Jalivia (Jacques Snicket+Olivia Caliban) ASOUE

Olivia's Point of View 5

Jacques tried to hide his frustration when he had realised the time, knowing that his visit with Lemony would have to be postponed in order to help the Baudelaires. He had outlined to me exactly what to expect from Veblen Hall while driving: Count Olaf's disguises, Esme's tendency to influence the press, the volunteers on standby and the item we were looking for- a large cardboard box with crudely carved holes and the letters 'VFD' written in black marker. The box was suspicious to any normal member of the public, but downright worrying to a real member of VFD, who could easily assume that this was code in order to auction off the Quagmires.... to sell children. The thought made me sick.

"What time is it?" Jacques asked, eyes fixed on the road. His fingers were white from the force he gripped the steering wheel with.

"Twelve- thirty." I replied. "We are late."

"I know. I'm going the speed limit." Jaques turned a corner sharply to avoid the traffic that started to block the streets while whining in frustration, as though the world had chosen to make this journey particularly difficult when he had so much at stake.

"Don't push it." I replied. "We can be late but any meeting with the police would just waste more time."

The rest of the journey went relatively smoothly and we arrived only ten minutes late. The scene inside Veblen Hall wasn't pretty. The box we were looking for was sat on stage while people around the hall shouted out numbers, bidding, quite ridiculously high, for the tatty product. I watched Jacques bid a few times, but besides that we stayed mostly silent- Jacquelyn and Larry, the two volunteers who had offered to take charge of the mission, knew what they were doing and had infiltrated the stage already. People began physically fighting for the highest bid, one person even gripping Jacques in a headlock which I desperately tried to loosen. A loud murmur broke the noise, sending people into silence.

"What did she say?" Came a chorus of the crowd.

"She said, one thousand." Violet and her siblings made their way up to the stage, desperately peeling at the tape on the box and trying to out 'Gunther' for who he really was- Count Olaf.

When Olaf speared the sharpened end of his cane through the box, supposedly stabbing the two Quagmire triplets trapped inside as the Baudelaires had indicated, the entire hall sat with bated breath and I found my hands clutching at Jacques' arm in worry. I had known that the villains were prepared to do terrible things at their chance of 'winning,' but often their attempts were more pantomime-esque, not murderous- and I was worried that things would get worse. The explosion of doilies was not what I had expected, but the hall visibly relaxed with the knowledge that they hadn't just witnessed a double homicide.

Our relief was short lived, however, when Esme sent the hall into a panic as they discovered Veblen Hall was no longer 'in.' We were pushed all the way out of the building and onto the street within moments by the oncoming crowd, so we slid into the taxi and let out a sigh. I was completely overstimulated, and Jacques had a frown between his eyes that I knew meant we didn't have time for rest just yet.

"Olivia," Jacques started, quietly. "I need to call Kit."

"Your sister? You said she was desperately busy. That there was 'no chance she could help with the Baudelaires.' "

"That's what she told me. But if Lemony is alive... I have to try. She deserves to know."

Jacques turned the dial in his car phone, and waited. Kit picked up. I couldn't hear her side of the conversation, but from what short answers Jacques gave her, it became clear that she had figured out something similar and just needed the address. Jacques gave it to her, then very quickly began turning the key in the ignition and driving out of the parking spot.