I have decided to start replying to reviews, so here we go!

Jedi Master Robby: Well, of course it was disturbing; did you have any real doubts? I also wanted to reinforce the Olaf being evil thing. I must confess, it was fun! grins evilly

Bellatrix Lestrange9: O.o Goldfish sword? I'd like to see that!

Visualpurple: I hate punch, but I hate dances more. I'm glad mine is over! Fine! I'm updating!!!

Chapter 18

He stayed in that dark basement for hours. Just how long he was kept there was hard to tell, since the only way he could tell that the day was slowly passing was by the direction of the sunlight through those two tiny windows. Before two powder-faced women came down to bring the tied-up Lemony a few crusts of stale bread for his lunch, he managed to move a bit towards the wall so he could sit against it and be more comfortable. The two powder-faced women were not as mean as Olaf, but the hook-handed man often came down to interrogate Lemony and threaten him with his sharp hooks. It was during one of these interrogations, in fact, that one person actually noticed what was going on.

Jacques was walking past an abandoned apartment building near Dark Avenue at the time. He had been searching all over the city for a long time and was tired and ready to give up hope of seeing his brother again. Suddenly he heard yelling from the building. He willed his tired legs to take him towards the source of the sound. He walked around the back of the building towards a tiny window close to the ground and peered into it, being careful not to be seen.

The room inside was dark, but Jacques could just make out two forms. One was lying on the floor, and was obviously tied up. The other's silhouette was one of the oddest Jacques had ever seen, for the man had hooks instead of hands. Jacques cringed as the man with the hooks gave the poor man on the ground a savage kick in the stomach and began to shout at him.

"Tell me!" he yelled.

"I can't," the man wheezed through his injuries.

:If you don't talk, you don't know what my boss'll do to you," threatened the hook-handed man. "I'll leave you for now, but I'll remind you; there are some things worse than death, Snicket!"

This last comment made Jacques gasp and then quickly move his head away from the window for fear of being seen. He realized that the man on the floor was his brother! As he realized this, he cringed again, remembering the horrible treatment that he had seen his brother endure. He peered into the window again and saw the dim form of his brother still tied up and lying on the floor.

He didn't see anybody else in the room, so he knocked on the window to try to get his brother's attention. The form crumpled on the floor did not move, so Jacques took his flashlight to get a better look. With the aid of that new light, Jacques definitely knew that it was indeed his brother bound hand and foot all alone in that dark, cold basement without even a blanket for comfort. He shined the flashlight in Lemony's face to try to get his attention.

Soon Lemony groaned and turned around to be able to see where the light was coming from, and Jacques nearly gasped again at his brother's appearance. Lemony, a usually tidy individual, looked ghastly. He was pale from the lack of comfortable sleep, and his clothing was crumpled and filthy from being on that dirty basement floor. There were bruises and cuts on his arms and face, as well as several spots of blood on his shirt from all the beatings at the hands of the cruel hook-handed man and Count Olaf. His glasses were askew, and through them, Jacques could see that one of Lemony's eyes could barely open.

At first, Lemony thought he was dreaming. That couldn't be his brother at the window; it had to be a trick, maybe from his swollen eye. He shut his eyes and looked again. It was Jacques after all! He didn't have much strength left, but he moved as best he could under the circumstances to show that Jacques had gotten his attention.

A tear rolled down Jacques' face when he saw how pathetic his brother looked, but he quickly brushed it away. He didn't want Lemony to notice, at least not yet. The window was tied shut, but Jacques managed to cut a little hole through the glass. ("Always bring a towel and a glass cutter with you: you never know when you might need 'em!" was one of Jacques' mottos) The hole was just big enough for Jacques to toss a small pair of scissor to Lemony.

"They should be asleep by now," Jacques whispered.

"I'm so glad you're here," Lemony whispered back as he began to saw thgough the ropes on his ankles. "We have to warn the others! Olaf is going to-"

"Tell me later," urged Jacques. "Right now we have to get you out of here!"

Lemony quickly finished cutting the ropes and turned to his brother. "That window is too small for me to go through; I'll have to go upstairs."

"Be careful," Jacques pleaded as Lemony dragged his tired body up the stairs. Lemony went to the top of the stairs and was about to leave the building when he realized that he still didn't have his hat. That was a special gift from Beatrice, and he didn't want to leave it behind. He crept around the ground floor until he spied the hat rack across the hall. As he reached for his hat, he heard voices coming from the room next to him. He remembered what happened the last time he eavesdropped on Olaf and his troupe, so he made sure that he was completely quiet before he focused on listening to the conversation.

"As soon as we dispose of that Snicket," Olaf was saying. "We'll go to that party at the headquarters and finish off the librarian as well as he foolish books. After that, it'll be easy to get rid of that whole organization."

"Won't that be fun?" commented the voice of a woman Lemony didn't recognize.

"We might as well go down to see if the prisoner will talk," Olaf said off-handedly. "Hooky, clean up when I'm done." There was a sound of somebody getting up out of a chair.

Meanwhile, the man with the hooks for hands was whining. "Why must I always clean up the knife? Let one of them do it; at least they have fingers!"

"No way, Fernie!" one of the powder-faced women bickered. "It'll mess up my makeup!"

Lemony heard more people get out of their chairs. He realized what would happen if they went downstairs and found that he wasn't still tied up like they left him. Still shaking with fear, he ran as fast as his bruised and bleeding body could take him and ran outside to his brother. Lemony leaned on Jacques' shoulder and together they stumbled behind a nearby building out of sight.

Jacques saw that his brother's wounds had begun to open up again. Tears sprung up in his eyes. "Don't worry," he whispered. "You'll be okay."

"Don't worry about me," said Lemony feebly. "Just warn..." he paused for breath. "Just warn... Her..." The wounds were just too much for Lemony Snickey as he passed out in his brother's arms.