A little bit of romance in this chapter! Only a tiny bit though.
Disclaimer- Don't own any ASOUE characters or secret organisations xD
Chapter Five
As Ariadne grew her knowledge grew as well. Once Gloria (the V.F.D librarian and person who guards the underground library of records) had taught her how to read and write, you would see her sitting in the gaps high in the bookshelves, reading till late at night, scribbling down notes on one of Raven's old notebooks. At the age of seven she would hide and eavesdrop on important conversations and take pictures of suspicious events with the camera Kit had sent for her sixth birthday. When she turned 9 Ariadne was taught how to understand codes, which then became useful in deciphering the overheard conversations and letters she had found blowing in the arctic wind outside. Although she had begun to work within the organisation, reading and filing letters from agents on special missions, she had not found anything that would bring her closer to solving the biggest mystery in the establishment-Lemony Snicket. She knew all about the schism and the two different sides, people who were once good friends and worked together to keep this flammable world from burning, now deadly enemies. Ariadne understood the recruiting process and the history of V.F.D. She could perfectly recall all the past Headquarters. She didn't know it at this moment, but she knew too much for a child of her age.
One bleak morning in the pathetic excuse for summer on the icy Mortmain Mountains, Ariadne sat cross-legged on a patch of grass outside of the headquarters reading The Advanced Science of Hypnotics. She was eleven years old now; old enough to take care of herself and fully understand her troublesome life. Her hair was an onyx coloured and curly just like her mother's, although she always tied it back into a braid with a few strands escaping the ribbon. On her nose hung a large pair of square glasses, needed because of too much reading with not enough light. Her small round nose never changed from her childhood and neither did her large green eyes. Ariadne sighed, closed the gargantuan book and looked up and out into the misty horizon. A soft wind blew her hair and Ariadne inhaled the thick mountain air. She hadn't noticed yet, however a small brown automobile was hiking up the slippery slope which twisted around the peak. Grey smoke puffed from the aged vehicle and it whirred and clanked as it drew closer to the headquarters.
Ariadne noticed the unnatural sound penetrated the usual serene atmosphere of the plateaux; she gathered her books and pencils and crept around to the front of the building to observe the newcomers, commonplace book in hand. Once the vehicle had stopped, a tall, slender man with dark brown hair and a black waistcoat emerged and opened the back door. Ariadne leant forward to see better as an extremely tall girl stepped out of the car, her long ruby red hair flying behind her, thin glasses perching on her nose. The girl's eyes were still as deep and blue as an ocean, although they were more tired and despondent, a word which here means 'miserable and down'. The man in the waistcoat then opened the door at the other side to reveal an equally tall girl around the same age as the last. She had shiny black hair, which rested by her shoulders, her fringe completely covering one eye. Her eyes were cavernous and a rich navy blue. After her came a much shorter boy, the same age as Ariadne herself, who looked disorientated and anxious, his hair a coal black and his eyes a rich cacao brown. One thing that Ariadne noticed was he was clutching a purple notebook and there was a pencil in his shirt pocket. A commonplace book, perhaps? Nonetheless, the youngster was not the last person in the car. From the front passenger seat, a familiar woman appeared. As usual, her blonde hair was held in a bun, large sunglasses were hiding her eyes.
"Kit!" Ariadne whispered to herself. The five people entered the building, and Ariadne followed at a safe distance. They stood in the reception in front of Katherine, the 'receptionist' who kept unwanted guests from entering the headquarters. The man in the waistcoat stood forward and looked firmly at the small woman sitting behind the desk. Katherine cleared her throat before speaking.
"Well young lady, have you been good to your mother?"Katherine asked, looking up through her thick round glasses. Ariadne recognised this code, used a lot within the organisation.
"The question is has she been good to me?" The man replied in a gruff voice. Katherine smiled as best she could and typed on her computer.
"Welcome back, Sebastian, Kit and the girls too. It's great to see you. And this is Quigley, I believe, nice to meet you." Katherine said, handing Sebastian some papers. Ariadne, who was hiding behind a sub-alpine potted tree, began to slide closer to the group, taking ultimate care with each step not to make any noise. She crouched behind the desk as the group walked through the green wood doors into the heart of the establishment. Once the five had disappeared, Ariadne took their place in front of the desk and peered over at Katherine.
"Psst, Katherine, where are they going?" Ariadne asked quietly, as Katherine looked up from her computer screen.
"Ugh, Oddy what do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" Katherine groaned. She always saw Ariadne as a burden and felt that a child shouldn't be kept in the headquarters. Also she had to consider the many times she's caught the orphan spying on her.
"My name is Ariadne, Katherine. I just need to know where Kit and the other four are going-and quickly!"Ariadne demanded, leaning over the desk.
"Alright, but if I do this will you stay out of my hair?" Katherine offered, and Ariadne nodded. Katherine typed on her computer and looked back the child. "They're headed for your room. Now will you please leave me alone?"
"Okay. Thank you, Katherine." Ariadne replied, and quicker than a spreading fire she was gone. Inside the green doors was a long hallway painted dark green, the only light a chandelier in the centre. As she walked past she noticed many photographs of different people. Each frame had a date on a gold plaque. The one photograph that made her stop and stare, the one that made her mouth take the shape of and O. There was a photograph of Beatrice Baudelaire, her husband Bertrand, the Snicket siblings, Quentin and Lilliana Quagmire and Bethany and Christopher Citrusseed. On the gold plaque it read:
V.F.D NEOPHYTES
SEPTEMBER 1960
BAUDELAIRE - SNCIKET - CITRUSSEED - QUAGMIRE
There was a tiny gasp in the almost empty hallway. Ariadne had not before known her parents were a part of the organisation that saved her life, but also took away theirs. Her finger touched her parents smiling faces and she tried to remember what they'd been like. Every time she tried to think of her parents, images and memories of Kit and Lemony protruded her mind. She shook her head, as if to shake away the unwanted memories, but even then all she could recall was her mother's curly brown hair. Ariadne sighed and continued down the hall, pushing open the wooden door which opened up into a circular room with many different hallways snaking out of it. One lead to the library, one lead to the location offices, one to the research centre, one to the filing offices, etcetera. Ariadne quickly scurried down the one that lead to the dormitory rooms where her bedrooms was. Once the winding corridor ended she peaked round the corner to see three people opening the door to her room. Just as Ariadne was about to follow them, Sebastian slinked up behind her.
"Spying on the newcomers?" Sebastian's deep voice made Ariadne jump and swivel around. Sebastian chuckled and walked past a shocked Ariadne and into her room. After she'd recovered Ariadne followed him inside. Kit, the two tall girls and Sebastian were standing in the middle of the room.
"Is she still here? I mean, does she still live and work here?" the red haired girl asked, looking at the pictures on the wall.
"Yes. Lemony takes care of her. Everybody tries to make it as normal as possible for her. I haven't seen her since I left for Prufrock."Kit said, looking out of the circular window that looked down onto the small 'garden' which consisted of a large oak tree, a patch of grass and a few flowers.
"She would be 11 years old now, right?" the shiny black haired girl asked, looking through the papers on Ariadne's desk. Kit nodded and Ariadne walked into the room, revealing herself for the first time since the arrival of these strange people.
"Who are these people, Kit? Why are they in my room?"Ariadne queried, walking towards the middle of the room, in front of the five people.
"Don't you recognise them?"Kit asked, gesturing towards the two tall girls. She smiled slightly as the boy named Quigley stood looking quite shy.
"It's me, Armadillo." Armadillo said, smiling. Ariadne gasped. How could it be her? Ariadne thought. She looked so different to the cheery youngster with the red pigtails.
"Do you remember me? I'm Raven, remember? We have grown a tad, but I'm still me!" Raven said, struggling with many thick books.
"They have graduated High School and have come to work here for a little while. They wanted to see you first." Kit clarified. Ariadne still had a puzzled look on her face. It was a shock seeing her two friends after eight years, now so grown up and much more serious than before. Ariadne smiled a bit and looked in amazement at Armadillo and Raven then at Kit. "How have you been? It has been a very long time since I've seen you too."
"It's great to see all three of you. Welcome back." Ariadne said, smiling. Kit opened her arms and the two embraced. Ariadne felt safer with her makeshift mother back at the HQ. She smelt the sweet perfume that seemed to be fused into all her clothes. Ariadne stepped back and looked at Kit's tired face, she was still smiling, but her brown eyes were distressed. Ariadne wondered what she had been doing all these years.
"Come on, Armadillo, Raven. We need to show you you're rooms and where you'll be stationed." Kit said, walking over to Sebastian, who was situated by the door with two large suitcases, one purple, one red. "Quigley, you will be sharing Ariadne's room. There will be a new bed and supplies brought down soon."
Once Kit and Sebastian had left the room, Armadillo skipped over to Ariadne and bear hugged her, her feet lifting off the ground.
"Hello! Missed me? I missed you loads!" Armadillo giggled, setting Ariadne down. She young girl panted after the teenager's lung-crushing hug.
"Yes." She respired deeply, trying to catch her breath. "It's been boring around here without you."
"It'll be great reading with someone who enjoys real books for once." Raven said, laughing. Armadillo turned and placed her hands on her hips.
"I read real books, Miss Smarty-pants! I just don't read boring old archaeology books!" Armadillo chuckled with her sister. Ariadne watched the twins happy together, wondering how she had survived without a single friend of her own all these years.
"We have to catch Kit up before she gets agitated. We'll see you soon, Ariadne." Raven said softly, dragging her sister by the arm. Quigley was still huddled in the corner, baffled by the sudden events that had been bequeathed upon him-the word 'bequeathed' here means 'dropped upon him in a horridly rapid manor'. Once the Arthurstone siblings had left, Ariadne swivelled around to face the orphaned youngster. She suddenly felt a burning feeling grow in her chest as she felt shy in front of this boy.
"Hello. My name is Ariadne." Ariadne said quietly, holding out her hand. The boy looked perplexed at his situation. But eventually he shook Ariadne's hand timidly.
"I'm Quigley Quagmire, nice to meet you. May I ask where I am?" Quigley asked, smiling bashfully.
"These are the Mortmain Mountains. And we are standing in the V.F.D headquarters. Do you know why you're here?" Ariadne said, sitting down on her bed. She looked at his ruffled black hair; his skin had a strange pallor, a word which here means 'white and sad'. He was still clutching his purple notebook, and Ariadne was still clutching her red one.
"No, I have no idea. What is V.F.D?" Quigley said, looking around the room.
"I cannot tell you what V.F.D is until Kit or one of the other adults tells you. It's quite confidential. Where did you come from" Ariadne asked, looking at the boy's scared and mystified expression.
"I was in the library studying a map of Finite Forest, my two triplets out in the backyard. Then I slowly began to smell the revolting stench of fire. Before I knew it my mother was screaming and my father was shouting my name. I scurried out of the library to see all our furniture ablaze and it was spreading hastily. My mother took me back into the library and lifted up a corner of the rug to reveal a secret door. I hid down there whilst my mother fetched my siblings. I could hear frantic footsteps and the house falling apart above me. Nobody came back and something must have fallen on top of the door because it wouldn't budge."
"How did you escape?" Ariadne asked.
"It turned out to be a passageway, once I'd felt around in the dark. I followed it cautiously until I emerged in the empty home of a herpetologist." Quigley said. "There was a room filled with empty cages, which I presumed used to house reptiles."
"Montgomery Montgomery! He was a herpetologist and a member of V.F.D." Ariadne added.
"Yes. But the place was empty and nobody ever visited. The kitchen was full of food and there was a library where I could research about the building. Then one morning a copy of The Daily Punctilio arrived on the doorstep, and there was an article about my parent's death and the fire. My siblings have been sent to Prufrock Preparatory School. That was when Kit and Sebastian arrived in their automobile and whisked me away. My siblings probably think I perished along with my parents, I hope they are okay." Quigley sighed and stared out of the circular window.
"Oh my goodness…" Ariadne paused and looked down at her hands in her lap. "I'm so sorry for such an unpleasant loss. I don't know what to say." Ariadne spluttered, gazing into Quigley's brown eyes. Quigley shook his head, as if to brush away the memories.
"It's alright. At least my siblings, Isadora and Duncan, will be able to carry on life more normal than I will. I just have to deal with it, huh?" Quigley said, smiling sadly. He began to flip through his purple notebook which as Ariadne peered over his shoulder she noticed it was overflowing with snippets of paper and words scrawled around diagrams, photographs and maps. He flicked to the back cover where a black and white photograph of two children, now orphans, and two adults that Ariadne recognised from the photograph in the hallway. "This is Isadora. She is very smart and is an amazing poet, her speciality being couplets." He pointed to the dark haired girl. "This is Duncan. He is a reporter, and very intelligent too. The two adults are my parents, Quentin and Lilliana Quagmire. They were both astounding people and loving parents. What are your parents like?"
Ariadne paused for a moment, remembering that she's only ever spent mere hours with her mother before she breathed her last, and she never even met her father. "My parents. Well," she began quietly, wondering what to say. "My mother was a dendrologist, which word means a person who studies trees and other wooded plants. My father studied the ocean, that's why he was always away from home. He even had his own ship named Ariadne's Passage after me. It was docked in Hazy Harbour near to our home. Unfortunately, I…never knew my father, and I was only with my mother for a few hours before they died. But Kit told me how lovely they both were." She smiled poignantly, a word which here means 'sad yet hopeful', as she and Quigley spent a moment coming to terms with their shared misfortune.
"I guess we know how each other feel, huh?" Quigley broke the silence, making Ariadne smile more happily that she'd done in years.
"Yes, I guess we do. Would you like to see the library? It's the best and biggest I've ever seen." Ariadne stood up with the beaming smile as Quigley nodded and walked over to open the door for her, his face as contented as hers. Finally Ariadne had a friend who understood her fully and had a lot in common with her. And she had a strange feeling towards this boy. A feeling she'd never felt before. And as the hours passed the two sat on the comfortable-looking sofas, flipping through book after book, laughing and smiling at each other affectionately, the burning in Ariadne's chest grew more intoxicating as she felt lost in his attractive brown eyes.
That night whilst Quigley was sleeping and the building was silent, Ariadne sat staring into the black sky that was peppered with bright stars. She couldn't sleep because of one word which was infesting her mind.
Quigley