"Another ballooning project?" I asked him.

Hector nodded. "My chaperone has given me an a.s.signment to take some aerial photographs of a distant part of the sea. Something suspicious has been spotted."

"So you're not going back to the city?"

"Not for months," Hector said. "Why?"

"No reason," I said, and shrugged my shoulders. I felt the packet inside my own jacket. I had spent the better part of the morning sewing it into the lining. Sewing is a p.r.i.c.kly and boring business. Ellington Feint, with her long, careful fingers, would have done a better job of it. But it would be some time before I saw her again, and right now there was no use in giving my jacket to Hector, who would not return to the city in time.

"Good-bye, Snicket," Hector said. "Be careful. Please tell your replacement in the city that they'll have to take the long way round to the museum. If they tunnel into the wrong waterway, they'll both be drowned."

"There's no replacement," I said.

"So you're going to sneak out of town and join her?"

I shook my head. "I'm stuck here in Stain'd-by-the-Sea for the duration."

Hector's eyes widened. "You can't let her do this alone," he said, louder than he meant to say it. Prosper Lost blinked at us curiously and stepped out from behind his desk.

"What choice do I have?" I whispered to Hector.

"She's not just your a.s.sociate, Snicket," he whispered back, putting on his hat. "She's your sister."

"I know that," I said sharply, but he scowled and shook his head and went out the door. I know she's my sister, I wanted to shout after him. Do you think I don't know that? Do you think I don't know I'm putting my own sister in danger?

"Happy birthday," I said instead, but Hector didn't stop. It is possible that he was walking even faster. By now Prosper Lost was standing right beside me, and we both watched Hector disappear down the dark street. didn't stop. It is possible that he was walking even faster. By now Prosper Lost was standing right beside me, and we both watched Hector disappear down the dark street.

"Fight with your friend?" Prosper Lost asked me, as if it were his business.

"It wasn't a fight," I said. "I just said the wrong thing."

Lost gave me one of his thin smiles. "Everybody does something wrong at one time or another."

It was true. Everybody does something wrong at one time or another. It was true, but I didn't like it. I nodded at him and turned away. The statue of the woman looked like she wanted to give me a shrug, if only she had arms. I shrugged back and thought about the other statue, the Bombinating Beast, and the villain who wanted to get hold of it. I thought of the fading town and the vanished sea. I thought of Ellington's green eyes and the question-mark eyebrows that hovered over them. It wasn't just one time or another. I had been wrong over and over and over again, wrong every time about every clue to the dark and inky mystery hanging over me and everybody else. It rang like a bell in my head-wrong, wrong, wrong. I was wrong, I thought, but maybe if I stayed in this town long enough, I could make everything right. eyebrows that hovered over them. It wasn't just one time or another. I had been wrong over and over and over again, wrong every time about every clue to the dark and inky mystery hanging over me and everybody else. It rang like a bell in my head-wrong, wrong, wrong. I was wrong, I thought, but maybe if I stayed in this town long enough, I could make everything right.