Chapter Three

Klaus dove out of the building and somehow managed not to squish Sunny under his body. He felt two large hands grab him by the shoulders and pull him onto a stretcher. Sunny sat on the ground wailing.

"I'm fine! I don't need this! I said I'm FINE!" said Klaus as he jumped off the stretcher and sprinted back to his sister. He picked her up in his arms and she calmed down a bit. He went up to a firefighter and said; "Listen to me! My sister is in there! You've got to help her! Please! GO GET HER!"

"Kid, do you think we're crazy? If anyone steps foot in that hotel they're toast, literally. We need to put the fire out and then send our search and rescue teams in."

"But then it will be too late!" protested Klaus.

"Listen kid, I'm a firefighter, and I know how to do my job. So I don't need a 6 year old telling me how to do it!"

"I'm 12!" yelled Klaus, although that wasn't the point of the conversation.

"Yea, yea. Why don't you go buy yourself some ice cream or something?"

Klaus scowled and walked away. He sat on a bench across the street from the flaring hotel, wondering if his sister had made it out safely. He watched the magnificent hotel crumble away into nothing. A car pulled up near the bench, and a familiar figure walked out of it. It was Mr. Poe.

"Mr. Poe!" said Klaus in surprise. "It's you! I can't believe I'm saying this, but for once I'm actually glad you came!"

Mr. Poe coughed into his handkerchief before he spoke.

"Yes, I called the taxi company and they told me exactly where that taxi went. It just took me a while to get here. Ah, where is the other one?"

"I don't know! She was in the hotel and they won't go in and save anyone. Please Mr. Poe, you have to do something!"

"HUTIST!" shrieked Sunny, which meant; "LISTEN TO HIM!"

"I will do nothing of the sort!" said Mr. Poe coughing in his handkerchief. "My job is to take you to a suitable home, not go looking for an unfortunate orphan! The death of Violet Baudelaire is a very unfortunate one, but as I need to get back to my job, you 2 will come with me to your new home."

"Mr. Poe! You can't do that!" said Klaus with tears in his eyes. "Violet's alive!"

"Fortibish!" said Sunny, which meant; "Klaus listen to me, go with Mr. Poe, and I'll go back to the hotel to find Violet, and don't say anything so I can sneak off unnoticed. Good luck!"

"Sunny!" said Klaus.

"Baby!" yelled Mr. Poe. "As Vice president of Mulctuary Management, I command you to get back over here!" But of course, Sunny did nothing of the sort.

"Agrata!" she called back to Klaus, which probably meant; "I'll miss you!" or "Be careful!" or "Wow, Mr. Poe is loco!"

"Bye Sunny." said Klaus as tears rolled down his cheeks.

The Baudelaires splitting up was not such a good idea, because alone they were helpless around Count Olaf. Doing this however, made them safe in a way, because it decreased the chances of Olaf finding them, even though he had been unheard of for a while now. But as it is my duty only to inform the public of the Baudelaire tale, I for one must respect their decision to split up, although it wasn't necessarily what most people call a good decision.