The pages of notes ruffled through Marie’s fingertips as her dad wiped the top of the table clean.

“So what’s the next step?” Marie asked.

Her dad returned from the special sink they keep their rags in. “I’m not sure. I want to run more tests before I even consider putting it in your bloodstream, but…”

“You don’t know how to test it?” Marie asked. Her dad gave a short nod. She glanced back at the notes. “How would we test it? We couldn’t test this on animals. Not if we weren’t sure they’d be safe.”

Her dad looked above Marie’s head. “Good evening, Albert.”

Marie spun around. “Albert! Hi!” She stood up and gave him a hug. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

Albert smiled as he broke apart. “Yeah, me too. Meetings about to start now.”

“Couldn’t exactly have a meeting without you guys,” Marie said.

Albert chuckled as her dad finished setting things up for the next experiment they would do tomorrow morning. They entered the main meeting area. Marie checked to see if Sophie wanted to join, but she was fast asleep when Marie glanced inside.

She sat through the boys’ reports, feeling anxious and relieved they made it through the week.

“Walt, the guy I’m interning with, has meetings with the Germains once a week, so I’m trying to prove I’m a hard enough worker that I can sit in on those meetings,” Billy said.

Charles nodded. “That would be great. What does Mr. Disney do?”

Billy leaned back slightly on his chair. “Walt’s with distributions, mostly film.”

“That sounds like a great goal. It should work, unless his weekly meetings with the Germains are about you,” Harriet said.

Billy shrugged. “I don’t think so, but I’m sure they talk about me some.”

“Mr. Regan has me out delivering memos so much I hardly know him,” Albert said with a slight shake of his head. “You’d think he’d just email them out now.”

“And what about you, Poe?” Billy asked. “How’s Mr. Wayne? Why don’t we ever see you at lunch?”

There was a pause before Edgar met Billy’s gaze. “Security has their own place to eat.”

Billy shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”

“I’m glad your week has been uneventful. Keep working hard, keep an eye out for recruiting, and don’t do anything suspicious.” Marie noticed Charles’ eyes flickered in Edgar’s direction before returning to the rest of the group. “Vlad, anything to report on the clearing?”

Marie’s dad shook his head. “Silence. Nothing from Josef, nothing from Sam.”

Alice frowned, glancing at Harriet. “Josef would report almost every day in the past.”

“He hasn’t been reporting much recently. It’s normal, just not the normal we’d want,” Harriet said.

Charles looked troubled. “There’s not much we can do about it now. We have to trust that Abe and Sam are doing all they can to help those in the clearing know what kind of man Josef is.”

Harriet checked her watch. “If there’s nothing more to report, we better get these guys back before too long.”

Charles checked his own watch, which was on the inside of his wrist. “Meeting adjourned. I want to see you all back here in one week.”

“Yeah,” Marie said. “Me too.” She still hated this idea that her friends were in danger and she could only contact them like this, but she would do what she had to in order to keep them safe.

***

Ron skimmed through his emails, focused on getting as much answered as possible. He clicked on one and read briefly that there was a new head secretary over the junior officials. Ron read the name and glanced at the picture, then promptly deleted it from his computer and his mind. During the summer, they went through a ton of head secretaries, all college graduates, all simply jumping through the hoops. The job of head secretary was more like a revolving door, if anything.

Ron moved on to the next email when his office door opened. He didn’t bother looking up from his computer. “Hi John.”

“Just on my patrols before lunch,” John said.

“All quiet here,” Ron said.

John walked up to Ron’s desk. He opened Ron’s jelly bean jar, grabbed a handful before replacing the lid, and sat down in one of the chairs.

“What’s new, Dutch?” John asked.

“Nothing much, how about you, Duke.”

John flipped a jelly bean into the air before catching it in his mouth. “Liar, I see you’re hard at work.”

“Going through emails. Did you see we have a new head secretary?” Ron asked.

John grunted. “I wager this one will last a week before finding a better job. What’s their name?”

Ron skimmed through another email. “I already forgot.”

John grunted again and tossed another jelly bean into the air before catching it. “How’s your kid?”

“I’ve sent him on a ton of errands. I know the Germain’s wanted me to get to know him, but I also had a backlog of memos from Mr. McCarthy that needed to be delivered. It’s actually been kind of nice having the extra help.”

“It’s what you get for taking a desk job.” John tossed two in the air this time and managed to catch both in his mouth. He looked quite pleased with himself.

Ron gave him a look. “And you don’t have a desk job?”

“I at least get to patrol a bit.” He dropped the rest of the jelly beans in his mouth. “Wait, why memos when we have email?”

“Don’t ask me. It’s Mr. McCarthy that won’t embrace the future.” Ron deleted another email. “What’s it like with your intern?”

“It’s… um…” John let out a sigh. “It’s fine.”

“He doesn’t seem that bad.”

John stretched out in his chair. “Yeah, I mean, the kid gives me the willies, but maybe he just likes being quiet. And maybe he’s not plotting everyone’s death. Maybe.” His eyes flitted over to Ron’s window. John wanted to get a job with the wall patrol. It would be a pay cut, but Ron doubted John would mind. The man had a spirit in him that couldn’t be contained in a cubicle. He wanted to explore, and John would never tell anyone. The scary stories of what waited beyond the wall seemed more of a challenge to John. If any of Ron’s friends were to disappear in the city, John was the most likely. And he’d be the idiot who wanted to cross the wall to see what was actually on the other side.

“Sounds like Walt and his intern are now best friends,” Ron said.

John snorted. “Walt’s a good man. And a businessman. Honestly, everyone says the Germain’s are going to take over when President Arnold dies, but mark my words, we’ll all be working for Walt soon.” John stood up. “Well, I better get my intern. It’s our turn to watch the security cameras during lunch.”

John opened the door and Edgar stood right behind it. Edgar had his usual deadpan stare with heavy lined eyes. A jolt of panic rippled through Ron. This boy was most likely there to overhear the conversation. John jumped, his right hand immediately going to where his gun was holstered at his hip. His left hand grabbed his right wrist as though only it realized who Edgar was. “Merphy’s ever-lovin’ law!” John said.

Despite this loud exclamation, Edgar didn’t so much as flinch. “The secretary said you were in here.”

John released his hand over his gun, his left hand still holding his right wrist. “Right. Well, lets get some lunch.”

Edgar made the barest of nods before turning and leaving. John glanced back at Ron, giving him a pained smile. Ron gave him two thumbs up before returning to his work. John grumbled something again before dropping his hands to his side and closing the door solidly behind him.

***

Marie opened her eyes when she heard Sophie finish getting ready. Marie quietly went through her routine, where she forced her fingers and toes to move. They cracked under the covers. She gingerly swung her feet over the bed, sitting at the edge, feeling slightly lightheaded. This was new. She studied it out while it ran its course, assuming it was another symptom. At this point, she might as well assume anything was another symptom.

“Are you okay?” Sophie asked.

Sophie watched her from the doorway, concern in her eyes. Marie looked at the girl that had been her best friend since elementary school, the girl she once told everything to. Marie wanted to wait until Sophie regained her memories to tell her, but it was getting too late.

“No, Sophie. I’m not okay. I should have told you months ago,” Marie said.

Sophie slowly sat down on her bed, her eyes getting wide. “Tell me what?” The story tumbled out of Marie. Sophie’s face seemed frozen in shock and stayed that way until Marie finished. “You’re going to die?” Sophie asked.

Marie nodded, not able to look at her friend anymore. The lightheadedness subsided, and Marie got to her feet, a hand braced against the wall just in case. Sophie came to her other side, holding her arm to steady her.

“Why did you do this?” Sophie asked quietly.

Marie tried to keep walking as she braced herself against the wall. “Josef would have made me go over the wall, and this was the only way I could have a fighting chance to save you, my dad, and the underground.”

Sophie dropped her gaze, troubled. Marie waited for her to say something, but remembered this new Sophie didn’t talk about her worries so freely.

“What’s wrong?” Marie asked.

“I’m just… this is insane. What you did was insane.”

Marie nodded. “Yeah. I know.”

“Why did you bother? I’m not who I once was,” Sophie said.

“I don’t care.”

Sophie tried to say something, but Marie could tell a lot of emotions were bombarding her. Sophie was starting to get angry. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Marie winced at the hurt in Sophie’s voice. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d have your memories by now.”

“So I’m not allowed to know because I’m not your best friend right now?”

“Of course you still are,” Marie said.

Sophie pointed between her and Marie. “Then we are awful friends!”

Marie didn’t expect this vile anger from Sophie. She had no idea Sophie was bottling it up this bad.

“We hardly ever talk, and when you do we always talk about the old days. The days I don’t remember. It’s always one sided. I see it, Marie. I see how you keep talking, expecting me to get my memories back, and the disappointment when I don’t remember. Don’t you think it hurts me too? Don’t you think I’m sick of not remembering? And you keep stuff like this from me! Why would you do that! Why would you do that to your best friend?” Sophie began to cry. Marie stood there, blinking, feeling an overwhelming guilt. She could see now, through Sophie’s eyes, the frustration of the situation. How she couldn’t feel like she fit in, because when everyone so much as looked at her, they saw their expectation of a girl who no longer existed. Marie kept holding back, focusing solely on trying to return Sophie’s memories, that she didn’t bother to get to know the girl standing in front of her, angry and crying.

But a part of her was annoyed. “I have tried.”

Sophie looked up, her eyes darkening. “What?”

Marie folded her arms, the lightheadedness retreating. “I have invited you to every meeting. You constantly shut me down. I try to talk to you, you close off. It’s hard to share something so personal about myself when you never open up enough to let us have this conversation.”

Sophie’s tears turned angry. “Then let me make myself perfectly clear. I hate that you are waiting for my memories to come back for you to treat me like a friend.”

“It’s not like you’re jumping to be my best friend either.” An unsettling crossed through Marie’s heart when she said this. They were losing their friendship, she could feel it. It broke her, but she didn’t know what else to do. Somehow, talking about the sacrifice she made for Sophie made a rift in their friendship she didn’t realize was already there.

“Marie? Sophie? I heard some yelling, are you two okay?” Marie’s dad asked.

“We’re fine,” Marie said, none of the feeling behind it.

Sophie glared at Marie before walking over to the door and throwing it open. Marie’s dad stood there, his eyes dancing between Sophie and Marie. Sophie didn’t look at Marie’s dad as she spoke. “Marie had a hard time getting out of bed because of the omnitocsil. It’s the first time I’ve seen this.”

Marie’s dad entered the room, placing the back of his hand against Marie’s forehead. Marie felt her face go red. “It’s… I was going to tell you. I promise. I was-”

“Alice is coming any minute to deliver supplies. I want her to do a complete physical on you,” her dad said. “Maybe she can pick up something we might be missing. Sophie?”

Sophie, who looked as though she was on her way out of the room, stopped and looked at him. “Yes?”

Marie’s dad looked troubled. “Stay by her side. She might need help getting up in the mornings. It seems like the hardest time for her.”

Sophie nodded. “Of course, dad.” It took Sophie a second to realize what she said. Marie’s dad glanced at Sophie with a raised eyebrow, and Sophie’s eyes widened. “Um, sorry, Vlad. I… I know you’re not actually my dad. I don’t know why I said that.”

“No, it’s fine,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”

The door above the ladder opened and Marie felt her heart tighten. Alice was expected to come, but it didn’t stop her from thinking of every worst possibility that could be coming through that door. It wasn’t until she saw Alice descend the ladder with a box of instant noodles that she let herself relax.

Sophie glanced over her shoulder. “There’s Alice. I’m going to help her.”

Marie and her dad stared after Sophie as she left, looking a little flustered. Marie couldn’t help but smile at her dad. “She must have really wanted you to be her dad.”

Her dad glanced back at Marie, concerned. “What was that fight between you and Sophie?”

Marie dropped her gaze. “I… don’t know.” There was some truth in that statement. She honestly wasn’t sure what was going on between them.

Alice and Sophie walked in the room. Marie’s dad backed away as Alice took over.

“Go ahead and sit back down for me, Marie,” Alice said.

Marie obeyed. Alice took her wrist and felt for a pulse before glancing at her watch. Marie waited in silence, trying not to read too much into Alice’s neutral face. After about thirty seconds, Alice dropped her hands. She then had Marie follow her fingers, then took out a flashlight and checked the dilation. She looked at Marie’s dad, before turning back to Marie.

“I don’t like what I’m seeing. I don’t have the instruments with me to do a complete exam, but I will return later today with Charles. We’ll smuggle some medical supplies in here. By the end of the day, I hope to have an idea of what’s going on.”

Marie nodded. “Thanks, Alice.”