I haven't written anything for this story in two months. TWO MONTHS. The reasons for this are simple: I haven't had any solid ideas, and I've been staying after school every night until 6 p.m. because of swim practice. And I didn't write anything over Thanksgiving break because, well, I was lazy. And now it's December. AUGH!

Review Responses:

Number Ten: It was a very heavy chapter. I practically broke their friendship beyond repair. But I didn't quite do that, so the gang will figure things out in a couple of chapters. Thanks for reviewing!

JustVildaPotter: Part of Quigley saying "Bloody hell" is me making him act like Ron, and part of it is me being too polite to use other curse words. I love my random references! THERE WILL INDEED BE MORE DRAMA. Thanks for the help, and thanks for reviewing!

Alysscassandra: Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying this, despite not necessarily agreeing with the ships. Thank you for confirming the spelling, enjoy the chapter, and thanks for reviewing! (Kladora forever!)

CrazyFictionLove: Eeek, I'm so sorry! All the sorrow in the world could not express how sorry I am. I guess I'd better write another chapter, huh? Oh, and thanks for the encouragement!

And now, to the story!

Chapter Fifteen

Isadora Quagmire stood in the lobby of the Hotel Denouement, leaning on the concierge desk and chatting with the person who stood behind it.

It was evening at the hotel, and as a result most of the guests were enjoying dinner- or supper, as some people called it- in one of the many restaurants. Because of this, the lobby was empty at this point in time and there was no one to witness Isadora's strange conversation.

"I don't know what to do, Sunny," lamented Isadora. "I've tried to talk to Duncan, but he keeps avoiding me. Violet and Klaus won't talk to me, and I wasn't really friends with Fiona in the first place."

"Morado," said Sunny.

"Quigley? Well, I...I don't know what to say to him."

"No mean hurt."

"Of course he didn't mean to hurt me! I know that. I completely overreacted. But I was all upset the previous night, and I still had Count Olaf in my head. You've spent enough time in his company, you know what he's like."

"Calamari," Sunny said. "Calamari" is a word which here stands in for a phrase which here means one of two things. The first meaning is a response to Isadora's first comment: "I wouldn't call it company." The second meaning is a complete change of topic by Sunny: "Look, Quigley is walking up behind you!"

"You're right, of course. But I simply can't think of a word that could properly describe spending time with Count Olaf, so 'company' will have to do." Isadora said, interpreting the first meaning of "Calamari", which was obviously incorrect, as Quigley was the next person to speak.

"Hey, Iz."

Isadora turned around. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to give you some actual advice. I know the baby is your friend, but you can only understand half the stuff she says."

"Her name is Sunny, not 'the baby', and she's not a baby, she's a young girl."

"Baby, young girl, whatever."

"Excuseh moi!" Sunny cried. This meant, "I beg your pardon?"

"My point, Isadora, is that I'm here to talk to you."

Isadora turned back to the concierge desk. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Oh, come on." Quigley crossed his arms. "You and Duncan can't avoid everyone forever."

"For your information," Isadora called over her shoulder as she walked toward the elevator. "I'm not speaking to Duncan, either."

"Well done! You have absolutely no friends!"

Isadora pummeled the "Up" button for the elevator. She was about to fire a comment back at her brother when the Hotel Denouement's famous clock chimed seven o'clock.

As you may know from reading the works of Lemony Snicket -who was incorrect about many things, but correct about this particular thing- the hotel's clock was famous for sounding like a certain word. Instead of chiming Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! as the vast majority of clocks do when it is seven o'clock, this clock chimed Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! to announce the hour.

It was almost as if the clock was responding to Quigley's shout; it was calling him out for being Wrong! You may think that Quigley was right about Isadora having absolutely no friends, but in thinking that, you would also be Wrong!

For Isadora Quagmire was about to discover that she did indeed have one remaining friend. In fact, he was waiting for her at the end of her elevator ride.

I'm sorry to interrupt the tales of Isadora, but I'm sure you are wondering what our other main characters had been up to.

I did not previously mention that it had been a couple days since the Baudelaires and Quagmires had gotten into a fight, so I will say so now.

It had been a few days since the Baudelaires and Quagmires had gotten into a fight. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny took turns running the concierge desk in the lobby. They avoided Duncan, and he avoided them.

When they weren't working, the two older Baudelaire siblings met with various members of the V.F.D., to discuss things such as the delivery of fungus samples from the team sent to the Gorgonian Grotto. (Meanwhile, Sunny spent time with other V.F.D. members in the hotel. She even managed to save Larry-Your-Waiter from death by boiling in a pot of chili while she was helping him out in one of the hotel restaurants.)

Violet and Klaus were curious to know whether the volunteers had found the sugar bowl or not, but Kit Snicket declined to respond to their questions. The Baudelaires did not have time to think too hard about this issue; they had another, most important matter to deal with.

The V.F.D. gathering was going to be a High Court trial for both them and Count Olaf.

Once again, I am changing topics at the most dramatic of moments. I would tell you about Violet and Klaus' discussions of how to plead not guilty in a court of law, but the events that took place on the night before the trial were so terrible that they overshadowed these conversations and left the two siblings unable to remember anything more than bits and pieces.

I will now return to Isadora Quagmire. (Your wonders about Duncan Quagmire will have to wait, as he did nothing significant in this small stretch of time.)

After a speedy elevator ride to the fifth floor, Isadora walked down the hall to her hotel room. When the triplet had confided that she wasn't looking forward to spending another awkward night in the dorms of the underground library, Sunny had given her a key to Room 524. Isadora unlocked the door and entered the room. She was about to kick the door closed with her foot when she heard someone enter the room behind her. There was barely time for goosebumps to prickle up Isadora's arms before the person put their hands over her eyes.

"Guess who!" A young, but deep male voice cried out.

"Klaus!" Isadora screamed.

"Correct!" Klaus announced, pulling his hands away and spinning Isadora around to face him. Noticing her shocked expression, he added: "I didn't terrify you too much, did I?"

Isadora shook her head. "Now that I know it's you, I'm more surprised than terrified."

"Good." Klaus kicked the door closed. "Want to watch a movie?"

Isadora tilted her head to the side, looking perplexed. "A movie? Why?"

"Does there have to be a reason? Can't a boy just watch a movie with his girlfriend?"

"Of course he can," Isadora giggled.

Klaus crossed the room to the closet. After some digging, he brought out a small projector and two round film canisters. "Okay, our choices are either Zombies in the Snow or Hypnotists in the Forest. You choose."

"Hmm..." said Isadora, pretending to be thinking. She really had no opinion. "Which one would you recommend?"

"Well, I personally would go with Zombies in the Snow. But on the other hand, it's the only one I've seen, so my opinion is biased."

"Zombies in the Snow sounds wonderful."

Klaus set up the movie, then climbed into the room's single bed to sit next to Isadora. She put her arm around his shoulders, not caring that this would cause her own shoulder to become extremely stiff later on. Klaus tilted his head to the right in order to rest it on Isadora's shoulder.

The couple sat like that through about half of the black and white movie with English subtitles. Neither of them spoke; they were both grateful for the opportunity to act normal, if only for one night.

But when the villagers started singing for what felt like the millionth time, Isadora spoke up. "Klaus?"

He lifted his head. "Yeah?"

"This is a terrible movie."

Klaus lifted his head and smiled a cheeky smile. "If you don't like it, there's always something else we can do."

Isadora wrapped her arms around him, folding her hands behind his neck. She looked into his eyes. "There is."

Klaus pulled Isadora closer, and the two began kissing once again.

When Isadora next pulled away, the movie screen showed snow blowing across a patch of more snow, revealing the word "fin" in all capital letters. The ominous thing was that the letters had claw marks slashed through them.

That is what Isadora remembers most- or so she told me- about that night. The letters in the snow, with the ominous claw mark. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but perhaps it signaled that everything was about to go very wrong. Very fast.

A faint, but familiar odor caught Isadora's attention. It seemed to be coming from outside the hotel room. She sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"Smoke."

"That's a bit of an extreme way to announce you're done making out, but okay."

"Klaus, I'm serious."

"You must be imagining it," said Klaus in an oddly matter-of-fact tone. "I don't smell anything."

Isadora swung her legs off of the bed and walked over to the room's lone window. She pulled the curtains open and looked down at the ground. What she saw validated her worst fear.

The Hotel Denouement was on fire.

DUN DUN DUNNNN!

This chapter was shorter than the previous two. Why? I'll tell you. Most of it was Kladora fluff, and it was really just filler and set-up for the dreadful events of the next two chapters.

And now, questions for one to answer in one's review:

1. Do you feel that Klaus is acting ever-so-slightly suspicious? If so, why?

2. Do you have any guesses as to who Raspberry Bernard is? If so, who?

3. Do you think I will have the next chapter up in a timely manner? That is to say, not two months after the previous?

4. Any other questions, comments, or concerns.

Ta ta for now!