Klaus ran his fingers along the spines of every book in front of him, letting the calm wash over him.
It had been years since he and his sisters left the island with little Beatrice, or B.B. as she had begun to request being called. They, along with the Quagmire triplets with whom they had become reunited, were living a relatively peaceful life after the series of unfortunate events they had all endured. There were still side effects, nightmares, phobias…
But libraries had once again become a place of refuge, even if he was still afraid of the optometrist.
He took in the musky smell of old paper as he reached for the red book in front of him.
Riddles, Puzzles, and Problems for Quizzical Minds
"B.B. would like this," Klaus said to himself, noting the interest his young ward had recently taken in thought puzzles. The two of them had taken to solving them together on those nights she had trouble sleeping.
As the thought left his lips, a small green book fell to the floor next to him.
"Oops," a small voice spoke from the other side of the bookshelf.
Klaus looked through the gap to the other side only to see a pair of big brown eyes.
"I'm sorry," the voice said "would you mind handing that back to me?"
"Oh! Of course," he said, picking up the book. "Just stay there and I'll bring it to you."
He hurried over to the other side to find a young woman maybe a year or two his junior with a small frame and a red bow in her hair.
He handed the book over to her.
"Thank you," the young woman said in her small voice, taking the book into her arms.
"You're welcome," he replied.
He noted the title of the book she wanted.
Cryptography
"You like codebreaking?" Klaus asked.
"Hm?" The girl looked up from the bookshelf before realizing what he asked. "Oh!"
She gave him a sheepish smile. "While that does sound glamorous, I'm actually more interested in the math."
Klaus raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
She extended her hand while clutching her book closer to her chest.
"My name is Matilda, by the way. Matilda Honey."
"Klaus Baudelaire," Klaus replied, accepting her handshake.
Matilda's eyes lit up
"'Baudelaire?'" she asked. "Like the macabre poet?"
Klaus's eyes widened in surprise.
"Yes, actually," he confirmed. "Not many people catch that."
He gave her a small chuckle. "Though, I have my doubts that there's any genetic relation."
Matilda glanced away shyly, a slight blush across her cheeks.
"I read him when I was a lot younger," she said softly.
"Me too," he replied.
"Reading is such a great past time isn't it?" she urged. "It's the perfect form of sanctuary."
Klaus's cheeks went pink in return.
"I couldn't agree more."
Matilda looked up to meet his eyes.
"S-sorry!" she backtracked. "I didn't mean to make that sound sad. I had a bit of…"
She glanced at the floor.
"…Well, not the best childhood. At least the beginning of it. I get a little wistful when talking about books, and I might get a bit carried away from time to time."
"I understand," Klaus told her. "My childhood wasn't the greatest either."
"Oh…" she replied. "I'm sorry for bringing that up."
"No, no," he told her.
He studied her face.
"You seem you want to talk about it," he told her. "Want to move over to the study area?"
She gave him a small smile.
"That might be nice," she replied.
The two walked over to the empty study area, books clutched to their chests and occasionally glancing at each other.
The two sat down at a farther table. Silence passed as the two chose to stare down at their respective books' covers.
"So…" Klaus began, looking up at her and breaking the tension. "The Honey family-"
"Wormwood!" Matilda quickly corrected him.
Klaus was taken aback by her sudden urgency.
"What?"
Matilda blushed.
"I…" she mumbled "I'm adopted. The 'Honey' name has nothing to do with it. My birth name is 'Matilda Wormwood.'"
"You're an orphan?" Klaus assumed.
"No," she answered. "But my birth family didn't want me. They were actually pretty cruel to me. They didn't like that, unlike them, I loved books and learning new things. So, when my father finally got caught selling shoddy cars and wanted to relocate the family to run from the cops, my mother and brother stayed while I ran into the arms of my kindergarten teacher. And, luckily, they let her adopt me."
"I'm glad that your story has a happy ending," Klaus told her with a sincere smile. "I'm very sorry about how your family treated you. That isn't fair to anyone."
"I made it through in my own way," Matilda replied.
"What way?" Klaus asked.
She looked away sheepishly.
"It's quite difficult to explain… You probably wouldn't believe it anyway."
Klaus raised a brow at her.
"You asked if I was an orphan," she said quickly, changing the subject. "Are you?"
Klaus's face fell.
"Yes. A house fire when I was twelve."
Matilda panicked.
"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have-"
"No, no," Klaus stopped her. "I asked you to talk about your trauma; it isn't fair for me to just not talk about mine."
He took a deep breath.
"I should warn you that it's a very long and very sad story."
"I have the time," Matilda assured him.
"Alright then. It started when I was twelve, my older sister was fourteen, and my younger sister was just a baby, around one. We were spending time at our favorite spot together when our family's banker came out of the fog and told us we had just lost our home and our parents."
Matilda brought her hand to her mouth in dismay.
"It gets worse," Klaus told her. "And it continues to get even worse after that."
"Then, because our banker was a moron," he continues "he left us in the custody of a complete antisocial, narcissistic sociopath with a unibrow that had a vendetta against our parents and wanted our family fortune as compensation."
"Wait," Matilda interrupted "why was he angry with your parents?"
"It's very complicated," he explained. "And you probably wouldn't believe me anyway."
"So, what happened with the man with unibrow?" Matilda asked.
"Well first, he tried to marry my fourteen-year-old sister against her will by holding our little sister hostage in a birdcage forty feet in the air-"
"WHAT?!" Matilda shouted, shocked.
"Shh!" the librarian hissed at her.
"Sorry," Matilda whispered back.
"What an evil man!" she stage-whispered to Klaus.
"I know!" he stage-whispered back.
"Anyway," Klaus continued in a low, but regular voice "my sisters and I were able to foil his plans and get out of his custody, but that didn't stop him from stalking us, murdering, tricking, or conspiring with our other guardians, and trying to get us back in his custody. Or kill us. At some point he just settled for trying to kill us."
"Where is he now?" Matilda asked, worry in her voice.
"He's dead," Klaus assured her. "He took a harpoon gun to the stomach."
"Well, that's…" Matilda struggled to find the word "Fortunate?"
"Compared to everything else, I agree," Klaus told her.
"You definitely had it worse," Matilda told him. "I was debating bringing up the crazy school headmistress I had to deal with, but even with that I can't compare."
"I WENT TO A SCHOOL RUN BY A CRAZY PERSON TOO!" Klaus shouted almost excitedly, slapping his hands down on the table.
"WHY IS YOUR LIFE LIKE THIS?!" Matilda replied, laughing nervously.
"I DON'T KNOW!" he replied, sharing her laughter.
"SHH!" the librarian semi-shouted at them.
"Sorry!" the two whispered back.
"I should probably get home soon," Klaus told Matilda. He gave her a slight smile. "I'm going to go check out. Do you want to come with?"
"I actually need to stay a bit longer. I need to find some literature for my dissertation," she explained.
"Oh you're an undergrad?" Klaus asked.
"No, it's for my PhD," she replied.
Klaus's eyes widened.
"How old are you?" he asked her.
"Seventeen," Matilda told him. "But I also started college-level mathematics when I was seven so…"
"That's amazing!" Klaus told her.
"You must be pretty amazing yourself, getting out of so much trouble," Matilda replied with a sly grin. "You seem very quick witted, and I've read enough books to know those must have helped you."
"Well, a lot of it was the power of books and my sisters being tough as nails," Klaus admitted, blushing a bit. "Maybe you could come and meet them sometime. My little sister is an excellent chef, and you can meet the rest of our family too. We all have a lot of stories."
"I bet!" Matilda agreed. "I would have to ask my mother first to see if she needs me for anything, but I would be happy to join you one evening. Here."
She reached out her arm, pen in hand.
"Write down where I can reach you and I'll get back to you."
Klaus smiled at her and wrote down his home number along with his address on her arm.
"There," he said, handing her back the pin. "I hope to speak again soon."
"Me too," Matilda replied, returning his smile.
Klaus began to walk over to the check-out counter, stopping once to turn back and wave at the young woman with a red bow.
"So long, Matilda Honey."
"Until we meet again, Klaus Baudelaire."