Secrets are a peculiar thing. Secrets have a way of making themselves felt, even before you know there's a secret.
For example, you might feel something is off when your best friend leaves suddenly, but you won't know of the secret until the surprise party he planned for your birthday.
Or maybe you're keeping something secret from someone else accidentally, in the sense you thought they already knew.
It's because of this, secrets have remarkable power. I myself hold a secret close to my heart of an act for which I am terribly ashamed of, which the only other soul to know is the woman it affected, the love of my life, Beatrice. If this secret were to be revealed, it could make and break the last relationships between many, severing cords of love and harmony.
As such, secrets hold power, and as you share them, that power diminishes, as they no longer become secrets, and can no longer use them to gain and hold power.
Our story begins in the dark secret tunnel connecting Hotel Denouement to the secret library of Dewey Denouement. It had been two weeks since the death of Count Olaf, and the Baudelaire and Quagmires children were ready to move into their new secret home.
As you might recall, as we last left of the Baudelaires and Quagmires in a much more depressing document entitled THE ALLEVIATING AFTERMATH(which is published on this very site, sadly), they were about to inherit the secret library of Dewey Denouement.
At last, the kids were ready to move in. Each of them held a briefcase, and were working their ways through the secret tunnel of V.F.D. to find the library and it's entrance.
Due to Quigley's talent to read maps with any real clarity, they were able to navigate, despite the twist and turns, 'twists and turns' being a phrase here meaning 'To this day, I haven't learned' the way into the Denouement Library, despite being there before'.
As the six children entered at last — the final test being a pinprick from each of them to ensure they were allowed in — they took their first steps inside.
The sky above them was tinted blue from the water above them, a near impervious wall of glass above them. Surrounding each wall was thick shelves of books, going miles back in every direction. Underneath this whole structure, was what formed almost a miniature house, although miniature would mean the house was small. In reality, it was small in comparison to the massive library. It was quite spacious, albeit all on one floor.
The six children put down their suitcases — they hadn't bothered to food or clothes, as Dewey had left some of both for them, so they only had things of true value, such as commonplace books, spyglassed, and one specific person having a sugar bowl — and, in one group, started to look around the underwater building.
The first room was an enormous foyer, having about a dozen racks for coats, boots, jackets, parkas, masks, gloves, hat, and scarfs.
The closet had shelves with multiple copies of basically every asset in a V.F.D. disguise kit, including, but not limited to, long beige jackets, short beige jackets, bridal outfits, lab coats, sailor's hats, Blue jackets,, pink and red dresses, fake nails, turbans, brooches, formal vests, plaid shirts, plastic shoes, running shoes, and a stethoscope. It included everything, even the medium length beige coat no one had found a use for yet.
Despite this, the room wasn't much else to marvel at. It was roomy, for sure, but the room was bland. It didn't even have a V.F.D. insignia embossed anywhere, although the orphans took this as a good thing.
The six children stepped into the next room, coming in through the south wall, and their breath was taken away, figuratively. The room they were in was an enormous living room with shelves upon shelves of books for pleasure reading, as well as home theater setups, couches, tables for games and for eating, and all of it was topped with a picture-postcard view of the crystal clear water above. Picture-postcard is an adjective that means that a view or photo is stunning, and comes from how it would make a good image of one were to use it on a postcard for vacation. A mountain landscape, or a beach outside your own window would count as picture-postcard if you wanted, but jail cells likely would not.
There was a stunned silence among the six. The entire room was beautiful… The six children just stood there, shocked, as they took in the view.
But that wasn't everything, was it?
They looked around the entire living room space, and there was a huge, slightly elevated platform right beneath their feet. It was about two feet off the ground, and seemed to be a stage in and of itself. There was also a small projector facing the stage, likely for karaoke or some other task that would use a projector.
On the side of the room not elevated, there was two sections. The first section contained an oak table that was well-designed, polished, and beautiful, a word here meaning 'well-designed and polished'. Around it was six chairs, all forming a circle around the circular table. Not to the children's surprise, the table had the V.F.D. insignia on it, although it was subtle. Each chair was made from solid oak that seemed varnished.
On the other section, there was three seating areas — a club chair, in a dark black; a love seat, in a simple white; and in between was a grey sofa, with about three seats. In front of the three surfaces was a coffee table, and small end tables were wedged between each of them. In front, was a huge mounted television screen, and there seemed to be speakers everywhere.
There was even a chandelier in the middle of the two, that was currently on, throwing a beautiful light over everything.
At the north wall, was two doors, one of each side of the room. The children first took to the left side, and inside, were granted with an enormous kitchen. It had three ovens with stove tops, with a ceramic top on each. Each one had a window looking in, and the window seemed to be perfectly clear, as though there was no window at all.
The counters had plenty of space for any amount of food or supplies, and there was cupboards, that, upon closer examination, seemed to contain everything from alfalfa sprouts to zucchini.
There was even a dishwasher that also seemed clear, and there was an island in the middle. An island can mean many things, but in this case, it means a segment of counter in the middle of the kitchen.
As the children left, they couldn't help but marvel at the kitchen. But there was still two more areas. They first took the door from earlier, the one on the right. Before them, was a long hallway, and in there was five doors on the left side, which lead to five bedrooms. Each of them were designed more or less the same in both size and layout, they quickly realized. They opened up to a bed, a dresser, a bathroom, a lovely view out to the water above the headboard, and a carpeted floor, in a dark blue.
Finally, they went to the final area. A door on the west wall of the living room. It opened up to a hallway that met with a set of stairs, which met up with a landing, which met with another set of stairs, which met with an entrance into the secret library.
The secret library of Dewey Denouement was organized by what's known as the Dewey Decimal System. It is a system that organizes books by a number, corresponding to its topic. For example, if you had a book on heat, it would fall under 536, the Dewey Decimal code for heat. The same applies for every topic.
Well, because there is exactly one thousand categories in the system, each wall of the secret library had 250 numbers, each on five floors of fifty. Glass staircases connected them, allowing one to traverse between the many levels with ease. The shelves contained more than books, and they had been almost done like filing cabinets, akin to the Library of Records that once stood at Heimlich Hospital.
The view was bordered by the glass walls once more, giving the picture-postcard view.
The six children hugged, embraced, and knew that no matter what happened, they wouldn't let the villainy of the world hurt them here.
Because the world was quiet, at least for a time.