A/N: Do not read this story. Exit from the story as quick as possible.

Chapter Three

Silencing Shorelines

*****

Quigley stood with his arms crossed. "You shouldn't do this, Violet." I shake my head.

"Well, I'm going." We stare at each other for a few long minutes, and then I say. "So, are you coming with me, or am I going alone?" Quigley swallows hard, and says,

"I'll see you when you come home." I nod in affirmation, and try my hardest to blink back the tears that had suddenly rushed to my eyes.

"I'll be back soon."

"If you need anything, just call." He says, and I agree to do just that. And then I leave.

*****

Thebeach was basically the same as it was the first day when Mr. Poe arrived and told my siblings and I about the terrible fire that had taken our parents' lives. It was a cloudy, gloomy day. The clouds were dark and scary-looking, and thunder rumbled deep in the distance. The water churned restlessly, and I wondered- morbidly- how long it would take for me to drown if I just dove right on in.

I felt despondent about my time here, and I wasn't so sure that my trip here would be fruitful at all.

I walked to the shoreline carefully, and I wondered if this was where I'd been that morning, when I was thinking of an invention to retrieve stones that you've skipped. Those times seemed so distant, so far away. Back when I could afford to be careless and happy and naïve.

A little baby looked up at me quizzically, and lifted her hands up in the air. I looked at the darling child with love, and wondered what she was trying to tell me.

I looked back towards where the beach meets the boardwalk, and could almost actually see Mr. Poe walking towards me. I had to blink a few times, but the image wouldn't go away. My mind flipped through that day, and it was like I was really reliving it. When my mind got to the part where Mr. Poe announced that our parents had died, I freaked.

"Book!" The baby shrieked, and my eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

My hands shot to my mouth, holding in my sobs. I needed my parents back. I had so much to ask them, so much to tell them. There was so much I didn't understand about my past and V.F.D, and my parents had the answers I needed. On top of all that, I missed them. Horribly and terribly.

"What, honey? What is it?"

My knees buckled out from under me, and suddenly I was in the sand on my knees, my tears wetting the ground below me.

She pointed jerkily to the water, and I saw what she was gesturing towards.

The agony and the pain was too potent for me to handle it. It gnawed at my insides and knocked the wind out of me. I gasped for breath as the tears fell steadily, flaming hot against my too-cold cheek.

I walked carefully through the cold water, trying not to loose my footing in the tide. The baby and I got splashed many times from the waves, and all the while the child giggled and shrieked in pleasure.

Why had I come here? What was I trying to accomplish by being here?

I knelt down into the water, and picked up the soaking wet hardback book. Since it was too wet and soggy to do much with, I laid it out in the sand to dry.

Beatrice wasn't here. That was plainly obvious, thanks to the deserted state of Briny Beach.

I returned the next day and found the book completely water-free. I found a spot in the sand, and began to read.

I heard noises behind me, and flinched. I shot upright, and spun around to see two people coming towards me. I grab a rock from beside me, and clench it tightly, déjà vu going through me in waves.

It took me hours, but eventually I finished the story.

"Are you lost, honey?" The girl asked. I shook my head furiously.

I didn't know how this book got here, but I definitely understood that the book meant a whole lot. Every margin of every page was filled with familiar writing. It told where the writer was, told that the writer was okay, told that the writer and his family were coming to be with my own.

"Do you need a ride home, then?" The boy asked. Once again I shook my head, and, with a burst of energy, I ran past them, not stopping until I was very far away.

The writing was Quigley's.

*****

The world seemed very black, and very dark. Rain soaked through my hair and my clothes, and I shivered quite violently. I was moving from side to side, but not willingly.

Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting everything up. That's when I realized that I was in a boat, so that's why I was rocking.

I kept hearing familiar thunks on the side of the boat. This was bad, but I couldn't figure out why it was. I thought hard, but couldn't come up with why it was bad. Should I panic? Scream? Try to get help?

Slowly but surely, little bits of the boat broke off and fell to the water with a splash.

As the boat started to fill with water, I began to scream. I couldn't do anything, couldn't invent anything to get me out. I was doomed to die, and I was going to have to accept that.

My boots filled with water, and the boat tipped dangerously to the side as more pieces broke off. I shuddered as the rain, lightning, and thunder picked up, and tried my hardest not to be afraid. I'd been through too much to be frightened. As I focused on calming down, my thoughts flickered to my brother and sister.

Where were they?! Were they okay?!

My thoughts were screaming all of this over and over as the boat finally capsized, flinging me into the water. The water was freezing, and chilled me to the very bone. I tried desperately to kick to the surface, but I just kept swimming in circles.

I'd used all of my air supply, and my lungs were screaming urgently for oxygen.

Someone swam up beside me, and I started kicking even harder for the surface when I saw who it was.

Esme Squalor.

Her silver stilettos shone, even in the dark water, and they were threatening and dangerous-looking. On her forehead was a question mark drawn in what looked like paint.

Her hands reached my throat just as everything went black.

*****

I awoke screaming and crying as normal, but when I realized that I was not in my home, I pressed my mouth to my pillow to muffle the horrifying noise that was escaping my lips.

When I'd calmed down some, I began to ponder the dream.

The part that confused me the most was the question mark on Esme's forehead. What did that mean? What was my subconscious trying to tell me exactly? Was it saying that I was confused, that I had more questions? Well, that was painfully obvious if that was it. Did it mean that Esme had questions?

And then I figured it out.

A question mark. A question mark.

The Great Unknown.

I called Quigley as soon as I figured why I'd dreamt it. He answered on the first ring of the telephone, and it seemed that he was still upset about my return to Briny Beach.

"Quigley, what happened with The Great Unknown?" I'd never asked before. Why hadn't I asked? I really was dimwitted sometimes.

Quigley took a deep breath, and then began his tale.

"Kit and Ink escaped onto their Vaporetto of Favorite Detirius. We all saw The Great Unknown, and in an instant, we all began to be sucked down. I tried desperately to stay above water, but the suction was just too great. I was forced underwater, and continued to be pulled in the direction of The Great Unknown.

"The Great Unknown began on the good side of V.F.D. They came to rescue us."

"Who?" I asked, interrupting.

"Many people. You don't know any of them." I nodded. I'd stayed far, far away from all things V.F.D. since we'd returned from the island. I'd run away from my past life, and, for some reason, my family ran with me. I wondered briefly about that. It was quite obvious that Sunny, Duncan, Isadora, Klaus, and especially Quigley wanted to be a part of V.F.D. They wanted to prevent the fires and put out the ones that were beyond their control. So why hadn't they?

Me.

Of course it was me. I'd kept everyone I loved from doing what they wanted to do: use their talents for good. But Quigley and my siblings wanted to stick by me, and Isadora and Duncan wanted to stick by their brother. That was one good part of everything that had happened to us Baudelairs and Quagmires. We're families that stick together, no matter what the cost.

But I still felt horrible for taking away their choice.

"Then what happened?" I asked.

"People began to panic. No one trusted each other; how would anyone really know if the person next to them was their enemy or their ally? Why trust others when so far everyone has been nothing but out to get each other? Why not rely on yourselves? Friends were turning on friends, husbands against wives, sisters against brothers. There were no teams, no alliances."

"And what did you do?"

"I tried to keep the peace. But, eventually, The Great Unknown was turned over to one side. A few of us that chose no side of the schism inside the schism escaped before the real mayhem began. I'm sure everyone fought until there was no one standing. And you know what's really sad, Violet?" The question was rhetorical, but I answered anyway.

"What?"

"There really was no evil onboard The Great Unknown. Everyone was good, but the schism had scarred us so much that we were all untrusting, all so ready to put out a fire, when, in fact, the very people who had dedicated themselves to preventing fires had started one all on their own."

"Oh." I say quietly, and we sit in silence for a few minutes.

"Why do you ask?" He finally inquires. I shrug, and then remember that he can't see me.

"I had a dream about a question mark, and it reminded me that I'd never asked you about it. I was just morbidly curious." I spared him the details of my dream, and we hung up soon after that.

*****

I got a call two days later, just I was packing to get ready to go home.

"Violet? Violet?" A frantic voice said from over the phone. The voice was Isadora's.

"What? Are you alright? What about Klaus? Sunny? Quigley?" My voice became as frantic as my sister-in-law's, and I expected the very worst.

"Run away! Don't come home, go far away!"

"Why? What's going on, Isadora?"

The only answer was a ear-splitting, agonized, scream. My heart constricted and I clutched the phone tightly.

"Isadora? Isadora! What's happening?" I shout, but no answer comes.

And then the phone goes dead.

*****

I got a letter delivered to my hotel room soon after that.

Violet,

Destroy this. You've been to the Start. Now continue on, back through your original journey. All the way you will find help. Eventually you will find us. Remember that we love you. Now, come get us. Only you can do it.

-Isadora

I didn't understand at first. It took me hours and hours to figure it out.

And then I understood.

The beginning was Briny Beach. Isadora meant for me to journey through our, well, journey. From Count Olaf's house to Aunt Josephine's to Prufrock Preparatory to Caligari Carnival to the Mortmain Mountains.

As the letter burned in the fireplace, I planned where I would go first.

And then I went.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I thought it was pretty intense… And I hope you liked my explanation of what happened on The Great Unknown. I'm trying to fill in the pieces that Daniel Handler didn't, and there's a whole lot that really wasn't explained so, well, you know.

Review, review, review! I won't be able to update next Friday as planned, seeing as I'll be at camp in Oklahoma without use of a computer so... I'm shooting for the Friday after that. Hope you don't miss the story too much! :)