Albert quietly got ready to leave. It hadn’t been this quiet since his first week at the S.E.A. He had a feeling Mr. Reagan didn’t trust him anymore, but this solidified it. He and Mr. Reagan always chatted about random stuff while Albert got things set for tomorrow’s internship. The silence pressed on him, but he refused to give into it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Albert,” Mr. Reagan said.

“Yeah,” Albert said.

“Oh, and Albert?” Mr. Reagan asked. Albert turned, bracing himself for whatever conversation they were going to have. “Do you know who Tom Edison is?”

Albert, like he had for almost a month now here at the S.E.A. froze the portion of his face that controlled emotions. He stuffed his emotions down to keep the chip from activating. “Why are you asking me?”

Mr. Reagan shrugged. “Curious.”

The desire to straight out lie was what made Albert hesitate. He didn’t know why Mr. Reagan would know about Tom, and Albert had a feeling admitting any association with him right now would make the already bad situation turn dismal. But it would be worse to lie, and all Mr. Reagan had to do would be to look up Albert’s school file.

“He was my high school math and chemistry teacher last year before he disappeared,” Albert said.

Mr. Reagan looked surprised, like he didn’t expect an answer. “What happened to him?”

“I don’t know,” Albert said, trying to feel comfortable about this lie. “He wouldn’t be the first. A lot of people disappear in this city.”

Albert turned and left, knowing if he stayed he wouldn’t be able to contain his emotions. True, he’d already sung a song today and the chip wasn’t sensitive, but he didn’t want to risk it. If the chip triggered a song now, Albert wouldn’t have the mental strength to switch out the lyrics again.

Albert walked down the hall, his hands in his pockets. Poe appeared out of nowhere, studying Albert.

“What happened?” Poe’s quiet voice came through.

Albert gave a snort. “Do I really look that bad?”

“Yes.”

Albert took his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms. “Not here.”

There was loud laughter as the door to Walt’s door opened and Billy waved good-bye to Walt. The smile immediately dropped as soon as the door closed and he saw Albert and Poe. Billy glanced around the hall and returned to his jovial mood.

“Let’s return home, shall we!” Billy said, clapping Poe and Albert on the backs. Billy was just acting for whoever was still watching them. Albert tried, but found his acting lackluster at best. He was deep in his mind, terrified at what happened today. Even the thought of coming back tomorrow made him nauseous. He honestly expected to get arrested today. Mr. Germain said the location of the underground. Why hadn’t agents rushed in to arrest him? Was it still part of their mind game?

The second they set foot inside the metro station, Billy grabbed Poe and Albert’s wrists. “Keep your head down and follow me,” Billy whispered. Albert didn’t question as he followed Billy to wherever he was taking them. Billy pushed them into a family bathroom before locking the door.

“The chip doesn’t activate in the metro,” Billy said. “What happened?”

As quietly as possible, Albert told them what happened between him, Mr. Germain, and Mr. Reagan. He talked about the song they sang, then the song he was forced to sing. Albert tried to make it sound like he was genuinely confused why Mr. Germain would think he was part of the underground, in the likelihood that someone was recording this right now.

Billy and Poe both stared at him, a thousand emotions running through their blank faces. Billy leaned against a wall, staring at nothing. “When was this?”

“Just after lunch. I’m sure if I was in the underground, Mr. Germain was going to have me watched to see if I tried to contact anyone. But I’m not part of the underground, so there was no reason to contact anyone.” The mental exhaustion took its toll.

“Nope,” Billy said, pulling out a small notebook from his back pocket. “Strange he’d think you were part of the underground. I mean, you go to Presley High. ”

“Yeah,” Albert said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Strange.”

“You better not get sick anytime soon. Pretty sure he’d think you’d be guilty just by not showing up tomorrow,” Billy said.

“I hadn’t thought of that, but yeah. I’ll still plan on coming tomorrow. Though, you guys are my friends, and I’m sure Mr. Germain would think it odd if you didn’t show up either,” Albert said.

“Oh, I plan on going back. I have nothing to hide,” Billy said. He gave a cough as he tore out the paper from his notebook and passed it to Albert. He read it quickly.

Code word: sour cream. If anyone feels off, say it, and the mission is aborted, no questions asked, we hide and wait for our special friends.

Albert passed it to Poe. Poe’s eyes darted around the small paper before handing it back to Billy.

“I wonder if my mom’s going to make a baked potato tonight,” Billy said as he tore it up into tiny pieces.

“I don’t mind baked potatoes. But have you tried the mashed potatoes at the S.E.A.? I love those mashed potatoes,” Albert said before glancing at Poe.

Poe paused before looking at them. “Did you know if you cut up a potato from the store and plant it in a garden, it will grow another potato?” Albert blinked, staring at Poe. He wasn’t sure where Poe was going with this. “In a way, that means the potato is still alive when you start boiling it.”

There it was.

Billy gave a short nod before glancing at his watch. “We might still be able to catch the metro.”

“With how busy it is?” Albert asked as Billy divided the torn papers in three piles. He put the smallest one in the trash, another down the sink, and another he flushed down the toilet.

“I guess we’ll see. It feels like such a Monday. Does anyone else feel like that?” Billy asked.

“I hate Mondays,” Albert mumbled.

***

Alice told Marie to rest, to gather her strength before they moved her, but Marie found the request outrageous. Nik was now in President Arnold’s control. Nik knew Billy, Albert, and Poe were interning at the S.E.A. Would President Arnold torture Nik to reveal what he knew? And Abe? Sam and her dad had been in contact for a while now. Abe and Josef were simply gone. Sam had gone to the warehouse to free Josef’s victims, and Abe was nowhere to be found. Marie hoped Abe had escaped.

And as with every thought she had about the clearing, she could only trust Sam’s word to a point. It still might be Josef. With a heavy heart, she realized that even if the person on the other end was Sam or Josef, the consistent information was that Abe was missing.

Marie closed her eyes, tears threatening to fall. She hadn’t let herself think about Abe, but now she couldn’t stop thinking about her friend. If Abe wasn’t in the clearing, where was he? Had Josef caught up with him and killed him? Marie covered her mouth, feeling sick to her stomach as tears fell down her cheeks.

“Abe, please be safe,” Marie whispered. “Please.”

At that moment, Marie felt helpless. She had been focusing so much on finding a cure to omnitocsil. Now that her life was ahead of her, she realized how much of a war she had to fight. Hopefully not a physical war, but a war nonetheless. And it settled on her how much she couldn’t do anything, sitting in a basement, waiting to transfer to another safehouse, to just wait some more and hope nobody finds her. She needed to do something, but what?

Her dad came to her room, extending his hand. Harriet was there waiting. Marie stood up, picked up her bag, and situated her folded-up cot under her arm. Marie had her jacket on and for the first time in over a month, she climbed the ladder and came into the second storage room of the art museum. Marie and Sophie walked side by side. Sophie gripped her cot tightly to her, staring down at her feet. Marie’s dad was on the other side of Sophie, whispering something to get her to talk. Sophie was mumbling her replies. Eavesdropping would have been easy, but Marie gave them their privacy. Instead, she looked upward as the sliver of a moon shone down, peeking through the tall apartment complexes. The few stars that appeared in the sky twinkled extra bright as they fought through the added light of the city. Marie closed her eyes as the warm, summer night breeze played across her face. The sound of cars in the distance should have scared her, but they didn’t. They felt familiar, like the world she should belong to beckoning her to come back. She basked in the light of the street lamp, feeling the ridges of the design in its cool metal.

They walked ahead, and Marie’s brain came alive with stimuli. The glimmer of the lights in the window gave glimpses of the complexities of other people’s lives. A child procrastinating his homework as he stared out into the street. A family eating dinner, seeing the muted laughter. Even the woman sitting down, watching TV in a tank top and sweatpants. So wonderfully complex in its simplicity. In the hour they walked, there were so many people they passed, so many different scenes of life.

The wind picked up, and Marie closed her eyes to feel it. She wanted to throw her hood back and let the wind comb her hair, to not care who saw. To not be worried someone in less than five days could report that they’d seen a group pass this way. Right now, her biggest worry was she would spend the rest of her life in a basement somewhere.

Harriet put a finger to her lips as she crossed over some caution tape around an apartment building in the poor section of town. Marie turned, made one last look at a city that didn’t know how to treat someone like her, and entered the apartment to hide once again, taking a breath of the stale, dusty air.

“Marie?” her dad asked.

Marie shook her head as they receded into the dark apartment. “I can’t do this much longer. I can’t stay cooped up like this. I can’t just wait around for something to happen.”

Her dad rubbed her shoulder as he gave her a side squeeze. “It can’t be much longer now. Your friends are making a big impact at the S.E.A.”

Marie gave him a frown. “Are they, though?”

Her dad didn’t respond.

“This apartment is really old. It’s probably one of the few standing from the time before the war,” Harriet said as they entered the first apartment. It was completely bare. Furniture, appliances, there was nothing in this apartment. They would have to make due with walls, doors, and a kitchen sink. Marie’s dad fiddled with the oven, but it wasn’t working. “One day the S.E.A. will tear it down, but Charles keeps an eye on when this apartment will be destroyed. So far it hasn’t shown up on any lists, but it’s also why we don’t use it as a safe house much.”

There were four empty rooms, one of them already occupied with a cot for Tom. Sophie was quietly setting up her cot in another room.

Charles walked in with Tom. “Tom’s got the power figured out. Try not to use it too much. Twice or three times a day at max, and always during the day.”

Marie tried to stay away from the windows. She turned to Charles, a frown on her face. “You need to tell Albert what happened, and that we’re safe.”

Charles shook his head. “It’s too risky to be talking with other members of the underground. We only talk to them at meetings.”

Marie set her jaw. “If I was part of the S.E.A., and I had just made a discovery as to where the underground was, I would hang it over Albert, Billy, and Poe’s head to get them to break. I would lie and say they were all arrested. I would give enough detail to terrify them into admitting they were a part of it.”

Charles’ eyes widened in fear. “Yeah, I can see that happening. I’ll see what I can do.”

“And if you can, tell Albert I’m okay.” Marie imagined she was in a pretty awful state when Albert left.

Charles gave a crooked smile at the wall before nodding. “I will.”

***

Albert walked in the next morning, trying to give Mr. Reagan a smile to keep his nerves at bay. “Good morning, Mr. Reagan.”

“Albert, hello.” He pulled out a large stack of papers. “Mr. McCarthy has a backlog of memos I need you to pass out to the other officials.”

Albert stared at the large stack, a frown on his face. “Shouldn’t I just digitize all these and send them over email.” Albert picked up one of the memos. “It’d be quicker.”

Mr. Reagan looked at Albert. “You could talk to Mr. McCarthy about your idea if you want.”

Albert chewed on the inside of his lip as he tried to maintain a calm demeanor. Anger crept up and threatened to make him say something he’d regret. Doing something he regretted was not something he could do right now. He gave a default smile and picked up the large stack of papers. Maybe it was better to be away from Mr. Reagan for a bit.

Most of the morning he sent out the memos, trying not to let the hate bubble inside him. Albert thought Mr. Reagan would have been sympathetic to their side, but it was clear where his loyalties were.

Albert dropped off the remaining stack at around noon. “I’ll do the rest after lunch,” Albert said.

Mr. Reagan nodded. “Do you want to have lunch with me today?”

Albert didn’t want to give Mr. Reagan any more chances to try and trip him up on anything, so he gave another fake smile. “No, sorry. I already promised Billy I’d eat with him today.”

Mr. Reagan shrugged, though Albert could see right through the fake friendliness to the politician who needed to get information out of him. Albert turned and headed toward the elevator. Billy walked on, talking and laughing with a large group. Albert tried to engage with the group, but found he couldn’t bring himself to act. He couldn’t deny he was terrified. Things were not looking good, and he was trying to ignore the part of him that warned it would most likely get worse. It had to get worse before it got better, but there was a nagging feeling in the pit of Albert’s stomach that he might not survive the worst. He was in the heart of the S.E.A., all of them waiting for him to make one mistake.

“Albert?”

Albert forced himself out of his thoughts, focusing on Billy. They were headed toward the cafeteria. Billy slowed as the rest of the group went on ahead. “Yeah?”

Billy’s face was hard to read. “You didn’t hear my question, did you?”

“Sorry,” Albert said, rubbing his forehead with his palm. “What were you saying?”

Billy frowned. “Albert-”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. What was your question?” Albert asked.

Billy watched Albert carefully before looking away again. “Poe found some interesting information we could use. Some inconsistencies with what the S.E.A. promised and instead what they delivered. If Agatha might stumble upon it, it might benefit us.”

Albert tried to focus on staying calm. “Yeah. Do you have a plan?”

“We can access it on the computer labs here, though there are guards, so we can’t look too suspicious.”

Albert screwed up his face. “We’re us, Billy. We’re suspicious no matter what.”

Billy gave a resigned sigh. “Yeah, I know. We’ll have to be caref...” Billy slowed his walk as three medical professionals walked by.

The middle one, who Albert recognized as Charles, pointed right at Albert. “You.” Albert’s eyes widened before he tried to contain his emotions.

“Uh,” Albert began, not sure what to say.

“Aren’t you my roommate’s cousin?” he asked.

“Uh,” Albert said again, glancing at the other two medical professionals who were squinting at Albert as though trying to force recognition.

“Yeah you are! Come here! We’re practically family!” Charles bounded over to Albert with arms wide open. Albert let out a gasp as Charles squeezed all the air out of his lungs. “Your special friends are fine,” Charles whispered in Albert’s ear. “We moved them to a different location. Don’t let them get to you. She’s up and walking. The formula worked. She’s going to be fine.”

Tears came to his eyes as Charles set him back down, which he tried to brush off as having the air squeezed out of him. “High five, dude.”

“Uh,” Albert said once again, staring at Charles. He didn’t have to pretend to be shocked at what happened. Charles, who couldn’t help but notice Albert wasn’t going to reciprocate the high five, instead ruffled Albert’s hair. Charles turned and joined his medical professional friends as they walked off. Albert stared ahead, his mind racing. Billy approached, looking at Charles before watching Albert. Albert caught his gaze and gave a relaxed smile and a tiny nod. He wouldn’t say anything here, but he wasn’t afraid to let Billy know the message was good.

Billy let himself smile before he straightened. “The medical professionals here are so weird.”

“Right?” Albert asked, leaping into the performance as they made their way to the cafeteria. “They just really don’t understand personal boundaries.”