"Lemony, Lemony Snicket." Lemony slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was sitting in on of the large arm chairs in the V.F.D. Library with a book in his lap. He looked up into the eyes of on of his closest friends, Count Olaf, and smiled.
"Olaf! What are you doing here?"
"We're leaving."
"Where to, and how? Not to mention why?" It was then that Lemony noticed something different about his friend's eyes. They were cold, anxious, evil and excited all at once.
"Never mind all that, I'll explain in the car. Now, go pack all of your things. It is two in the morning so no one should be awake. A girl once told me that the best time to sneak out is when everyone is asleep." Lemony stood up and stretched. He was suspicious about the instructions Olaf had given him but could think of no reason not to listen. He walked to the dormitories to pack his things.
"Aren't you ready yet?" Olaf asked when he came into Lemony's room.
"I only started packing," replied Lemony as he carefully placed a stack of papers containing evidence of a plot against V.F.D. into his suitcase. He went to his wardrobe, and pulled out all his clothes and began folding them and piling them into his suitcase. In a draw in the wardrobe there was a single item. A small blue box covered in velvet. He opened it to see a diamond engagement ring he had found beneath a pile of ashes on a small unknown island and had sworn to one day give to Beatrice.
Lemony packed his last item in his suitcase and zipped it shut. He picked it up and turned to his friend. "All right," he said. "Let's go." They walked out of VFD and were greeted by an old rusty car. In the front seat was a very fashionable woman. Lemony squinted. He knew he had seen her, if only once, and many years ago. She was the wife of an ex-VFD member named Jerome. Lemony had gone to their wedding, but that had been the last rime he had seenm either of them. Jerome quit VFD after he married so he did not need to come up with excuses everytime he had to go to the headquarters.
"I've always liked the name Sunny," Mrs. Baudalaire commented.
"I think we should give our child a more old-fashioned name. Sunny is too modern.," replied her husband. "Maybe Klaus." Another member of VFD silently offered everyone at the table pistachio nuts from a bag he often carried and looked back down at his designs of snow-melter.
"What if you have a girl?" asked Mr. Quagmire.
"Why don't you name it after one of you?" asked Beatrice.
"I think we should," agreed Mr. Baudalaire. "Klaus if it's a boy, and Violet if it's a girl." Mrs. Baudalaire nodded. "I can't believe we'll be leaving VFD."
"Someday we'll tell our children and they can join so we'll all live up here together." Just then Jauques Snicket entered from the dormitories looking worried.
"Anyone seen Lemony?" asked Jauques, looking particularily at Beatrice, who tended to know most of Lemony Snicket's whereabouts. But before he could answere, a man covered in snow walked in.
"Jerome! What are you doing here?" Cried everyone in the room in near unison.
"Normally I wouldn't come up here since I retired, hehe, but this is rather important. I tried to tell the police but they were rather busy, and you know how I hate to argue. I'm rather terrified of bears, but Esmè is missing and this is the only place I could think of."