Author's Note: I'm sorry if you were distressed by the end of last chapter (and by 'sorry', I mean 'delighted'). I didn't think that Violet, despite her specialized brilliance, would have been able to pass the second test. But fear not—I never intended for Violet to be dropped. I needed some way for her to prove herself to Number Two, kind of in the same way Kate did when she helped Number Two escape the rabid parents in the book. Here is what I came up with...

Disclaimer: Just like poor Beatrice, the ownership of both ASOUE and MBS is not mine.

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Violet

"That is all."

That is all.

After those words, every other sound seemed to be reaching my ears through a long tube. The sounds of the sniffling, crying children and the pencil-ish woman gathering herself to leave seemed so separate and removed, it was like they were a television program. Or, like I was a television program. I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe that it was all...over.

Rather numbly, I grimaced a smile at Klaus and exited the room with all the other failed test-takers. I didn't want to face him just yet. Rhonda Kazembe went with me. I didn't know why she hadn't passed, having supposedly used the answer sheet, nor did I much care at this point.

I pulled out Mr. Poe's phone, walking away from the crowd, trying to find solitude. The pencil-woman was wedging between a couple of outraged parents, presumably trying to escape before the rest of them bombarded her to demand explanations. Klaus was accompanying her.

"...The third phase isn't quite ready for you at present, Mr. Baudelaire," she was saying. "You can wait in the testing room until I get back to you—but right now I must be off before they block all the exits."

They had caught up to me now, approaching the front entrance. The pencil-woman swept past me.

"Wait!" Klaus called after her. "Miss... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

The pencil-woman smiled. "That's quite all right, Klaus, you've nothing to be sorry for."

He waited for her to tell him her name, but when she said nothing, he said "Alright, well, the thing is... I'm afraid I just can't go on without my sister."

"Klaus..." I said.

"Violet, you know I can't do this." He turned back to the pencil-woman. "I'm sorry. I'm out of the running."

He began to turn away, but the pencil woman ran to cut him off. "I don't think you understand what you're throwing away here, Mr. Baudelaire," she said. "You are an exceptional child who has just passed two very difficult tests. You're about to experience things other children will never even think about!" She sounded strangely desperate. "You've worked very hard for this chance at special opportunities, haven't you?"

Klaus hesitated, and I thought I could see tears in his eyes.

"Yes," he said softly, "but my siblings and I are orphans. We're all we have."

The woman looked saddened, but she said, "If you're sure you want to drop out, I suppose..."

"I'll go get Sunny," Klaus said, not looking at either of us. "Then we can go back... we can go back to Mr. Poe."

I watched him leave in anguish. I wanted this for him, and he knew it, but we both knew he couldn't do it without me. He was right; we were all one another had. I wouldn't have done it in his shoes.

"So you are his sister?" said the pencil-woman.

"Yes," I said. "I'm Violet."

"Violet..." I might have imagined it, but I thought she shot a glance at the back of Rhonda Kazembe, who was walking out through the doors. "Well..." Something in her voice made me the slightest bit hopeful. I waited for her to finish her sentence. She bit her lip. "...that's a pretty name."

My shoulders sagged. "Thank you."

She gave me a small smile. "You're welcome. You have a very caring brother."

I returned the sad smile. "I know," I said.

"And talented."

"He is very gifted," I agreed.

We were silent for a moment, and then something solid hit me from behind. I stumbled forward, but someone caught my hand and stopped me from falling. I regained my stance and looked around to see the odd blonde girl—the one who carried the red metal bucket.

"Sorry," I said to her.

"No, no!" she said. "My fault. As useful as it is, my bucket does get in the way sometimes—especially when it's crowded."

I looked down at the red bucket. I could see a motley collection of tools and trinkets inside. "You carry that with you everywhere?"

"Yep." She patted it fondly. "I'm sure you must think it's really weird; everybody does. But I don't see why—how else am I supposed to tote my supplies?"

"It's an intriguing idea," I said, my inventor's mind already formulating a list of materials I could have with me at all times if I carried a bucket like that.

"Really?" She looked quite pleased.

"I agree," said the pencil-woman. "And don't you ever stop carrying it because people tell you it's 'weird.'"

"Don't worry," said the girl, smiling. "I'm not going to stop carrying a bucket with me any time soon." She turned to me and held out a hand. "We haven't properly met," she said. "I'm Kate Wetherall."

"I'm Violet," I said as we shook hands.

"So you passed the second test?" she asked me.

"Um, no..." I looked down.

"Oh... Oh well!" she said brightly. "Neither did I. Next time, right?"

I gave her a small smile. "Right."

"So do you have parents here, or—?"

"Violet!"

I looked up to see Klaus running down the hall towards us, looking panicked. He skidded to a halt in front of me, quite out of breath. The pencil-woman and the girl Kate looked at him curiously.

"What is it, Klaus?" I said in alarm.

"It's...Sunny," he panted. He looked at me gravely. "She's missing."

Kate

"I'll look for her outside," said the boy.

"Okay," his sister replied. "I'll search in here."

"I'll help you," I said at once.

"Thank you," she said. "Come on!"

Old Yellow Suit followed us. "Where did you leave your sister when you took the test?" she asked.

"In the room with all the parents," said Violet breathlessly. She was already running in that direction.

It was difficult to get any information from the parents; those who weren't cooing over their sobbing children were storming at Old Yellow Suit, demanding to know why their child hadn't passed. Only one woman listened to our inquiries about Sunny.

"Oh, yes, I saw that little girl," she said, furiously eating a doughnut. "That bully broke my son Tommy's favorite toy."

"Did you see where she went?" asked Violet desperately.

"Nope. Didn't have any parents in this room, as far as I could tell. I was going to take her and find her people, but she slipped away."

"Well, that was quick thinking on Sunny's part," Violet said as we ran out of the parent room, once Old Yellow Suit had managed to get away from the mad parents, "but where did she go?"

"Maybe she got into the elevator," I suggested. "She could be on an upper floor."

That thought worried her. "You're right," she said. "She could be...She could be anywhere in this building."

"Well, we're not going to find her by standing around," I said, trying to bolster her. "Let's go!"

Violet, Old Yellow Suit and I scoured the second and third floors and found nothing. By the time we reached the fourth floor, Violet was crying slightly. "We've got to find her," she said in desperation. "We've got to."

"We will," I said firmly as we ran down a wide fourth-floor hallway. "We'll find her."

We rounded a corner, looking in every nook and cranny. "Are these doors left open often?" Violet asked Old Yellow Suit, looking hopelessly at the rows upon rows of doors: 4-A, 4-B, 4-C, and so on, the end of them not in our sight.

"No," she replied. "I know what you're worried about—you're thinking the baby might have gone through an open door and then pushed it closed behind her. But these doors are almost always closed; usually locked."

"Well, that at least narrows it down," I said.

We passed a row of windows, and I happened to glance out through one of them. I did a double-take and skidded to a halt in astonishment. I looked through the window, straight down the side of the building.

"Oh my God..." I breathed.

The baby was on a window ledge one story below.

"Help!" I cried. "Somebody come over here! Violet!"

Violet and Old Yellow Suit came running and I pointed to what I had seen. The baby turned her head up to us, looking frightened. Old Yellow Suit gasped.

"Sunny!" Violet yelled. "Hold on, we're coming to get you!"

She began to run towards the stairs, but Old Yellow Suit stayed stock-still. "This area has had high levels of acid rain this year..." she murmured.

"What?" said Violet. I didn't understand either—until I looked back down at the baby.

The concrete ledge was cracking.

There wasn't time to go downstairs. Violet was running back towards us, tying up her hair. "This is no time for changing your hairstyle!" I yelled. "We have to help her, fast!"

"I know!" she cried. "What's in there?" She was pointing at my bucket.

I rifled through it. "Um, a slingshot, some superglue, my Swiss army—"

"Oh, could you just dump it out please?"

I looked at her askance. "Dump it out?"

"She's going to fall!"

I turned my perfectly organized bucket upside-down; its contents spilled over the floor. Marbles rolled in every direction. Far below us, pieces of the window ledge were falling into the street. I heard Sunny whimper.

Violet inspected my pile of tools. "A rope!" she exclaimed. "Perfect!"

"There's also a horseshoe magnet stuck inside," I said, wrenching it from the metal bucket.

"Even better—how strong is it?"

"The strongest I've found," I replied.

"Give it here."

Working faster than I thought even I could have—I wasn't the greatest knot-tier—she attached the magnet to the top of the steel window frame, tied the rope to the handle of my empty bucket, and looped it through the horseshoe magnet, creating a makeshift pulley. Old Yellow Suit watched with a mix of fear and admiration.

"My hands are shaking," Violet said. Her voice was shaking too.

"Here, let me." I took the rope and steadied it, lowering the bucket down swiftly but smoothly.

"Get in the bucket, Sunny, get in the bucket!" cried Violet.

I knew the exact distance to lower it without having to look; I put it slightly below her so she wouldn't have to tilt it to get in. Fragments of the crumbling ledge were falling in, so I couldn't be exactly sure if all the weight entering the bucket meant that the girl had made it—and none of us dared to peer over the edge.

Silence fell, and I slowly, feverishly began to raise the bucket. We all held our breath. At a snail-like pace, the bucket rose and rose until it came to our level, and its contents were revealed.

"Gapuki!"

We exhaled; Violet laughed aloud in relief. She picked up the baby out of my bucket and dumped the concrete bits onto the ground, and then we both disassembled her pulley and began to replace the bucket's contents. None of us could stop smiling.

"We make a pretty good team," I said, shaking her hand.

"I suppose we do," she replied with Sunny grinning in her arms.

Old Yellow Suit laughed joyously and clapped her hands together. "What a display!" she cried. We looked at her, glowing with pride, and she seemed to compose herself, clasping her hands together and pursing her lips, clearing her throat. "Girls," she said a bit more calmly, "I do believe you two ought to join me for the third test."

At first, I wasn't sure I had heard her right. Violet and I looked at each other, and then we both grinned from ear to ear at exactly the same time.

"Really?" said Violet in disbelief.

"Of course." Old Yellow Suit smiled.

"Yes!" I jumped up and punched the air triumphantly. Violet and Old Yellow Suit laughed. I lifted my hand for Violet to high-five.

"Klaus will be so excited," she said happily. "Thank you so very much!"

"You're quite welcome," said Old Yellow Suit. "Now go fetch your brother and come straight back here. There's someone I want you to meet."

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A/N: Anybody notice the chapter title's double meaning? Trans story as in between the stories of MBS and ASOUE, and trans story as in between the third & fourth stories of the Monk Building?