Of Families Lost and Found
- That night the kids are pretty depressed by what they've learned. They talk for a bit and then go to bed.
- Reynie can't sleep. He misses Miss Perumal intensely, and writes her a mental letter to cope with his homesickness and grief at what he's just learned.
- He remembers a conversation he had with Mr. Benedict on his last night before coming to the Institute. He asked Mr. Benedict, who had also grown up as an orphan, if he ever wished he had a family.
- Mr. Benedict replied that he used to, but no longer. He has family now—Number Two and Rhonda have become his family—and he reminds Reynie that family doesn't depend on blood.
- Remembering this conversation makes Reynie (back at the Institute and in the present now) miss his former tutor, Miss Perumal, even more.
- Sticky, who is also having trouble sleeping, says he can't believe what Mr. Curtain has done to those poor people. He wishes they could get a hold of Mr. C's journal so they could maybe figure out how to stop him, and that gives Reynie an idea.
- Maybe they don't have to actually steal Mr. C's journal… Maybe there's another way.