Fast like zoom!
This chapter wound up longer than expected.
Death Note: Ohba Tsugumi + Obata Takeshi's
Series of Unfortunate Events: Lemony Snicket's
Neither belong to me. My disclaimer was cuter on dA because equal signs show up there.
The Baudelaires' next few days at The Wammy's House were very enjoyable. Through careful study, Violet and Klaus improving in class, though the Chinese lessons were still somewhat over their heads, a phrase which here means, "difficult for them to understand." All three children also made friends with a few of the other students, who proved to be intelligent, interesting people, even if some were slightly aloof. But the most enjoyable part of all was the fact that Olaf was nowhere to be seen, and furthermore, they were making so much progress in researching him.
"I feel like we're making so much progress in researching Olaf," Violet said one day over a lunch of grilled cheese.
"And even better, he's nowhere to be seen," Klaus added.
"Yay!" said Sunny. She probably meant something along the lines of, "Maybe we'll actually be safe here at The Wammy's House!"
Mello seemed pleased. "I'm glad I've been able to help you," he said. "I'm just sorry we haven't been able to find out where your friends are, but I have a plan to fix that. Do you know an archive is?"
Violet and Sunny glanced at Klaus, who knew many words from his reading. Klaus looked at Mello. "It's a place where a lot of information is stored," he defined, "especially information such as public records or historical documents."
"Correct," Mello said with a crisp nod. "And one section of our library is actually an archive of many, many recent newspaper articles. So since we haven't really had much luck finding information on the V.F.D., why don't we change tactics and try to find out where Olaf is—and where he's keeping your friends—by looking through some recent newspaper articles?"
"Shoy!" said Sunny. She meant something like, "That sounds like a great idea!"
Violet nodded. "Sammi is right, that does sound like a good idea. But we don't know how to use an archive."
"I can teach you. Let's go."
Mello led them out of the cafeteria and to the far corner of the library, where there were many tall file cabinets, each drawer labeled with a two- to five-letter abbreviation and a date. "This is our archive," Mello explained. "The columns are organized by which newspaper the articles are from, and the rows are organized by date. So if you want an article from the San Diego Union Tribune within the past week, you'd look for the abbreviation 'S.D.U.T.' and the dates from last Monday to today. Mind that the dates are a little disorganized, because these are updated weekly and things get moved around a lot. But once you find the drawer you need, just pull that drawer out and look through the articles inside." He demonstrated, finding the S.D.U.T. box with the correct dates and pulling a laminated piece of newspaper out of it, which he showed to the Baudelaires. "See? That easy. However, San Diego is a city in California, and you three don't exactly look like Californians, so you'll want to search through newspapers that are more specific to your area. Good luck."
"Aren't you going to look too?" Violet asked.
"I have one last thing I want to check on the computers," Mello responded. "I'm not sure how well it'll work, but it could prove to be quite informative. I'll tell you three how it goes."
"All right," said Sunny, and as Mello headed over to the computers, the Baudelaires looked at the tall stacks of file cabinets in front of them.
"Well, like Mello said, we should look for articles from newspapers that are printed in our area," Klaus said. "Let's see… T.T.… I think that stands for Tedia Times." He pulled out a drawer to check one of the articles.
"You're right," Violet noted. "We know Count Olaf has been in that area, so that's a good place to start.
"Just a second…" Klaus said, still looking through the abbreviations. "I remember that Father used to read a newspaper called Valorous Daily, and he said it was one of the best newspapers he'd ever seen. They don't seem to have it here, though."
"That's too bad," Violet sighed. "Oh, but here's the Lachrymose Ledger. Its name is written all the way out—they don't use an abbreviation. I wonder why not."
Sunny shrugged to indicate that she didn't know. "Yomou," she said, which probably meant, "Why don't you each take one and start reading?"
"Good idea, Sammi," Violet said. "Kristian, I'll look through the articles from the Ledger if you'll read Tedia Times. How far back do you think we should go?"
"Well, there's no need to read anything from before the In Auction, because we know where he was then," Klaus pointed out.
"O.K.," Violet said with a nod. "Let's start reading, then."
The Baudelaires started reading. Violet started with a Ledger article from the day after the In Auction. Klaus picked out a Times article from the previous day. (Fortunately, the archive had just been updated with the previous week's articles.) And Sunny wandered into the shelves to look for a book with pictures to look at. To her surprise, she found Near sitting very close by, playing with a set of Lego people. Though he looked momentarily alarmed at Sunny's approach, after observing her for a moment, he simply turned back to his toys, which upon closer examination proved to be cleverly decorated to resemble the Baudelaires.
"Wow!" Sunny commented, meaning, "These are very interesting! May I ask if you made them?"
"Do you like them?" Near asked, apparently not understanding what Sunny had said. "I decorated them myself."
Sunny picked up the one that was made to look like her. The most striking feature about the toy, as was the most striking feature of Sunny herself, was the mouth with four sharp teeth drawn in, though of course the real Sunny's were actually contained in her mouth and made of calcium, phosphorus, and other mineral salts, rather than drawn onto her face in pen.
"Dagik," she told Near. What she meant was, "These are incredible. I have to bring my siblings to see," but judging by the look on Near's face, it was unlikely he understood her. However, he didn't seem surprised when she started crawling back to the table where Violet and Klaus sat.
"Niham…" she said as she approached, which meant something like, "Come see what Near…" but she stopped mid-sentence because her siblings were having a conversation in low voices, and she knew it was very rude to interrupt people when they were talking.
"Maybe he just hasn't found any of that information," Klaus was saying. "It's possible."
"It is possible," Violet replied, "but it's not plausible. According to these articles, Olaf has been spotted in at least three different places, each time wanted for a different warrant. There could be even more warrants for his arrest out there, for different crimes—but Mello says he's found none of these. In fact, he hasn't told us anything he's found at all." She dropped her voice further. "If he's telling the truth, then he's not a very good researcher—but maybe he's not telling the truth."
"What reason would he have to lie?" Klaus asked. "He's helping us out, and he's certainly too young to be one of Count Olaf's assistants."
"Esme," Sunny pointed out, climbing onto a chair and joining the conversation. She did not have to explain that she meant, "Our last guardian, Esme, wasn't one of Olaf's assistants, but she was working with him."
Klaus sighed. "That's true," he admitted. "I suppose it is possible that he's been lying, but he's been so nice to us that it seems impossible to think he could be working with—" And then he stopped, because the very person they were discussing was approaching their table.
The Baudelaires exchanged a look and decided not to say anything about their suspicions, but to try to test them instead. "Did you learn anything from the thing you wanted to check on the computer?" Violet asked quickly.
Mello shook his head. "No," he replied, seeming glum. "I thought it really might work, but it didn't help at all."
"What was it that you wanted to check?" Klaus pressed.
"Doesn't matter," Mello replied offhandedly. "It didn't work. What about your information?" As he spoke, he unwrapped a bar of chocolate and began to eat it. The Baudelaires had learned in the past few days that Mello ate chocolate almost as often as Mr. Poe coughed. "Did you find out anything about where Olaf might be keeping your friends?"
Violet picked up one of the Ledger articles to show him. "This says he was spotted near the Stricken Stream recently," she said. "A young couple, who were having a picnic by the stream, spotted him and called the police because he matched the warrant for a hit-and-run accident a few weeks ago."
"And yesterday," Klaus added at once, "there were two sightings of him in the Hinterlands. Both people called the police because they'd seen a man who matched the warrant for a man who has robbed several houses recently."
As the two older Baudelaires spoke, all three Baudelaires watched Mello's face to see how he would respond to the news of these warrants. But he seemed neither surprised to hear of them nor alarmed that the Baudelaires had; it was impossible for them to figure anything out from his expression. So, Sunny decided to take action. In a determined motion, she leaned forward, sank her four sharp teeth into Mello's chocolate bar, and bit off a piece with a snap.
"Sammi!" Violet gasped. "Don't do that!"
"Expretest," Sunny replied indignantly, her tiny eyes on Mello's face.
"I'm so sorry. My sister apologizes," Klaus told Mello, although in fact Sunny had not apologized at all, and Klaus knew it. She had actually told her siblings to watch Mello's face; often, when Count Olaf or any other villain suddenly became angry, his or her face would reflect his or her furor briefly before he or she could control it.
In Mello's case, however, after he blinked away surprise, he merely smiled an easy smile. "If you wanted some chocolate, why didn't you just ask?"
At that friendly expression, the Baudelaires' suspicions were alleviated slightly. No one working for Count Olaf would ever be generous enough to share his favorite food so readily. They concluded that he may not have been the best researcher, but Mello didn't seem to be hiding anything from them.
They were, of course, completely wrong.
-----Ten minutes later
"Welcome, Mello." L greeted the boy through a spoonful of his fudge sundae. "What have you learned today?"
"Well, first of all, if the reporters are right, Count Olaf is nowhere near Wammy's House," Mello said. "Based on the quality of journalism in that area, I would tend towards caution in believing them, but there were apparently two sightings of him yesterday in the Hinter—"
Just then, the attic door opened, and Mello turned back to look. It was, of course, Near; Mello glared at him for a moment while the white-haired boy calmly took a seat on the floor and pulled out a set of Lego people, which upon closer examination proved to be cleverly decorated to resemble the Baudelaires. Then the blond straightened his back and resumed haughtily: "In the Hinterlands. Also," he emphasized the word, making it clear that this was the crux of his information, "regarding the V.F.D. organization that they mentioned a little while ago, it seems that many of their previous guardians have had a connection to it somehow. Dr. Montgomery and the dead husband of Josephine Anwhistle were both important researchers for the organization; the lumber mill where they once worked supplies their famous 'green timber' for many V.F.D. building projects and homes. Even Esme Gigi Genevieve Squalor and Count Olaf himself were once part of the V.F.D., but after a great schism in the organization, they turned to a life of 'in' clothing and crime. In fact, the V.F.D. is avidly seeking Olaf right now because of his many crimes."
"Furthermore," Near added once it seemed like Mello was finished, "their parents were once members of the V.F.D."
Mello shut his mouth tight instantly and flushed slightly as he glared at Near. It was quite apparent that Mello had not even thought of that possibility.
With dignity, ignoring Mello's glare, Near said, "It may call itself a secret organization, but it seems to be closer to a cult. Secrecy is mandatory, codes are prevalent, and membership is selective and hereditary. They are very difficult to research because they are largely self-contained, but by watching a few of the movies of Dr. Sebald, hailed as the greatest coded director of all time, I was able to glean some information regarding their actions. Unfortunately, I do not think any of it was recent."
Mello had gone from glaring at Near with a slight flush to glaring off to the side with a very noticeable flush. Watching the two of them, L took another bite of his ice cream and said, "Thank you both very much. This information will be valuable. I feel we have made a great deal of progress in researching Count Olaf." He put his thumb to his mouth. "Unfortunately, he's nowhere to be seen."
"Yeah, the Hinterlands are about as far away as you can get," Mello said with a grimace. "But I don't know how we could draw him any closer."
L was silent for a moment, before saying offhandedly, "You may both go."
The children looked at the screen, surprised by the sudden dismissal, but they turned to leave without question. As Mello started down the stairs, Near warned him quietly, "You should be careful. The Baudelaires are becoming suspicious."
"Shut up! Quit eavesdropping!" the blond retorted. The sound of their bickering was cut short as the soundproof door swung shut.
L thought for a moment. "Watari…"
"Yes, L?"
"Drop Olivia a hint, will you?"
Please don't freak out. XD; All will be explained, I swear.