Marie and Sophie carried bags of vials, trying to be as careful as they could. They had made a ton, so even if they broke some, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Charles and Tom stayed behind for safety measures. Marie doubted this was a trap, but even if it was, even if the new newspaper they had seen scattered around the city was somehow an elaborate ruse to get them, Charles and Tom would keep going.

Marie breathed in the evening air. After the rainstorm, it was new and fresh. They were standing in front of the memorial park, holding their things when a van pulled up. Mr. Rogers stepped out and smiled when he saw Marie and Edgar.

“Hello, dear friends!” he said. Marie did not hesitate. She placed her bag down and gave him a hug. Edgar followed after. “Again, I must apologize for breaking my promise. If lives weren’t at stake, I would have slipped away.”

“We assumed it was something big,” Marie said.

Mr. Rogers smiled. “Thank you for understanding. Edgar? Are you all right?”

“Yes. I’m doing better,” Edgar said.

“So good to hear. Let’s gather the supplies and put them in the van. There are some good people waiting for their memories,” Mr. Rogers said.

They loaded the van with supplies before getting in themselves and driving to the richer part of town. Even though she had complete trust in Mr. Rogers, she still couldn’t help but think President Arnold was going to jump out and arrest them.

It was the first time in a long time that she felt the sunlight on her face. The human mind was incredible. People could think and build incredible things together. They could travel the entire city in an hour. At one of the stoplights, Marie saw someone reading the newspaper. There was a troubled look on the woman’s face. It would be difficult to come to terms with.

The van moved forward, and Marie looked ahead. There was a large crowd around the entrance to where the hobos lived. Mr. Rogers pulled the van over to park it. Marie craned her neck to get a better view. There weren’t just hobos, but news crews too. Marie’s chest started to tighten. This crowd was huge, larger than Marie was used to. For most of the spring and summer, she only saw the same few people up close and in the cover of darkness. It was five in the evening, the city was crowded and lively, and she was going to step outside in the sunlight. She’d have to start rewiring her brain. Being outside was okay. No one was trying to arrest her.

They got out of the van and gathered their supplies before they walked over to the place where the hobos lived. Hopefully they wouldn’t need this run down place any longer.

Billy’s eyes went wide as he noticed someone in the crowd. He started moving forward. “Abe?” Marie focused on the group and saw Abe, standing toward the broken entryway. Marie gasped. Billy started running. “Abe!”

Abe turned, looking confused. “Um, hello.”

Billy threw his arms around his friend, tears in his eyes. “You’re safe! You made it!”

Abe returned the hug, but seemed confused and glanced at the two people behind him. If Marie had a guess, those two people were his parents. “You must be someone I know.”

Billy looked up at Abe. “Just for your entire life. Or, rather, the part of it that mattered. No offense, Mama and Papa Lincoln,” Billy said to Abe’s parents.

“It’s good to see you too, Billy,” Mr. Lincoln said.

Billy smiled, then let go of Abe and looked for Alice. “Alice! Please, can you do Abe first?”

Alice set down her bag and began rifling through it.

“We brought backup. It’s a large crowd,” Mr. Rogers said.

Medical professionals started walking toward them, all with gloves and a huge box of syringes. Alice smiled. “Thank you. We should get through this a lot quicker.”

“Let’s make some order in this chaos,” said a new voice over the microphone. It was Mr. Wayne, talking to the huge crowd. “Now, remember, as soon as you get your memories back, you must talk with these fine individuals here before you can return to your lives. They will help you find your families.”

“I almost forgot. All the members of the underground and these fine people here who have lost their memories will need to talk to our police force as well before you can come out of hiding,” Mr. Rogers said.

“Oh?” Marie’s dad asked.

“We don’t mean any offense by it. It’s purely for safety measures,” Mr. Rogers said.

“Yes, I agree,” Alice said as she gave a bag of vials to another medical professional before taking out a vial. “You’ve cleaned out the S.E.A., you need to do the same with the hobos and the underground.” Alice began filling a syringe with the formula. “We want the city to be safe for everyone, so we’ll agree to it.”

Mr. Rogers smiled. “Thank you.”

Marie gave her bag of vials to a medical professional as Alice injected Abe with the formula. “This is a watered down injection, so you’ll get your memories a bit at a time. Hopefully it’s not too overwhelming.”

Abe blinked, his eyes going wide. His face was full of emotion. “It’s not all at once?”

Alice double checked the vial. “Yeah, it should be about a month, but this first week will probably be a doozy.”

Abe leaned against the wall. “Yeah. Yeah.” He couldn’t say much else, his eyes staring blankly ahead of him.

Sophie walked over to Abe, grabbing his arm. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. It might seem insane, and it’s going to feel like mental agony, and it’ll feel like a betrayal of the worst kind, but the hardest part is over. You remember who you are now, and they’ll never do that again.”

Abe nodded, tears in his eyes. “Yeah.”

Sophie rubbed his arm, giving him a smile. “We should honestly start a support group or something. What the S.E.A. did to us was seriously messed up.”

Abe nodded, then his gaze landed on Marie. Marie looked back, unsure how to react. How much of Abe’s memories about her had come to the surface?

“Well look who it is!” Mr. Wayne said, approaching Edgar.

Edgar let himself smile. “Hello, Mr. Wayne.”

“Look, kid, I owe you an apology. I should have helped you out, but I didn’t. So to make up for it, I did some digging in our files. Your uncle’s family was arrested years ago, and they’ve been living as hobos ever since,” Mr. Wayne said.

Edgar’s face, for the first time since Marie ever knew him, brightened. “They’re here?”

Mr. Wayne nodded, then waved someone over. Edgar said nothing, just ran over to them and disappeared into the crowd.

“Did you know he had an uncle?” Marie and Sophie both asked each other at the same time.

Sophie gave a snort when they both finished. “I bet Billy would know.”

Marie glanced over at Billy who was talking to Abe and the Lincoln’s, but something kept her from going over there. She didn’t want to interrupt Billy’s reunion, and she still doubted Billy wanted anything to do with her right now.

“Billy!” a new girl that Marie never met before shouted.

Billy began to laugh. “Anne! They arrested you too? Macbeth, did they arrest everyone who ever associated with me?”

“Well, I mean I am your girlfriend,” Anne said before kissing him hard.

Sophie threw her hands up in the air. “Seriously? Do I just not know anyone’s personal lives? How long has Billy had a girlfriend?”

“I don’t… no wait. Yeah, he mentioned it at the beginning of Freshman year. But honestly, he does not bring her up much,” Marie said. “I thought it was the Anne girl from the internship.”

“They’re here too,” Mr. Wayne said. “Anne and Agatha are still waiting in line. They’ll get their memories back sh… Ron? Macbeth! what are you doing here?”

Marie turned to see a man in a wheelchair. He was smiling widely. “You couldn’t keep me from here even if you tried. This is a glorious reunion.”

Marie instantly thought of Albert as soon as she saw Mr. Reagan. She had only ever known him from what Albert said of him.

“You must be Marie,” Mr. Reagan said as one of the hospital workers wheeled him over to her.

“Um, yes.”

“So it is you who we have to thank for all of this,” Mr. Reagan said, gesturing to the people hugging. There were tears and laughter, one that seemed uncommon in such a dirty, lowly place.

Marie bit her lip. “I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help.”

Mr. Reagan stood up, taking a few shaky steps. Marie went to steady him, but she was painfully aware she could do little to give a full grown man support. “On behalf of the S.E.A., I’d like to apologize. What was done to scientists wasn’t right. President Arnold and all of the Officials have been arrested. Walt is at the S.E.A. building now, interviewing Junior Officials and judging exactly how much they knew, but most of us were left in the dark. We will continue to clean this all up, but it will take some time. However, I’d like to formally welcome you back to Musical Land. You shouldn’t be in hiding anymore.”

Marie tried not to play with her lock of hair, but she was. She smiled, adding to the relief that everyone was feeling right now. “Thank you.”

Mr. Reagan nodded, then noticed Sophie. He studied her closer. “Sophie? Sophie Germain?”

Sophie rubbed her upper arm. “Yeah. That’s me.”

Mr. Reagan nodded, concern written on his face. “Your dad did a very noble thing, but he still has quite the record. He’s-”

“Wait,” Sophie said, her face scrunching up. “Sorry, what was that?”

Mr. Reagan looked confused. “Your dad. And your mom. They’re both in prison.”

Sophie waved her hand. “No, sorry, you said he did something noble?” Sophie looked more confused than Marie had ever seen her. “My dad?”

The realization dawned on Mr. Reagan. “Right. The papers this morning didn’t know the whole story. Eye witness accounts say it was Mr. Germain that brought Albert out of the basement. He’s one of the reasons Albert is still alive.”

Sophie stared at Mr. Reagan. “My dad? Saved Albert?”

“He did.” Mr. Reagan might have had better luck conversing with a brick wall.

“And he knew it was Albert he was saving?” Sophie asked.

Mr. Reagan gave a small smile. “Yes. We’ve been interviewing him and Mrs. Germain. They are very cooperative.”

Sophie simply stared at Mr. Reagan. Marie honestly couldn’t believe it herself. Mr. Germain didn’t seem like the type to save a scientist’s life, let alone a known member of the underground.

“And yes, the Germains are being cooperative, but they still might do some time. Do you have any other relatives that can take care of you right now?” Mr. Reagan asked.

Sophie still said nothing, staring at Mr. Reagan, trying to process what he was saying. Marie’s dad stepped forward. “We’ll take her in. She practically lives with us anyway.”

Mr. Reagan nodded as a car drove toward them. Marie recognized the car. The car parked as close as it could and Charles hopped out. He ran over to them, talking on his phone, looking urgent, but happy.

“Hi,” Charles said to Marie, then noticed Mr. Reagan. “Hi. I, um,” Charles ran a hand through his hair, listening to someone on the other end before moving the phone away from his mouth and turned to Marie’s dad. “It was Sam. The entire time. Harriet’s confirmed it.”

Alice appeared next to Marie. “They’re on the other side, then?”

“Just outside the wall. The signal is still strong enough. The group was mostly anyone who was ready to fight. The children and a few men and women are still back in the clearing.”

Mr. Reagan held his side, looking confused. “What’s going on?” Charles paused as he finally studied Mr. Reagan more. Mr. Reagan was doing the same thing, his brows furrowing. “You look familiar.”

“I… um…” Charles started to say.

“He worked as a medical professional at the S.E.A.,” Alice said as she finished injecting a hobo with the formula.

Mr. Reagan seemed to be taking in Charles’ good looks. “Ah, yes. That makes sense.”

“He was there for more than his looks. He’s one of the best medical professionals in the city,” Alice said.

Of all the comments Charles had most likely heard about him and his looks, it was somehow this one about his intellect that caused his face to turn a deep shade of red. He smiled shyly at the concrete before he cleared his throat. “Harriet, I’ll call you back.” Charles put his phone in his pocket. “I’m sorry, Mr. Reagan. We acted hastily when Albert was arrested, and had a group from the clearing sent over to help us get Albert back. You know about the clearing?”

Mr. Reagan nodded. “I’m sorry you felt the need to react this way.”

“We don’t want to fight anymore. Far from it. See, we weren’t sure who was leading the army, but it looks like the good guy is the leader, so we have nothing to fear. They are all more than willing to not fight.”

Mr. Reagan gave a tiny smile. “You seem to be a lot more cognasant than I remember some of our encounters being.”

Charles gave a tiny sigh. “Sorry, Mr. Reagan. I had to do some things in order to stay safe. Being a member of the underground is dangerous, especially for someone working at the S.E.A.”

Mr. Reagan laughed. “Quite the actor. I’m quite impressed.” He gave Charles a pat on the back. “Well, you won’t need to be a member of the underground anymore.”

“I am quite tired of acting,” Charles said.

Mr. Reagan glanced behind him, through the street to where they could see the wall surrounding the city. “There’s really nothing to be afraid of past the wall, is there.”

“No, Mr. Reagan. Just some scientists,” Charles said.

Mr. Reagan nodded, lost in thought. “We should really tear that down.”

Charles stared at the wall too, then back at Mr. Reagan. “Well, technically there is still one scientist we should be concerned about, so let’s not tear it down completely yet.”

“We can at least get your friends on this side of the wall,” Mr. Reagan said.

Charles stared at Mr. Reagan, a lot of thoughts going through his mind. “I don’t get it. Why are you so willing to help us? We could still…”

Mr. Reagan waited for Charles to finish his sentence, but Charles didn’t want to. “We of course will still require all the members of the clearing to go through our process to give them a chance to explain themselves before they’re integrated back into the city.”

“Of course. But you’re a Junior Official. You…” Again, Charles didn’t dare finish his sentence.

Mr. Reagan gave him a smile before he shifted his weight around. “What’s your name again?”

“Uh, Charles. Charles Darwin.”

“Alright Charles, I have a question. Let’s pretend we did separate. All the scientists and mathematicians lived in the clearing, and we art people lived here in the city, and over the years, we refused to see how we’re similar, and only focused on what makes us different. Now, for the sake of the story, let’s pretend aliens came in contact with our planet.” Charles, who had been nodding and following along, stopped the moment Mr. Reagan mentioned aliens. He simply stared at Mr. Reagan as he raised a skeptical eyebrow. Charles said nothing to interrupt him, though. It must have been from months of dealing with Billy. Mr. Reagan smiled. “Let’s say the aliens started attacking Musical Land. If you had lived in the clearing, would you come help us?”

Charles continued to stare at Mr. Reagan before he nodded. “Of course we would.”

Mr. Reagan nodded his approval. “And if the aliens attacked the clearing, we would happily put aside our differences and help you too. So I say, let’s not wait for an alien invasion. Let’s see the worth in each other now.”

The story was strange, but Marie somehow felt comforted by it.

“Wait…” Marie turned to see Billy, Anne, and Abe had snuck into the group circle. Billy’s posture was still. “Wait, wait, wait. You’re in the S.E.A. You know all the government secrets. Is there… is there something more the S.E.A. isn’t telling us? Have aliens contacted us? Are they real?”

Mr. Reagan turned his attention to Billy. “Ah, you must listen to conspiracy theories a lot. Billy, right? Walt’s intern?” Billy nodded. “Let’s be perfectly honest, Billy. If you’ve already made up your mind that the government is hiding aliens from you, would you believe me if I told you no?” Billy stared at Mr. Reagan, doubt and confusion in his face. Then Mr. Reagan winked at him, and Billy’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates.

“Mr. Reagan? Can I ask a small favor?” Marie asked, her voice quiet. Mr. Reagan turned to her. “I… I would like to see Albert, if that’s allowed.”

Mr. Reagan nodded, his face slowly morphing to sadness. “Ah, yes. I’d have to check with Florence. I don’t know if he’s out of surgery yet.”

“I haven’t seen him in a week.” Marie glanced down, feeling her face turn warm. “A very long, emotional week.”

Mr. Reagan smiled, still holding his side. “As long as he’s out of surgery and you’ve gone through the clearing process yourself, I’m sure anyone who wants to can go visit him.”

Marie’s dad gave Marie a half hug. Mr. Wayne appeared with a woman dressed as a medical professional.

“Speaking of hospitals, don’t you think you better get back to one?” Mr. Wayne asked.

“It’s too exciting,” Mr. Reagan said, though he did collapse into the wheelchair, looking a little paler.

“What happened to you?” Marie asked.

“I got shot,” Mr. Reagan said. The group went quiet, looking at Mr. Reagan with surprise. Mr. Reagan waved his hand. “A story for another day.”

“Charles?” the woman asked.

Charles glanced up, then he tried to keep his composure. “Uh, Florence, hello. Everyone, this is Florence Nightingale, my boss.”

Florence shook her head, a tight smile on her face. “I knew you were hiding something.”

Charles gave a pained grin. “Surprise.”

“We need more help with the hobos, if you’re willing,” Florence said.

Charles glanced out among the group, his face falling slightly. “Sorry, Florence, I…” Charles glanced at Billy, then looked away. “I’ll tell you later. Maybe I can take my friends to see Albert?”

Florence nodded. “I trust your judgment. He’s out of surgery. Not sure if he’s awake yet, though. Room 709. Though, you might want to get in line for the clearing process. It’s only going to get more congested.”