Urgent voices cut through the fog, ones she recognized. It took another second before she remembered what had happened.

“I’m fine,” she said, her voice slurring. She opened her eyes, her vision fuzzy. “I’m fine. I’m awake.”

She tried to sit up, but hands forced her down.

“Alice?” Charles asked.

“No head injury. I’m not sure what caused the blood, but I say we figure that out right now. We need to hook her up to the IV,” Alice said.

Marie blinked a few more times as her vision sharpened. “I’m okay. I’m fine.” They must have understood. She wasn’t slurring that bad. Charles, who had apparently been lifting her feet into the air while she was out, gently set them down. The urge to go back to sleep came, but there was a part of her that wanted to fight the sleepiness. Blood had come out of her ear and nose. This wasn’t the time to sleep. As she remembered, she touched her upper lip her finger, but someone had cleaned the blood from her nose.

Her dad had a hand on her shoulder, keeping her pinned to the ground as he looked at Alice. “What can I do?”

Alice rubbed her forehead. “We’ve got to run some tests. Charles?”

Charles took Alice’s place beside Marie. He put his arms under her back and legs. Marie realized what he was doing.

“No, let me walk. The exercise. I need the exercise,” Marie said quietly.

Charles lifted her up as he smiled. “Come on, Marie. Just let a hot guy carry you to your room.”

Marie smiled, even though she hated herself for it. “Does that work at the S.E.A.?”

“Every time,” Charles said as Alice opened the door to Marie’s room. “Do you know how many twisted ankle calls I get?”

A soft laugh escaped her before her muscles completely gave out. Her head flopped and her arms fell lip. Charles gave her a concerned look. “You okay?”

“I’m sorry they treat you like that,” Marie said. “It isn’t right. You deserve better.”

Charles gave a half smile as he set her down on the bed. “You’re very kind, Marie.”

Alice was already drawing blood from Marie’s arm. “Charles, bloodwork. Watch the white blood cell count.” She gave him a vile of Marie’s blood. Charles left for the makeshift lab they had in her dad’s room. Alice ran some tests of her recent memory as she helped Marie get into her pajamas. She did okay, though some things were harder to remember. Alice shined a light into Marie’s eyes, frowning.

“I’m sure I’ll remember more after a good night’s sleep,” Marie said, hardly able to keep the exhaustion from her voice. Marie swallowed as she looked up at Alice. “I will wake up tomorrow morning, right.”

Alice gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Tomorrow morning, yes.”

Marie nodded, too afraid to ask if Alice knew when she’d stop waking up. Alice checked inside both ears before hooking her up to the IV. Marie brought the covers closer around her as Alice gave her a comforting squeeze of the shoulder.

“Rest now, Marie. Charles and I will stay. We’ll try to slow this thing down,” Alice said.

Marie nodded as Alice opened the door. Her dad stood there, his fingers nervously drumming against his arm. His eyes darted between Alice and Marie.

“Can I talk with her?” he asked.

Alice nodded, stepping aside so he could walk in. As soon as Marie’s dad walked in, Alice left, closing the door softly behind her. Marie glanced down at her hands, feeling her throat tighten. She wasn’t ready for this conversation with her dad, but she was swiftly running out of time.

Her dad brought over a chair and sat it next to Marie’s bed. He gently took her hand and gave it a soft squeeze, hardly anything at all. Marie tried to smile to show she was okay, but realized she couldn’t. She couldn’t lie to him anymore. She wasn’t doing okay.

“I’m sorry, dad,” she whispered. “If there was any other option, I would have taken it.”

His smile was sad. “I know.” He let go of her hand as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, Marie. Sorry my cure wasn’t enough.”

Marie nodded. “You did everything you could.”

“And it still wasn’t enough,” he said, not looking at her.

Marie reached over with her hand, feeling like it weighed a ton. Her dad caught her hand. She gave him the best smile she could muster. “If you couldn’t find a cure, no one would. We gave it everything we could.”

Her dad gave a nod as he placed his other hand over hers. He looked at her, giving her a gentle smile. “Thank you. I know it was hard. I wish there was another way too, but you are such a brave woman. You always have been.”

The tears she kept tucked away came out in force. “I love you.” She could barely get the words out, the tears wouldn’t stop.

“And I love you.” He reached over and kissed her forehead.

The exhaustion hit her. Crying like she was, drained her of her energy. Everything right now seemed to be draining her of energy. But she realized she wouldn’t see her friends for another week. And she wasn’t sure what state she would be in. She had so much to tell them. She didn’t know if she’d get another chance to tell them goodbye.

The door opened a little and Alice poked her head in.

“Sleep now, Marie,” her dad said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Marie nodded, realizing she couldn’t fight it anymore. She closed her eyes, feeling the darkness she had tried to keep at bay rush up to take her.

***

Albert stared at the table in numb shock. His chest was tight, and he needed to do something. Sitting and waiting was not what he wanted to do, but his mind drew a blank.

Everyone else at the table was quiet. Albert couldn’t stop the memories of Marie’s collapse from playing over and over in his mind's eye. The way her shaking knees gave out from under her, her eyes rolling back. Her head like a dolls, going whichever way it was pulled. Most of all, Albert remembered what it was like to think she had already died. The absolute, instinctual pain that slammed into his chest when he wondered if Marie’s dad had caught her already lifeless body. Albert couldn’t stop shaking.

Marie’s dad came out of Marie’s room, heading straight for the room Charles had gone into with a vial of Marie’s blood. Albert’s hand was in his hair when he heard the sound of an angry grunt before glass shattered against a wall. Albert dropped his hand and glanced at the closed door of the lab room. He heard Charles talking quietly as Marie’s dad cried. Albert winced, glancing back down at the table. He was grateful at least for the invention that blocked everyone’s chip. Albert rubbed his forehead, feeling like he would be sick. He had to face the full force of emotions now. He was going to be a mess the next few days. His emotions were going to be dangerously high.

And who could blame him? Marie had sacrificed everything for the cause.

Albert curled his hands into a fist. “There’s got to be something we can do.”

His voice was quiet, but everyone else was sitting in a stunned silence so they all heard. Billy glanced up. “What? What can we do?”

“I don’t know.” Albert got up and began pacing the room. “I can’t just sit here. She’s still alive, and as long as she’s still alive, we can save her.”

Charles came out of the room. Albert turned to look, but Charles headed straight for Marie’s room before closing the door. Charles and Alice began talking quietly. Albert ran another hand through his hair.

“Look, maybe it’s best if we all head back to our apartments,” Harriet said. “There’s little else we can do.”

“No,” Albert said. “I’m not going anywhere until we come up with a plan.”

Billy frowned. “Albert, look at us. We can’t do anything.”

“You were far more willing to defend your age at the meeting,” Albert shot back.

Billy held up a hand. “I didn’t mean our age, I meant most of us are in the arts. I don’t know anything about poisons or toxins. I didn’t even know people had invented such a thing as omnitocsil until Marie told me about it.”

Albert shook his head. “I can’t leave her. I can’t go a week not knowing if I’m going to see her again. I can’t pretend to be okay at the S.E.A. if I don’t know she’ll be okay.”

The door to Marie’s room opened, and Alice and Charles came out, neither one of them looking optimistic. “She’s asleep,” Alice said. “Charles and I will stay here for a while, but you can all go home.”

“No,” Albert said before anyone else made a move.

Charles turned a weary eye toward Albert. “If you need, you can go see her and say goodbye.” Marie’s dad opened the door, drying his eyes. “She’s going to be bed bound until…”

“Stop,” Albert said, fighting the urge to cover his ears. “We’ve got to think of something.”

“Albert, omnitocsil is deadly. The fact she’s lasted this long is incredible. We’ve tried everything we could,” Alice said.

“Do you have any ideas, Albert?” Marie’s dad asked, his voice weak. “If you have anything, I’m willing to listen.”

Albert tried to ignore the hopelessness threatening to crush him as eyes turned on him. Albert stared at the floor, clawing at any idea.

“We’ve tried everything,” Alice said, collapsing into a chair. “Omnitocsil is too powerful.”

Tom gave a sad sigh. “Simply waiting for fate is the hardest thing we do. But it does take a different kind of courage.”

Nik shot his gaze toward Tom, then his eyes narrowed. “Albert’s right. As long as Marie’s alive, there’s got to be a way.”

Tom snorted. “The adults are the ones who’ve been working on it, and they’ve come up with nothing. You honestly think a bunch of teens are going to magically come up with the idea?”

Anger played across Nik’s face for a moment before the mask slipped back on and he turned to the group. “Age doesn’t make a difference. If you feel like you’re stuck, the best people to talk to are those who are trained to think outside the box.”

Alice glanced curiously at Nik. “What do you mean?”

Nik pointed with his thumb to where Billy, Poe, and Harriet were sitting. “The creative types.”

Harriet looked uncomfortable. “Sir, uh, Nik. It’s… we’re not…”

“We don’t know anything about science,” Billy said. “I don’t see how we can help.”

“They’re just kids,” Tom mumbled under his breath.

Nik gave Tom a patronizing smile before he raised his hand and pointed right at Poe. “You. You look like the kind of person who isn’t afraid to think about death.”

Poe’s eyes widened a bit, glancing around uncomfortably at the attention thrusted at him. “I…”

“Oh, stop. No one thought it was possible to create a chip to force everyone to sing their feelings before I thought of it. We just need ideas.”

The emo from Poe edged away, and instead he looked at the table, dejected. “I can’t help. I’m sorry.”

Nik dropped his hand. “Let me translate it to your language, then.” Poe gave him a curious look. “Close your eyes.” Poe glanced at Billy. Billy gave a shrug. Poe gave a sigh before he closed his eyes. “Forget everything you know about science. Forget this situation entirely. You’re writing a war scene. Death and carnage everywhere. There is one main bad guy. He’s headed straight for the castle or keep or whatever time setting you choose for this story. The important thing to note is this bad guy is immortal, as far as you can tell. There is no way to defeat him. There might be, but the main thing to realize is he’s headed straight for the castle, because he’s going to kill everyone in it. Right now.”

Albert watched Marie’s dad take a few steps forward, watching Poe with curious and hopeful eyes.

“If the bad guy breaks into the castle, the good guys lose. We don’t want the good guys to lose. So there is the immortal bad guy, banging at the castle with no army with him, because he needs no army. How do the good guys win in this situation?”

The room was still. All eyes were on Poe. Albert could see Poe’s eyes beneath his lids moving around as he thought. “I’d send out an army right by the castle,” came Poe’s reply. “They’d be threatening enough to always stay a few steps ahead of the bad guy so they aren’t killed off immediately, and strong enough to do some damage so the bad guy could turn away from the keep and fight them as the rest of the group searched for an answer to break his immortality.” Poe opened his eyes, looking right at Nik.

Nik nodded, then pointed to Alice and Charles. “Is there a way to distract the omintocsil from attacking Marie?”

Alice slowly sat up, her eyes staring off in the distance. “Technically it should work.”

Marie’s dad took a few more steps toward the table. “What? What’s strong enough to tempt the omnitocsil?”

“I… I’m not sure. Give me a minute,” Alice said, rubbing her forehead. “But if we find it, if we keep feeding it into her system, this could…”

“What is something safe enough to keep pumping into her body but be threatening enough for the omnitocsil?” Charles asked.

Alice closed her eyes as she lightly pounded her fist against her forehead. She gave a gasp. “The forgetting formula! It’s the reason she pumped omnitocsil inside her in the first place.”

Charles winced. “Is there anything else? Syrophil is impossible to find right now.”

“Wait, syrophil?” Harriet asked. “Isn’t that also the thing needed to reverse the forgetting formula?” Her eyes shot toward Sophie. Sophie started to sit up a little straighter.

“Yes, it is.” Alice chewed on her lip in thought. “Using the forgetting formula would be the best. Technically she’s already tested it in her body with no serious side effects that we know of. Though, the most important thing is it would give us more time.”

Charles groaned as he collapsed back into his chair. “We can’t possibly hope to break into the basement again. We barely got out the first time. No, the second time. The first time was a disaster.”

Marie’s dad sat at the table. “We finally have something that could save my daughter’s life. We’re going to keep trying while there is a pulse in her body. Start brainstorming.”

Charles tried to give an enthusiastic nod. “Okay. Alright. The sooner we get the forgetting formula, the better for Marie.”

There was a pause as everyone thought. Marie’s dad began to pull on his hair, the anxiety getting to him. Albert tried to focus, but the adrenaline was making it difficult for him to think of anything logical. He just knew Marie needed this, and needed it soon. How were they going to break into the basement? Last time took days to prepare for. Maybe with it being the weekend, the skyscraper would magically have less security. Albert groaned. He doubted it.

“Just start spitting out ideas. No ideas are bad, we can just use them for brainstorming. I want to hear them,” Charles said to break the silence.

“Albert, Poe, and I have a pretty good friendship with our Junior Officials. That’s a start. We could get something going with that,” Billy said.

“Yes, though they’d be suspicious if we contacted them on a weekend,” Albert said. “We need something soon.”

“They don’t even know about the basement,” Poe added.

“What if we kidnap my parents and ransom them for the syrophil?” Sophie asked.

The look on Charles’ face gave the impression that he regretted saying no ideas were bad. “We’re not criminals, Sophie.”

Sophie gave a shrug. “You’re talking about breaking into the basement for a third time and you honestly believe we’re not criminals.”

Charles gave an annoyed look. “We’re not that kind of criminals.”

“It’d be the fastest. We could get the formula by tomorrow.” Sophie checked the clock on the wall. “Later today. We wouldn’t even have to plan another break in. The S.E.A. could just give it to us.”

Charles raised a finger, looking like he had a ton to say and too many words wanted to come out at once.

“I wouldn’t mind kidnapping some S.E.A. Officials,” Nik said.

“Nope. No,” Charles finally said. “This is blackmail, and we’re not doing it.”

“Do you have any ideas for a plan on how to get into the basement a third time?” Harriet asked.

Charles made a strangled noise before clearing his throat. “Look, blackmail doesn’t work for the people who are doing the blackmail. There’s too many dangerous risks. Sending a blackmail note could alert the S.E.A. to our desperation. They could do any number of things to make sure we are found. It would have to be perfect and flawless, or we’d all get discovered. No. We may be fighting against President Arnold, but we will still do things that are legal,” Charles said. Sophie about said something, but Charles plowed on. “And yes, breaking into a secret basement is something I consider legal. The basement is something the government is using to keep things from us. Kidnapping and blackmail are our choices we make to make other people miserable. Not only that, but it sounds way too similar to something Josef has done. We are not Josef.”

“Wait,” Billy said, his eyes widening. “Wait. Wait. I… I have a half baked plan. Just…” Billy rubbed his forehead as he closed his eyes. Everyone turned to him as he began quietly mumbling to himself. He rubbed his forehead with one hand as he pointed to imaginary things with the other. Albert felt anxious, glancing at the door of Marie’s room before turning his attention back to Billy.

Billy opened his eyes. “Okay. I have an idea.”

“This should be good.” Alice sounded like she was bracing for bad news.