Part 2
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Violet, Klaus, and Quigley stared in horror at the flames engulfing Esmé Squalor and her fashionable flame-imitating dress.
"We've got to do something to help her!" Violet shouted.
"Ice!" said Klaus. "Let's throw in pieces of ice. The ice will melt and extinguish the fire."
All three of them ran desperately to the edge of the icy lake, grabbed rocks and broke loose chunks of ice. They ran back and forth, throwing in the ice and running back for more.
It was no use. The ice melted and the fire hissed a little, but there was too much fiercely-burning material to extinguish. The flames continued, though the screams had stopped.
"I've never read of a dress burning that way," said Klaus. "It's as if it were saturated with highly flammable substances."
"I can't believe this is happening," said Violet. "We killed her." Her stomach heaved violently and she lost the nuts and carrots she had eaten earlier in the day.
"It was an accident," said Quigley, "We didn't mean to."
"That doesn't matter," said Klaus. "I read a lot of law books in Justice Strauss's library, and one thing I remember is that if a person is killed while you are committing some other crime on them, it's murder. Attempted kidnapping is a crime."
"M-maybe she's not dead," said Violet. "Count Olaf has car, and maybe if he rushed her to the nearest hospital..."
The others didn't want to say anything to deny her last hope, but they all secretly knew it would be no use. Besides, the nearest hospital had been burned to the ground several days ago.
"We still have to save Sunny," Klaus finally said. "We don't have a hostage, but maybe we could bluff Count Olaf... tell him where to find Esmé in exchange for Sunny."
"That wouldn't work," said Quigley. "He'd see in our eyes that something was wrong."
"Not if he couldn't see our eyes at all," said Violet. She picked up the masks the Snow Scouts had given them to ward off snow gnats. "And we can pretend to be Volunteers to throw him off even more."
Using the climbing forks and the candelabra ice tester, the Baudelaires and Quigley ascended the physical slippery slope. None of them were in a mood for talking. It was all they could do to try to put the horrible thing that had happened out of their minds. They couldn't, of course.
Nor could they spare a thought for taking the sled up with them, which might have made a useful emergency escape vehicle. Just as I didn't think of taking the bottle of baby oil which would have helped me immensely in escaping the Boojum Snark.
As they pulled themselves over the edge, they found themselves mask-to-face with Count Olaf, standing near his long, back automobile with his two accomplices: the man with a beard but no hair, and the woman with hair and no beard.
"Who goes there?" Count Olaf demanded.
"We were expecting Esmé to come back, not three masked midgets," said the man with a beard but no hair.
"We're volunteers!" announced Quigley in what he hoped was a bold voice.
"Volunteers?" said the woman with hair but no beard. Olaf and the other two gave them a confused frown, half scared and half scornful. The hook-handed man, the white-faced women, and the three ex-carnival-freaks came up to see what was causing their boss to fall silent.
"We built a trap to capture your girlfriend, Olaf," Violet said. "If you want to see the woman you love again, hand over the child you have taken prisoner." She shuddered inwardly at the awful lie she had just told, or at least implied.
"We're here for Sunny Baudelaire," Klaus said, "And we're not leaving without her."
Count Olaf peered at them with his shiny, shiny eyes. "You've misjudged me, volunteers, if you think I love anyone but myself. Esmé Squalor has a nice body, true. But I'm getting tired of her stupidity and especially of her constant yammering about what's in and what's out. Now that she's gotten herself taken hostage, it's time I took advantage of the secret feature built into the Voluminous Flame Dress that my comrades here gave me to give to her."
"Hear, hear," said the man with a beard but no hair. "Fire can solve any problem."
Olaf pulled a black box with a red button out of his pocket. "At the touch of this button, the secret radio-controlled lighter sewn into the lining of the Voluminous Flame Dress will ignite the highly flammable substances that saturate the dress, and your hostage will be a hot-dog instead."
He pressed the button. The carney recruits screamed, the hook-handed man shuddered, and one of the white-faced women gasped out "Monster!" The three children remained silent. They knew there was nothing Count Olaf could do to Esmé that they hadn't already done to her themselves.
"You're very cold-blooded volunteers," said Olaf. "Aren't you going to scream and call me a monster, too? You ought to be on our side. But since you aren't, and you're hopelessly outnumbered, what's to prevent us from throwing you off the cliff and keeping the child for ourselves?"
Violet had been using the time Olaf was being dramatic with the button to think furiously.
"You will give us Sunny," she said, "Because we know where the sugar bowl is."
Violet, Klaus, and Quigley stared in horror at the flames engulfing Esmé Squalor and her fashionable flame-imitating dress.
"We've got to do something to help her!" Violet shouted.
"Ice!" said Klaus. "Let's throw in pieces of ice. The ice will melt and extinguish the fire."
All three of them ran desperately to the edge of the icy lake, grabbed rocks and broke loose chunks of ice. They ran back and forth, throwing in the ice and running back for more.
It was no use. The ice melted and the fire hissed a little, but there was too much fiercely-burning material to extinguish. The flames continued, though the screams had stopped.
"I've never read of a dress burning that way," said Klaus. "It's as if it were saturated with highly flammable substances."
"I can't believe this is happening," said Violet. "We killed her." Her stomach heaved violently and she lost the nuts and carrots she had eaten earlier in the day.
"It was an accident," said Quigley, "We didn't mean to."
"That doesn't matter," said Klaus. "I read a lot of law books in Justice Strauss's library, and one thing I remember is that if a person is killed while you are committing some other crime on them, it's murder. Attempted kidnapping is a crime."
"M-maybe she's not dead," said Violet. "Count Olaf has car, and maybe if he rushed her to the nearest hospital..."
The others didn't want to say anything to deny her last hope, but they all secretly knew it would be no use. Besides, the nearest hospital had been burned to the ground several days ago.
"We still have to save Sunny," Klaus finally said. "We don't have a hostage, but maybe we could bluff Count Olaf... tell him where to find Esmé in exchange for Sunny."
"That wouldn't work," said Quigley. "He'd see in our eyes that something was wrong."
"Not if he couldn't see our eyes at all," said Violet. She picked up the masks the Snow Scouts had given them to ward off snow gnats. "And we can pretend to be Volunteers to throw him off even more."
Using the climbing forks and the candelabra ice tester, the Baudelaires and Quigley ascended the physical slippery slope. None of them were in a mood for talking. It was all they could do to try to put the horrible thing that had happened out of their minds. They couldn't, of course.
Nor could they spare a thought for taking the sled up with them, which might have made a useful emergency escape vehicle. Just as I didn't think of taking the bottle of baby oil which would have helped me immensely in escaping the Boojum Snark.
As they pulled themselves over the edge, they found themselves mask-to-face with Count Olaf, standing near his long, back automobile with his two accomplices: the man with a beard but no hair, and the woman with hair and no beard.
"Who goes there?" Count Olaf demanded.
"We were expecting Esmé to come back, not three masked midgets," said the man with a beard but no hair.
"We're volunteers!" announced Quigley in what he hoped was a bold voice.
"Volunteers?" said the woman with hair but no beard. Olaf and the other two gave them a confused frown, half scared and half scornful. The hook-handed man, the white-faced women, and the three ex-carnival-freaks came up to see what was causing their boss to fall silent.
"We built a trap to capture your girlfriend, Olaf," Violet said. "If you want to see the woman you love again, hand over the child you have taken prisoner." She shuddered inwardly at the awful lie she had just told, or at least implied.
"We're here for Sunny Baudelaire," Klaus said, "And we're not leaving without her."
Count Olaf peered at them with his shiny, shiny eyes. "You've misjudged me, volunteers, if you think I love anyone but myself. Esmé Squalor has a nice body, true. But I'm getting tired of her stupidity and especially of her constant yammering about what's in and what's out. Now that she's gotten herself taken hostage, it's time I took advantage of the secret feature built into the Voluminous Flame Dress that my comrades here gave me to give to her."
"Hear, hear," said the man with a beard but no hair. "Fire can solve any problem."
Olaf pulled a black box with a red button out of his pocket. "At the touch of this button, the secret radio-controlled lighter sewn into the lining of the Voluminous Flame Dress will ignite the highly flammable substances that saturate the dress, and your hostage will be a hot-dog instead."
He pressed the button. The carney recruits screamed, the hook-handed man shuddered, and one of the white-faced women gasped out "Monster!" The three children remained silent. They knew there was nothing Count Olaf could do to Esmé that they hadn't already done to her themselves.
"You're very cold-blooded volunteers," said Olaf. "Aren't you going to scream and call me a monster, too? You ought to be on our side. But since you aren't, and you're hopelessly outnumbered, what's to prevent us from throwing you off the cliff and keeping the child for ourselves?"
Violet had been using the time Olaf was being dramatic with the button to think furiously.
"You will give us Sunny," she said, "Because we know where the sugar bowl is."