So the next few days I spent with Marian. She took me shopping and we went swimming together. I learned that she was an avid volunteer at a hospital, recycled, donated her books when she finished with them,,, she never even jay walked across a street. If she was working with X.A.N.A., she was a fine actress, pretending to be a good person… But I don't think so, I could tell she was a very genuine person.

"Emma, you've got a package here," my father said at the end of the week and I looked in his hands to see a slender box. He held it out and I weighed it in my hands, it was about 11 by 15 inches and about an inch thick. I opened the box and stood it up and started lifting the box up to let its contents loose. I held onto the frame and pulled the box all the way off. I nearly dropped the painting I held in my hands out of pure delight and shock.

It was a painting of Odd and I together, we were dressed in our attire from the first night in Italy when we went to dinner. I couldn't believe the detail in it. "I don't recall her having a camera… she must have done this by memory," I said to myself and my father came to see what it was and gave a pleased whistle.

"Did your boyfriend paint this?" he asked me.

"His mother painted this for me," I stated. I grabbed the box to start breaking it down and a note fell onto the floor. I picked it up and read it with a smile on my face. "yes, she painted this from memory! She said she started working on it right when she got home from Italy, she said she was inspired by how we looked together that night… She is such a sweet woman!" I gushed. I stuck the note in the back of the painting and held it out to admire it some more.

"I'm glad you met some new people," my father said to me happily. "They seem to care about you, their dexterity sure puts me to shame," he chuckled.

I elbowed him playfully. "You're a wonderful father, that's all that counts."

That night I finally got the chance to video chat with Odd. He seemed pretty anxious to get on camera, and when he finally did I could see why.

"It's gone!" I exclaimed when I saw him.

"Do you hate it?" he asked nervously. His hair was shorter, still spiky but shorter…. And it was brown! It still had the purple splotch, but it was such a drastic change to what I was accustomed to. I thought it did look good though; his gorgeous amber eyes still popped and it was definitely still unique.

"I don't hate it at all! It looks different, but in a good way!" I assured him. "Thank god you didn't dye over your purple though, I don't think I would be able to accept that kind of change," I joked.

"I just felt like I needed a change. Like, that hairstyle I had was because of Lyoko and X.A.N.A. and I feel like since we're all done with that stuff, it was time to move past the Lyoko style… besides, I'm naturally brunette and my mom was bugging me to change back."

I nodded and fought the urge to tell him about my discovery on my first day in Michigan. My inbox pinged and I minimized the video chat to look to see what the email was. It was from Jeremie. I opened the message and read it quickly.

"What are you up to?" Odd asked.

"Just looking through old messages," I told him. I hated lying but I was doing it fluently lately… I reread Jeremie's email more carefully:

Emma!

I hope your holiday is going well. How is everything over there? Aelita and I are back at Kadic and we found a new location for a super computer in an abandoned storage building. It's kind of a pain to get to, but that might be the best way to go. I got my dad to provide financial support for a new computer that I told him would help for school and would be nice for entertainment… I'm building it as I type and I am creating a new digital world that is connected to the Network. Aelita is working on new scanners; we are only going to be able to build two but we are going to build new ones later if we need to. It's a pain in the butt trying to find everything we need but we're managing…

We went to the demolished factory and found that the casing for the scanners are still intact even if they aren't standing. There were a few other salvageable pieces but for the most part, we had to purchase all new equipment. I let Yumi know what's going on and she's helping as much as she can. Ulrich and Odd still don't know and they don't need to until we know more about what's going on. Have you found anything out about Marian? Is she aware of the virus? If she is, stay away from her; don't let her know that you're onto her.

One more thing… I'd like to get some more information about her computer and how strong X.A.N.A. is within it. I sent you a program that will find and store all of the data I need. All you need to do is run it for an hour while it goes through everything… do you think that will be possible? Only go through with it if you're sure it is, I do not want you endangering yourself while you're alone out there.

Again, I hope you're doing well despite this mess. Give your family my best! Aelita's as well, she says she is going to email you soon to talk with you.

Sincerely, Jeremie.

"So what have you been doing in Michigan?" Odd asked suddenly and I looked at him and shrugged.

"I've been hanging out with my family enjoying my time here… I've gone swimming a few times and I've been to a shopping mall once but I wasn't very comfortable there so I don't think I'll go back… Oh! I got your mother's painting. Give her a great big hug for me! I miss her and I love the painting so much!"

"Hold on, you can talk to everyone yourself," he said, sounding slightly alarmed and the camera changed a bit and I saw Adele and Elisabeth's bright faces crowd the screen.

"Hey, girls!" I greeted and waved.

"Emma! How is it there? Are they all really fat over there?" Elisabeth asked curiously. "Ow! Odd, you little shit. Don't touch me!"

I chuckled as Odd pushed them both back to sit beside him. "Mom! Emma's on video chat!" Adele called and a moment later Mrs. Della Robbia popped into my view and her smile widened; she waved hello to me.

"Thank you so much for that immaculate painting!" I gushed. "My father says it's wonderful too; we all love it!"

"You're more than welcome, sweetheart!" she said happily. "Make sure you keep the box, you can repack it in there when you come back to school and it should stay safe during the flight."

"I will keep that in mind!" I told her earnestly. "Where are the other girls?" I asked curiously.

"Marie is hiding out somewhere reading but she said she'd come say hello," Odd told me.

"Louise is at work, she's swamped with the new catalogue," Adele said. "She's an executive now! I love it, I get some awesome freebies!"

I chuckled. "And Pauline?" I asked. "Usually I see you three together."

"She got an intern gig at Louise's fashion company so she's helping Louise with the catalogue," Odd's mother said happily. "I'm so proud of my girls, pursuing their dream jobs! Anyway, Emma, I must say goodbye. I'm working on a new painting and you understand how on and off inspiration can be!"

I waved as she dashed away from view. "Well actually it's dinner time for me," I said to Odd and his sisters.

"What are you eating?" Odd asked me.

"Haluski," I said with a grin. "Ever have that?"

They all shook their heads. "Sounds polish," Elisabeth speculated.

"It's most popular in Poland but it's popular in Slovakia and Russia too; it's cabbage, drop noodles, and whatever else you want to fry, all together. It's delicious!"

"We'll take your word for it," Adele said to me. "See you later, Emma!" she said and waved. Elisabeth blew a kiss before the two of then ran off.

"I guess I will talk to you later," Odd said to me. "I'll see when Louise and Pauline will be able to sit in for a video chat so you can see then too. Same with Marie. I'll talk to you later, my love."

I waved goodbye and blew a kiss at the camera before we both ended the call. I sighed and looked at Jeremie's email that was still open in a window. I saw the program in an attached file and opened it up to load it onto a blank disk that my father had lying around.

"Let the fun commense!" I said to myself when it was done loading.