Chapter Twelve

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The children opened the door and saw a man standing before them. He was tall, so tall that he towered over them in a menacing way. He was bald, with a wrinkled forehead and no eyebrow. He had orange glasses and was wearing a white lab coat. He also had a long, grey beard. He looked so different, but the children saw who he was, and their smiles faded immediately.

"Good morning." he said in a strange accent. "I am Stephano."

The children looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"You're Count Olaf!" exclaimed Rowan at last, saying what the Baudelaires were thinking.

"Who is this Count Olaf?" asked Count Olaf, still the same foolish accent.

"Don't be ridiculous!" yelled Klaus. "You may have changed your appearance by using a fake beard and shaving off all your hair, and disguised your voice with an accent, but that doesn't mean you're not Count Olaf!"

"Roantene!" shrieked Sunny, pointing at Count Olaf. She meant, 'Klaus is right. You are not Stephano and we will not let you enter our guardian's house.'.

Violet slammed the door on him, but Count Olaf caught it just in time.

"Come, children," said Count Olaf. "I have honestly never heard of Count Olaf. And I have never seen you four children in my life. I know nothing about you, except you are midgets and Dr. Monroe Montague's servants."

"Of course you've seen us before." Rowan said. "You adopted me for three years, and the Baudelaires for one week."

"And we're not midgets." exclaimed Violet. "We are children."

"Dr. Montgomery Montgomery." corrected Klaus fiercely.

"Potda!" shrieked Sunny, which meant, 'We are his children, not his servants.'.

"Children, if you continue to call me Count Olaf, which is a handsome name that is unfortunately not mine, then I may get sad. And if I am sad, I may become provoked." He smiled at them in a threatening way. "And who knows what will happen to you then?"

"You need our fortune." pointed out Klaus. "You wouldn't harm a hair on our heads until we hand them over, which never will happen."

"That is true for the White Fortune." said Count Olaf. "But what if something happened to a Baudelaire?" He pulled a sharp, golden knife out of his coat pocket. Which the children hadn't noticed before.

"You wouldn't dare." breathed Violet, holding Sunny closer to her.

Count Olaf smirked. "Oh, I would, Violet Baudelaire. Now, give me the baby."

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Violet. "No! You have a knife in your hands!"

Tears formed in Sunny's eyes, and she snuggled closer to Violet.

"Ah, Violet, Violet, Violet." Count Olaf shook his head, an evil smile on his face. "You haven't changed. You are still as stubborn as ever. Rowan, you're still walking around with a silly pencil behind your ear. Klaus, you are wearing your isiotic glasses from being such a bookworm. And as for Sunny, she still has nine toes."

"Nine? What are you talking about, my sister has ten toes, like most people." said Klaus, astonished.

"Oh, really? My bad. I seem to remember a man named Stephano who got so confused by being called 'Count Olaf' - a man whom he had never heard of - and dropped a knife on one of her little toes." Count Olaf's voice got more intimidating and by the time he said 'a man whom he had never heard of', his accent dropped completely.

"You wouldn't!" exclaimed Violet.

"You're not even talking in your accent anymore." noticed Klaus suddenly.

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