Chapter 2

As Quigley Quagmire sat in the smelly damp tunnel of which was hidden from him he wept. Wept for the fear he was experiencing. He wept for the fact that something terrible was happening and he knew nothing about it except that his parents were in the middle of it. He wept as he realized Duncan and Isadora, his two siblings who were uncommonly triplets, were not inside The Quagmire Mansion were oblivious of the terrifying event that was unfolding right outside the fireplace. As the horror that was merging in Quigley Quagmires mind unfolded Quigley waited and waited for his mother and father to appear, to open the door and pretend it was a diversion to set up a surprise party for his acceptance into The Local Cartography Club For Minors but he knew deep in his heart that the images he was thinking of were to innocent to be true. So slowly he got the guts to open the entrance to the tunnel. As he slowly lifted the trapdoor of the fireplace he smelt a waft of a terrible smell. The smell of burning. As he finally lifted the entrance above his head. He didn't just smell burning he saw burning all around him was ash at first it looked like a giant field of black flowers but soon he realized the horror that was beside him he realized the terrible tragedy of his home his life but what he didn't realize was the loss of family.

He slowly paced towards the door shaking with the grief of this event. This unfortunate event. He tried opening the door but it was jammed like the way Quigleys heart was jammed from reacting from his brain as if his sub consciousness realized the shock of what he was experiencing his heart would stop in a flash he would be in grave danger and he would be in pure peace. The grief gone. The pain gone. The anguish gone. His sufferings would be over quicker than they started. To open the door Quigley gave a pathetic but hopeful push into the door. It did nothing apart from releasing the ash particles into the air making Quigley cough and sneeze. He realized that he could not open the door so as the only option he walked towards the fireplace entering again and smelling that damp soggy smell. He trundled through the pipe in complete darkness the grief still filling his mind he was robotic as he crawled. Quigley had been crawling for limitless hours until he could finally see some light although very dim it was like a lamp in that pitch black tunnel. I myself after scouring high and low successfully managed to find this tunnel and I can tell you how vile disgusting and utterly revolting it was. Quigley was now very tired and groggy and let me tell you people who are suffering from enormous grief and are extremely tired does not make a good emotional combination.

But ever so Quigley seeing this light hurried his pace and in no time at all he was there. He climbed out of the tunnel and was surprised to see what he saw.

It was a giant room like a grand hall that was surprisingly filled with empty glass tanks. Everywhere he could see there was some sort of reptile poster diagram book or even cage. It was obvious that he was in some sort of herpetological room, Quigley had read up on Herpetologists when he was doing a map of South America and the breeding spots of various types of animals most of which were snakes. He was surprised not that he was in a herpetological room or the fact that his house had been burned down which were all very surprising things but the fact that he was in a lab of herpetology room which are very well know for studying reptiles and yet he could not se one snake not even one reptile well except from the odd frog who had somehow got in from outside. Quigley was very confused. He was so confused in his own thoughts that for one just one second he forgot the tragedy that had just befallen on him. He walked around the gigantic room to come across some very interesting things such as a red ribbon that was curled at the bottom of his foot, a piece of rope loping halfway over the table and what was obviously a trap that was not yet finished as it had a screwdriver lay next to it with a couple of screws laying next to it.

He saw a damp newspaper on the floor the ink was runny but Quigley could still read the blurry characters of the first paragraph of The Daily Punctilio which Quigley was an avid reader of.

Snake Professor Is Killed By Snake

Yesterday afternoon Dr Montgomery Montgomery was attacked and bitten by one of the most deadly creatures in his collection The Incredibly Deadly Viper which brutally murdered him while he was working. He was bitten by the creature which attacked him unprovoked by the late Dr Montgomery. He was currently caring for three orphans whose parents died in a fire they have been moved to a new carer since his untimely death.

He read until it became blurry and unreadable from the sodden material. He turned round in a moment of shock as he saw a man enter the room.

"Who…Who are you"? Asked Quigley The stranger took his hat before answering "I am Jacques Snicket and may I ask why you are here Quigley".