Disclaimer: Yeah, I own ASoUE and all of the characters. And Daniel Radcliff is a good actor and Britney Spears is a good singer and my parents were proud of my report card and Ned likes Suzanna and not me. (Yeah right. Oh man, Suzi is going to kill me...)
Day One
Part Two
I wandered the halls. There had just got to be some evidence somewhere. OW! I rubbed my head. I had just absentmindedly bumped into the wall right next to the archway leading to the lobby. 'Note to self' I thought, 'Watch where you're going'. I actually went through the curtain this time, and stood in the middle of the lobby. Brady was gone. There were staircases that led up to something that looked like a small balcony. I began trudging up the stairs. At the top there was a pair of oriental doors, which I pushed open.
Behind the double doors was an arrangement of balcony seats. I leaned out over the edge of the balcony, peering at the innumerable amount of theatre seats below. I sighed. Then there was a small glint of light and something caught my eye. There seemed to be a golden gear sitting in the light cradle just below the side of the balcony. I reached out my hand to try to get it.
"I can't...quite...reach," I gasped. Then I retired to staring at the seats below. Then something else caught me eye. There was a pink blob stuck on one of the seats. I took my hand off the "railing" of the balcony and put it on my hip. That gave me an idea.
I pounded down the stairs and swung around the end of the railing. I burst through the doors to the auditorium and sped down the center isle. I came to a sudden halt in front of the "bubble gum chair". "Oh...ick, ick, ick, ick, ick..." I muttered as I closed my eyes and reached for the pink blob. I ripped it off the seat and ran back up to my previous spot on the balcony.
I then pulled the baton out of my pocket. I then squashed the bubble gum onto one end of the baton. I turned back towards the edge of the balcony, and leaned over the edge. I saw the golden gear and carefully, so as not to drop the baton, I dangled the baton over the edge until it made contact with the gear. I pulled the baton up, the gear stuck to the end. "This will definitely come in handy," I said, sticking the gear in my pocket. I left the balcony seat area. As I was going down the stairs to the lobby, someone called my name.
"Isadora!" it called. I saw James waving to me on the opposite set of steps.
"Oh. Hello James," I said, continuing my route down into the lobby. He met me down there.
"I have something to report," he said proudly.
"What? What did you find?" I asked eagerly.
"I found another secret passage backstage," he said quietly. "It's opened, but I didn't go down. I thought it would be something you might want to investigate."
"Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you," I said quickly, then headed for the auditorium, then backstage. Once there I saw a hole in the floor. When I looked closer, I saw there was a path of stone steps leading into some sort of "underground passageway". I hopped down the stairs and through a chain-link gate into some sort of basement. I looked ahead and the first thing I saw was a box. A box with a silver gear with a handle, and an empty space next to that. I knew exactly what to do. I knelt down on the floor in front of the box and pulled the gear out of my pocket and placed it in the empty space in the lid of the box. I turned the handle on the silver gear, and the box popped open.
Inside I found a rusty old key. Wow, it's soooo amazing (not). But it was what was under that that intrigued me. There were a number of documents that described a bet that a certain J.J. Armstrong had made with Harry Houdini. J.J. said he would pay 50,000 to Houdini if he could perform a certain trick. Apparently J.J. had thought the trick was impossible.
But Houdini did it.
And Armstrong didn't have the reward money.
He had to give Houdini 50 per cent of the theater instead. I had to tell this to James. 'But first,' I thought. 'I have to check out the rest of the basement'. So I meandered over to the opposite end of the basement. There in front of me was a sort of box in the wall. Above it was a sign that read.
The Amazing Monty Magician Card Game
In big fancy letters. I saw a button the read "play" and then pressed. Immediately I regretted it.
"Ladies and gentleman! Step right up!" a recorded voice exclaimed. A light went on in the back of the little box and a wobbling wooden dummy was visible. I looked down at its hands.
"Find the Ace of Spades!" it exclaimed, holding up that card. Then he put it back face down.
"Ooookaaay..." I said, a bit uneasily.
"The hand is quicker than the eye!" he said, and then rearranged all of the cards. 'Well that was expected' I thought. It was so obvious which one was the Ace. I pressed the flashing white button underneath the correct card.
"A lucky guess!" the dummy exclaimed. "You have beaten the magician!" A small purple capsule rolled out into a small dish attached to the machine, meant for holding the prize. I quickly grabbed it and instantly pressed the play button again. What? The dude was funny!
"Ladies and g-g-entle mon! Steeeeeep rooooooo..." The dummy completely malfunctioned. One of its eyelid went down, leaving the other eye open, its hat went crooked, then the head spud around, springs flying from it, and lay lopsided on the neck it mouth wide open.
"Whoops," I said, then scurried upstairs. As I was walking down the hall, a voiced suddenly came over the loud speaker. At first I jumped, but then I recognized the voice as James'.
"Isadora," he said. "Come up to the projection room. There's something you might wanna see." I dashed down the remainder of the hall, up the stairs, and through the center door.
"Yeah, James?" I asked, hopping up and down.
"Here Isadora. Kent found this," he said, holding something out to me. When I saw it I could only gape.
Maybe I should tell you and maybe I shouldn't. Maybe you will read on and maybe you won't
Sorry for the sudden stop at such an exciting part. My mother expected me to clean my room. It is such a dump! Well, anyway, where was I? Hmm...let me see. She grabbed the capsule and instantly pressed the "play" button again? No, no, it wasn't that...She panicked and started banging anything, everything, that could possibly open a passage? No...that hasn't happened yet...AH! Here we are!
When I saw it I could only gape. I picked it up out of his hands.
"Oh my gosh! Where on earth did Kent find it?" I asked.
"He didn't say," James answered. "He just said he found it and that you might find it of some use."
"Oh thank you!" I said, clutching Violet's hair ribbon even tighter. "I hope the police consider this evidence enough!"
"They'd better!" James exclaimed. "There's an outside line in the ticket booth."
"Thanks, I knew," I said, then practically leaped down the stairs and into the ticket booth. Quickly, I dialed 911 with my right hand, holding Violet's ribbon in my left, and then held the phone with my right hand.
"Police," said the voice on the other end of the line.
"Missing Persons Unit please," I said, barely able to contain my excitement.
'Please hold," the man said. I began to shake.
"Hello, this is Sergeant Volpe speaking," said a voice, completely different from the first. It was the man I had talked to before.
"Hello, this is Isadora. I have the evidence you asked for!" I said.
"What is this evidence?" Sergeant Volpe asked, his tone very stern. I held the hair ribbon out for the phone to see. (The only problem was that the phone could not see.)
"Her hair ribbon! It must have been torn out when she was kidnapped!" I yelled excitedly.
"Or it just fell out. Or she just took it out."
"Sergeant, Violet would never leave her hair ribbon behind!" I yelled, worriedly this time.
"I'm sorry Miss Quagmire, but we cannot come to check anything out until there is for sure evidence that your friend Violet Baudelaire was kidnapped. Good night Miss Quagmire," he said.
"Good night," I said defeated. I set the phone back down into the receiver. Then, head hung, I trudged out of the ticket booth.
"Hello there Isadora," said someone. I lifted my head to see James standing in front of me. "Why don't you go your hotel and get some rest. I'll keep an eye on things until tomorrow."
"Oh, just when I have a lead like this?" I whined. I once again hung my head in defeat. "Very well. I guess I am exhausted..."
"Good night Isadora," he said, then ushered me out of the theater.
I sighed as I stared out the window of the train on the way back to our hotel. Actually, Violet wouldn't be staying there anymore, so guess it was just mine. Suddenly I jerked my head up. Duncan, Klaus, and Sunny! None of them knew what had happened to Violet! I quickly pulled out a piece of paper and pen from my back pack and began to write.
Dear Duncan:
Make sure Klaus and Sunny read this too. Something terrible has happened at the theatre.
Violet and I were backstage. We were talking and then Violet went into the dressing room, telling me she'd meet me in the lobby. But as soon as I turned to go to the lobby I heard a scream. It was Violet! I ran into the dressing room but as soon as I got there she was gone! I don't know where they could have taken her!
I got a really creepy phone call from the kidnapper saying that if the building is demolished, Violet will go down with it!
The police won't investigate before 24 hours unless I give them evidence. I found her hair ribbon. But that's not enough evidence. Sergeant Volpe thinks she might have just dropped it/taken it out. Both you and I know that Violet would never willingly leave her ribbon behind.
I can only hope I find her before the demolition. I thought you'd want to know what had happened to your sister/crush (Duncan, don't hurt me). Let's hope I can find her.
Your Sister/Friend,
Isadora Q.
I folded the letter and sealed it into an envelope. The train stopped a block away from her hotel, and I stuffed the envelope into her back pack and hopped off of the train. Once inside the hotel doors, I dropped the addressed envelope into the public mailbox in the lobby and walked up the stairs to the room Violet and I were supposed to share
I turned out the light and looked across the room at the empty bed next to me.
"I have to find you Violet," I said to myself as I turned out the light. Then I fell asleep.
SO? DO YOU LIKE? From now on I will put a short poem/quote at the end of each chapter. Bubblesrule 1 will know what they mean.
-Yak be nimble
Yak be quick
Yak jump over
The magical carrot-
