A/N 1 filler chapter, but the next one will be freaking exciting. Sound good?

Emily, Arthur, and Alice sat down in three chairs at the dark brown dining room table while Emily's mom settled down in a chair across from them. She took a deep breath before confessing, "I haven't been told the entire story myself, so I can only tell you the few things I know. First off, Emily, I'm not your mom." Emily looked like someone had dumped ice water on her. The woman continued, "You can call me Patricia. I was told that you didn't have parents before." She stared at first Emily, then at Alice. "None of you had parents."

Alice couldn't move. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could Emily and I not have parents?

Arthur first looked sympathetic, but then the look turned to suspicion. "Wait, you said 'none of you', not 'neither of you'. How many are like them?"

"I don't know the exact number, but I'm sure there are many."

"What is the goal of this? I mean, what is the point of making so many lose their memory and giving them fake lives?" Alice sadly asked, still trying to comprehend that the people she knew to be her parents were frauds.

Patricia replied, "We, the foster parents, were selected by a secret organization to take care of certain children. We were given a list of names and faces to steer clear of, and that was all."

"What secret organization?"

"They call themselves the USC, or the Utopian Society Corporation. They work toward their version of a 'perfect' world. Any sign of possible error, and they'll think of some way to destroy it."

"So where could we find out some other information? Do they have a totally top secret base or something?!" Emily excitedly asked.

"I don't know of one, but I do know of somewhere you could probably find out some information. It will be dangerous."

"I think we can handle it," Alice tried convincingly.

"One of the other foster parents, Jacob Rayne, has been part of this agency for years. He must know more than I. I think if you went to his house and looked around, you would find something," Patricia said.

Arthur asked, "Where would we find the house?"

"I'll write down the address for you. It is located in France."

"And...who is Jacob Rayne housing?" He tentatively asked.

"A girl named Maria Beilschmidt."

"Is she Prussian?"

"Y-yes."

"Is she albino?"

"I believe she is! But how-."

"Never mind that. Can we have the address? We should probably leave soon. Oh, and one more thing: could we have the list of names and faces to stay away from? I'm sure it would help us figure this out."

"Yes and no. I'll give you the address, but the list of names and faces, I'm afraid I don't know where it is. I am also better at remembering the faces than the names, so I couldn't even describe the people very well." Patricia scribbled down the address and handed it to Arthur.

"Thank you very much."

"No problem, dears! Oh, and I'm truly sorry for my actions before. I was scared that something bad would happen to Emily if I didn't follow my instructions!"

Arthur said it was fine, and the three began to walk toward the door when Patricia told them to wait.

She fished around in her purse and eventually pulled out a golden credit card. "The USC gave this to me to help take care of Emily. It has unlimited credit. Use it well."

Alice couldn't keep her jaw from dropping. 'Here's unlimited credit, use it well'? What?!

Arthur was just as surprised. "Patricia, we can't accept this!"

"Oh just take it. It's not like it costs anything. And after it's used, the history of it on any computer just deletes, so the USC won't be able to track your whereabouts." With that, she shooed them out onto the front porch, wished them good luck, and shut the door on them.

"I have a car we can use!" Emily boasted. She led them to the garage and motioned to a black Ford.

With a shrug, Alice opened the door to the passenger's seat and sat down. "Come on Arthur!"

"Fine." He reluctantly positioned himself in the seat behind Alice, mentally questioning the quality of Emily's driving skills. Looking to the front of the car, Arthur noticed that Emily was still holding the phone that she had taken from Patricia. "Emily, you still are carrying that phone."

"I know," she replied. "I don't trust her. She went from freaking out to calm way too quickly. So I'm taking the only useful phone in the house."

"You only have one working phone?" Alice asked. "Didn't she say that there was unlimited credit on that card?"

"Yah, but this is the only phone that counts for something. She has all of her contacts on this phone. If you guys didn't notice, she wasn't dialing the number of the USC, she was trying to find their contact. Trust me, she can not memorize numbers."

"That was...smart!" Arthur told Emily.

"I have my moments," Emily said, smiling. She inserted the key into the ignition and started the car. Seconds later, they were shooting down the street, beginning their long voyage to France. Arthur tried telling Emily to slow down, but he was more focused on watching the road in front of him. At least she doesn't drive like Feliciano.

Patricia watched the car pull out of the driveway. For a few minutes, she just watched the now empty street. She had practiced many times what she would do if something like this were ever to happen. She had carried out the plan with near flawless precision an acting. Patricia prided herself in this. After she had finished making her soup that she had been cooking when Emily had arrived, she decided it was about time to call Jacob. Of course, he wouldn't care that she had sent the runaways straight to him, but she might get a promotion if she got Jacob to mention it to the Leader! She looked on the counter, where the phone normally was, but the counter was empty. Suddenly, realization dawned on her.

"No, no, no, no," she murmured to herself as she looked on the counter and dining room. She looked under books, magazines, and other objects that were in her way, at first carefully lifting them and setting them back, then turning to throwing them onto the floor in horror.

"Emily." She cursed herself for not being more careful. Now she had no way to contact anyone!

"Maybe my 'husband' will remember when he gets home." Emily's assigned father figure was much better at remembering telephone numbers. Then Patricia remembered that he wouldn't get home until very late tonight due to work things. Maybe even early in the morning.

"Fine," Patricia huffed. "I can wait."