Violette's POV
It seemed like forever after sneaking a ride on a van to reach our destination, but I was sure glad it was over. As soon as we hopped off, we hid behind a trashcan and waited for the van to drive off.
While waiting, I noticed a sign reading about an underground subway station. What is a subway station? And why is underground? The distance sound of a horn thundered beneath the ground interrupting my thoughts.
"What is that place? And what was that noise?" I asked curiously.
"That is the underground subway station," Sherlock explained. "It is an underground railway that transports people to their destinations. Humans use it to travel around London if their cars can't handle the traffic. Now, would you like to see Big Ben...?"
My face lit up at this question. Oh yes, I would love to see the enormous clock tower of London that is so popular in the city. I was about to answer until he rudely cut me off.
"Or can we get on with our investigation?"
I scowled at him, biting back an angry reply I wanted to throw at him.
"Violette, this isn't the time for touring the city," Elizabeth told me. "We have to get to... uh, where are we going, Sherlock?"
"There it is!" Sherlock whispered, gesturing to the building that lay before us right after the van drove away.
DOYLE'S DOLL MUSEUM
"The Doll Museum?" My mother Juliet questioned.
"The Doll Museum. I must confront the second most terrifying ornament in all of London," said the detective.
Motioning for us to follow him, Sherlock lead us around to a tiny door at the back of the museum. He rapped the door lightly and a miniature eye slot opened.
"You sure you want to come in?" asked a strange eerie voice.
"Gregson, I need to speak to your boss," said Sherlock.
The door opened, revealing a giant teddy bear holding a smirking smaller teddy bear, whom I learned his name is Teddy Gregson.
As we passed them, I heard Gregson chuckle, "Your funeral."
Sherlock swallowed nervously as we all entered the building. I felt Mommy trying to hold my hand, but I drew back and held Elizabeth's hand instead. I can't help it if I'm still angry with my mother. I don't want to be anywhere near her until after we rescue Daddy and all of the gnomes.
I gasped at the sight before me. Dozens of empty display cases surrounded us and a large stage stood before us. A makeshift arena in the middle of the room had hundreds of different dolls piled closely together, cheering on an enormous gorilla who beat his chest.
"Yikes! Is that the boss?" asked Mommy, looking frightened.
"No, not him." Sherlock shook his head.
A giant robot stepped forward, waving his enormous steel arms.
"Is that him?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not him," said Sherlock.
As we moved closer to the center of the arena, I realized it was a table set up for arm wrestling. The gorilla and the robot appeared to be getting to arm wrestle each other, until the robot moved back to reveal who the gorilla was really arm wrestling with.
It was the most beautiful doll I had ever seen, well second beautiful when you count Elizabeth. She had olive skin and magenta curly hair, long eyelashes and light green eyes, and she wore an elegant dark blue gown that was based on the Victorian Times.
"Her," said Sherlock, gesturing to the lovely doll I just described.
"Who is she?" I asked.
"Irene," Sherlock uttered her name, apparently trembling.
Irene heard the sound of his voice and laid eyes on the detective, giving him a thin smile which told us it wasn't friendly. "Sherlock Gnomes," she purred, breaking the gorilla's arm off and tossing it away.
I felt sorry for the wailing gorilla, but when I glanced up at Sherlock I noticed how his smile weakened.
After the gorilla left, Irene brushed past us as she spoke, "You've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here."
"Hello Irene," Sherlock greeted mildly. "You're looking well."
"A letter. You ended our engagement in a letter," Irene snapped elegantly.
"You two were engaged?" My mother gasped in disbelief.
"That might be a mild overstatement," mumbled Sherlock.
"What's engaged?" I asked.
"It means get married," Elizabeth explained to me.
Holy cow! That would explain why Sherlock was behaving awkwardly around Irene and why she was behaving coldly toward him.
"And now, after months of silence, you show up with this cheap porcelain thing - or is it this delicate little maid?" Irene hissed, frowning at my mother and then at Elizabeth.
Wait a minute! Is she saying my mother is engaged to Sherlock, or is it Elizabeth engaged to Sherlock? Yuck, my mom already has my dad! But for Elizabeth, I did catch a glimpse of her reaction to her first meeting the detective. She was blushing and couldn't stop staring at him. Could it be...?
"I beg your pardon?" Mommy scowled.
"Oh no, we're not dating!" protested Elizabeth, her blushing gave her away.
"No, no. They're just my assistants," Sherlock tried to explain.
"Oh, I am not your assistant!" retorted Mommy.
"Sherlock is not daddy!" I shouted, ignoring the adults shushing me.
Irene's head snapped back, turning her gaze down upon me. I felt my feet freeze and voice cease at those icy green eyes glaring down upon me. "And you brought a kid in here with you?" she questioned incredulously.
"She's just here with her mother because of a case Sherlock is helping us with," Elizabeth explained nervously.
"Well, I see it yet I don't believe it!" Irene's eyes grew wide in what I took to be mild surprise. "Princess Molly."
I froze, and my mother and Sherlock stared blankly at Elizabeth. "Molly?" we said in baffled union.
"Miss Elizabeth is not a princess, she's a nanny hired to take care of Miss Juliet's daughter," Sherlock replied.
Irene smirked slowly. "Better get your stories straight, or perhaps her story." She raised her eyebrow at Elizabeth, who winced at her words. "I know every doll collection in London, and I recognize that face of hers from the Royal Family of Avalon collection, despite the new hairdo and dress."
Royal Family of Avalon? I don't understand. I looked over at Elizabeth, who hung her head as if knowing what would happen next. Demanding the truth out of her.
"Elizabeth...?" Mommy began, trying not to believe what she was hearing.
"I... I..." Elizabeth stuttered.
"We'll discuss this later!" Sherlock firmly shut her down, and by the look on his face I could tell he was not happy. He turned back to his ex-girlfriend. "Irene, please. This is important. This is one of yours, isn't it?" He held up the button we found on the card at the park earlier.
"I don't know, Sherlock," Irene drawled. "There's an awful lot of buttons in this city."
"Irene, please. Just hand over the clue," Sherlock pleaded.
"Of course, you're only here on work. But your case can wait. It's showtime!" Irene dryly headed for the stage and wrapped a cloak around her figure. "See if you can deduce who this song is about?"
Music started to play as she walked up the stage, and then Irene threw the cloak away to reveal a female wrestler's costume, having mysteriously peeled away her fancy dress. Her magenta hair changed to short blonde hair and red boxing gloves in her hands. The crowd started whooping and cheering for her. I didn't know how she changed her dress like that, it must be some kind of magician's trick.
As she started to sing, Irene made punching gestures with her gloves, as if she were punching Sherlock in the face, and he winced as if knowing she intended to hit him. I didn't catch the lyrics, but although I did get the impression that Irene was telling Sherlock that she didn't need a man in her life and she was much better off without the wretched detective.
But I didn't seem to care about how her lyrics stung Sherlock from the inside, because I was so enchanted by her singing and dancing, I immediately felt the rhythm of the beat enter my body. I tried to imitate her movements, even though I exaggerated, but I came up with my own dance moves. I did the cha-cha slide and jumped a little twirl in the air.
Irene withdrew the clue we needed from her boxing glove, but she didn't hand it over to Sherlock cause she grabbed the handle of a balloon's basket. I gazed up at her in awed amazement, still swaying my body to her song. It was as if she could fly and I wish I could do that too. All of the toys around us were dancing in their own private circles, and I failed to realized I separated from the adults by dancing with the other toys.
The toys stared down at me like I invaded their privacy at first, but when I displayed the worm, the running man and the windmill, the toys began to applaud for me. I guess they never saw any other gnome or toy do something like this before, that's because Uncle Benny and Daddy had been teaching me how to dance like this.
The second I started doing Michael Jackson's Thriller, I had no idea that Sherlock, Elizabeth and my mother had been picked up and carried off. I should've paid attention, but I was too absorbed in dancing to care. On the last beat of the song, the spotlight landed on me and I froze when I felt strange eyes on me.
The large teddy bear, still carrying Gregson on his arm, shot the most terrifying glare down at me. I felt my body trembled and looked around for my mother and the others, but there was no sign of them. At first I thought he was going to reach down and grab me, but I heard Irene beat him to the punch.
"Leave her."
I whirled around and I could see Irene approach me, one hand on her hip and the other hiding the card in her pocket. I didn't know what she was going to do with me. I was terrified. However, Irene held no icy irritation in her eyes.
"Where did you learn how to dance like that, kid?" she asked.
"My Daddy and Uncle Benny taught me," I replied meekly, still afraid of her. "And if you're gonna ask, my Daddy is not Sherlock! He gets on my nerves and he's quite bossy, just like my Mommy. My Daddy is Gnomeo and..."
Irene held up a hand to silence me. The singer wasn't angry with me, she was actually impressed by my dancing skills and she didn't seem to mind my presence either. "How about we talk about this over tea, while Gregson gets your mother," she said, nodding her head at the two bears.
"Okay." I nodded.
Gregson and the giant bear left to go find my mother.
With a clap of her hands, Irene ordered the dolls to create a fancy dining room on the stage for both her and me. Irene told me to wait a minute while she got changed. I sat upon a stool and watched as the table was set for tea and plastic cakes.
A little later, Irene returned having changed her hair to a brown color that matched her skin and wore a pink stylish dress that went flawlessly with a lacy wide-brimmed hat that could have been based on the Victorian Times. She took her seat in front of me.
"Would you like some tea?" she asked.
"Yes, please." I nodded, holding my cup out and a doll poured imaginary tea in my cup. "You know, I've never really had a tea party before."
"Not even with your parents?"
"No. All my mother cares about is the garden, and she said so herself. My father... he's been kidnapped by a gargoyle that's working for..."
"Moriarty," finished Irene.
"How did you know that?"
"His infamous rivalry against Sherlock is known in the ornamental world."
"Oh." I sensed by the cold tone in her voice that she didn't want to talk about Sherlock, so I decided to change the subject. "I really liked your performance, Miss Irene. Especially that part when you were riding the balloon." And I truly meant it.
I got an amused chuckle and a grin out of Irene. "Thanks, you weren't too bad yourself," she complimented me and I returned the grin.
"Excuse me, Miss Adler, but the little girl's mother is here," said one of the teddies.
I frowned in disappointment. I was just starting to enjoy my time with Irene. I saw my mother hurry up the staircase, anxiously concerned.
"Oh hello," greeted Irene, though she stared icily at her. "Here I thought garden gnomes were all overweight and bearded, but you're actually... cute. Hardly any facial hair at all," she purred. "Though your daughter's more of a cutie."
I blushed at her words.
My mother shook her head and then turned to me, "Violette, are you alright?" she asked in concern.
"I'm fine, Mommy!" I told her in a perky manner. "Miss Irene was just telling me that she liked my dancing."
"That's nice." My mother didn't seem concerned about it. "Could you wait by the exit, dear. I need to have a word with Irene."
"Okay." I shrugged my shoulders in annoyance. As I left the table and headed off stage, I looked back and waved, "Goodbye, Miss Irene!"
Irene waved goodbye back to me, and I was out of earshot of the conversation between my mother, Juliet, and Irene. Gregson and the giant bear was about to kindly escort me to the exit when I heard my mother cry out, "ENOUGH!"
We all turned our attention to the stage, shocked by my mother's sudden shouting and that is when I heard those words.
"I don't care about Sherlock. He is the single most annoying gnome I've ever met. I wouldn't date Sherlock if he were the last gnome on Earth. I already have a partner, and he's nothing like Sherlock. Gnomeo is reckless and emotional and isn't obsessed with work. He loves my little girl as much as I do very much. And he doesn't treat me like an assistant. He treats me like I'm..." I saw her smile genuinely, "the toughest gnome in the garden. He believes in me. He loves me with all his heart. And if you asked him to choose between me and work or anything really... he'd choose me. Every time."
Did I hear right or did my mother just saw she loves me as much as my father does? I thought for sure she never did because I still remember those harsh words she said to me and to Daddy and Elizabeth yesterday.
The garden can't wait. And you three can.
Thinking about it made my heart ache. However, her words of saying 'He loves my little girl as much I do very much.' I didn't know what to believe now.
Afterwards, I overheard Irene speak, "A man doesn't make you strong."
"You're right," Mommy agreed. "A man doesn't make you strong. But the right partner can make you stronger. And I let mine down, especially my own daughter, and I need to make this right."
Irene stared at my mother with grudging respect and she was impressed by my mother's strength and words as much I was, although it was brief.
"All right. I'll give you what you want, but only on two conditions," Irene said. "First, you tell Sherlock this had absolutely nothing to do with him."
Mother nodded. "And the second?"
"After you save the day, you come back here and tell me about it. And bring your daughter along, she's a good kid," Irene added, giving the card to my mother.
"You've got yourself a day," said Mommy, taking the card and agreeing to Irene's conditions.
The door opened and as the two bears gentlemanly escorted me out, I gasped when I was met by an unexpected sight:
Elizabeth and Sherlock were engaged in what appeared to be a hug, or was it called an embrace!
