Yes! I can update! We have a snow day! Snow days are awesome, and they never have them here. Well—now we do, I guess! Yay! This is the second-to-last chapter, my stories are all pretty short...I've already typed the ending...and I'm trying to write another Isadora/Klaus fic, but it's kind of hard...grr...I hope you liked this story—these three stories are my favoritest ones I've ever written. Except I didn't really write them all by myself—but hey! Anyway.
Dedicated to:
Kates Cousin
phred doesn't like you (Muffins!)
Eris11 (Thanks! I do that, too. Except not on my stories...yeah. I'm confused.)
Jade Roxanne
Coffee Luv
Can you find the V.F.D.?
"I'm very impressed with how hard you three children are working," came a strange man's voice. "When the Council of Elders told me that the village was serving as your guardian, I was afraid that three small children wouldn't be able to do all these chores without complaining."
Duncan gasped as we heard Violet, faintly but clearly say, "We're used to strenuous exercise. When we lived in Paltryville, we debarked trees and sawed them into boards, and at Prufrock Preparatory School we had to run laps every night."
I nearly fainted at the sound of Klaus's voice. "Besides, we're so busy thinking about the couplets that we've scarcely noticed our work." They had gotten the poems! Yes! Soon they would find the message, I knew Klaus would! He was too clever for it to elude him, he would find out and rescue me!
Correction: They would rescue us, I reminded myself, blushing.
"I thought that's why you were so quiet," came the man's voice. "How do those poems go again?"
"For sapphires we are held in here, only you can end our fear," came the sound of Violet's voice.
"Until dawn comes we cannot speak, no words can come from this sad beak," said Klaus's voice. I dizzily grinned at Duncan. Klaus was reading one of my poems...
"Dulch!" came Sunny's far away, yet unmistakable voice.
"They're tricky all right," said the man's voice.
Suddenly, I guess it took the stranger's voice to do it, Duncan and I lost our giggly smiles and started yelling and pounding on the sides of the fountain.
"Klaus!" I yelled, banging my fists.
"Violet!" screamed Duncan, kicking the walls.
"Klaus!"
"Violet!"
"KLAUS!"
"VIOLET!"
"SUNNY!" we both screamed.
"Klaus, Klaus, please hear me!" I yelled. "You can't let this happen, Klaus! Are you there?! Can you hear me?! SAVE US!"
"Violet!" Duncan was yelling. "Violet, please, please, please hear me! Please figure out Isadora's poem! Violet!"
"Klaus!" My voice was giving out. "Oh, Klaus, please..."
They were gone. We had yelled so hard we could barely speak. I leaned against Duncan miserably. We clung to each other, each of us hoping that the other would be safer, surer, and in control.
A few days later, in glum silence, I sent off the next poem. That morning, I awoke to the sound of voices.
Blessedly familiar voices.
"Sunny! Sunny, where are you?" My heart nearly stopped. It was Klaus.
"Heni! Heni!" It was Sunny! I shook Duncan awake.
"C'mon, Duncan Donut! It's them!"
Suddenly, light poured in on us. The beak had opened. We could climb out.
I looked at Duncan, who looked at me. "You first," we said simultaneously. "No, you," we insisted in unison.
I shrugged. "Dunca—"
He shook his head. "No, Isado—"
I covered his mouth with my hand. "Both of us. Together."
Trembling, we both reached up and clambered up the slippery wall, hoping that we wouldn't slip and than fall. Oh! I was so close to Klaus I was rhyming things in my mind! I smiled and swung my legs over.
I was sitting on top of a large, shiny, bronze bird. Water was gushing all around me. The fountain was in the middle of a large stone courtyard, surrounded by impressive buildings.
I looked down. Squinting up at me were the Baudelaires. Violet was holding Sunny and Klaus stood beside them. I squeezed Duncan's hand and we slid down, my sweater rode up and my skirt got dirty.
As we struggled out of our sweaters, I suddenly felt conscious of my scraggly wet hair and unbrushed teeth. Yuck! I probably looked like Cousin It, and to my tongue, my teeth felt as though they were the ones wearing soggy, dirty sweaters.
Had the Baudelaires ever seen me without my sweater? No, I realized, they hadn't! I smiled at Klaus. It felt so free and breezy without the itchy monstrosity on me. I liked the white blouse I was wearing now, too. If I hadn't been wearing the sweater, the water would have made it see-through. Thank god for the sweater. I didn't want Klaus to see me looking slutty.
"Sunny! Violet! Klaus!" I shouted, my voice returning when I needed it.
"Baudelaires!" said Duncan, sounding nerdy. You can pick your friends and your crushes and your nose, but not what you want to pick: your family.
"Duncan!" cried Violet, putting down Sunny and running towards us.
"Isadora!" yelled Klaus, and he followed her.
"Quagmire!" said Sunny, toddling over with some help from Klaus.
I shook Sunny's little hand and half-hugged Violet. Then I was standing face-to-face with him. The boy who I'd written poems about since I first saw his face. The boy who appeared to be a dream, walking around and wearing glasses and, now, looking at me.
I nearly shrieked, I was so happy.
But I did do something I hadn't intended to. And it was way worse. I reached out and (god, it's so embarrassing telling you this,) hugged him. Yeah, how majorly dorky and humiliating can you get?
I couldn't let go right away, of course, since than he'd think I was just hugging him because I hugged Violet and Sunny. So I just sort of stood there, blushing up a storm and biting my tongue until it bled, too shy to look at his face.
First he was kind of tense, I mean, I'd just started hugging him. Or embracing, or whatever. (Embracing sounds more romantic, you know? So I'll use that word instead of hugging starting now.)
But then—he relaxed. He even kind of embraced me back. Not as hard as I was to him, but I was kind of hugging—I mean, embracing, him too tight for him to do much.
So we kind of stood there. See, my head was kind of peeking out over his shoulder. But than I lowered my hands and clasped both of his and turned so we were face to face.
Now, if my life were a romance movie, (I wish!) and I were the heroine and Klaus the hero (I wish, again!) I would have tilted my made-up face to his lowered one and we would have made out passionately. But my life is so not a chick flick, and I was so completely not wearing makeup. (Not even lipgloss or chapstick.)
And we were the same height.
And, oh yeah, my brother was watching. Ick! And his older sister. (Double ick!) And his baby sister! (Triple ick!) Like I'd want to have my first kiss in front of Duncan! Ha! As if!
But suddenly, height, cosmetics, and audience didn't matter. And suddenly, he was all that did. And suddenly (ah, how I love that word!) we were leaning in and I was thinking THIS IS IT! THIS IS IT!
And suddenly, Violet, facing Duncan, turned, saw me and Klaus, and pointed and said quickly, "We can't stay here." Excuse me, Violet, I thought, but I could stand this close to your brother forever... "I don't mean to cut short this reunion," oh, right, I thought, that's why you started babbling as soon as you saw us two, "but it's already afternoon, and Detective Dupin is coming down the street."
Oh my god—it's almost done! I really don't wanna have to finish this, it's my favorite story...grr...Yeah. This part was originally intended to be two separate chapters...but I changed my mind. Could you find the V.F.D.? I didn't do a very good job in it this time...hmm...I'll update by the weekend if you review!