I'm back! Yay! And now for review responses:
JustVildaPotter: Thanks for the long review! Yes, it appears Sunny has read the work of the marvelous J.K. Rowling. This chapter is full of drama, and I hope you enjoy it! They do not do very well in their volunteer assignment, due to the aforementioned drama. Yep, 26 chapters is the plan! Again, thanks so much!
Nancymer172: Thank you! Also, I believe you followed and favorites this, so thank you for doing that!
Number 10(review on Chapter Twelve): The flirting is very interesting. And Phil is completely oblivious to the teenage interactions going on right under his nose. Thanks for reviewing!
Once again, I'd like to thank anyone who followed or favorites this story since the last chapter was published.
Chapter Fourteen
The two sets of siblings and the young mycologist stood awkwardly in the middle of Hotel Denouement's lobby. Kit had given them concierge uniforms to "help them blend in". However, the uniforms were designed for adults to wear; this suited Violet, Klaus, and Fiona just fine, but the Quagmires were too short to fit properly into the outfits and were forced to roll up their sleeves and pant legs. Sunny, of course, was nowhere near being able to fit into the uniform.
This is why all of the hotel patrons walking through the lobby were shooting curious looks at the center of the room. As I mentioned previously, the group was standing awkwardly in the middle of the lobby, and it must have been quite a sight. Three people who appeared to be adults dressed as concierges, standing without talking next to a trio of shorter people and a toddler wearing normal clothes. Some of the hotel guests thought our heroes were a sort of theatre troupe posing as a statue when first they saw them.
But before I lose your interest, I must stop describing the characters' clothing and focus on the story at hand, starting with the moment one of the hotel managers walked up to the group.
"Hello!" One of the hotel managers said, walking up to the group. "I heard we were getting some new concierges. If you'll follow me, I can get you started on your assignment."
Fiona and the orphans exchanged a look, unsure if they should trust this man. As you may know if you have read the works of Lemony Snicket, Kit had explained that the Hotel Denoument had two managers. Frank, a member of V.F.D., and Ernest, a fire-starter.
"Sorry sir," said Violet, standing up a bit straighter. "You'll have to tell us about the assignment later. We need to assist the guests." The others all nodded in agreement and started to walk away, only to be stopped by Frank (unless it was Ernest).
"The guests can wait, concierges," Ernest (unless it was Frank) said. "Your mission is much more important."
The children still had mixed opinions about helping this man, who appeared to be a member of V.F.D., but they did have one shared opinion, and that was their longing to leave the lobby and the curious stares of hotel patrons. They allowed the manager to lead them across the lobby, down a set of stairs to the basement, along a dark basement hallway, through a side door, and down a spiral staircase, emerging at last in a cavernous underground room, filled with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. A large research table was situated in the center of a cluster of couches and squashy armchairs. The cushioned seats were all occupied by children, ranging from ages eleven to sixteen.
"Baudelaires, Quagmires," the manager said, addressing the group of seven as a whole, but neglecting to mention Fiona. "I'd like you to meet our orphans."
The seven were too stunned to speak, for they had been struck by the element of surprise. The reason for this stemmed from two particular orphans: a girl around Fiona's age, and the boy sitting next to her, who looked about Violet's age. Both children had bright red, tightly curled hair, and they wore judgy expressions.
"Great," said the boy in mock joy. "Dewey brought us new volunteers."
"Cakesniffers, by the looks of them," said the girl.
"Bloody hell," Quigley cursed under his breath.
The manager, evidently named Dewey, had left the seven alone to introduce themselves and figure out what they were supposed to do.
"Hi," Violet said in an attempt to break the tension. "I'm Violet Baudelaire."
"Like the murderers?" Someone called out.
"No." Klaus said. "I'm her brother, Klaus, and this is our sister, Sunny."
"Hello," squeaked Sunny nervously.
Quigley stepped forward. "I'm Quigley Quagmire, and these are my siblings-"
"Duncan and Isadora," a dark-skinned boy wearing a Prufrock Preparatory School uniform interrupted. He waved to Isadora. "I'm Austen Eyre. I was in Mrs. Bass' class." He nudged the girl next to him. She was also wearing a Prufrock uniform, and looked about twelve years old.
"I'm Jane, his sister," she said shyly.
"That's a nice name," Fiona said, then introduced herself.
When nobody else bothered to introduce themselves, the orphans all stared at each other awkwardly, unsure of what they were supposed to be doing.
"So," said the girl who had called the group 'cakesniffers'. "I gotta ask. Are you going to tell us about the secret organization? Are you not going to tell us about the secret organization?"
"Right," said Quigley. "So V.F.D. is-"
"Let me guess," the red haired boy said, crossing his arms. "V.F.D. is a noble organization working to fight literal and figurative fires all over the world. You should join because our members keep dying in fires. If you have siblings you want to look for, guess what? We don't care. You have to stay here, where it's 'safe'." The boy uncrossed his arms to put air quotes around the word "safe".
"That isn't exactly what V.F.D. does..." Fiona said, but her voice trailed off when she couldn't think of a way to defend the secret organization.
"Save it," said the red haired girl. "We've all heard it before. You can't force us to be volunteers. All we want is to find our sister and get out of this awful place."
"We're not here to force anyone to do anything they don't want to," said Violet.
"But I don't think we can allow you to leave," added Klaus.
"We can't." Quigley said. "And that's why we're going to help you find your sister."
Duncan made a noise that sounded like a cross between a cough and a snicker, as if he had been laughing and trying to hide it.
Isadora turned to him. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing." Duncan said.
Quigley continued his conversation with the judgy redheads. "V.F.D. doesn't make a habit of forcing children to be volunteers, but it might be easier for you to find your sister if you were in disguise. Then you could wander freely around the hotel."
"Is he serious?" Duncan whispered very loudly.
"You do know I can hear you," Quigley said, turning to his brother.
"Sorry, please continue." Duncan was smiling, but the smile was incredibly fake.
"What's that face about?"
"What face? This is my face."
"That incredibly fake smile. That's the face you make when you have something to say to me that you're too polite to say."
"Oh, that face. I was just thinking about how my brother is being a hypocrite and lying to a room full of strangers."
"Excuse me?"
"'V.F.D. doesn't make a habit of forcing children to be volunteers.' Please. They just forced us to volunteer to convince children to be volunteers!"
"So, where should we start looking for Carmelita?" Isadora asked in an attempt to change the subject. If you hadn't already guessed as Isadora had, the missing sister of the red haired children was Carmelita Spats.
"There's a villainous acting troupe we could investigate," said Klaus.
"I don't know," said Violet. "Carmelita may be mean, but she's not evil."
"She could be," Fiona said. "People change."
"Yes they do," Quigley and Duncan said in unison, glaring at each other.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Duncan asked.
"Well, for starters, you clearly don't trust me," Quigley said indignantly.
"Why should I?"
"I'm your older brother!"
"No, you aren't."
"Are you two seriously going to make this about who the eldest triplet is?" Isadora asked, sounding exasperated.
"You're right, Izzy," said Duncan. "This is about Quigley lying to us about everything."
Quigley looked shocked. "What have I not told you?"
"Oh, I don't know." Duncan's voice got higher with every word. "Maybe, what was so important that kept you pretending to be dead for two years!"
"I was trying to find you, but I didn't know where you were!"
"It was all over the Daily Punctilio!"
"You've always said that newspaper isn't accurate! How could I believe anything it says?"
"Common sense. You should have had enough common sense to look for us!"
"You should have had enough common sense to know I'm not dead!"
"We were twelve!"
"So was I! I was told to stay where I was! If you had done the same instead of running around the country, I could have found you!"
Quigley had said the wrong thing.
"I'm sorry that we couldn't stay put for your convenience!" Duncan shouted. "I'm sorry that we were kidnapped by a murderous man who was after our fortune! I'm sorry that we got trapped at the bottom of an elevator shaft, shoved into a fish sculpture, and transported to captivity within a bird statue, because we were trying to protect our friends! I'm sorry that we were framed as murderer accomplices and chased from a village by an angry mob! I'm sorry that Count Olaf followed us around the Hinterlands and made us fear for our lives! I'm sorry that we didn't just float away in a hot air balloon and live forever in the air because Isadora is afraid of heights! I'M SORRY THAT WE TRIED TO HELP THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTOOD WHAT WE WERE GOING THROUGH, INSTEAD OF STAYING AT A BOARDING SCHOOL THAT IS INCLUDED ON MOST MAPS!"
Most sensible people, after having been yelled at in such a manner, would have tried to calm down the person yelling, or chosen to walk away from the situation. But I'm sorry to say that Quigley Quagmire was the one who had been yelled at. And he was not a very sensible person.
"Maybe next time, you should rethink your friend choices, and you won't get stuck with people who force you to give yourselves to Count Olaf as human shields!" Quigley's words didn't quite make sense, but his message was clear.
Duncan lunged at his brother, knocking him to the floor. They began to wrestle inexpertly.
"Stop it!" Isadora yelled, jumping in the middle of the fight in an attempt to pull her brothers off of each other. "Why can't you two admit that you missed each other like normal-"
Slap! Isadora getting in the middle of the wrestling match hadn't stopped the Quagmire boys from trying to hurt each other. One of Quigley's punches, intended for Duncan, landed directly on the face of Isadora.
Time seemed to stop as Isadora cried out and put a hand to her cheek.
If you paid attention during the last chapter, you will remember that Isadora broke down because she was thinking about all of the dreadful things she and Duncan had been through. One of the things that had scared her most when she had been a kidnap victim was how violent Count Olaf was. This fear resurfaced now as Isadora felt the spot on her cheek where Quigley had punched her.
Quigley moved to place a hand on his sister's shoulder. All three triplets were standing now. "Izzy, are you o-"
"Get away from me, you monster!" Isadora shrieked.
"Izzy, I didn't mean-"
"You heard her." Duncan looked angrier than he ever had. "Get out."
"Duncan, he really wasn't trying to hit her," Fiona said, trying to be the sensible person in the situation.
"Isadora is right," said Violet. "I think you and Quigley really missed each other, but neither of you want to admit it."
"Tell truth," Sunny said, which meant: "Admit it."
"You're right," Duncan said. "I missed him. I missed the person he used to be."
"The person I used to be?" Quigley asked.
"The Quigley I know didn't act like this. And he certainly didn't fall for girls related to kidnappers."
"Take that back." Quigley and Duncan were once again glaring at each other.
"It's true!" Duncan said shrilly. "When Isadora was doing research on the Queequeg's library, she found an old newspaper article and it said that Fiona's brother-"
"SHUT UP!" Klaus yelled. Fiona, looking frightened, turned on her heel and ran from the room.
Quigley made to run after the older girl, but Violet threw out an arm and blocked his path.
Looking around the underground library, Duncan noticed that the various couches that had been occupied by orphans moments ago were now vacant.
Isadora focused her attention on the Baudelaires. Violet and Klaus were giving all three triplets disappointed looks, while Sunny peered out from behind Violet's legs. The look on the toddler's face indicated that she fully understood what was happening, but no one could be sure of her opinions on the matter.
After a long, tense silence, Klaus spoke. "This is not how siblings are supposed to act." No one responded. "I know you three have been through a lot in the past two years, and I get that, I really do, but you cannot take your frustration out on one another."
"And what do you know?" Isadora challenged, surprising everyone.
"What?"
"Look me in the eye, and tell me you and Violet never fought with each other out of frustration."
Klaus looked Isadora in the eye. "Violet and I never fought with each other out of frustration."
"You're lying."
"Okay, sure, we fought once, but it was quickly resolved."
"We've never gotten into a fight like this," Violet added.
"Of course you haven't," said Quigley. "Your parents must have had magic parenting skills. Pity that didn't last."
"You are not going to drag me into your stupid fight," said Violet.
"Here's an idea," Duncan suggested. "Let's all forget about the 'stupid fight' and just-"
"All be friends?" Klaus finished sarcastically. "Fat chance of that happening.
"Just go our separate ways," finished Duncan with a glare directed at Klaus.
"Works for me," said Quigley, who was already halfway out of the room. "I'm going to Fiona."
"Me too," Klaus said, following the young cartographer.
Violet picked up Sunny. "If you're quite finished beating up everyone around you, Duncan, Sunny and I are going to do some actual concierge work."
When the two Baudelaire sisters had left, Isadora turned to her brother. "I'm just going to go."
Duncan looked shocked. "Iz-"
"Don't try to stop me," ordered Isadora. "Don't come after me. I want to be alone."
"I know I messed up," Duncan said. "Majorly, and I'm really, really sor-"
"Save your apology for the person who really needs to hear it."
"I didn't say anything that wasn't true. Quigley's a scoundrel-"
"And so, it seems, are you."
With that rhyming phrase, Isadora Quagmire left Hotel Denouement's underground library.
There's nothing better than ending a dramatic chapter with a Hamilton reference, am I right?
So, what did you think of all the drama? If you didn't like it, you'd better leave now, because it only gets worse from here (eventually it gets happier, but that won't be for a few chapters).
If anyone knows the correct spelling of Denouement, can you please tell me? I'm very unsure of how to spell it.
I think that's all I have to say. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter!