Olivia Caliban was sitting at the desk of a secret room hidden in a network of secret passageways when she got the call.
"How fast can you swim?" The words crackled through the device, echoing around the tiny room.
Lemony quirked an eyebrow.
"Fast enough, I hope," Olivia responded.
"The sugar bowl is under Antwhistle Aquatics. I need you to retrieve it, immediately. Count Olaf is in the area."
"I'll leave this very moment."
"The world is quiet here."
The last phrase was quoted by both women at once, who had, indeed, become very fast friends.
Lemony quirked his other eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go. It's been nice meeting with you, and I do hope you'll consider getting in touch with your sister. Goodbye, Lemony Snicket."
"Goodbye, Olivia Caliban."
With that, the librarian swept out of the secret bunker and back into the tumultus world.
Lemony Snicket sat in the small room hidden in the network of secret tunnels long after the Volunteer Feline Detective had found him, waiting for Olivia. Then he had sat in the room for long after the volunteer had left, waiting for his courage. He was starting to think he would be waiting for the rest of his life.
Olivia Caliban had told him everything that had happened since he had abandoned the real world in favor of depression and memories. The stories of the Baudelaires, the Quagmires, Olaf, Jacques, Kit, herself. Jacquelyn, Larry, Gustav, Monty, Josephine. Jerome, Hector, Sir, the Village of Fowl Devotees, the Heimlich Hospital, the Caligari Carnival. The Mortmain Mountains, the headquarters, Mr. Poe, even the Man with a Beard but no Hair and the Woman with Hair but no Beard. The moral clarity which he had thought his organization valued was lost in the smoke that covered the city and the surrounding locales, both figuratively and literally.
Younger Lemony would have jumped headfirst into the adventure. His motto had been similar to Captain Widdershin's motto.
"If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting the rest of our lives."
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire stared up at, well, the stairs. The burnt remains of Antwhistle Aquatics could be seen distantly above. The footsteps led to the base of the stairs.
"Should we go up?" Violet asked. Thankfully, her question carried up the stairs to the ears of the person above, and answer was soon returned.
"Baudelaires?" A head poked over the edge of the stairwell, long locks of dark brown hair falling over its shoulders.
"Olivia!" The children shouted, startled. "We thought you had died!"
"No. The lions were trained by your parents and V.F.D.. They would never eat a volunteer, no matter how starving they were. I escaped and found the former Madame Lulu, who sent me here to retrieve the sugar bowl. But now that I've found you, I won't leave without you."
"That's wonderful!" Violet shouted.
"'ll 'e righ' there!" Sunny chimed in.
Olivia smiled. "You've all grown since I last saw you."
"What about Fiona?"
"Klaus, Fiona would want us to escape."
"But we can't just leave her!"
The older Baudelaire siblings stared at each other, the raw emotions from the last few episodes of their lives coursing over their faces. A shriek from the youngest sibling made them see reason again. Reason, and medusoid mycelium.
"Olivia, you have to close the trap door," Klaus warned.
"The fungus is dangerous," Violet added.
"But I can't lose you again, Baudelaires!" Oliva replied. She couldn't fail her mission, fail Jacques's mission for a fourth time.
"Go!" Sunny commanded.
YOU ARE READING
Snickets Have an Aptitude for Avoiding Death
Fanfiction"I'm right behind you. I've been behind you all along." A phrase which here means, things aren't always as they seem, and there are more noble people in the world than you think.
