“But first, I need to know.” Billy turned his entire body toward Sophie. He intertwined his fingers and gestured his two pointer fingers in her direction. “Why do you want to kidnap your parents?”

The sudden attention made Sophie sink into her chair before she sat up straighter. “I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea.”

“No, Sophie. If my plan is going to work, I’m going to need you to be honest with me,” Billy said with no humor at all in his face. In fact, Albert had never seen Billy so serious before.

Sophie frowned. “What do you mean? Charles asked for ideas and I gave the first one that popped into my head.”

“Then tell me why your parents popped into your head,” Billy said.

“What?” Sophie’s giggle was a little too high pitched.

“The entire time we’ve been down here, your parents were never brought up once. But you said they were the first people to pop into your mind. They are important to the S.E.A., mind you, but you’ve been thinking about them a lot.”

Sophie began to squirm, the anger building. “Yeah? So? Wouldn’t you think of your parents if you were in my situation?”

“Yes,” Billy said.

“Well, there you have it,” Sophie said, tugging at her blonde hair.

“And if I was desperate enough, I would throw away the entire underground to be with them again,” Billy said.

Sophie’s eyes shot toward Billy, her eyes slightly wide. “I… I wouldn’t…”

“Prove it,” Billy said.

Marie’s dad stood up. “Billy, come on, now. There’s no need-”

“There’s every need,” Billy said.

“You can’t accuse her of crimes she hasn’t even committed,” he said.

“I’m not. I’m figuring out where her loyalties are.” Billy stared Sophie down like if he stared hard enough, Sophie would spill all her secrets.

Marie’s dad rubbed his head, then grabbed his chair and moved it over to Sophie. He gave her a small smile as he sat down. “I’ll believe whatever you say, Sophie. I’ve known you most of your life.”

Sophie’s lip began to quiver. “I don’t even know who I was most of my life.”

“Would you turn us over to the S.E.A.?” Marie’s dad asked.

Sophie looked at him, then glanced over at the room she shared with Marie. She looked back at Marie’s dad and shook her head. He turned to Billy. “She’s not going to. I believe her.”

Billy gave a shrug. “Good. Sophie, I need you to understand something. It’s really important.”

Sophie frowned. “What?”

“Poe over there can spot a liar,” Billy said.

Sophie’s eyes widened as she looked at Poe. Poe stared at her, and a small shiver ran up her spine. She cleared her throat. There was a twitch in her upper lip before she set it firm. “I already told you. I won’t rat out the underground.”

Billy glanced at Poe. Poe gave a slight nod of his head. Billy folded his arms on the table, still staring Sophie down. “Good. Because you know why?”

Sophie continued to tug at her blonde hair. There was a lot of brown in her roots now. “Why?” Her voice came out almost like a whisper.

“Because you deserve a good relationship with your parents. One not built on lies. If you rat us out to return to your parents, they will never let you get your memories back,” Billy said.

Sophie stared at Billy. It was like she couldn’t turn away. “How do you know that?”

“Because your parents are just as desperate to have you back. And they want you back how you are right now. Not with your memories intact.” Billy pointed to her head. “They can fill your mind with whatever they want, make you study the arts, and you would obey because you are so desperate to have parents. Your parent daughter relationship would be nothing but lies, and after a while you would be miserable. As one of your friends, I cannot let that happen to you.”

Sophie finally tore her eyes away from Billy and gave a small nod. “Yeah. Okay.”

Billy continued to stare at Sophie. “Why do you want to help us?”

“Billy,” Alice hissed. “Enough. You have what you need from her.”

“No I don’t,” Billy said.

Sophie’s eyes darted to everyone at the table again before resting on Billy. “I promised I wouldn’t rat out the underground. What more do you want?”

Billy gave a shrug and Albert could see some of the jovial part of him return. But it was still muted. “Why are you even here in the first place?”

Sophie winced before looking down again. “I’m… I’m not sure.”

“Yes you do. You’re just not comfortable admitting personal things in front of a large crowd.”

Sophie let out a huff before giving Billy a soft glare. “I thought we were done analyzing people. It freaks me out when you do this. I’m not one of your characters.”

Billy gave her a smile. “You lash out too when you're uncomfortable. You and Charles have something in common.”

Sophie gave Charles the briefest glance before her face turned red and she looked at her hands in her lap. “Billy, it’s been a nice chat and all, but shouldn’t we focus on the real matter at hand? Shouldn’t we work on saving Marie.”

“Yep.” Billy raised a finger and wiggled it in her direction. “As soon as you bare your soul to me, I can decide whether my plan will work or not.”

Sophie’s nostrils flared as she gave Billy another glare. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I want to understand the depth of your commitment to the underground. When we get down to it, if we kidnap your parents-” Charles took a breath to say something, but Billy held up a finger in his direction. Charles shut his mouth and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I want to make sure you truly will stay with us and not betray us.” Sophie stared at Billy, looking nervous. “And don’t forget.” Billy pointed in Poe’s direction. “He’ll know if you’re lying.”

Sophie gave one more quick glance at Poe before glancing at everyone else around the table. “I already promised I wouldn’t betray you.”

“That’s enough, Billy,” Marie’s dad said.

“What is it Sophie?” Billy asked, ignoring Marie’s dad and leaning forward to stare into her soul. “What is that personal feeling you keep hidden from everyone else?”

Sophie rubbed her upper arm. “I just…” Sophie let out another breath. Albert saw her hand trembling. “Fine, I entertained the thought of leaving and going to my parents. But… but then Nik came and…” A tear fell from her eye. Sophie clearly wasn’t expecting to cry, and angrily wiped them away. She stood up, the full force of her anger hitting Billy. “I hate the arts. I hate people who study them. You’re sick, you know that Billy? You shouldn’t know these things about a person. I was only entertaining the thought. I wasn’t actually going to do it. I want my memories back more than anything. I’m sick of this.” She pointed to her head.

It was impossible to read Billy’s reaction. He was listening to every word Sophie said, absorbing her hurt and anger, but Albert couldn’t tell how he was reacting to it.

“I’m not sure I’m committed to the underground. Are you happy? Is that what you wanted to hear? The truth? I don’t even know the truth. I just want to remember,” Sophie let out a choked sob. “I want to remember what it was like to be Marie’s best friend. She was willing to sacrifice everything for this cause, and there’s something pushing me to sacrifice everything with her. And I don’t remember why.” Sophie covered her head in her hands and took a deep, shaking breath. She let it out slowly, the tears still steaming down her face. Her initial outburst was done, and the poor girl looked so weary. “One day I will get my memories back. I just have this feeling the memory blocks won’t last forever. And… and that day, I…” Sophie looked at the room she shared with Marie again. “I have a feeling that if I don’t do everything I possibly can to help her, my future self will never forgive me. And maybe it’s my future self that is pushing me to risk blackmail.”

No one spoke. Albert felt unsure how to react. Marie’s dad stood up, placing a hand on Sophie’s shoulder. Sophie covered her face, letting out another quiet sob as she buried her head into his chest.

Billy stood up. “Alright. This should work.”

Alice gave him a cold look. “You can be quite brutal, you know.”

Billy nodded. “I can. Absolutely, but I needed to know.”

Charles shook his head. “Billy, we’re not going to kidnap the Germains.”

“Oh, of course not. Kidnapping them both and using them for blackmail is a bad idea.”

“Good,” Charles said, visibly relaxing. “I’m glad we agree on that.”

“We’re just going to kidnap Mrs. Germain and lock her in her shed until she agrees to bring us all the syrophil we need,” Billy said.

Charles’ face froze for a second before a very pronounced frown tugged at his mouth. “Billy,” he said as though speaking to a child. “We are not doing that.”

“Don’t worry, Charles. You won’t have to do anything, really. Sophie will be in the shed with her mother to convince her.”

Nobody said a word. Sophie looked up to stare at Billy. Alice took a deep, steady breath in, then let it out. “Billy, you can’t possibly put that poor girl through anything else tonight. Haven’t you grilled her enough? Imagine what her mother will do.”

“I’ll do it,” Sophie said. All eyes returned to Sophie. She dried the tears from her eyes, breaking away from Marie’s dad. “Like I said. I’m doing this to get my memories back. And for future me’s peace of mind.”

Billy smiled as he pointed to Sophie. “See? It’ll work. Do you guys have an ear peice or something for Sophie? So we can help her know what to say? Mrs. Germain is an absolute genius, and we might need all of us to bend her to our will.”

Charles stood. “No.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I must insist we do this legally. You honestly think Mrs. Germain is going to respond positively to being kidnapped?”

“No, she’ll hate it. But if we tell her Sophie wants to see her, I’m sure she’ll be a bit more responsive,” Billy said.

Charles groaned. “Billy. I’m going to say this slowly so you understand.” He pinched his fingers together and moved them forward with every word. “Kidnapping. Is. Illegal. We are not doing it.”

“Then don’t think of it as kidnapping. Think of it instead as an intervention for her toxic behavior that she won’t like, so we’ll have to tie her up so she’ll listen to us,” Billy said. “All your concerns for blackmail are taken care of. If we convince her to come to our side, she won’t alert the S.E.A. to us.”

Charles stared at Billy incredulously. “So you’re trying to convince Mrs. Germain, Mrs. Germain, to join our side?”

“I know what this might look like to you, but I promise, if we scrape away the extremely poisonous frosting, she’s really a good cookie underneath,” Billy said.

Charles made another choking noise in the back of his throat. “And Mr. Germain?”

“Um, no. Not him. He’s… no,” Billy said.

Charles collapsed in his chair, rubbing his face. Alice stood up. “You know what? I think I’m at the point where I don’t want to know the decision made. I’m going in with the patient, I wish you all well.”

Charles watched her go with a sad, pleading look. Alice didn’t look at him once as she slipped into Marie’s room.

Nik stood up. “Locking up an S.E.A. official in a shed is a double bonus for me. Count me in.”

Charles opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again, glaring at the table. Marie’s dad stood up. “If we’re going to do it, we better do it now. It’s already past one in the morning. Who knows how long it’ll take.”

Charles stood up again. “Look, this is a lot to take in. If this is how we’re going to try and convince Mrs. Germain to come to our side, we’ve got to plan it out. Take a day or two. We’ve got to make sure Sophie knows what to do and stays safe.”

“And if it was for anything else, I’d say yes,” Marie’s dad said. “But my daughter’s life is at stake here, this is the best idea we’ve got, and the sooner we get the syrophil the better.”

Charles gave a groan of defeat. Billy faced Sophie. “Hey, I know you can do this.” Sophie nodded, drying the last of her tears. “I understand if you hate me, but I need to give you some tips on what to say to her.”

Sophie folded her arms and nodded again. Charles shook his head. “Alright, I’m clearly outnumbered here. But I’m coming with you to make sure nothing-” Charles looked like he was grappling for the right word to say, “-even worse happens.”

Harriet stood up and headed toward the ladder. “I’ll go make sure we’re all clear.”