New chapter! This one switches perspectives a bit so i hope you like it!

Chapter Nine: The Signal

Klaus Baudelaire

The smoke rose up into the sky, arousing yet another mystery.

"It's a Verdant Flammable Device," Quigley said, "There's someone at the top of the waterfall, sending a signal."

"Who do you think it could be?" Melissa asked.

"Maybe it's a volunteer, who escaped from the fire," I said. "They're signaling to see if there are any other volunteers nearby."

"Or it could be a trap," Quigley said. "They could be luring volunteers up to the peak in order to ambush them. Remember, the codes of V.F.D. are used by both sides of the schism."

"It hardly seems like a code," Violet said. "We know that someone is communicating, but we don't have the faintest idea who they are, or what they're saying."

"This is what it must be like," I said thoughtfully, "when Sunny talks to people who don't know her very well."

As I mentioned my younger sister, I recalled how much I missed her and Jane too. I could see from Violet's expression that we were in agreement.

"Whether it's a volunteer or a trap," Violet said, "it might be our only chance to find Jane and Sunny."

"Or my sister and brother," Quigley said.

"Or Monty Kensicle," Melissa said, "or my father."

"Let's signal back," I suggested. "Do you still have those Verdant Flammable Devices, Quigley?"

"Of course," Quigley said and took the box of green tubes out of his backpack, "but Bruce saw my matches and confiscated them, because children shouldn't play with matches."

"Confiscated them?" I said. "Do you think he's an enemy of V.F.D.?"

"If everyone who said that children shouldn't play with matches was an enemy of V.F.D.," Violet said, smiling, "then we wouldn't have any chance of survival."

"Well then how are we supposed to light them?" Melissa said.

Violet pulled out her ribbon from her pocket and tied her hair up, out of her face. She gazed up at the mysterious signal, the gears and levers in her brain whirring as she invented a solution.

Jamie Murray

Sunny and I shared a grin as the dish she called 'lox' was being prepared using the smoke from the strange green tube. Where there's smoke, there's fire. I knew if there was any chance of Violet and Klaus surviving the crash, they would see our signal and know where to find us. Now all we had to do was wait. I wandered over to the waterfall and peered over the edge, wondering if perhaps they were on their way right now.

I turned back to Sunny and thought about offering to take over the cooking. But she was doing such a nice job that it didn't seem necessary for me to help. I sat down on the snow beside the dish and helped Sunny prepare it in anyway. I hummed a tune under my breath as we watched the plume of smoke. Members of Olaf's troupe lurked nearby and I didn't want to ruin our plan so we kept talking to a minimum.

"Something smells delicious," one of the white-faced women said as she walked by the casserole dish. "I must admit, I had some doubts that an infant and a young girl should be in charge of the cooking, but that salmon recipe seems like it will be very tasty indeed."

"Sunny's the chef here," I said, "I'm only assisting."

"There's a word for the way they're preparing the fish," the hook handed man said, "but I can't remember what it is."

"She said it already," I said, "weren't you paying attention? It's called Lox."

But as soon as I said it, Count Olaf came storming out of the tent, the sinister duo and Esmé trailed closely behind. He was holding the Snicket file and glared down at us with his gleaming eyes.

"Put that smoke out at once!" he ordered. "I thought you were both terrified orphan prisoners, but I'm beginning to think you're spies!"

"What do you mean, Olaf?" the other white-faced woman asked. "They're using Esmé's cigarette to cook us some fish."

"Someone might see the smoke," Esmé growled. "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

The man with the beard but no hair scooped up some snow and tossed it onto the weeds to extinguish the green tube.

"Who are you signaling to?" he asked. "If you're spies, we're going to toss you off this mountain."

"Goo goo," Sunny said, meaning, "I'm going to pretend I'm a helpless baby, instead of answering your question."

"I had no idea it would arouse any suspicion," I said, trying to sound as innocent as Sunny. But Olaf glared at me, not buying it one bit.

"You see?" the white-faced woman said, nervously glancing at the man with a beard but no hair. "She's just a helpless baby and the girl is no different."

"How do you expect me to believe that?" Olaf snarled looking pointedly at me. "After all this orphan has done to foil my plans before! I don't trust her one bit!"

He grabbed the back of my snowsuit and yanked me to my feet. His face was inches from mine. I shrank back, afraid that he would hit me.

"I agree," the woman with hair but no beard said, "It's in her blood afterall. She's a little mutt after having such repulsive parents. I say we toss her off the mountain!"

I glowered at her. She had said so many terrible things about my parents and I tried not to let it bother me, but it was no use. My hands balled up into fists and I was fuming.

Suddenly, out of the blue, several tiny, red bumps formed on the skin of the sinister duo. They gasped and began to itch at them like a dog with fleas. The rash only seemed to worsen, the more they scratched.

"What is this?" the man with a beard but no hair said. "What in the world is happening to us?"

I unclenched my fists, my anger melting away as I realized who was to blame for this. I looked up only to regret it. Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor were shooting daggers at me.

"You," Olaf snarled. The duo looked at me quizzically and although they probably had no way of proving it, I know they were blaming me too.

"I-I didn't, I swear!" I said, cowering in fear.

But he didn't give me time to explain and I was hurled onto the snowy ground like a rag doll. Before I could even begin to rise to my feet, Esmé was dragging me towards the tent I shared with the freaks.

She pushed me inside, closing the flap behind her. I looked up at her timidly, knowing she would be furious.

"Were you trying to get yourself killed?" she hissed. "You stupid girl!"

I frowned, my anger from before slowly returning. She scoffed at me when I didn't reply and whipped around to leave the tent.

"How could you?" I said, feeling a tear appearing in my eye. "How could you stand there and let those horrible people say such nasty things about my parents—about your sister?" Esmé had halted in her tracks but didn't turn or reply. "Maybe it's a good thing that my mother isn't here. At least she won't be able to see what kind of person you are."

"If I were you, I'd be a little nicer to people who could do so much more frightening things to you then you could ever imagine," Esmé said, still facing away from me, "you should be grateful that I took you away from there when I did."

Then, she stepped out of the tent and disappeared, closing it behind her.

I reached up with my hand to wipe the tears away from my eyes. I wasn't going to start crying. I couldn't cry if I was going to protect Sunny. Courageous people didn't cry.

Sunny Baudelaire

I watched as Esmé Squalor dragged Jane away, inside the tent. I hoped she would be okay but Esmé probably wouldn't harm her. I know Jane hadn't meant to cause a huge commotion and a part of me wished there was more I could do for her. Afterall, she had done so much for me and of course in the past she had always helped my siblings and I escape Count Olaf's clutches. I glanced at the green tube that was now extinguished so no more smoke swirled up into the sky. Now our signal had been destroyed with no way for my siblings to know where to find us.

I sighed. I really wanted to believe my siblings had survived and they were searching for us. They had saved me before when I had been hopelessly trapped in that birdcage. It was difficult to have to wait, hoping and believing they would come. Of course, there was always the chance that it wasn't true. What would happen then? I knew Jane would make attempts to get us out but would she be able to do it alone?

I shook those thoughts away. I couldn't allow myself to think that way. Violet and Klaus would never leave me behind, they would always come for me. They would come for both of us.

The flap of the tent opened as Esmé stepped out, her face rigid at first but faded away as she sneered at me.

"What are you staring at baby?" she sneered. "You should be busy preparing our supper."

Olaf who had been talking with the sinister visitors looked in my direction and scowled as if he were looking at a pile of garbage.

"Get back to worth toothy," he growled. I looked back down at the casserole dish. "Or we'll stick to our word about throwing you off the mountain."

"That's not necessary," the man with a beard but no hair said. "There's no reason to toss a baby or a young girl off a mountain unless you absolutely have to."

"Babies and children can come in handy," Count Olaf agreed. "In fact, I've been thinking about recruiting more young people into my troupe. They're less likely to complain about doing my bidding."

"But we never complain," the hook-handed man said. "I try to be as accommodating as possible."

"Enough chitchat," the man with a beard but no hair said. 'We have a lot of scheming to do, Olaf. I have some information that might help you with your recruiting idea, and according to the Snicket file, there's one more safe place for the volunteers to gather."

"The last safe place," the woman said. "We have to find it and burn it down."

"And once we do," Olaf said, "the last evidence of our plans will be completely destroyed. We'll never have to worry about the authorities again."

"Where is this last safe place?" Kevin asked.

Olaf nearly answered but the woman with hair but no beard made a gesture to stop him and glanced suspiciously at me. "Not in front of the toothy orphan," she said, her voice as deep as a foghorn. "If she learned what we were up to, she'd never sleep again, and you need your infant servant full of energy. Send her away too, and we'll make our plans."

"Of course," Olaf said giving her a nervous smile. "Orphan, go to my car and remove all the potato chip crumbs from the interior by blowing as hard as you can."

"Futil," I said, meaning, "That is an absolutely impossible chore."

Of course, no one around understood what I was saying. Only Jane seemed to, but she was stuck inside the tent. As Olaf's troupe howled with laughter, I walked over to the car, a little unsteady on my feet still. I couldn't help think that my signal plan had failed and I sighed heavily. As I reached the car, passing the casserole dish where my night would be spent, my hope felt like it was beginning to fade. What if it was all a waste? Were they really out there?

I stared at the frozen waterfall and noticed something peculiar. A plume of green smoke swirled in the sky and my heart soared.

"Sibling," I said, beaming. Even if it wasn't them, someone was out there signaling to me and this hope was enough to help me keep moving. If only I could convince Jane to share the same hope.

Klaus Baudelaire

I watched as the plume of green smoke disappeared. It must have been put out and this only made my hope fade even more. What if Jane had been signaling to us that her and Sunny were up there? Olaf probably discovered it and was probably punishing her. I remembered all those times I had seen Jane covered in bruises or the time when all her golden hair had been chopped off. It always made me terribly sad and knowing that I couldn't stop it made it me feel weak and helpless. I couldn't protect Jane the way I should. That's why I needed to find her and take her away from Olaf. I needed to be able to know that she was safe from harm. It killed me to think of those large purple bruises up and down her arms as if she were nothing but a punching bag.

"Look, someone put out the Verdant Flammable Device," Melissa said, she squinted up at the smoke as it evaporated into thin air. "What could that mean?"

"I don't know," Violet said with a sigh. "This isn't working."

"Of course it's working," I said, "It's working perfectly." I explained to her how she had wonderfully constructed an invention to light the Verdant Flammable Device using the scientific principles of convergence and refraction of light—similar to her invention on Lake Lachrymose. Using Colette's hand mirror, she reflected the sunlight onto the device to light it and send a signal.

"Klaus is right," Quigley said, "It couldn't have worked better."

"Thank you," Violet said, "but that's not what I mean. I mean this code isn't working. We still don't know who's up on the peak, or why they were signaling us, and now the signal has stopped, but we still don't know who's up on the peak, or why they were signaling us, and now the signal has stopped, but we still don't know what it means."

"Perhaps we should put out our Verdant Flammable Device, too," I said.

"Maybe," Violet agreed, "or maybe we should go up to the top of the waterfall and see for ourselves who is there."

Quigley and Melissa frowned simultaneously, glancing at one another.

"But the only war up to the highest peak is the path that the Snow Scouts are taking," Melissa said.

Quigley nodded. "We would have to go back through the Vernacularly Fastened Door, back down the Vertical Flame Diversion, back into the Volunteer Feline Detective cave, rejoin the scouts and hike for a long time."

"That's not the only way up to the peak," Violet said and smiled.

"Of course it is," Melissa said, looking at Violet as if she were absurd. "The map shows no other route."

"What about the waterfall?" Violet suggested. We all turned to look at the frozen waterfall.

"Do you mean," I said, curiously, "that you think you can invent something which can get us up a frozen waterfall?"

I didn't need an answer because Violet was already tying up her hair and looking around at the destroyed headquarters.

"I'll need that ukulele that you took from the caravan," she said to me, "and that half-melted candelabra over there by the dining room table."

I did as she said and soon Violet was examining the objects. "Unless you need any further assistance," I said, "I think I might go examine the wreckage of the library and see if any documents have survived. We might as well learn as much from this headquarters as we can."

"Good idea," Quigley said and pulled out a notebook with a dark blue cover. "I have a spare notebook," he said. "You might be interested in starting a commonplace book of your own."

"That's very kind of you," I said. "I'll write down anything I find. Do you and Melissa want to join me?"

"I think I'll stay here," Quigley said, glancing at Violet. "I've heard quite a bit about Violet Baudelaire's marvelous inventions, and I'd like to see her at work."

I nodded and looked at Melissa. She glanced at Quigley and Violet, a coy smile on her lips. "I'll come with you, Klaus," she said, "I don't want to overcrowd her."

Melissa got up and followed me over to the library. Or at least what remained of it. There was an iron archway that marked the entrance of the ruined library. I stared at the arch, noticing the words, 'The world is quiet here' carved on the arch. It reminded me of the archway at Prufrock Prep that had the school's motto engraved on it. Perhaps this was some kind of motto.

I walked through the arch, entering the library now crumbled to pieces of ashes. I frowned looking at all the wreckage. All this information had been erased like that and I didn't think I would find anything. There were burnt pages along the floor and on tables and chairs. Most of them were far too damaged to read. However, I did notice a piece that was quite legible apart from a few blank spots.

'In the e flagration resulting in the destruction of a sanc , teers should avail themselves of Verbal Fri Dialogue, which is concealed accordingly.'

"Look at this, Melissa," I said to her. She moved to my side and I showed her the note. She gazed at it for a moment before she looked back up at me.

"What could this mean?" she asked. "All those blanks make it confusing."

"Let's show the others and see what they think," I said.

We showed Violet and Quigley the message and I explained how 'flagration' was probably part of the word 'conflagration', which is a fancy word for fire. 'Sanc' was most likely the start of the word 'sanctuary', meaning a safe place. The sentence, I explained to them, must have gone: 'In the event of a conflagration resulting in the destruction of a sanctuary…'

Violet got up off the ground to look at the piece of paper. "'Teers,'" she said, "is probably 'volunteers,' but I'm not sure what 'avail themselves' means."

"It means 'to make use of,'" I said, "like you're availing yourself of the ukulele and those forks. Don't you see? This says that in case a safe place burns down, they'll leave some sort of message—'Verbal Fri Dialogue.'"

"But what could 'Verbal Fri Dialogue' be?" Melissa asked. "Friends? Frisky?"

"Frilly?" Violet suggested. "Frightening?"

"But it says that it's concealed accordingly," I pointed out. "That means that the dialogue is hidden in a logical way. If it were Verbal Waterfall Dialogue, it would be hidden in the waterfall. So none of those words can be right. Where would someone leave a message where fire couldn't destroy it?"

"But fire destroys everything," Violet said. "Look at the headquarters. Nothing is left standing except the library entrance, and . . ."

". . . and the refrigerator," I finished, "or we might say, the fridge."

"Verbal Fridge Dialogue!" Melissa said.

"The volunteers left a message," I said, moving over to the fridge, "in the only place they knew wouldn't be affected by the fire."

"And one place their enemies wouldn't think of looking," Quigley said. "After all, there's never anything important in the refrigerator."

We gathered around the fridge and searched its contents. There was a jar of mustard, three jars of different kinds of jam, a lone pickle, a container of olives, and a bottle of lemon juice.

"There doesn't appear to be anything helpful in here," Melissa said.

"Look in the crisper," Quigley said, pointing to the drawer where vegetables and fruits were commonly kept. I opened it and took out some pieces of a green plant with small, skinny leaves.

"This smells like dill," I said, "and it's quite crisp, as if it were picked yesterday."

"Very Fresh Dill," Quigley said.

"Another mystery," Violet said, tears filling her eyes. "We have nothing but mysteries. We don't know where Sunny and Jane are. We don't know where Count Olaf is. We don't know who's signaling us at the top of the waterfall, or what they're trying to say, and now there's a mysterious code in a mysterious refrigerator, and a bunch of mysterious herbs in the crisper. I'm tired of mysteries. I want someone to help us."

"We can help each other," I said, softly. "We have your inventions, Quigley's maps, Melissa's visions and the Murray file, and my research."

"Violet," Melissa said, "you were undoubtedly the best student in AP Physics. If you can do that well in that class, there's no mystery you can't solve."

"And we're all very well-read," Quigley said. "That should be enough to solve any mystery."

Violet sighed and kicked at something on the ground. "It's like we're members of V.F.D. already," she said. "We're sending signals, and breaking codes, and finding secrets in the ruins of a fire."

"Do you think our parents would be proud of us," I asked, "for following in their footsteps?"

"I don't know," Violet said. "After all, they kept V.F.D. a secret."

"Maybe they were going to tell us later," I said.

"Or maybe they hoped we would never find out," Violet said.

"My adoptive parents weren't members," Melissa said, "but I think they knew too. Why else would they have that secret passageway? They never really wanted me to find out about my real parents and maybe this organization is why. But if I spent my entire life without either of them, then I deserve an answer. I deserve to know why."

"I keep wondering the same thing," Quigley said. "If I could travel back in time to the moment my mother showed me the secret passageway under the library, I would ask her why she was keeping there secrets."

"That's one more mystery," Violet said sadly. She gazed up at the slippery slope. The sky was darkening as the afternoon wore on. "We should each investigate the mystery we're most likely to solve," she said. "I'll climb up the waterfall, and solve the mystery of the Verdant Flammable Device by learning who's up there, and what they want. You should stay down here, Klaus, and solve the mystery of the Verbal Fridge Dialogue, by learning the code and discovering what the message is."

"And we'll help you both," Quigley said. "I'll leave my commonplace book with Klaus, in case it's any help with the codes. And I'll climb up the waterfall with you, Violet, in case you need my help." He took out his commonplace book.

"And I'll stay down here with Klaus," Melissa said, "in case he needs my help."

"Are you sure?" Violet asked. "You've already taken us this far. You don't have to risk your life any further."

"We'll understand," I said, "if you want to leave and continue searching for your siblings and your father."

"Are you kidding?" Melissa said. "I waited my whole life for my father. It's time I made him wait for me. There's no way I'm abandoning you."

Quigley nodded. "Besides, we're all part of this mystery, whatever it is. Of course I'm going to help you."

I glanced at Violet. I felt a little safer knowing that Melissa and Quigley were so trustworthy and willing to help us. It made these mysteries seem a little less pressing and with their help perhaps we could solve them.

Violet stepped forward, her feet inside odd fork-assisted climbing shoes that scraped on the ground. She took Quigley and Melissa's hands.

"Thank you," she said, "for volunteering."

Jamie Murray

I sighed heavily and wandered over to my bag, sinking down beside it. I looked around, thinking of what I could do to pass the time. It made me itch to be sitting around in here while Count Olaf was out there making plans with those awful people and Sunny was cooking dinner on her own. There was no way for me help Sunny or to eavesdrop at all. I was stuck in a stupid tent with nothing but the items in my bag.

However, I did have the owl figurine. Which may in fact be the evidence that the man with a beard but no hair and the woman with hair but no beard mentioned. I took it out of my bag, grasping the smooth surface. There was a bit of texture on the feathers to make it seem more real. And as I looked at the owl, I thought about Spirit. It made me feel a little better; that there was a part of him here with me. It made me wonder about the other owl. The one that delivered the strange letter. I've heard of carrier pigeons and of course, I knew about carrier crows. But never did I think owls could be messengers too. Could they be sent from V.F.D. members? Maybe the letters were coming from Monty Kensicle, telling me that he had collected all the evidence we needed to send Olaf to jail. Of course, there wasn't enough evidence to do that. Olaf had the Snicket file and he was certainly going to destroy it along with the Murray file. I shuddered to think of that poor girl, Melissa Sampson, who was unfortunate enough to get tangled up in all this.

Olaf could destroy those files, however, I wasn't going to let him destroy the evidence I held in my hands. Whatever happened to the Violet and Klaus, it was my duty to get Sunny and I out of this. This evidence may be just what we need.

What kind of evidence could be stored in such a small figurine? I turned it over in my hands, feeling a sense of déjà vu as I studied the owl for what seemed like the umpteenth time. I saw what I already observed before. It had soft, brown feathers with yellow speckles. There was the insignia of V.F.D. carved on the bottom that seemed to be watching me like so many other eyes. It was strange looking because one of its eyes was brown, while the other was bright yellow. The figurine, while quite small, felt strangely heavy in my hands.

I brought it up to my ear and started to shake the owl like a bottle of ketchup while trying to determine what could be inside. There was no feeling of the weight inside shifting from one side to the other. It was rock solid. There was definitely something hidden inside there with no way to tell what, unless it were opened. The question was, how could I open it?

I looked around it again. The only things that stuck out to me were the insignia and the eyes except, the insignia was clearly carved into the figurine and the eye didn't look or feel like a secret compartment.

I sighed in frustration and tossed the owl aside. I found myself no longer able to sit still and began to pace aimlessly. I tried to take my mind off the figurine by thinking about the next time I would see Klaus. If I would see him.

I allowed myself to imagine how I would hug him so hard that he'd never be able to let go of me again. And I swore when I saw him, I would tell him how I felt. I didn't care if he wasn't feeling that way towards me, I just wanted him to know how much he meant to me.

The thought of possibly losing my best friend forever was nearly as painful as when my parents left me. I mean, I know I decided last night that I would try to have faith and be strong for Sunny. Except, I couldn't. I wasn't strong. If I were, I would've been able to save the Baudelaires. I wouldn't have caused Violet's and Klaus' deaths because I had been too careless. It was all my fault that this happened. I couldn't know for sure if they had survived.

I couldn't lose him. Not now. Not ever.

I sank back down onto the floor of the tent, tucking my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.

Klaus was all I had. What would I do without him? I didn't have a family, except for Esmé and she's the last person I would stick with. I was so scared of losing him. It seemed impossible and I didn't understand it. Why did I have to lose so much? It wasn't fair. For once in my life, I found someone who made me so happy. But that would have to be short lived.

I knew if Violet and Klaus were dead, and Sunny and I never got away from Olaf, that I would truly lose everything. My breath hastened as suddenly, it felt harder to breathe. The thought of being alone was more frightening to me than anything else. All of my life I've been alone until now. Would it really slip away from me again?

"How long have I,

Been in this storm?" I began to sing softly to myself.

"So overwhelmed by the ocean's shapeless form.

Water's getting harder to tread,

With these waves crashing over my head.

If I could just see you,

Everything will be all right.

If I'd see you,

This darkness will turn to light.

And I will walk on water,

And you will catch me if I fall,

And I will get lost into your eyes.

And everything will be all right,

And everything is all right.

I know you didn't,

Bring me out here to drown.

So why am I ten feet under and upside down?

Barely surviving has become my purpose,

Cause I'm so used to living underneath the surface.

If I could just see you,

Everything will be all right.

If I see you,

This darkness will turn to light.

And I will walk on water,

And you will catch me if I fall.

And I will get lost into your eyes,

I know everything will be all right.

And I will walk on water,

And you will catch me if I fall.

And I will get lost into your eyes,

I know everything will be all right,

I know everything is all right.

Everything's all right.

Yeah,

Everything's all right."

I finished the song, feeling more tears slowly sliding down my face. "Please," I said softly through my sobs. "Please don't leave me, Klaus."

Review!

The song is called 'Storm' by Lifehouse :)