"I'm sorry I fainted," Hector greets the children. "The council of elders is just so scary, they always make me woozy. But, I'm excited you're staying with me. I've never been a guardian. If there's anything you need, just let me know".
"Thanks, Hector. We really need your help," Violet smiles.
"The new chief of police is the girlfriend of who kidnapped my brother and friends," Y/N gets to the point.
"Are you trying to make my day more scary?" Hector asks, stumbling back slightly.
"Are you getting ready to faint again?" Klaus questions.
"No, I'm getting ready to run. We should all take off in different directions, and not stop till we're miles and miles away," Hector breathlessly says.
"We came here to find my brother and friends," Y/N flares her nostrils.
"Our only clue is VFD, but don't even know what it stands before," Klaus sighs.
"Village of Fowl Devotees," Hector explains. "Here, I want to show you something," he enters his heavily locked shed once arriving home.
"What is it?" Klaus asks in awe.
"It's a self-sustaining hot air mobile home," Hector grins. "And it's our ticket out of this town. Don't you want to escape your sad story?"
"Maybe once we find our friends and Y/N's brother," Klaus says.
"And when Count Olaf is behind bars," Y/N mentions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What is this?" Y/N asks, a small piece of paper landing on her lap during breakfast.
The Baudelaires and Lela have been in the town for a few days now, trying to get used to doing chores for everyone in the town.
"It's a note! It has to be from them," Klaus reads it over. "It doesn't say a location".
"No, but the crows travel to town every morning, and to the tree in the evening," Y/N thinks.
"They're somewhere in town!" Violet smiles.
"Now we just have to find an excuse to search the town," Y/N sighs.
"Who's ready to go to chores all over town?" Hector walks out, holding cleaning supplies.
The children and Hector make the long walk, arriving outside the town hall to receive instructions from the council.
"Someone has been making messes all over town. We don't know who is doing this, but we do know who is going to clean it. You," the head lady smiles before turning away.
"We can look for them while doing our chores," Violet says, heading to the church.
"Who knew chores could be useful," Y/N jokes, making Klaus chuckle.
The children do a variety of cleaning activities, ranging anywhere from scrubbing windows, to scrubbing a donkey. Still no sign of their friends.
"When you are done, go to the old saloon. No one ever goes in there since drinking was outlawed, so it could use a good dusting," a member of the council tells them.
Without wasting time, the children quickly head to the saloon, knowing Count Olaf would hide the others in a place people don't go to.
"Jeremy?" Y/N calls out.
"Duncan? Isadora?" Klaus calls as well.
After a few minutes of hearing nothing, Y/N sighs, "This is hopeless".
