Memento Mori {A Series of Unfortunate Events}

•SIXTEEN• In Which a Baby Becomes a Spy

Word Count:  1137

You finally hauled yourself over the top of the waterfall until you were crouching behind a large boulder. "It's Sunny!" You gasped in relief, catching your breath.

Sunny was sitting in a cage in the snow with the Hook-Handed Man standing over her. They seemed to be having a conversation, which was strange, seeing as adults never seemed to be able to understand the baby talk. "She's safe." You whispered to Quigley happily, though he seemed worried. "How do we rescue her with the Hook-Handed man standing guard?" He asked. Then Sunny caught my eye, smiling. She turned to the Hook-Handed man and babbled. "𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉𝓎."

"We have plenty of ice water." He pointed out.

"𝓘𝓭  𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓯𝓮𝓻  𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰  𝓯𝓲𝔃𝔃𝔂." Sunny told him indignantly.

"I saw the boss chuck a half-empty bottle of sasparilla down the road." The Hook-Handed Man observed. "But I'm not supposed to leave you alone." Sunny turned on her puppy eyes and babbled adorably. "Gaa gaa?" The man glanced around quickly, making sure nobody was there, and you ducked down quickly, staying out of sight.

"Oh, fine." He said, turning around and running off. 

You and Quigley ducked out from behind the rocks and ran over to where Sunny stood in her cage. "Sunny,  oh gods! Are you okay?" You asked, reaching through the bars.

"𝒲𝒽ℯ𝓇ℯ'𝓈 𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝒢𝓈?" Sunny asked in her strange baby language. "They're at the headquarters doing something important. They couldn't come, but we're here to rescue you." You pulled the bobby pin out of your hair and started picking the lock. "𝒟𝓊𝓃𝒸𝒶𝓃?" She asked,  pointing to Quigley. "This is Quigley," You told her. "Duncan's brother. He survived the fire. We have so much to tell you!  First-"

"Oh, Baby-laire." You heard a  familiar sickly voice call, and you froze up. Sunny, however, didn't. "ℋ𝒾𝒹ℯ."

You ran behind the biggest rock and crouched next to Quigley, squished together out of sight. You leaned into his side out of fright, closing your eyes tightly. You really didn't want to be caught by Count Olaf, on the edge of a huge mountain where a single miscalculated push by a dumb villain could send you plummeting to your death.

"I have some demeaning tasks for you to perform," Count Olaf drawled, his girlfriend Esmé following him out of the tent like a lost puppy. "You're going to cook a very in dinner tonight. We're celebrating False Spring." Esmé said in her high accented voice.

"That's not the only thing we're celebrating," Olaf said, trying to kiss her cheek, but she turned away quickly, pretending not to notice.

You fake puked and made a disgusted face at Quigley.

"Where's hooky? I told him to wait right here." Count Olaf wondered, looking around. 

"you seem to have trouble controlling your underlings." A man with a prominent aura of menace stepped out of the tent, followed by a woman with an equally menacing aura. 

"Uhh, well, yes, I like to let them... uh.... roam." Count Olaf stuttered, ending with a  worried half-smirk. "You know, free-range henchpeople." 

You glanced up at Quigley and rolled your eyes, silently telling him you thought Olaf was a complete idiot.

"We have a job for you two." The woman said, pointing her extremely sharp walking stick at Olaf's face. "There's a camp in the woods. There, you will find a tarp. bring it here, and lay it over the road."

"That sounds like work," Esmé observed.  "No Crap, Columbus," You whispered sarcastically. 

"Why do we have to do it?" She complained, turning to scowl at Count Olaf.

"You'll do it because we say so." The Woman With Hair But No Beard growled, sounding almost demonic.

"That's a good point." Olaf agrees worriedly, and  Esmé nods vigorously. "We've already yelled at the baby, so there's not much to do here anyway." 

"You're too worried about that baby, Olaf." The Man With A Beard But No Hair scolded. 

"After tonight, countless orphans and their fortunes will be ours." The Woman With Hair But No Beard explained.  "Are you sure they're all orphans?" Esmé questioned, scorn and doubt lacing her voice. "

"Not yet they're not." The Woman With Hair But No Beard laughed maliciously.

You glanced over at Quigley who stared back at you with wide eyes, both of you wondering how bad this could possibly be.  The adults all strolled back into their tents, laughing along the way. As soon as they were gone. You rushed up to Sunny's cage, immediately setting to work trying to unlock it again. "Who were those people?" You asked her, still shaking off the terror that you felt in the presence of those two purely evil people. 

"𝒜𝓇𝓈ℴ𝓃𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓈." Sunny provided with a disapproving frown. 

"You mean they're the ones who burned down V.F.D. Headquarters?" Quigley asked, his mind racing through plans and theories, but before Sunny could answer, the lock on her cage sprang open with one last twist of your bobby pin. 

"Let's go." You told her, pushing open the cage doors. "I can strap you to my shoulders and carry you down."  

"Not going," Sunny announced, this time in English, in an understandable -albeit, broken- sentence.  "We came here to rescue you." You said, utterly confused. 

"ℳ𝒶𝓉𝒶 ℋ𝒶𝓇𝒾."  Sunny declared,  closing the bars on her cage. 

"Who's Mata Hari?" Quigley asked, mystified but curious. 

"To give you the short answer,  she's a Dutch courtesan who spied on Germany during World  War I, so  Sunny's saying she wants to stay here and spy..." You quickly informed. 

"𝒲𝓇𝓇𝓇𝓇𝓂." Sunny garbled. 

"What'd she say?" Quigley said, scrunching up his nose. 

"'Investigate Treachery, then escape.' I don't know Sunny, I  don't want you to get hurt." 

"Those villains were talking about making more orphans," Quigley said worriedly.  "If Sunny can find out what they're planning, maybe we can prevent what happened to us from happening to anyone else." 

"𝓑𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓸! " Sunny told him, waving her little hands above her head.

"We can't leave her behind." You said firmly. "Violet and Klaus will kill me, and I couldn't live with myself if something terrible happened to her. She's just a baby." 

"𝓝𝓞𝓣 𝒶 𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓎." Sunny scolded. 

"Hey baby, you'd better not have gotten into any trouble." You heard the hook-handed man call from only a few paces away, just out of view. 

"Y/N, we have to go." Quigley said urgently. 

You gave Sunny one last hug, then allowed her to click the lock into place on her cage. "Bye, Sunny. Stay safe." As one last thought, you handed her your bobby pin. "You can use this to escape when the time comes."  

"Y/N, we really have to go now," Quigley growled as the hook-handed man rounded the corner. Quigley yanked you backwards and out of sight just in time. You gave Sunny one more desperate look, then started to descend down the waterfall. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

How much more of the story should I write. I can't really find a good ending spot, and I don't want to write until the story officially concludes at The End.  Help! 

-LianLily