Chapter Eleven
'So basically I have to get this box from the widow's room.' Pepper enunciated, after hearing the Baudelaires' proposal. Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice sat on the beds while Pepper paced around, with her index finger supporting her chin, with an intrigued look on her face. 'Easy peasy.' Pepper said, with the gusto of a worn trickster, convinced of her own abilities. 'I can't do it at night. It has to be now.' She said, and this surprised the Baudelaires a bit. 'Now?' Violet asked. 'Yes. The longer I wait, the less time I'll have to do the job.' Pepper seemed very confident, but the Baudelaires had a long history of people who helped them have really terrible things happen to them for it. The Quagmires, Elizabeth Anwhistle, the Boreas sisters, Lars Gabriel, Charles, and many others had many misfortunes happen to them, and the Baudelaires felt responsible for it, as if they infected other people with their bad luck. 'Don't worry about me. I know this place like the back of my own hand. Don't I, Esther?' Pepper enthusiastically asked. Esther, who had resumed her reading of
Lord of the Flies and sat silently in an armchair nearby, turned her head. 'You do, Pepper.' Esther said with no indication of enthusiasm whatsoever. Molly and Annie, the other two orphan girls, were distracted in the opposite side of the room. 'You'll have to be careful. Esmé, Natalie, Carmelita and Nathan are not be played with, Pepper.' Klaus warned. Pepper gave another of her beligerant eye rolls. 'Meet me outside in one hour, tops. The gazebo. Be there.' Pepper then opened the doors of the girls' room and left. Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice were left sick with worryness; were they about to see another person fall for helping them? A person who was an
orphan, just as they were themselves? Violet almost got up and ran to try and stop Pepper before she did anything, but for some reason, she couldn't move.
Moments later, the Baudelaires' worryness and overall discomfort increased greatly when three people ventured inside the girls' room. Natalie and Nathan Finch, Natalie dressed in a black lace, frilly, lavish dress complete with black stockings and black high heels. Nathan wore a black shirt with a vest, black pants and black shoes. Carmelita still doned the widowesque costume she wore copying Esmé Squalor's. 'We came here to deliver a message.' Natalie and Nathan delivered in unison. Carmelita smiled beneath the veil that concealed the upper half of her face like Esmé's, and approached the Baudelaires. Esther arose from the armchair, setting aside the copy of
Lord of the Flies. The Baudelaires also stood up themselves. They weren't about to listen to whatever those awful teenagers had to say sitting down like kids. 'Esmé told me to tell you this, cakesniffers. Because I'm her
favorite.' Carmelita finished with an over-emphatic enthusiasm on the word favorite, as she looked at Natalie and Nathan, who frowned upon hearing this.
'She wants you out of this orphanage. You are not supposed to be here. She's willing to pretend you were never here, if you leave quietly, and as soon as possible.' Carmelita said, immitating Esmé's stance, with her hands resting above her waist. Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice were shocked. 'That's it?' Violet asked. 'She's letting us go?'
'Well, she is. The thing is, Esmé doesn't want anyone to know about any
hypothetical ties she might have to this place. Because you see, she doesn't.' Nathan Finch said, out of a sudden. 'But we
know that she lived here at one point.' Klaus baldly stated. 'We know a
lot of things about her.' Violet added. 'Well, be that as it may, no one will believe you if you tell. It's the word of four stupid orphans against the city's sixth-most important financial advisor and a famous actress.' Natalie said. 'Esmé has arranged for your departure. You'll be leaving this very afternoon.' Carmelita said. 'What about Cindry?' Klaus asked. 'Ugh, what
about her?' Carmelita said. 'We're not leaving her here with you!' Klaus said, taking a step towards Carmelita. Nathan Finch took a step towards Klaus himself, and Violet put herself in front of Klaus, looking in his eyes. 'Klaus, calm down. It's not worth it.' Violet said, her hands on Klaus' shoulders. Carmelita chuckled. 'You're damn right it's not worth it. Cindry is with us now. Also, I don't know what's so special about her, but I don't really care.' Carmelita said, trying to sound as if she didn't care, when her tone and body language clearly informed otherwise. 'Cindry, come here.'
Cindry entered the girls' room. She was a vision in black, with a black tiara with two black roses by either side of her head. Her former happy expression that could cheer anyone up was gone. Cindry was pale, and her face was unexpressive, as if she were emptied of everything that made her the Cindry Klaus had fallen in love with. She looked like she
did belong with Nathan, Natalie, Carmelita and Esmé Squalor, and this was too shocking for Klaus.
'Cindry!' Klaus uttered. Cindry manifested no visible joy of seeing him, as if she was meeting a stranger for the first time. 'How do you know my name?' Cindry asked. She seemed genuinely surprised of Klaus' knowing her. She looked at Carmelita for an explanation. 'Don't worry about him. He's just a cakesniffer. Well, our business here is done. We advise you to leave. Don't even try to warn Olive of anything. She'll be a stick in the mud, like the other volunteers.' Natalie, Nathan and Carmelita then started laughing villainously, as Esmé Squalor often would do, perhaps in attempt to be more like the villainous woman who now had them for minions. 'Cindry, you can't be with them! You don't belong with them!' Klaus protested, but Cindry didn't look at him. 'Why is he talking to me like he knows me? It's irritating. Let's go, Esmé is waiting in the study.' Cindry said, promptly exiting through the double doors of the girls' room. Carmelita, Nathan and Natalie soon followed, all the while giving the Baudelaires looks of contempt.
'That electroshock must have cause amnesia on Cindry, and Esmé brainwashed her. That must be it. Cindry would be the last to follow Esmé voluntarily, specially after what Esmé did to Ferdinand and Victoria.' Violet said to Klaus, trying to comfort him, as he had crumbled to the floor in sheer disappointment. 'I say we wait for Pepper outside, without being seen by Olive. If Esmé is in the study now, Pepper will suceed. We'll get whatever is in the box and go to the train station of Ophelia, like Olive said.'
'But, Cindry...We can't leave her here, Violet.' Klaus said. 'I can't believe I'm saying this, but it appears Cindry is safe...For now. Not remembering you, she won't try to get away. Our best bet is to leave while we can, with what we can carry. Esmé's box.' Violet said. 'If you're going to leave...' Esther's voice sounded behind the Baudelaires. They turned back to look at her. 'I suggest you do it know.' Violet and Klaus nodded, and went to their rooms. Violet grabbed her every belonging, and was glad to see the sugarbowl and the fire flower were still in her back pack. The Baudelaires geared up for the cold weather outside, and Klaus even found time to write a note to Olive Oakley, apologizing for their inpromptu abandonmente of the Orphanage. Then, leaving the note on Klaus' bed, the Baudelaires left the orphanage, and went towards the orchard, or the gazebo, which was not far from the first. The Ophelian fog was particularly strong that day, and the Baudelaires felt safe, shrouded by it, as if it were a shield that could protect them from who was inside the dark, ominous shape of the orphanage rising from the fog.
The Baudelaires waited an hour, until they saw a silhouette treading through the fog with difficulty. It was Pepper, no less, and she held a big, metallic, dirty box that the Baudelaires had witnessed Mr. Flounder help Esmé Squalor dig up from it's hiding place deep in the orchard. 'Here it is.' Pepper said, grinning with satisfaction. She wore only the orphanage uniform, which was proper for cold weather, but the Baudelaires were afraid it wasn't quite enough to warm up Pepper's body, in that dreadful weather. Opening the box, the Baudelaires found a smaller box, cointained inside a bag. Inside said box, there was a book. More specifically, a
diary.
'Can this be...' Violet dared not utter her suspicions. Lifting the leather bound hard cover, Violet saw the handwritten signature: 'Esmé Gigi Geniveve Salinger'. 'This is Esmé's diary. But it also has all sorts of photographs and documents in here.' Violet put the diary inside her back pack and everything else went back inside the metallic box. Violet deposited the box beneath a tree, and used dead leaves to cover it up. Noticing some of the leaves she used to cover the box with were poison oak, Violet was thankful for having gloves on. 'Pepper, where's the nearest path to Ophelia? We need to get to the train station.'
'You could leave through the main gate, but I wouldn't go that way. You can follow the inner part of the hedge fence down to the part where it meets the stone wall that surrounds the orphanage. There's a tree there that will get you to the other side. From there you can follow the wall and eventually you'll come to the bridge.' Pepper said. 'You sure know your roads, Pepper.' Violet said. 'I do. After you leave, I'm taking off myself. It's what my mom would have wanted.' Pepper said. 'Now I have to go back. Take care, Baudelaires! Perhaps we'll meet again.' Pepper than ran back towards the orphanage, becoming invisible in the fog.
With Esmé's diary in their possession, there was nothing else for the Baudelaires to do than leave. Taking one last look at the orphanage, the Baudelaires wondered why their mother never mentioned the fact that she had lived there to them. Was it to spare Violet, Klaus and Sunny of having Esmé Squalor for an aunt? More importantly, though, why did Esmé and Beatrice's sisterly friendship end, and how? Their minds were reeling with questions, and they knew the answers to some of those questions lied in the diary that was not in Violet's backpack. Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice ventured into the orchard, determined to leave Old Oaks Orphanage behind them, and along with it, the town of Ophelia, at which they had first arrived clueless to their own ties to the place. They could barely believe they were about to leave Ophelia so easily, without any tragedy happening at the orphanage. But like many times before, this time, the Baudelaires
were wrong.
Chapter Twelve
The expression 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it' express the will to not suffer in advance, and only when bad things really happen and you are forced to deal with them. If someone told me the world would end as I know it, I'd tell them 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it' and I'd probably stock up on canned goods and resume my social and volunteering activities, and when the time came, I would put a brown paper bag on my head and lay down on the floor, like many others. When Klaus Baudelaire asked his sister, Violet Baudelaire, the following question, her response was 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.' Meaning that it would probably be no use to suffer in anticipation of what might lay ahead in the twisted, dark road of the Baudelaires' future.
'Violet, what are we going to do when we get to the city?' Klaus asked Violet as they followed the hedge fance, southwest bound to the town of Ophelia and it's train station. 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. What really matters is that we get there. We'll figure out the rest, like we always do.' Violet said. 'I don't like it that we left without saying goodbye to Olive.' Sunny said. 'Benefacta.' Beatrice uttered, and Sunny translated to Klaus and Violet as 'She was really nice to us, giving us jobs and everything.' The three elder Baudelaires agreed, and continued on their hike to the southwestern limit between the hedge fence and the stone wall. It wasn't long until they arrived, noticing a large, dying tree that made it possible to climb the tall stone wall and leap over it. Violet let Beatrice latch onto her back while Sunny latched onto Klaus, and the two elder Baudelaires climbed the tree, leaving the orchard with no great difficulties. Soon, they found out they were very near Ophelia's River. The gray waters were now darker, it seemed. The Baudelaires saw the sillhouette of the bridge they had crossed to get to the Orphanage, and made their way there.
The fog was so thick they couldn't see very far ahead, and as they walked on the bridge, they noticed something very strange was happening. It was
really quiet, except for the noises from the river down below, not another sound was heard except for the Baudelaires' breathing. As they walked towards the opposite end of the bridge, they saw a strange silhouette in the middle of the road. It had two sets of legs, or so it seemed, as the Baudelaires drew near, they realized why the silhouette was so strange; it was the silhouette of not one, but two different people, one holding the other in a forceful embrace. What terrified was not the embrace, but who was being embraced.
'Hello, hello, hello, Baudelaires.' Mr. Flounder's voice sounded. 'I understand you stole something that belongs to a friend of mine.' Mr. Flounder held a sword that seemed very familiar to the Baudelaires, and had his opposite hand over Olive Oakley's mouth. Olive had her hands and feet tied up, and a terrified expression on her face. Her left cheek was bruised, as if she had been slapped, and hard, across the face, by someone. Her green eyes looked desperate, and she couldn't stop crying. When she saw the Baudelaires, she tried to scream, but Mr. Flounder's hand kept her from being able to do so. 'Olive!' Violet shouted. 'Let her go!' Mr. Flounder gave a sinister laugh. 'Let her go, I will. But I'm going to let her go into the river, like her mother did, and her grandmother before her. That is, of course, unless you hand me the diary.' Mr. Flounder said. 'So you know what was inside the box?' Klaus asked. 'Of course I do. I take pride in being one of Esmé's few confiders, and most faithful friends.'
'Esmé doesn't have friends. She has people she uses like chess pieces. You're expendable and you know it.' Klaus said. 'Klaus, Klaus, Klaus...' A very familiar female voice was heard. The silhouette of Esmé Squalor appeared amidst the fog. 'I resent that. I've had many friends in my life. Of course
some proved to be nothing but dirty back-stabbing traitors. But Mr. Flounder here, yes, he is my friend.' Esmé Squalor claimed. 'I understand you found out about my diary, which means you were clever enough to figure out why I came here, and why I need that diary.'
'You need it because you don't want people to find out your mother was a mental patient, or was it because she was left by your father for his other wife?' Violet asked. The fog had cleared more now, and the Baudelaires could see Esmé's lips twitch, processing what she had just heard. '
What?' Esmé said. 'We
know about you and our mother, Esmé. We know we are...
related.' Klaus said. 'Yes, we are related, Baudelaires. Technically I could call you nephew and nieces, well, three of you, anyway. I'm afraid that toddler over there is only related to Olive here.'
'What?' The Baudelaires said in unison. 'Oh, you didn't know? Patricia Oakley married David Denoument and had those three triplets, Frank, the idiot naive one, Dewey and the darling Ernest, Dewey being the one who knocked up Kit Snicket, and that girls' father.' Esmé said. Beatrice knew about her dather, Dewey Denouement, and her mother, Kit Snicket, but the last thing she had expected was to be related to Olive Oakley, and by extension, the Quagmire triplets, through Quinn Quagmire, née Oakley, sister of Patricia Denouement, née Oakley. 'Is
everyone related in V.F.D.?' Violet asked. 'More or less. Now, let's get down to business, shall we. You have something I want, I have someone you don't want to end up dead. How are we going to do this?' Esmé asked.
'Violet, we can't exactly hand her the diary!' Klaus whispered to Violet. 'We
just got it!'
Violet removed her hair ribbon from her pocket and tied up her hair. She needed to quickly come up with a way to
not hand Esmé the diary and still save he life of Olive Oakley. She thought and thought, but only one idea came to mind. 'The diary is very old, the binding is fragile. I can hand Esmé the diary, but I don't need to
place it in her hands.' Violet whispered to Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice. 'You can't be serious!' Klaus said. 'It's our best bet.' Violet then removed the diary from her backpack and walked towards Esmé. 'I'm going to give you the diary after he lets Olive go, Esmé'.
Esmé signaled Mr. Flounder. He let Olive off his grip, but Olive then did something reckless; with her hands tied together, she hit Mr. Flounder in his face. When he turned back his head, a large portion of skin seemed to have fallen off, but there was no blood to be seen. 'Oh, F. Seems your disguise's been ruined.' Esmé said. Mr. Flounder then proceeded onto removing the rest of the skin covering his face. When he was done, he removed what turned out to be a wig. The light blonde hair of Felix Casanova was now visible, along with the dark, contrasting eyebrows, and those evil eyes. Sheer evil in it's most beautiful form. Felix then slapped Olive Oakley again,
hard, and she fell to the ground. He then lifted her up, holding her by the neck from behind.
'Felix! We should have known.' Violet said. 'You couldn't. There is a
reason they call him
The Chameleon, Violet. Now be a dear and hand me my diary, or else.' Esmé said, extending her black encased arm, smiling beneath the veil that still covered half of her face. 'Esmé...If you want this diary...You'll have to work for it.' Saying this, Violet threw the diary upwards in the air. Once in the air, the diary's binding split between two halfs; one half was kept bound, the other half was scattered around in a cloud of paper. Esmé was enraged. 'You damn little...You're
just like your mother! You'll pay for this, Violet, you and your sad excuse for a family!' The half of the diary that didn't scatter fell behind Esmé and Felix, and the Baudelaires ran to get it, gaining advantage over the villains. However, their happiness was short lived. 'Felix! Now!' Esmé shouted. Felix smiled wickledly, and picked Olive Oakley up in the air, lifting her above him.
'Even if your name isn't
Ophelia, you'll follow in your family's curse!' Olive screamed in terror as Felix Casanova
threw her into the river. A column of white foam went up in the air with a splash noise when Olive hit the dark waters. 'You know, Baudelaires...Because of what happened to her mother...Olive was never allowed to go near water. She doesn't know how to swim.' Esmé Squalor said evilly, culminating in an evil cackle. Violet examined the bridge for a quick way to reach the river without having to jump, but a clicking noise was heard. 'Hand over the other half and we'll let you jump in after her.' Esmé Squalor had removed a small gun from her handbag, and she held the Baudelaires in gunpoint. Violet looked at the river below, and saw no sign of Olive. 'It's my fault...'
'Of course it's your fault.' Esmé said. 'No one messes with me, Baudelaires, and gets away with it. This time I'm letting you go if you hand me the diary, but I won't be so kind next time.'
'We thought he was back at Luck Island with his family.' Klaus said pointing at Felix, who seemed amused. 'Oh, I was, but I left Caterina in charge. She was willing to be my stand-in as the leader while I'm out. And this Orphanage had such beautiful boys I could not resist!'
'If Lars saw what you have become...' Violet said, disgusted. 'Lars might be dead for all I care.' Felix said.
'Look, I just want that diary, I'm tired of this place. Give it to me now and no one else gets hurt.' Esmé said. She sounded bored.
Suddenly, though, a stampede was heard; Esmé's gun was knocked up in the air and fell in the river below. The stampede was a gunshot, and more gunshots were heard. 'Damn! They're here!' Felix said. Felix quickly grabbed the scattered sheets of paper - he was
very fast - and picked up Esmé, who couldn't run on her high heels. 'The two brothers arrived for their sister's funeral! I'll see you again, Baudelaires! Send my regards to Otto and Oliver Oakley!' Esmé shouted, finishing with her evil cackle. Felix and Esmé disappeared in the fog, and the gunshots stopped. They saw two men come close to them. One of them was like an older version of Quigley, and the other, like an older version of Duncan. 'Where is Olive?' One of them asked. 'They threw her...The river.' Violet uttered. One of the men removed his shirt and
jumped into the river. 'I'm Oliver Oakley. Are you the Baudelaires?'
'Yes.' Sunny uttered. Oliver than went to the side of the bridge to see if the other one, who could only be Otto, had found Olive. 'She's nowhere! The current is too strong for her!' Otto's voice came from down below.
What followed was an emotionally exhausting search for Olive - or her mere body - as Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice sat nearby a fireplace Oliver and Otto started while the two brothers were searching. A few hours later, Oliver and Otto arrived with a grim look in their faces. 'We didn't find her...Or her body.' Oliver said. 'There's something you're not telling us.' Violet said, reading the body language of the two brothers. 'The orphanage...Has been set on fire. It's burning right now.' Otto said. 'What about the kids?'
'We found a note stuck to a tree by a knife. Does this look familiar?' Oliver lifted a small piece of paper. It had the drawing of a question mark, the dot being the pupil of an eye beneath que mark. The eye closely resembled the V.F.D. insignia, which was than of an eye, but Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice Baudelaire had all seen that symbol before; the uniforms Fernald and Fiona doned when they attacked Boreas Botanics had such symbols on them.
'What is it?' Violet asked. 'We don't know. We think it's attached to the Great Unknown, and ever since we've learned of out cousins, the Quagmire triplets, being taken by it, we've been investigating it. We know that whenever it appears, there will also be tsunamis or earthquakes. We were at the Briny Breezes Pub when Anwhistle Aquatics was hit by the tsunami; we saw it through the pub's telescope. We were also sailing near Jupiter Island the day of the earthquake that destroyed the Verdant Forest Dome...It's only a matter of putting two and two together.' Otto said. 'We were just returning when we discovered who Esmé Squalor actually was; we knew she would come back some day.'
'You did?' Klaus asked. 'Yes.' Oliver answered. 'When we were kids, we lived here, along with the orphans. We even studied with them. Esmé Salinger was once our classmate.'
'We're very sorry about Olive. It's my fault.' Violet said, rising up and looking Otto and Oliver Oakley in the face. 'I had the terrible idea of throwing the diary up in the air. If I had handed it to Esmé, you would be both with your sister now.' Otto smiled. 'You really believe Felix Casanova would have let Olive walk away? Felix became a murdering monster. Killing is part of who he is now. To think I once knew him as a sweet young man, to learn what he became...' Otto said. 'Otto and Felix have...a history.' Oliver said. 'Oh...' The elder Baudelaires uttered. Sunny and Beatrice had fallen asleep under one of the blankets the Oakley siblings had provided. 'It's not your fault, Violet. No use beating yourself up about it.'
'Lars Gabriel was not the only one whose heart was wounded by Felix Casanova. And now Olive is missing.' Otto said. 'We have to part ways, Baudelaires. It's a shame, but we can't accompany you to the city with Olive missing. Until we find her or her body, we can't leave Ophelia.' Oliver said. 'However, there is one person that has been looking forward to seeing you. He'll be waiting at the Tenenbaum Train Station, with a sign that reads 'V.K.S.B.' You can trust him.'
'Who is he?' Klaus said. 'His name is Desmond. Desmond Fulfillment. He'll take you with him to Burton's Bazaar, the next crucial location I think you should visit. We have been reading about your feats, and we have grown to be quite the fans. Your woe does not pass unnoticed, Baudelaires.'
'Burton's Bazaar? I never heard of it.' Klaus said. 'Of course you haven't. It's a secret bazaar that works in a network of alleyways in the city, near Dark and Bright Avenues, and Thriller Park. It's run by a valuable volunteer, who is also looking forward to employing you in a plot to uncover a traitor who is working at the bazaar. But that's all he informed us, in case we got caught by our enemies. Here.' Otto removed four train tickets, and four pink tickets with the letters BB printed in a lavish decoration. 'You need those to get inside the Bazaar. The color will alert the manager of your presence and you can find out the rest with him there.'
'We almost couldn't believe when Olive said you had arrived at the Orphanage over the phone. We came straight here after that call, in hopes that we could prevent what just happened.' Oliver frowned. 'But, we best take you to the entrance of town. After that we'll head back here to look for Olive.'
And just like that, Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice Baudelaire had finally crossed the bridge from one side of Ophelia to the side where the train station was located, and as they said heir goodbyes to Oliver and Otto Oakley, they felt as if they were now crossing a bridge to a place where their questions could be answered, and as worried as they were about the kids of the orphanage, and Olive Oakley's fate, the Baudelaires decided it would be best to not suffer for this until they found out the truth, the ultimate truth.
Chapter Thirteen
'Passengers come this way! Train bound to the city leaves in five minutes, passengers come this way!' Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice heard a man scream as they rushed to get aboard the train that was leaving for the city. Handing their tickets to a bellboy, they were taken to their cabin. The voyage was a calm one, and soon the Baudelaires saw the city's skyline outlined in the horizon, out the window. They had been gone for a great while, ever since they received the mysterious letter that prompted them to leave for Funeral Factory Fulfillment Ltd, in Paltryville, and many places after that. They had been to a dark manor, an aquatic base, a gambling resort, a jungle, a wasteland and an asylum, and an orphanage. But now...Now the Baudelaires, even if they didn't have a proper home, they felt like they were going home again, after a long, long time.
'The train will be arriving at Tenenbaum Train Station soon! All passengers get ready!' A noisy bellboy repeatedly shouted walking past each cabin of the train's cars, waking up everyone, including the Baudelaires. During the journey, they had found time to eat, thanks to the money Audrey Addams had given them, and they had all changed from their old clothes into new ones they bought at the shop back at the train station, one hour before the train's departure.
The train arrived at the Tenenbaum Train Station, and the Baudelaires were escorted outside by another bellboy. The station was huge, and very beautiful. An enormous clock shimmered in the light high above, while the busy people walked in all directions down below. Sitting in a bench nearby, asleep, a man held a large pink sign with the letters 'VKSB' painted on. He had newspaper on his face, making only the lower half visible, and his mouth was open. Not sure if this was the right man, Violet have him a slight tap on the shoulder, at the same time, a fly flew into the man's mouth, and he jumped out of his seat, coughing and choking, and gasping for air. Finally, when he stopped, he turned to the Baudelaires and carefully examined each of them, while the Baudelaires examined him. He was tall, blonde, and scruffy, and had two blue eyes, and wore a long coat and a shirt-vest ensemble underneath, and rectangular glasses. 'Baudelaires? Is that you?' He asked, curious at the sight of the Baudelaires, almost as if he didn't really believe they were there.
'Yes. We are the Baudelaires. You are...Desmond Fulfillment, aren't you?' Violet asked.
Desmond smiled. 'I am. Now...Tell me everything.'
The man's voice comforted the Baudelaires, and even though they had never met him, they knew they were home again. And this meant a lot to them.