Florence was right. The line was long. Marie got more and more impatient. She didn’t care about dinner. She wanted to see Albert.

A policewoman asked her a few questions about her record. Marie tried not to be uncomfortable with this whole process. The police seemed to understand there was little they could do with the integrity of the records on Marie’s files, as it was written she was a dangerous criminal who planned to have President Arnold killed. Since there was no proof of that, and Marie assured them she did not want President Arnold dead, they had to strike it from the record. Marie could only hope there was harder proof for actual criminals on both sides of the fight. Would Tom have a harder time getting through this check?

As soon as the group was done, Marie had to keep herself from running straight for the skyscraper. Her instincts were still telling her to stay as far away from the S.E.A. as possible, but she ignored it all. She, her dad, Sophie, and Charles piled into the elevator and rode it to the hospital floor. Marie had almost forgotten there was a hospital floor. Charles led the group to room 709. He knocked softly on the door before opening it. The first thing Marie heard was the beeping from the monitor. The next was some shuffling from the corner of the room.

“Hello?” a woman asked. “Who is it?”

The group paused as they saw Albert’s parents at his side. Yes, Marie needed to acknowledge Albert’s parents, but she couldn’t help but stare at Albert lying on the bed, full of tubes. She couldn’t look away.

“Hello. Mr. And Mrs. Einstein, I presume?” Charles asked, easing into his medical role.

“Yes, that’s us,” Mr. Einstein said.

“We’re… the underground,” Charles said.

Mrs. Einstein gasped. “You? You’re the group that put my son through this?”

“No, no we didn’t,” Charles said.

“You’re the people he snuck out to see every weekend? You are the group that put his life in danger?”

Marie stepped forward. “Mrs. Einstein, I’m Marie Curie. Albert’s my friend from Presley High.”

Mrs. Einstein frowned. “Yeah. I recognize you.”

“I just want you to know, Albert has a strong desire to help out those who can’t help themselves. And he’s passionate about science.”

Mrs. Einstein nodded, tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry about what he went through.” Marie’s own eyes filled with tears. “President Arnold never should have done this to him, but Albert chose to put himself in danger.”

Mr. Einstein approached his wife, holding her hand. “We know you didn’t do this. But please understand, we just found out about all this when we got arrested. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind.”

Marie’s dad nodded sympathetically. “What’s important is Albert’s all right.”

“And he’s going to recover,” Charles said, looking through the notes on the laptop. “Both femurs,” Charles said. “Wrist, arm, a few ribs.” Charles looked over at Albert. “Internal bleeding.”

Marie’s dad gave Sophie a small smile. “Good thing your dad got him here in time.”

Sophie gave a distracted nod. She hadn’t said anything about her parents since Mr. Reagan told her about what her dad did. She still looked like she didn’t believe it.

Marie reached over, tenderly holding his casted hand. He made no reaction. Eventually he would, and that gave Marie hope.

***

Ron stood there with Charles and Alice as the workers moved the last of the rubble from the wall. Charles and Alice were holding hands, talking quietly and keeping their gaze on the trees beyond the wall. It had been two days since the hobos got their memories back. Ron honestly thought they made huge progress, until he saw the group of people spilling in from the trees. His eyebrows raised in shock. He didn’t think that many people had been driven from the city. And this was only a small portion of the group. He was seeing at least a hundred and fifty people. How many more were in the clearing?

“Charles? Alice?” a voice called out.

Charles let go of Alice’s hand and placed his hand against his forehead to block the sun from his eyes. “Sam!” The two exchanged quick hugs.

“Is this for real? I honestly don’t believe it!” Sam said.

“It is real! And Josef?” Charles asked.

“He’s gone. We haven’t seen him since we drove him out. He must have run away,” Sam said.

Alice gave a small nod. “Sam, I hate to ask, but I need to. Is Josef holding your family hostage in order for you to say that?”

“No,” Sam said. “I know you can’t entirely trust that, but I assure you, Josef is gone. It was a bit of a struggle, but we managed to overthrow Josef’s followers that night. Josef never came back after he and Abe disappeared into the woods.”

“Abe’s here,” Charles said.

“Oh, excellent! Is he okay?” Sam asked.

“He’s going to be fine. He’s with his parents now.”

Sam seemed to relax after Charles told him that. “I’m glad he’s okay. I was worried about him.”

Alice nodded before motioning to Ron. “This is Ronald Reagan. He’s a Junior Official of the S.E.A.”

“You weren’t kidding. President Arnold is really arrested, then?” Sam asked.

“Yes. I watched it happen myself. And I’ve heard stories about this Josef guy. I wouldn’t mind getting a group together to start combing the forest there to make sure we catch him for good,” Ron said.

“That’s not a bad idea. I’d feel better if he was locked up somewhere.” Sam glanced back at the group that were beginning to fan out between the safehouse and inside the wall. “The consensus from our group is we want to rest for a day or two before heading back to our families.”

“Dad!” Alice stood on tiptoes, waving, tears streaming down her cheeks before she ran into the crowd. “Dad! It’s me!”

Ron watched as an older gentleman ran toward Alice and hugged her tightly. Ron didn’t know how long they’d been apart, but any amount of time was too long.

“We have helpers here ready with lunch,” Ron said, pointing behind him to a large table with sandwiches. He had a feeling he’d need to order more. “If you wish to stay in the city, we only ask that you talk to these men and women here before you go deeper in.”

Sam nodded. “We will be cooperative. Thank you. Charles, I wanted to contact Sacca in the clearing. Is the machine still working?”

“Works perfectly. I can bring it to you if you want,” Charles said.

Ron backed away so there could be more room for the people spilling inside. He smiled. “Welcome back.”

***

Abe’s hand visibly shook when he double checked the address with the house. Marie asked for his help, and she sounded desperate. Abe almost felt normal, and he wouldn’t deny seeing Marie again.

He rang the doorbell of Sophie’s house. There were a lot of people living here, not just Marie, her dad, and Sophie. A lot of the huge houses the Officials once occupied were being used to house the recently recovered hobos or people from the clearing who were trying to figure out housing of their own and to get their lives back together.

Which is why when the door opened, Abe was hit by a cacophony of noise. Marie smiled up at him. “Abe! Thank you for coming! Come in!”

Abe walked in, and the house was full. There were kids laughing and running around. “It’s Percy’s kids, they’re excited to move back to Musical Land,” Marie said. “Percy Julian was a dear friend during my time in the clearing.” Marie’s dad was talking to someone Abe assumed was Percy. “We’re getting the house organized for Siby and her husband to join us soon. They’re recovering from their injuries, but they want to live in the city. They have too many bad memories in the clearing.” Abe hadn’t heard of Siby or her husband while he stayed in the clearing, but he could hear the relief in Marie’s voice when she said they were okay. There were a dozen other people in the home, trying to fill out paperwork and get things organized.

Marie brushed some locks of hair from her face. “It’s super crowded here. Should we work in me and Sophie’s room? Or would you feel comfortable elsewhere?”

“Your room is fine,” Abe said, trying not to make it sound weird.

Marie nodded and she led him to a room where two beds were set up. Marie pulled up another chair at the desk where Abe could see a notebook.

“You’re good at writing speeches, right?” Marie asked.

Abe gave a tiny laugh as he sat down. “Well, if it’s anything like debate, I’d like to think I’m pretty good.”

Marie sighed as she sat down next to him. “Mr. Reagan wants to have a huge press meeting where we try to iron out people’s concerns about scientists, and he wanted me to give a speech at it.” The stress settled on her shoulders. “I’m not good with writing speeches.”

The notebook in front of them was quite blank. “Well, Mr. Reagan is smart in his decision.”

Marie had her head buried in her hands as she stared at the paper, but dropped one of her hands to give him a look. “Really?”

“Absolutely. From the view of trying to persuade the public, choosing you is the smartest move. Let the press see someone like you, a scientist who only the most cruel would consider mad. You worked hard for peace, too. You would be perfect to give this speech.”

Marie gave a sigh. “But what am I going to talk about? That’s my big issue.”

They were silent for a while as Abe thought about the entire situation in front of them. There had been protests. None too violent, but it would take some time to ease the population into the idea of letting scientists and mathematicians be who they were. The Junior Officials struggled to clean out the government while also not changing it too drastically to keep a semblance of stability.

Marie’s dad poked his head in the room. “Marie, are you still okay to visit Albert later today?”

“Yeah, yeah fine,” Marie said.

Abe tapped his fingers nervously on the desk. He had been avoiding seeing Albert, but he knew he’d have to face him sooner or later.

“Oh, hi Abe,” Marie’s dad said.

“Hello, Vlad,” Abe said. “Marie needed some help writing her speech.”

Marie’s dad nodded. “Good luck. Try not to stress out too much, Marie.”

Marie made a strangled noise in the back of her throat as she gave a nod. Marie’s dad smiled and left.

They were quiet for another minute as Abe tried to think about the speech instead of Albert. Marie dropped her pencil on the paper, folding her arms. “So do you have most of your memories back?”

Abe didn’t mind this slight detour of subjects, as long as he was in control of it. “Mostly, I think. Alice said it would take about a month, and it’s been a little over a week. I keep thinking I’ve got them all back when a random memory about third grade pops up.” Marie was watching him carefully. He gave a little smile. “You okay?”

“Fine, fine.” Marie returned her gaze to the paper. “You’re just different. Something happened to you in the clearing, didn’t it?”

Abe stared at the blank piece of paper in front of Marie, the entire slew of memories from the clearing playing before his face, feeling the desperation all over again. “I’ll feel better once Josef’s been caught.”

“And if he’s never caught?” Marie asked.

Abe tried his hardest not to let that idea settle in his brain. His hands started to shake and the walls of this spacious room started closing in on him. He flexed his fingers, refusing to look at Marie. Josef was still out there. The forest was huge. What if Marie was right? What if he never got caught? “So what kind of overall idea do you want to get in this speech?”

Marie took the hint to change the subject. “I’m not sure. Mainly that people who study science shouldn’t be automatically thought of as evil or without humanity. There are a lot of good things scientists can do, too. Cell phones, for example. Medicine, cars, so many things.” Abe nodded, still staring at the paper as the panic subsided. “I’m sorry, Abe,” her voice was quieter. “I shouldn’t talk about Josef anymore.”

Abe shook his head, knowing he still looked troubled. “You have nothing to apologize for. I… the memories… we’ve all done things we regret.”

Marie’s face fell, and Abe realized far too late what it meant. Billy of course had told him, it was one of the first things he said when they were catching up. “I didn’t mean…” Abe started to say. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. I honestly wasn’t even thinking about it.”

“So Billy told you?” Marie’s voice was quiet, staring at the paper in front of her.

“Yeah. He did.”

Marie nodded, pain obvious on her face. “How is Billy?”

Abe chewed on his bottom lip. “He’s fine. Really. He just needs more time. He usually likes to work things out with close personal friends. Or writing a play. It helps him get his frustrations out.”

Marie nodded, trying to pretend she didn’t have tears in her eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, good. I’m happy to give him all the time he needs.”

There was a short stretch of silence. Abe wanted to say something to make the silence go away, but he wasn’t sure what he could say. He didn’t want to betray Billy’s feelings. He wanted to tell Marie about his mistake with Albert, how he was the reason Albert got caught, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell her. A selfish part of him didn’t want her to know.

“I was scared. I see now that I acted out of fear. Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?”

Abe gave a tiny smile. “Probably sooner than you’ll forgive yourself.”

Marie gave a pained smile, her eyes returning to staring holes into the blank notebook. “That could still take forever.” She was miserable. This tore her up inside. Abe had no grounds to judge her for what she did. Fear made people make instinctual decisions, and often they weren’t moral. Abe wasn’t exactly sure what he could do, but he did want to hug her. Desperately. He didn’t know if he should. Marie made her feelings for him clear many months ago, and he doubted they had changed. But he couldn’t sit back and watch her tear herself apart, either.

He reached over, placing a hand on her shoulder. He tried to think of something comforting to say, but Marie turned to him and hugged him, a tiny sob escaping her. Abe held her close, realizing they had never hugged each other like this before. They had always been standing, and she had only ever managed to reach his stomach on those occasions. Now he could feel her curly hair brush against his chin, feel her arms around his shoulders, the delicate way her body trembled as she let her sobs come out in small increments. Abe closed his eyes, allowing himself to be there. To hug her as a friend, because it’s what she needed.

Abe didn’t want to let go, but he knew he needed to. Marie didn’t have those feelings for him, and he needed to respect that. He let her go once her sobbing had calmed down. Marie dried her eyes, then folded her arms, hugging herself.

Abe looked at the blank notebook in front of him. “Billy trusts people almost instantly. It’s a trait that makes Billy… well, Billy. Unless he’s given an extremely good reason not to trust someone right off. The flip side of that is if you break his trust, it’s a steep uphill climb to get his friendship again.” Abe gave a tiny sigh. “It’ll be tough. What you and Charles did to him was…” Abe wasn’t sure he wanted to finish the sentence.

Marie nodded, her mind far from the present, looking miserable. “Violating. In one of the worst ways possible.”

Abe nodded. “He saw that as an attack on who he was. On the arts, too. In a way, it’s kind of like this speech you have to give. There’s a lot of people who are worried that letting scientists and mathematicians study what they want, it’ll be an attack on their way of life. You need to assure them it’s not. I think Billy knows deep down you were just trying to get rid of the chip because it was out of desperation, but some of the things you said to him made him think his way of life will be over.” Abe stared at the paper. “Maybe if there was some way…” Abe’s eyes went wide. “That’s it.”

Marie glanced at him. “What?”

“I know what you need to do for your speech.”

Marie gave him a curious look, and Abe tried to smile. She was going to hate it.