AS I SIT HERE LISTENING TO THE ASOUE SOUNDTRACK: IT'S RESPONSE TIME!
Aurora BlackRose – Heh. Why do I need to write any more? You already wrote the whole book for me! Poor duck… Put the duck down, and I'll update.
Ophelia Russel – Oh, you like it? I'm glad. Poor Jacques. I'd die if I ever had to tell that to my sister or any of my friends.
Visual Purple – eep. Right away ma'am.
Bellatrix Lestrange9 - pats shoulder There, there… He had to find out sometime.
Crystal-Clear Krystal – Yup, trouble, and more of it is coming in the next chapter after this one, just you see!
Chapter 26: Romeo's Exile, Benvolio's Initiative?
Despite his brother's comforting words, Lemony was inconsolable. He stayed in his cabin all day, didn't eat his meals, and wouldn't talk to anybody. All that was going through his head was why she died and what, if anything, he could've done to save her. And no matter how hard he tried to drive it from his mind, the dreadful question kept coming back. Did she really love me?
Jacques was also sad, not only for the pain his brother was going through, but also for the loss of his good friend. He was still awaiting news from Kit and Samantha on the condition of the file. It had indeed been hidden in the library, but was thankfully in a safe that they were confident was fire proof. However, the file was far from his thoughts. Instead, he thought mostly about Lemony.
Every day, he went by Lemony's cabin to try to get him to talk to him or even eat a meal, but every day on that long Atlantic passage aboard the Prospero, he would end up giving up and leaving the tray of hot food in the cabin, and every day, he would come back to check on his brother, only to find that just a few bites of the long cold food was gone.
Luckily, by the time the ship reached American soil and the two brothers snuck into New York City by way of fake ID's, Lemony had cheered up considerably. Granted, he was still listless and depressed, but at least he could hold a conversation and eat a decent meal with his brother. The seemingly endless land of rickety cars and a few horse-drawn carriages, it seemed to Jacques, was the perfect cure for Lemony's depression.
Lemony also thought that New York was the perfect place for him, as well as the new reclusive spirit that had emerged in him since Beatrice's death. Jacques and their friend, the Dutchess of Winnipeg, had arranged for him to spend his exile in a small one-room apartment in one of the less crowded parts of town. It was rather shabby, but it felt like home nonetheless. He would be able to walk the crowded streets completely unnoticed and spend hours sitting quietly and writing in his favorite café. He would often think long and hard there, pining away for his lost love and wondering what, if anything, he could do to make sure that Olaf never did anything like that again.
But he felt so helpless and useless; so far away from his country and VFD. He was not allowed to communicate with his friends or siblings, except by carrier pigeon, which made him feel almost completely alienated and unwanted.
Back at VFD, however, Lemony was far from unwanted. Although he was still in exile and wanted for arson, rumors began spreading through the organization like wildfire, and now Olaf was finally under suspicion for starting all the fires, even though he was long gone by then. Many people knew about Beatrice and Lemony's budding romance. Why on earth, they wondered, would Lemony want to kill his love?
The Baudelaire and Quagmire parents, as well as Kit Snicket, now could no longer get a moment to themselves, because it always seemed like they were always being watched by members desperate to find evidence to prove Lemony's innocence or guilt. Sometimes they would be able to get alone together on one of Kit's submarines or on the slopes of Mount Fraught. Their children were getting older, so they were no longer able to meet without them becoming suspicious, especially Duncan and Klaus. It would be hard to get anything by them, since Klaus, who was becoming one of the most proficient child researchers in the world, seemed to notice everything, even the secret books in the Baudelaire library. Because of him, Dorian and Sarah had to move those books in different shelves every week, so he wouldn't find the VFD handbook. Duncan, as well, seemed to always be in the library and finding out more and more about his parents. One false step, one wrong word, would no doubt expose Daniel and Samantha to the budding young reporter.
But at those few brief meetings, they realized that even if the organization realized that it was indeed Olaf who set all the fires, it would take them too long to do anything about it. All of them missed Lemony and wanted to save him and his reputation.
They had to bring Olaf to justice, even if it meant doing it themselves.
Okay, you puppets! Listen up! From now on, I shall be informing you of the progress of the next chapter on my author page thingy. I'll be telling you by means of page numbers, k? I'll write on there how many pages are done, so you can see how busy I've been! In my notebook, this chapter was about 4 pages, and that's the average length. So you'll see a note of how many pages I've done so far.