Marie sat at the table with her soup. She hardly picked up the spoon before someone sat next to her. She glanced up to see Albert, and the anger returned with force.

“I need to talk to you,” he said.

She managed to stab the soup with her spoon. “Oh, I’m sure you do.”

“Let me explain,” Albert said.

If she wasn’t so hungry, she would have picked up her bowl and threw it at him. Albert was lucky she was so hungry as she ate her spoonful. “I’m sure you have a wonderful explanation as to why you needed to rearrange Abe’s face. But I am in no mood to hear it right now.”

She didn’t even bother looking at his face. There was a pause, then Albert lowered his voice.

“It’s about Sophie.”

Marie’s anger dropped quickly, feeling the small sting of chastisement. She couldn’t help but look at Sophie as soon as Albert finished. Sophie was on the couch, her knees to her chest with her arms wrapped around her legs. She was staring out the window. Marie tried to remember how long Sophie had been sitting like that.

“What’s the message?” Marie asked.

Albert glanced at Sophie, then motioned toward the kitchen. Marie picked up her bowl and they both entered the small kitchen. Sophie couldn’t see them from here.

“Part of the distraction was getting the Germain’s to talk to Sophie while the other group was breaking into the basement. She pretended to have her memories back, but they figured it out eventually. Mr. Germain offered to hide Sophie at their house instead of with the underground, and Sophie didn’t exactly fight them back on that suggestion.”

Marie bit her lip as she thought of Sophie looking so helpless on the couch. The old Sophie would have laughed at the prospect, but this new Sophie, she wasn’t entirely sure.

“If anyone can talk to Sophie, it’s you. Because the thing is, if she goes with them, she might tell the Germain’s everything that’s going on here.”

Marie nodded absently. “Yeah. We don’t want that.”

The door to the bathroom flew open and Billy and Abe walked out. Billy was freshly showered, combing his hair back into its ponytail. Marie again saw Abe’s face, the bruises still healing. She found herself shooting another dark look at Albert, who did not keep her gaze for long.

“Thank you for giving me that message, Albert.” She finished her soup hastily and dropped it in the sink before leaving him in the kitchen.

“The bathroom is completely clean, you’d have no idea we were even in there,” Billy said. He then paused, cocking his head to one side in thought. “Well, except for the fact that Edgar actually is still in there, but you know what I mean.”

Harriet smiled. “I’ll do a perimeter check to make sure the coast is clear. It looks like you didn’t trail any blood in here, so that’s good. Give me a minute, then you can head back to your apartments.”

Billy and Abe nodded as they worked on carefully gathering the garbage bags. Harriet slipped out of the apartment.

Albert left the kitchen, trying to give Marie a smile, but she ignored him. Once again she heard faint sirens, and her heart started pounding in her chest. The sirens helped remind her why she needed to sort out her anger with Albert on a different day. She wasn’t sure how much they were going to tear the city apart looking for them this time, but she was nervous, again, that their luck would run out. She channeled her anger toward vigorously washing her bowl and spoon, trying to make it look as though only one person lived here.

She finished drying her bowl and spoon and put them back in their spot when Harriet returned. “Albert, Billy, you head out first. Abe, wait for Edgar, then you two can leave afterwards.”

They nodded. Billy walked forward to give Marie a hug. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me too,” Marie said.

Albert looked like he was about to hug, but the glare Marie gave him made him pause. Billy grabbed Albert and ushered him out of the apartment.

Her anger toward Albert was completely different than any other anger she had toward a person. He was her friend, and he hurt Abe. It sickened her to even look at him.

“Marie, I hold no hard feelings toward what Albert did to me. After all, I did hit him first,” Abe said. Clearly her anger must have been written plainly on her face. She shook her head and dug her fingernails into her palm. She didn’t know that, and clearly there was more to the story than she knew, but she simply did not have the desire to discuss any of this right now. Everything plaguing her thoughts, the looming threat of the S.E.A., worrying about Sophie, worrying about her dad and Tom, and this ridiculous fight between Albert and Abe, she just felt so exhausted.

“I just want it all to stop,” she whispered, hardly aware she’d said it out loud.

Abe seemed to understand she wanted to be left alone. He gave a small nod and sat on the couch next to Sophie.

As soon as Edgar was out of the bathroom, he and Abe left. Sam and Harriet left before the sun set, and before the green and white lights from the S.E.A. cars got too close.

Marie sat down next to Sophie as they ate some dinner. True Marie had some soup, but she didn’t mind having another dinner. They were by themselves.

Marie took a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich. “I heard the part you played in distracting your parents. I just thought that was very brave of you.”

Sophie seemed to break from her reverie to look at Marie. “Oh, yeah. No problem.” She took a bite of her barely touched dinner.

Marie took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “I also heard about what your parents offered.”

Sophie’s eyes shot toward Marie, though the rest of her face remained neutral. “Oh?”

Marie tapped her fingers on the table to keep her nerves at bay. She was sitting next to her best friend, but she still felt like a complete stranger in some ways. The conversation they were going to have would be better for someone more in tune with the arts, like Billy. Billy could convince Sophie to stay. Marie had no experience doing this level of convincing. “What do you think about their offer?”

Sophie gave Marie a tiny glare. “Why? So you can refute it? Give me a better one? Tell me how rotten my own parents are? Tell me how they’re the worst human beings in this miserable city?”

Marie forced herself not to overreact, and a memory stirred inside her. Sophie was hurt and angry, and she was lashing out. She did this often after she and her parents fought. Especially when Marie could sense that her parents had won whatever argument they had. Marie closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down.

“Sophie…” Marie didn’t know what to do. “Tell me what they said.”

Sophie didn’t look at Marie. “They offered to hide me as long as I didn’t study math.”

Marie nodded. It sounded like them. “And what did you say?”

Sophie shrugged. “Nothing.”

“But you’re thinking about it?”

Sophie still refused to look at Marie. “I mean, it’s not like I really study math here, either.”

Everything inside her screamed to keep Sophie in the underground by any means necessary, but Marie couldn’t do that to her best friend.

“You’re right. Things have been so busy around here, I didn’t even think about that,” Marie said.

Marie stood up and walked over to the living room. A small search through the desk drawers revealed a notebook. She tore out a sheet and grabbed a pencil before returning to the table. She slid the sheet over to Sophie and handed her the pencil. Sophie looked slightly annoyed, but seemed willing to listen.

“You were working on a number theorem. And you said it was going to be brilliant. You wanted to work purely with mathematics, because it was beautiful how in math things balanced each other out. You love math, Sophie. Math and oxygen were the only things you physically needed in life. You were even convinced you could do without food and water.”

Sophie stared at the paper, the smallest frown on her face.

“Now that things have quieted down, at least for now, I’d love to reteach you some things that you were excited about. Let me see if I can at least help you remember this part of your life, and maybe it will jog the rest of your memories.”

It was only at her last statement that Sophie seemed to look like she liked this idea. Sophie tapped the pencil against the paper.

“There’s something you need to know first,” Sophie said.

“What is it?” Marie asked.

“I’m taking on this idea, because I would prefer if I made a decision with my memories restored, and so far, your group is the only one offering to return my memories. If my memories return and I feel I’d rather return to my parents with everything I’ve learned, then that’s what I’m going to do.” Sophie froze, a small frown on her face. “I probably shouldn’t have told you that.”

Marie gave a small smile. “Well, then let me tell you that as soon as you get your memories back, you’ll remember exactly why you hated your parents, and you won’t be so keen on returning to them.”

Sophie didn’t seem to share her ideas. “I don’t know, Marie. True, I don’t remember what life was like before, but when my dad was talking to me about stuff, I felt like we never had a conversation quite like it before. It was easy to get mad, because they were mad too, and matching their level of anger was something I must have always done, because it was second nature. But my dad...” Sophie looked past the paper. Past everything. She had returned back to her mind. “He was scared, Marie, and I distinctly felt weird about it, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen my dad look scared before.”

This revelation from Sophie unsettled Marie, and she couldn’t pinpoint why. She herself tried to think of a time Mr. Germain had ever looked scared, and she honestly didn’t know if there ever was.

Sophie was staring at her, and she wasn’t sure what to respond with. Once again she wished she wasn’t so abysmal at human nature.

“I... I will respect your wishes, no matter what you choose,” Marie said, because she felt like it was what needed to be said.

Sophie said nothing, but Marie felt like she’d touched on something. She tried to think again, and realized Sophie still had lingering trust issues. “You’re afraid we’re going to lock you up, aren’t you?”

Sophie’s eyes filled with tears, and Marie knew she hit the problem right on the head.

“You’re my best friend, Sophie. I’m not going to let that happen. You aren’t a prisoner, not now, not ever. I think it’s wise you want your memories back before you make a decision, and I’m honored that you want to stay with us until that happens.”

Sophie gave a nod. It was small, but genuine. Marie took the pencil out of Sophie’s hands and began writing down numbers.

“Let’s talk about prime numbers.”

The girls were so engrossed in their discussion they didn’t even hear Marie’s dad step out of the bedroom, check on them, then head to the bathroom to take a shower. It almost felt like old times again.