*Klaus' POV*
We eyed the optometrist's office uncertainly. This was our last chance to turn back, not that I would take it. I watched inside the windows as I led us over to a ladder on the side of the building. It was very creaky, so I had to lower it slowly. We got up to the balcony and felt along the windows, looking for a spot that would open. The middle of the biggest eye window, the one in front, opened and we carefully walked inside. I barely remembered what the room looked like, so I was looking around almost as much as everyone else was.
"I'm so sorry to keep you waiting!" Orwell said from the stairwell to the first floor. We quickly climbed up a nearby set of stairs to a small landing of doors upstairs and tried to stay still and quiet. "Partner trouble, am I right? I heard you've been dealing with that a lot recently, huh, Charles?" She took the phoropter away from his face and Charles seemed to stare blankly.
"Yes, Sir." He said robotically. 'That's what I sound like when I'm hypnotized?? That's scary...' I thought.
"She has Charles..." Violet whispered sadly.
"Now, Charles, would you like to look at the screen and tell me what you see?" She said, and a picture of the five of us, gotten from a copy of the Daily Punctilio, flashed on the screen.
"Orphans."
"Dangerous orphans," She corrected. "Don't you agree you and your partner would be much happier without them around?"
"We could finally be happy without those orphans around."
"You will awaken from your trance when I say the word-"
"Charles!" Count Olaf, or Shirley as I'm told, said from across the room. "Would you like to do your impersonation of a chicken?" Which Charles began doing so.
"I told you to stay in the waiting room!"
"Did you? I must've forgotten."
"Oh did you? Charles, would you like to stop?" Orwell asked, and Charles stopped clucking.
"That dress isn't flattering, I'm afraid." I whispered jokingly. They all tried to conceal their giggles.
"We should hide before they see us," Violet whispered to us.
"No, wait."
"But I really want to practice saying the secret words!" Shirley insisted.
"Why? So you could take over and you won't need me anymore?"
"Someone has trust issues!"
"Of course I do! I dated you and you ran off with my valuables and left me to drown!"
"I thought that was all water under the bridge!"
"That's where you left me!!!"
"'Secret words'?" Izzie repeated softly as the two bickered.
"According to the Encyclopedia Hypnotica, a hypnotist chooses one word to induce hypnotic suggestion, and another one to break it." I explained.
"Charles, would you tell Dr, Orwell to stop bringing up the past?" Shirley asked.
"Stop bringing up the past."
"Charles, would you tell Count Olaf to stop talking in that voice??" Orwell shot back.
"Stop talking in that voice."
"You drank all my wine!"
"You poisoned my coffee!"
"You tried to hypnotize me!"
"It was the only way I could shut you up!!!"
A floorboard creaked beside me, interrupting their argument. Izzie clamped her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry..." She whispered to us.
"What was that?!"
"There's nothing up there."
"If there's nothing up there, then what was that noise?"
Olaf began climbing the stairs and we moved as quickly and quietly to the nearest closet. We sat, huddled up on the floor, hoping that he wouldn't think to check these closets. We heard his shoes walk by, but he didn't stop. He turned back around, however, and tried to wiggle the doorknob. It didn't open though, and I was grateful for the bit of good fortune. When we heard the footsteps recede, we began to look around the room.
"Guys, look at this..." Izzie whispered, holding up a paper that looked like a page that fell from a book. It had a familiar object on the page.
"Can I have the spyglass, Izzie?" I asked, and she handed it to me. I looked at the page, squinting at it in the semi-darkness. I turned a few dials, and flipped open the cap and the spyglass turned into a flashlight. I quickly looked at the page to see if there was a way to turn down the brightness of the light and turned a dial accordingly.
"That's better..." I smiled. "Put that in your pocket, there's a few different uses for this that it lists." Izzie complied and I shined the light around the small room. There was a box on the floor labeled "Lucky Smells" that I crawled over to and opened.
"What are those, Klaus?" Duncan whispered.
"They're records..." I answered. "Medical records... For Lucky Smells employee eye exams... The whole mill's been hypnotized."
YOU ARE READING
Family Comes First- ASOUE
Fanfiction"Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what." Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire were intel...
