Klaus walks to Dr. Orwell's office, determined to set things straight. A hand suddenly laces their fingers with his, stopping him in his tracks. He looks at the person, expecting them to stop him.
"Let's go on. Together," Y/N smiles.
Klaus returns the smile. Violet joins them and the children make the dreadful walk. Upon arriving at the' eye building, they all look at each other. Worry crosses each of their faces.
Klaus pulls down the metal stairs on the fire escape so that they can sneak in without being seen. They enter quietly, noticing Charles sitting in the chair.
"They got Charles," Violet whispers.
"Now, Charles, look at this screen and tell me what you see," Dr. Orwell says.
"Orphans," he stares blankly at pictures of the children.
"Dangerous orphans," Dr. Orwell corrects. "Charles, don't you think your partner and you would be a lot happier without these orphans around?"
"We could finally be happy without those orphans around," Charles answers.
"She's hypnotizing him," Klaus whispers, eyebrows furrowed.
"You will awaken from your trance when I say the word-" Dr. Orwell starts.
"Charles, would you like to do your impersonation of a chicken?" Olaf asks in his girly voice.
"I told you to wait in the waiting room," Dr. Owell snaps over Charles clucking like a chicken.
"That's Shirley?" Klaus asks.
"We should go before she sees us," Violet whispers.
"Wait," Y/N stops them.
"I really wanna practice saying the secret words," Shirley begs.
"Why? So you could take over and won't need me anymore?" Dr. Orwell sasses. "Charles, would you like to stop that?" she stops the clucking.
"Someone has trust issues!" Shirley, or Olaf, gasps.
"Of course I do. I dated you!"
"Secret words?" Violet ponders.
"According to the Encyclopedia Hypnotical, a hypnotist chooses one word to induce hypnotic suggestion, and another one to break it," Klaus explains quietly overtop of Shirley and Dr. Orwell bickering.
"Charles, would you tell Dr. Orwell to stop bringing up the past?" Shirley asks.
"Stop bringing up the past," Charles looks at Dr. Orwell.
"Charles, would you tell Count Olaf to stop talking in that voice," Dr. Orwell demands.
"Stop talking in that voice," Charles complies.
"You drank all of my wine," Olaf's normal, shrewd voice comes out.
"You poisoned my coffee," Dr. Orwell brings up.
"You tried to hypnotize me!"
"It was the only way to shut you up!" she snaps back.
Olaf opens his mouth to yell back, but suddenly the floors where the children are standing creak.
"What was that?" Olaf looks up.
"There is nothing up there," Dr. Orwell rolls her eyes.
"If there is nothing up there, then what made that noise?" Olaf starts up the stairs.
Y/N grabs Klaus's hand, gently pulling him into a closet quickly, along with Violet and Sunny. The children hold their breath as they listen to Olaf's heels walk closer to the door. They see his shadow stop in front of them. Olaf jiggles the locked door knob aggressively before giving up.
The children let out their breath as they hear his footsteps receding. Y/N glances behind her and gasps, startling the others.
"Nothing to be afraid of," Klaus stutters, looking at the skeletons.
"Right, I'm sure many doctors have skeletons to study anatomy," Y/N nods a little.
"But Dr. Orwell is an eye doctor. Skeletons don't have eyes," Violet reminds them.
Y/N crawls behind the skeletons to the shelves they are in front of. Opening a box, she flips through pages, "Look. Its records. I don't think Klaus and Charles were the only victims of Dr. Orwell's hypnosis. I think it's the entire mill," she looks at the Baudelaire's.
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"That's why they never leave," Klaus realizes once they are safely out of the eye doctor's office. "And why they are happy to work for coupons and gum."
"It's probably why they think your parents started that fire," Y/N mentions.
"We need to figure out the word that breaks the trance," Violet says.
"We can use the library," Y/N suggests.
"We might not need the library. After Phil's accident, do you remember the word that brought me back to normal?" Klaus asks.
"I...can't remember," Violet looks at Y/N.
"I can't either," she shrugs.
The children stop at the entrance to the mill, looking at the giant doors with heavy hearts.
"We don't have to go back. We can run away," Violet reminds them.
"What if Count Olaf finds us again?" Y/N asks.
"We'll protect each other," Klaus says.
"How will we protect each other if one of us is in a hypnotic trance?" she reasons. "And we would be abandoning those workers. They're victims of Dr. Orwell too."
"Our parents wanted us to be safe," Violet says.
"We don't know what they wanted. Not anymore," Klaus frowns. "We don't know why they were in Paultryville. We don't know why there were so many things they never told us. But we do know how we remember them. And the parents I remember would have wanted us to help."
"Then we go back," Violet takes a deep breath, nodding.
"Trying to run away, ya?" Sir opens the doors. He takes them into his office. "I'm not an idiot. I've been trying to figure out what to do with you since you caused that accident that crushed a mans debarker dispenser. Now, you wanna hear the good news, or the bad news first?"
"The...the bad news," Klaus shrugs.
"There's a local receptionist who wants children of her own. You make one more mistake, and I'm gonna be forced to sack you and send you to live with her. I've interviewed her about her parenting methods, and...I can vouch for her fully."
"You can't send us to live with Shirley," Y/N says quickly.
"And Klaus wasn't responsible for that accident. He was hypnotized just like the rest of the workers here," Violet explains.
"I don't care what my employees do for a hobby," Sir holds his hands up.
"Do you even know what's going on at this mill?" Klaus narrows his eyes.
"Don't ask, don't tell. That's my motto," Sir says simply.
"What's the good news?" Y/N asks.
"It will build character. I was willing to forgive the accident. You four are an economic bananza and I'm a softie at heart. But my partner convinced me that I need to be a little more inflexible. Isn't that right Charles?" Sir turns around in his chair.
"We'll finally be happy without those orphans around," a dazed Charles walks in.
The children all leave after their delightful conversation.
"That's just something people say when they're trying to make others accept a miserable situation," Klaus explains.
"It is miserable," Violet sighs.
"If we can't find the word to break your hypnosis, you could cause another accident, and we'd be in the hands of Count Olaf," Y/N reminds them. "I don't want you to go away again," she stops walking and looks at Klaus.
"I know, I don't want to go away again either."
