Review Responses to all my loyal readers (wow! I have loyal readers?! I never thought I'd have any of those when I started!)

Visualpurple: Ha! You wish!

Ophelia Russel: Well, I think she's dead, but there's always a possibility, isn't there? I'm always trying to be careful to keep my characters "in character". That has been hard at times, but now that the numbers are… decreasing, let's say, It is easier to keep track now.

Aurora Black Rose: Right on the mark! Read this chapter anyway, okay?

C-C Krystal: Do you mind me using that nickname? I'm too lazy to type your entire name… ANYWAY… Well, as you'll see, they might not get the chance. Remember that they never told Lemony about any of this. What will this event have on poor Lemony's life?

Chapter 27: Five down… Or is it three?

"Fine… okay…" Mrs. Sarah Baudelaire was on the phone speaking quietly just in case Violet, Klaus, or even little Sunny overheard her conversation with Samantha Quagmire. It wasn't just that she couldn't let them know about her secrets and VFD, at least not yet; she also didn't want them to be worried about her.

The footsteps in the hallway grew louder, so she removed her anxious look and replaced it with one of artificial cheerfulness just as her three children ran happily into view. She handed the eldest, Violet, a small towel while she pressed the phone receiver to her chest. "Violet, take a pound or two from the jar on the table for the trolley and take this towel, just in case Klaus falls into the water again this time," she instructed hurriedly.

"Who's on the phone, mother?" asked Klaus, staring at the muffled phone receiver.

"Oh, this?" Mrs. Baudelaire. "It's just my friend from work. It's about the… uh… business trip we're going on with your father."

"Worer?" asked little Sunny, who, as a baby, was still trying to talk in a manner people could understand. By this, she probably meant, "Where are you going?", but Mrs. Baudelaire only lovingly patted her youngest daughter's head and continued giving Violet hurried instructions.

"The trolley leaves in five minutes, so you had better hurry." She handed Violet three more objects. "Here's a magnifying glass for Klaus if he wants to look at the tide pools, another ribbon for your hair, just in case yours blows away again, okay, Violet?" Violet nodded again as her mother pointed to the last object in her hand: a small ceramic cube.

"Make sure to give this to Sunny to bite. I know she likes to bite the driftwood at the beach, but it just isn't hygienic. Your father and I will probably be gone by the time you get back, so Violet's in charge until the babysitter gets here.

A gut feeling is an expression used to describe something, like a hunch, that someone feels without necessarily having concrete evidence to support it. These vague suspicions have a tendency to gnaw at somebody, despite their attempts to push it aside. Both Violet and Sunny felt that their mother was rather nervous, but they thought it was just about the business trip she had mentioned earlier. Klaus, however, had a gut feeling that something else was behind it. But he shrugged it off, and gave his mother a quick hug before following his sisters out the door.

"I'll see you in a bit, Samantha," Sarah said, once again picking up the phone.

"Okay," the crackly voice of Mrs. Quagmire replied, as Sarah hung up the phone and walked back to the living room where her husband, Dorian, was finishing packing their luggage.

"I hate lying to them, Dorian," Sarah said.

Dorian sighed and walked up behind Sarah and lovingly put his hands on her shoulders. "It's too dangerous for them to know about VFD. More people are leaving the organization and joining Olaf. Arson is rising and there are fewer of us around to help fight the fires. Now they're beginning to kill the rest of us off. By telling the children, we might put them in danger."

"But it still makes me feel dishonest," replied Sarah uneasily.

Dorian reassuringly gave her a hug. "Don't worry," he whispered in her ear. "As soon as we stop Olaf and help Lemony, we'll tell them everything." He continued hugging her for a minute more until Sarah cocked her head.

Dorian noticed his wife's sudden alertness and asked her, "What is it? Is Kit here to pick us up?" He soon noticed a slow, hissing sound coming from one of the doors to the outside.

"What is that?" murmured Sarah Baudelaire almost to herself, but soon they both had a gut feeling about what it was, even though they were afraid to say it out loud.

"Sleeping gas," said Dorian, as he began to already feel the effects of the powerful gas. His legs seemed to turn to lead, and although he tried to fight it, he sank to the floor. He looked to his wife, who was already on the floor, as helpless as he was. Poor Sarah looked back at him as the room around her began to spin. Her thoughts were turning thick, like wading in caramel. She had a gut feeling that Olaf was somehow behind this, but she wondered how Olaf knew that they were about to hunt him down themselves.

Her last conscious thought that came to her slowly fading mind was a fleeting hope that Violet would take care of her brother and sister. The last thing that came to her senses was, to her horror, the growing smell of smoke.

A/N: I've been running around school and my house yelling, "I like killing characters! I am GOD!!!!" I think my friends are scared of me now…