done before lunch. Mr. Reagan looked up from his paperwork, saw Albert empty handed, then glanced at the clock.

“Impressive. Go have lunch, then meet me back here in an hour and I’ll get you the rest of it.”

Albert walked on legs of jelly as he made his way to the elevator. He had a guest pass for the elevators, one that was specifically marked as his. If he used it for anything other than his internship, he would be terminated immediately. Granted, Albert had a feeling they’d do a lot worse for him. And he couldn’t help but notice his guest pass did not grant him access to President Arnold’s floor.

The cafeteria in the skyscraper was huge. It practically took up the entire floor. Albert, who had a workout going up and down the halls delivering pages to the officials, felt his stomach groan loudly as the smells hit his nose. He grabbed a plate and piled on some mashed potatoes and gravy. He then grabbed three rolls before he scanned the cafeteria area. There were over a dozen teenagers there, all on their lunch break. Most of them were older than him. In fact, Albert was certain he was one of the youngest teenagers here. There were a lot of adults, too. Albert forgot how many people actually worked in the skyscraper.

He didn’t see Billy or Poe, so he sat at one of the tables closest to where he was standing and began shoveling his mashed potatoes and gravy into his mouth. It was probably because he was so incredibly famished, but the mashed potatoes were the best he’d ever eaten. The potatoes were so buttery, and he had no idea what kind of gravy it was, he just wanted to eat it. And the rolls tasted like buttery clouds.

“Hey, Albert!”

Albert glanced up to see Billy, who had of course already made friends. “Billy, hey.”

“Meet my new friends!” Billy said as he pointed to the two girls next to him. A girl with black hair and brown eyes sat down before extending her hand out toward Albert.

“Hello! I’m Anne Frank. My, you and Billy must be geniuses if you made it into the internship program so young,” Anne said.

“Not too young,” Albert couldn’t help but say. “We’re going into our sophomore year this fall.”

“Pretty sure you’re the only ones.” Anne studied the other teenagers in the cafeteria. “The rest of us will be going into our Senior year. What school do you two attend?”

“Presley,” Albert and Billy said at the same time.

“No way! No wonder you’re here at your age. I’ll have to keep a wary eye out for any Lennon High students. Can’t have the rival high schools dueling it out at the S.E.A. skyscraper,” Anne said as she gave Billy a nudge.

“Oh, I’m sure we could hold our own,” Billy said.

“I’m Agatha, by the way,” the other girl said. “Agatha Christie.”

“Hi! I’m Albert Einstein, in case Billy didn’t already introduce me.”

“You must not be the gothic friend he talked about,” Agatha said.

Albert gave a small chuckle. “No. I’m the other one.”

Billy turned, scanning the cafeteria. “Speaking of, where is Poe?”

Albert had eaten enough that he wasn’t wolfing down his mashed potatoes and managed to glance around with Billy. It couldn’t be too hard to spot Poe, but this time he couldn’t see him.

“And you’re all from the same high school?” Anne asked. “I think that’s awesome your friend group got picked for the internship.”

Albert picked up his glass and took a drink.

“Yeah,” Agatha said, not sounding as impressed. “Pretty lucky.” He happened to notice Agatha studying Albert curiously, almost in a distrusting way. The water he swallowed seemed to have turned to metal as it struggled down his throat. Was she suspicious of him? Or was he simply starting to get paranoid?

“What do you like to do in your free time, Agatha?” Albert asked.

There was the slightest twitch of a smile on her face. “I like to write.”

“Plays? Novels?” Albert asked.

“Both.” She picked up her fork and skewered her salad. “I like the crime genre.”

“Awesome!” Billy said, either completely unaware of what was going on, or hiding his unease a lot better than Albert. But maybe he shouldn’t be too worried. Then again, he needed to always be on his toes. “I write plays myself,” Billy said.

“Oh?” Agatha asked. “Comedies? Tragedies?”

“Both,” Billy said.

There was the slightest cock of Agatha’s eyebrow. This was usually the time Albert expected Abe would explain in more detail about Billy’s habits, but with a drop of his stomach he was reminded how Abe wasn’t there. They had to keep pretending he was dead.

Albert took another deep drink of water before taking the last bite of his mashed potatoes. He had almost swallowed them when he spotted Adolf Hitler across the room. Albert’s throat constricted and the mashed potatoes at the tip of his esophagus got mixed messages. Albert started coughing, trying not to bring too much attention to himself, but also trying to get a handle on his panic.

“Albert? You okay?” Billy asked.

The mashed potatoes managed to get down his throat and Albert gave a feeble nod before drinking some more water. “Almost had a spit take there.”

Billy gave a snort before he followed Albert’s line of sight and saw Adolf. “Hey, isn’t that…”

“Yeah,” Albert said.

Anne turned. “What? Who?”

“No one important,” Albert said.

Billy picked up his hamburger, not looking at Adolf. “Just an obnoxious bully that’s been giving Albert greif.”

Albert rubbed his head. “I can’t believe he’s in the program too.”

“That guy?” Agatha asked, pointing to Adolf.

“Yeah.” Albert bent his head, his hand shielding his eyes as though that would magically make him disappear. “It’d be better if he had no idea I was here.” The last thing he needed right now was Adolf making a scene. Albert needed to be practically perfect all summer in order to survive. If Adolf found him, if he started bullying Albert again, things could get bad. After all, the S.E.A. only needed a marginal amount of proof that Albert was guilty to lock him and his friends away.

“Ugh, I met him at orientation,” Agatha said. “He gives off major creep vibes. Not surprised he’s a bully.”

Anne scrunched up her face. “Poor guy looks constipated. Needs to lighten up.”

“I mean,” Agatha started to say, cocking her head to one side, “maybe if he grew a beard, it might help his…” Agatha trailed off and gave a hand motion that Albert guessed meant a beard might help hide half of the unfortunate face Adolf was given.

Anne snorted. “Unless he can’t grow a beard. He also seems like that guy.”

“Mustache?” Agatha asked.

“Macbeth, no,” Anne said with wide eyes. “Very few men can pull it off, and high schoolers shouldn’t even try.”

Agatha snickered before stopping it with a quiet cough. “I do wonder how so many Presley High students are here in this internship.”

Anne gave a shrug. “Well, I mean, it is Presley, after all.”

****

Abe tried not to pace too much, but he felt a growing sense of nerves. He had memorized every detail of this small, two bedroom safehouse. He shouldn’t have been here this long. He paced between the small, combined kitchen and dining room, then paced into the living room. Often he did it in a circle, trying to fill up the ample time he found himself with. Sam wasn’t doing too well either, fixing anything that looked worn down. It was Wednesday, and they still hadn’t seen anyone. Sam was so certain Josef would have sent someone over by now, especially considering Sam had been there almost eight hours before Abe.

They spent some time pretending to get to know each other. Doing everything newly met people would do. Sam mentioned how someone was already supposed to be here, and he and Abe tried to speculate out loud why no one had come yet, trying to keep it light. Abe truly had no idea why no one had come yet. They had Sam go first just so there could be someone familiar to send the party, but it had been days. He wanted to ask Sam what he truly thought, but it was too dangerous. They had to keep up appearances, which meant not going outside the house for long periods of time. Josef was just as paranoid as President Arnold.

The questions still remained, though. How long had it been since the underground sent someone across the wall? Were they the first in weeks? Months? How suspicious was Josef? Or, was it possible the cameras died and no one could see them?

Abe doubted the last one. If the cameras really were out, someone would have come to replace them.

Abe forced himself to stop pacing and eat one of the sandwiches Sam made. It was about lunch time. Sam had quietly eaten about half his sandwich before looking up.

“Food’s almost gone,” Sam said.

Abe detected his voice had gone slightly louder than necessary, as though making sure that point had been picked up by the observers.

“Do you think we might have to forage?” Abe asked.

“I hope not, but if worse comes to worse, we might have to consider it.” Sam took another bite and glanced out the window as he chewed. Abe was examining his own sandwich while he chewed when he heard the door swing open. He looked up to see Sam was gone. Abe stood up and looked out the window as Sam ran out the door.

Abe made his way out of the safe house to see Sam kissing a woman Abe assumed was his wife. It was only after he heard a child shrieking that he realized there was a young boy strapped to the woman’s back. Abe couldn’t help but let himself smile. He didn’t know Sam’s wife Saca that well, but he became acquainted with the longing Sam had for her, and he was happy for Sam.

“Hello,” Josef said as he walked over to Abe.

“Hello, I’m Abe Lincoln,” Abe said.

“Josef Mengele.”

Abe spared a glance at Sam and Saca, watching as Sam had his son in his arms, letting the boy feel his face. It seemed as though he stumbled upon something private. “I’m really happy to be here.”

Josef smiled, but Abe knew it wasn’t genuine. Did Josef mean to give such an obvious hint that he didn’t trust them? “We’re happy to have you.” He turned to Sam. “And of course, hello Sam.”

Sam turned to face Josef, finally acknowledging Josef’s presence. “Hello.” Sam placed an arm around Saca and tightened his hold over his son. “It’s good to see you again.”

Josef gave a smile as though pacifying a small child. “Certainly not more than seeing your family again.”

There was a small spark of anger in Sam’s eyes as he widened his mouth for a smile. “I am ecstatic to be back with them.”

Josef pointed toward the way he had just come. “Then let’s go back, shall we?”

Saca was frowning as she glanced at Sam. “Sam?” she started to ask.

“Let’s go, Saca. I can’t wait to see the clearing,” Sam said.

Little Sam reached toward Saca, and the small family headed deeper into the trees. Josef turned his gaze toward Abe. “After you.”

Abe did not want Josef behind him, but he had little choice but to smile and follow after Sam.