memento mori ◈| k.baudelaire (COMPLETED)

ⅩⅠⅠ: Penultimate Peril-edited

For Beatrice-
No one could extinguish my love,
or the fire that killed you.

⋆

After a very weird car ride to the Last Safe Place, Kit informs the children that she needs them to go undercover and find out if the person sending these telegrams using the initials J.S., is someone they could trust or not. While Kit stood guard, to make sure they could get in without drawing suspicion, the orphans got dressed in their disguises, as hotel concierges. "Do you think we can trust Kit?" "Well, since we met her she's broken nine traffic safety laws, and had us join a secret organization, so, yea, I like her." The Baudelaires agreed with Ana, trusting Kit completely.

"That's Frank Denouement, one of the managers. He's with us. You can trust him." "I think I need new glasses. I'm seeing double." Klaus said as he looked through the spyglass. "That's Frank's treacherous brother, Ernest. Do not trust him. No matter what he says. The schism has turned many siblings into enemies." "They look alike. How can we tell them apart?" "The only way to tell if someone is noble or wicked is through close observation. You have to be careful of what you tell them, because if the wrong brother finds out what we're up to we could all be in danger. Frank will meet you in the lobby, unless it was intercepted by Ernest." "You're not coming with us?" "I'm afraid I have my own mission, but I'll be back tonight. If you find out the Last Safe Place is no longer safe, we'll send a message to warn VFD. Good luck, children. I'll see you tonight. And please be careful." Kit said before the children walked away to the lobby.

As they walked in, they immediately saw Olaf, Esme, and Carmelita, trying to act as a normal family. As they were discussing whether or not they were spotted by Olaf, a man behind them spoke up. "Are you eavesdropping on our guests?" "We were just doing the job we were told to do." "You must be our new concierges. I'm one of the managers." "Frank or Ernest." "Exactly. This way please."

"The job of the concierge is to give our guests everything they ask for. When they ring you volunteer." "What do those numbers mean? There can't be 999 rooms in this hotel." "That's an interesting question. Do you know what they mean?" However, one of the managers had to leave due to business, from another concierge. "Do you think that was Frank?" Klaus asked, turning to the two girls. "He did say the word volunteer. That could be a code?" "Everything he said sounded like code. But not long after, the other manager stepped up. "You must be the new concierge. Welcome to the Hotel Denouement. I'm one of the managers." "Frank or Ernest?" "I am. You're just in time. We're anticipating a large number of guests before Thursday. Do you know why?" "We think so." "Can you tell me?" "That's an interesting question." Klaus replied. "That's a smart answer. It's hard to know who you can trust in a hotel lobby. There are wicked people everywhere, some of them are bound to check into a hotel." However, this manager as well, was called off for another matter he had to deal with. 

"That had to be Ernest." Violet said, turning to face Klaus and Ana. "The part about wicked people sounded like a threat." "Unless it was a warning." "My head hurts from all of this." Ana groaned. "How are we supposed to find anyone in this hotel?" As they were speaking, one of the managers came up. "I can answer that. Finding someone here is as easy as finding a book in a library, because the Hotel Denouement is not organized like a hotel at all. It's organized like a library." "Well a library organizes knowledge according to a numerical classification system." "That's right. All guests are placed in rooms according to where they would be on a shelf in a library." "And anyone who works here would need to know the library catalog by heart." As Ana said that, the one of the bells where the numbers started to ring. "Room 610. That's for our guests associated with the healthcare industry. 332, financial economics." "That bell doesn't have a number." Violet pointed out as one of the bells rang. "That's our rooftop sunbathing salon. People who sunbath usually aren't interested in library science, so they're not too picky about location. Three bells, three rooms. But you can't be in three places at once. You'll have to split up, Baudelaires, and O'Malley." "You know our names?" "Are you Frank or Ernest?" "That's an interesting question. Alas, your room awaits."