The ride to Lucky Smells Lumbermill is bumpy and longer than the children thought it would be.
"I hope Mr. Poe isn't too worried about us," Violet whispers, not wanting the driver to hear her.
Sunny, Klaus, and Y/N look at her bewildered.
"Good point..." Violet sighs.
Klaus and Y/N go back to looking at the photograph Y/N took from Josephine's library.
"What the gum?" the truck driver suddenly says, catching the attention of Y/N and Klaus. "Get a job, hitchhikers!" he says, stopping the truck to let the children out.
"It shouldn't be too far from here," Y/N says. "Let's just take a nice walk through the woods."
After several minutes of walking, Klaus holds up the photograph to the place in front of them. Violet and Y/N look at the boy and each other worriedly, then back to the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. Everything around the mill is burned to the ground.
"How do we get in?" Klaus asks.
"I could probably invent a catapult to get us over," Violet suggests.
"Uh, guys. We could just go in," Y/N says, gently pushing the door open with ease.
"Does this make us trespassers?" Klaus asks, pointing at the sign.
"We're children. If we get caught we can just say we were on a school trip," Violet walks in, holding Sunny.
"So um, what exactly are we looking for?" Y/N asks, following Violet in.
"I guess, we'll know it when we see it," Klaus shrugs.
"I think we are in the right place, though," Violet says.
"Or the very, very wrong place," Y/N turns the corner.
"It could just be a coincidence," Violet remains positive, seeing the giant eye-shaped building.
"Or it could be Count Olaf," Klaus sighs. "Maybe we should leave."
A hand suddenly touches Klaus's shoulder. He yelps, causing the other children to yelp as well. They are greeted by a man, who was also startled by all the commotion he created.
"Oh, you're just children. I thought you were trespassers," the man sighs.
"They're not mutually-" Klaus starts.
"We're on a school trip," Violet cuts him off.
"Well I run this mill and it is hardly a safe place for children. I'm Charles."
"Do you recognize any of these people?" Y/N holds the picture up to him.
Upon inspecting the picture, his eyes widen. "Uh, I think you better come meet my partner."
They follow Charles, asking questions along the way.
"Do you know what happened to the town over there?" Violet asks.
"Oh, it's sad, isn't it? Pultryville used to be booming. Then one day, the whole town burned down in a terrible fire. Luckily, the lumber mill survived, and the eye-shaped building, which actually belongs to...oh we are here," Charles explains, stopping himself short. "Children, I would like you to meet...," Charles opens the door.
"Call me Sir. Everyone calls me that because I want them to, I'm the boss," the man turns around with a cigar. "You know what we do to trespassers, don't you Charles?"
"But, they are only children," Charles looks surprised.
"Nonsense, it'll teach them responsibility," Sir rolls his eyes.
"If we work here, do we get to stay here?" Violet asks.
"Get to?" Klaus raises his eyebrows, looking at his sister.
"See, this girl gets it," Sir says. "What's your name girl?"
"Violet...Baudelaire."
"Baudelaire?" Sir sputters out, surprised.
"Wait, you know that name?" Klaus asks.
"Everyone in Paltryville knows the name Baudelaire."
"You know our parents??" Violet asks eagerly.
"Your parents are the ones that burnt our town down," Sir says bitterly.
"Our parents did what?" Klaus asks in disbelief.
"You heard me! Now what are you still doing standing around? You got work in the morning," Sir ushers them away.
The children go to the workers' dorms, pondering what they heard. They stick to themselves, mostly because the other workers don't want anything to do with them.
"Did you hear about the new workers?" one employee says. "They're Baudelaire's," she scowls.
"I hear their folks were arsonists," another says.
"I never believed those rumors anyway," a man enters. "So, where are your parents now?" he sits beside the children.
"We're orphans," Klaus says quietly.
"Lucky you! The unsupervised life. No rules, no curfews," the man starts.
"Lights out, two seconds," Sir interrupts over the PA.
"But, it's only six o'clock," Y/N says confused.
"Oh boy, more time for dreaming," the man chuckles. "I'm Phil, and I am excited to work with you kids."
"Thank you. I'm Y/N," she introduces.
"And I'm Klaus, and these are my sisters, Violet and Sunny," Klaus follows.
"Listen, I know things seem dark, but you have to look on the bright side. You don't have to be like your parents! My parents were Olympic athletes, and look at me? I work in a lumber mill," Phil laughs. "Here are your welcome packages," he says, then leaves them.
"Look," Violet says, looking through a map of the mill, "the mill has a library. Maybe you and Y/N can research what happened here and clear our parents' names."
"That eye looking building is an optometrists office," Y/N says.
"Father said he didn't trust those," Klaus thinks.
"What would an optometrist's office have to do with Count Olaf?" Violet asks. "Maybe Phil was right, maybe we just have to look on the bright side. This mill may be miserable, but since we got here, we haven't seen Count Olaf once. What if we finally found a place where Count Olaf can't find us?"
With that, Violet gets into her bunk with Sunny.
"Do you think what they said about my parents is true?" Klaus asks Y/N.
"Well, um, I never knew them. But from everything I've heard from before this, I can't imagine it," Y/N smiles a little.
"Then we have to get out of here," Klaus says.
"What? I thought you wanted answers?" Y/N scrunches her face confused.
"I guess ... .but what about you? You've been helping us all this time, but what about your parents?" Klaus looks at her.
"What do you mean?" Y/N asks. "I told you when we first met that my parents died in a fire when I was younger."
"You said you had a brother didn't you? What about him?" Klaus pushes.
"I don't know. It happened so long ago, but I just recall Olaf sending him to some school. I don't even know the name of it. I've lost hope of finding him a long time ago," Y/N shrugs sadly.
"Don't worry, I will make sure we find him," Klaus reassures her.
"It's okay, Klaus. Really, don't worry about it," she smiles sadly.
"But, it's you. And your happiness matters," Klaus gently takes her hand in his.
Y/N's heart swells with the tiniest amount of joy she can muster. She nods a little, and gives his hand a small squeeze before letting it go. They then try to drift off to sleep.
