"You're not making sense, Klaus," said Violet. "You're going crazy from the stress."
"Outside killer, not Violet," Sunny said.
"No, I remembered where I saw the writing on the threatening poems," said Klaus. "It's the same as the left-handed signature you did to get out of marrying Olaf."
"That isn't much writing to go on and you saw it quite a while ago. I bet any left-handed writing by a right-handed person looks similar," said Violet.
"During my watch last night, I went back to the tree and got the core we found," said Klaus. "It has your bite marks. I compared it to a piece of lettuce you dropped when you ate the salad last night."
"So I woke up before you did the morning after we crashed, and ate an apple. Is that a crime?" Violet asked.
"In this case, yes. And you pretended you hadn't," said Klaus.
"You were making such a big deal about it being against the law that I didn't want to admit it," said Violet.
"I don't care about the law; I care if it affected your mind," said Klaus. "The J/H effect. Forbidden fruit, named for the fruit that corrupted the innocents in Eden. Malus maleficus, apples of evil. Those vicious sheep -- they must eat those apples sometimes."
"You're letting your imagination run away with you, Klaus," said Violet. "Eating an apple wouldn't change me."
"Do one thing and you'll convince me," said Klaus. "Drink that water you were going to give to Sunny."
Violet raised the cup to her lips... then poured it out on the ground. "I can't do that, Klaus," she said in a strange voice, much deeper than her usual one. "I don't think the powdered scorpions I put into the cup would kill me. I'm a lot bigger than Sunny. But I can't afford to make myself sick when I need to survive at sea."
"Violet... joking?" asked Sunny.
Violet laughed, but it was a chilling laugh. "When I ate that apple it was like my eyes were opened for the first time. Everyone thinks we're villains now. Why not really be one? I can do whatever I want -- become a whole new person."
"Violet..." Klaus tried to interrupt.
"Don't call me Violet. I'm going to call myself Beatrice now, after our mother the assassin," Violet/Beatrice said.
"You stabbed Olaf?" Sunny asked fearfully.
"When I came back to the boat, he was lying there unconscious. I found a knife in his pocket. After all he did to us... even trying to force me to marry him... I realized how much I hated him. More than enough to kill. But I failed. He recovered and got away, for now."
"Bela?" Sunny asked.
"You set the snake to spy," said Beatrice. "That interfered with my plans."
"But us.. your family..." Klaus said.
"Yes... I realized I hated you, too, Always depending on me...'Lead us Violet! Invent something for us, Violet!' I should still be a kid and I had to be your mother. You stole my childhood.. Like Olaf said, I don't forgive those who steal from me."
"I suspected you, but I had no idea how deeply gone you were until now," said Klaus in horror. "If it was just cruel rhymes to scare us, and killing a snake, that would be one thing. But you really tried to kill Sunny."
"It's kinder to kill you," said Beatrice softly, drawing the knife from her pocket. "You wouldn't survive long without me."
"Why worry about being kind?" Klaus asked quickly. "If Olaf is your new role-model, remember he said that in this business you can't afford to care about anyone."
"You have a point there," said Beatrice. "All right, I'll leave you here instead. I've already made a one-person raft."
Without turning her back to them, she pulled the raft out of a dark corner of the cave and pushed it into the water. As she began to float away, her face suddenly changed from its cruel mask back to the face they knew.
"What am I doing?" Violet cried. "This isn't me!"
"You'd better go, anyway," said Klaus, his expression cold.
"Go," said Sunny sadly.
"You're right. I'm not safe to be around. Here!" Violet said, tossing the knife to them hilt-first. "If I come back, kill me."
Her raft floated away into the mist. Klaus and Sunny held each other and sobbed.
Suddenly they heard a splashing sound. A vessel was coming out of the mist with a long-haired passenger on board. Klaus held the knife and put Sunny behind him.
The man in the boat brushed the seaweed wig off his head, the last of the seaweed with which he had coated himself (and the small boat in which he was riding) in order to disguise himself as a small seaweed-covered island while he recovered from his stab wound.
"Count Olaf!" called Klaus. "Have you come to finish us off? I warn you, I have a knife!"
The man looked at them with eyes red from weeping. "Don't blame your sister too much. It's the effect of the Forbidden Fruit. The same thing happened to me," he said in a soft voice unlike his usual rasp.
"You seem different, Count Olaf. What happened to you?" Klaus asked.
"I'm back to myself, for now. So please call me by my real name: Lemony Snicket."