Begin!

~Normal POV

"So where do you guys live?"

"We live on a big estate with our whole family," Sam answered, "What about you guys?"

"We're all from different floors of the Dark Avenue apartment building," Lily said.

"Our parents have friends who live in the penthouse suite on Dark Avenue," Nikki explained, "Their names are Jerome and Charles Squalor and they're super nice when they visit. And they have a surrogate daughter named Hannah, she's cool."

"Your parents are friends with the Squalors," Drake said quizzically, "I've met them, they're really nice."

"What are your parents like," Lily asked.

Nikki smiled, "Well my mom's name is Violet, and my dad's name is Duncan. Duncan is the oldest of a set of triplets and my mom has two younger siblings."

Lizzie pointed to Nikki, "Her mom is my dad's older sister by two years; his name is Klaus. And my mom is Duncan's triplet sister Isadora."

"And my dad is Duncan and Isadora's triplet brother Quigley, and my mom is an old friend of theirs from back in the day named Fiona."

Drake, Lucas, and Lily shared shocked looks at this information.

"So... your dad married his sister-in-law?"

"Well yeah, they fell in love at the same time Uncle Duncan and Aunt Violet did," Lizzie answered, "They met the same way too; they went to school together."

"Oh, I wasn't judging," Lucas said, "I mean I have two moms; their names are Diana and Shelly."

"You have two moms? You're lucky," Drake commented, "I only have one; her name is Katherine. My dad walked out on us when I was a baby."

"My moms said I was a 'donation' which is why I don't have a dad. I'm not sure what that means though."

Nikki shrugged, "Maybe it's a grown-up thing."

"What about you Lily," Sam asked, "What's your family like?"

"I live with my mom and dad; their names are Nick and Natasha."

Their conversation was once again interrupted by the sound of a loud door slamming nearby. The two sets of kids quickly moved apart to avoid arousing suspicion in the guards. There was a chance that their captors might separate them if they were caught talking, and none of them wanted to take that chance. Another masked man came down the hall dragging two small blond boys behind him. He shoved them into a cage across from theirs and walked off without a second glance at the other kids. The two new boys quickly noticed the others. The two were obviously twins. Once the door was closed, one of the boys spoke up.

"You guys got captured too?"

"Yeah we did," Nikki answered, "Were you able to see where we are?"

"They took us through a secret passage," He said, "We're inside the Mortmain Mountains."

"Well, at least we know where we are," Lizzie said.

The other blond boy spoke this time, "You there, the girl with the glasses, I just wanted to say you'd be really cute if you got contacts."

Lizzie looked down and adjusted her glasses self-consciously. Despite her father and her Aunt Fiona wearing glasses, she was actually quite sensitive to the fact that she needed them. Many boys at school teased her about it; she wasn't sure why. Nikki and Sam always stood up for her though. And it would appear that this time was no different.

"Don't talk to our cousin like that," Sam warned glaring at the rude boy.

"She's perfectly fine the way she is," Nikki added with a reassuring smile.

The boy rolled his eyes, "Glasses are for dorks that spend too much time reading. Besides, you'll never get a boyfriend if you have them."

Sam was now enraged, "Hey my mom wears glasses you jerk!" Sam loved his mother dearly and hated to hear her insulted, even indirectly.

"And her dad wears glasses and he's the smartest guy in the whole world!"

The boy was about to retaliate when they were again interrupted by a guard returning. The guard opened the cage and grabbed the rude boy who had insulted Lizzie and dragged him away while he was fighting to escape. His twin could only watch as his brother was taken from him.

Once the guard was gone, Lily spoke this time, "Did you happen to see where they take the kids when they pull them out of the cages?"

The boy frowned and nodded, "There's a door they take them into just a bit away from here in another tunnel. I heard the guards say something about it as we were brought in. I think they said, 'we'll make fire-starters out of these kids in no time with Dr. Orwell's old machinery.'"

Nikki, Lizzie, and Sam felt their stomachs churn at the name. Dr. Orwell was a villain from their family's past. She was an optometrist who used hypnosis to get her patients to do her evil bidding. They had been told the horror of what it was like when Lizzie's father had been put under her evil trick, and they knew it was something to be feared.

"Is... is my brother going to come back," The boy asked fearfully.

"Well, whenever they take someone... they don't come back," Drake answered solemnly.

He swallowed before saying, "I'm sorry he was rude to you."

The boy curled up on the floor of his cage and turned away from them without another word.

There was a short silence before Lucas spoke up, "Ahem, Lizzie?"

She looked at him, "Yeah?"

Lucas was avoiding eye contact with her as he softly replied, "I think your glasses are quite fetching."

The compliment made Lizzie smile shyly and mutter a quiet 'thank you' for his kind words. Nikki, Sam, Drake, and Lily all smiled at that. During the next few silent moments, Nikki, Lizzie, and Sam contemplated the information given about their captors.

On the one hand, they should tell the other kids what's really happening here. But there was a problem: their family. They had been told everything about their family's rather troubled history from the fire that burned down the Quagmire mansion, to the one that destroyed the Baudelaire mansion, and everything that happened afterwards. But when they were told all this information they were warned that this was a family-only matter. Their family members were no longer involved with the secret organization known as V.F.D., with the exception of Fiona's stepfather Captain Widdershins; who is still an active volunteer. Should they break their parents' trust and warn their new friends about the horrors of Dr. Georgina Orwell? It was a decision none of them wanted to consider.

But on the other hand, Dr. Orwell was dead, and had been for quite some time. They had been told that she died by backing into a lumber mill saw-blade during a sword fight with their Aunt Sunny; who had only used her sharp teeth against a fully grown woman with a cane sword. It was an incredibly gruesome way to go, and her body was clearly seen by several witnesses confirming her demise. How did these people have her hypnotism technology? And more importantly how did they know how to use it? Klaus had explained that during the procedure, the tool had looked like a normal eye examine machine, the suspicious part was when she tied him down to the chair before turning it on. The thought that someone else had such horrible tools at their disposal, and was using them on children, was enough to give anyone nightmares for days.

With that thought in mind, the Quagmire/Baudelaire cousins opted to remain silent about what was happening here. They could only hope, and pray, that Aunt Sunny and Auntie Beatrice would come find them as quickly as possible. And hope that their new friends wouldn't suffer the same fate as the other kids.

The last thing they wanted was to be turned into fire-starters against their wills.

~End of Chapter

I love showing bonding time with their new friends. :)