A/N: (Updated March 3, 2023) Hey everybody! Yeah, I'm still alive, I promise I didn't forget this story. Life just got in the way. Thanks to all my awesome reviewers out there: TheRealStory333, Number Ten, Guest. You guys are awesomesauce! :) \m/

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TheRealStory333 ––– Yep. Here you go ^_^

Number Ten ––– Yeah it is. Me too. Lol.

Guest ––– Sorry, I kept you waiting another year -_-' But yeah, I'm gonna finish it.

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Disclaimer: Me no own ASOUE.

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Chapter 12:
Mayhem In The Mountains
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Twilight's shift had ended and night had promptly stepped in its place when icy peaks began to poke out of the horizon. The wind in my hair had become bitter unlike its sunny disposition earlier, and my eyes were dry and heavy from all the sand blowing into them. Just a little farther. I couldn't wait for this to end.

After another agonizing half hour, Jacquelyn slowed to a stop at the base of a mighty mountain in the middle of the range and smiled at me. "Here we are. Mount Fraught," she said. "I'm sorry, I'd drive you all the way up there, but we're short on time. We have to get back to the city for some important business."

"That's alright," I told her, sitting up, even though it wasn't alright. I'd grown achy and numb from the position I was in and was in no mood for walking. "I can take it from here."

"Excellent. We'll see you around. Be careful," Jacquelyn said as I climbed out of the car onto the slick, glistening ground. She nodded with a salute, then turned around and roared off into the distance.

I watched them disappear into the darkness, then began walking up the trail, snow fluttering down from the cliffs above. I pulled my hood up over my head. I had to find somewhere to rest for the night. Then I could start my journey up to the headquarters in the morning. I looked up. I had a very long way to go. With an exasperated sigh, I reached into my sweatshirt pocket and pulled out my notebook, flipping it to the page that had the base of the mountain mapped out. There was a cave not too far from my position. Perfect. I trudged on, trying to ignore the cold.

It wasn't too long before I found a nice-sized hole in the rock wall on my left, behind a thicket of trees. I headed over to it, elated. I couldn't wait to get out of the wind. I couldn't feel my face anymore. I headed inside and set my backpack down on the dirt. I needed to get a fire going. Reluctantly, I walked back outside and began scouting for sticks. Nothing was on the ground and all the branches were too high for me to reach. Great. I'm going to freeze tonight. I went back into the cave and dug out my wool blanket. I wrapped myself up as tightly as I could and lie down, staring out at the blackened sky. It wasn't long before my mind was on Duncan and Isadora again. I hope they're alright…wherever they were. At least they weren't burned at the stake. I could just picture them bound to giant posts, screaming, the flames eating them up. I shuddered. Or was I shivering? I didn't know. Ugh, tonight was going to suck. My teeth started chattering and my skin began to sting as I closed my eyes.

Maybe being burned at the stake wasn't a bad idea.

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Ugh…what a night. The worst night's sleep I've ever had, if I'd even slept at all. I was on the trail again, back in the unforgiving cold with no extra layers to keep me warm. I still had a long way to go before I reached the headquarters. If only I could fly. That would make my job so much easier.

"Snow scouts are accommodating, basic, calm, darling, emblematic, frisky, grinning, human…"

What the––? I looked over my shoulder to find a big group of kids my age in blue uniforms and fencing masks marching up the trail. Huh…thought I was the only one here. The temperature alone was enough to deter me. That is, if I didn't have a sugar bowl to find. I don't know why they were here.

"Hi there!" a cheery voice greeted from ahead of the pack. It belonged to a small woman dressed just like the other kids. She must've been the one in charge. But that wasn't what had my attention––it was the enormous pack on her back. That thing must've weighed a hundred pounds, easy. How she was still standing was beyond me.

"Hi," I replied.

"On a hike?" the woman asked.

"Yeah," I lied.

"Would you like to join us?"

"Don't ask that cakesniffer to join us!" the girl next to her snapped. She looked different from the other kids. She was dressed in a puffy pink coat and matching beret, her curly red hair popping out from the sides of her mask.

"Now, Carmelita," the woman said timidly. "It's not very accommodating of snow scouts to–––"

"I don't care!" Carmelita shouted. "He's a cakesniffer and I don't want him in our group!"

Cakesniffer? I've been called many things in school, some quite terrible, but I've never been called that before. And to be honest, I didn't like it, either. I was about to answer the woman's question when she cut me off.

"Why don't you join us?" she offered. "We have extra coats and masks for the snow gnats."

Extra layers? Count me in. I need some. "Okay," I said, heading over to her.

She took off her pack and began to dig through it. After quite a bit of rummaging, she pulled out a dark brown jacket, a dark brown hat with ear flaps, and a fencing mask and handed them to me.

"Thanks," I said, taking them and throwing them on. Ahh…heat. Already I could feel it radiating through my body. No more was the wind cutting through me. I could actually feel my ears and my body again. "So where are you guys off to?"

"The top of Mount Fraught," the woman said, throwing her pack back on and resuming the hike. "We're heading up there to celebrate False Spring."

"I'm gonna be crowned False Spring Queen!" Carmelita declared with a flamboyant gesture.

I rolled my eyes. More like Ice Queen. I hadn't even known this girl for five minutes and I was already sick of her. Good thing I had a mask on, if not to protect against snow gnats then to protect my true feelings from the outside world. I sighed. I had made a huge mistake in joining them. I couldn't take them to the V.F.D. Headquarters with me. Who knows what side they're on, if they're even affiliated with V.F.D.? And if they were my enemies, I couldn't take them on by myself. I had no back up. I couldn't take a chance of compromising the safety of the sugar bowl. I had to get out of this. That, and I didn't want to be glued to this obnoxious girl's side for hours. "Thanks for the layers, but I have to go," I said. "I have to meet up with my hiking partner before it gets dark."

"Oh…okay," the woman said, sounding disheartened. "Well, be safe."

"I will. You too." I pressed on up the trail, thrilled they'd bought the lie. If I could make it to the headquarters by nightfall, I should be alright.

Ugh, how tall is this mountain? I'd been walking for almost an hour now and no sign of the V.F.D. Headquarters, whatever it looked like. It had to be huge if it housed all the secrets of V.F.D.. I couldn't possibly miss it. I trudged on through a huge gust of wind, numerous big flakes beginning to float down from the gray sky, which had grown considerably darker since I'd ran into the woman and kids earlier. Uh oh. Looks like a storm's coming. Great. As if this day couldn't get any worse…

"I believe our work here is done," said a very hoarse voice.

I looked up from my map. On the trail headed toward me were two older people, a man and a woman, both dressed in dark purple trenchcoats and small, dark, round glasses, their black canes clacking against the ice. The man was bald with a big, bushy beard and the woman had big, bushy hair that stuck straight up, as if she were afraid of something. Oddly enough, they weren't wearing snow gnat masks.

"For the time being," the woman said, her voice deeper than Lake Lachrymose. "We still have to find the sugar bowl."

"And the survivor of the fire," the man added as the two walked by me.

I stopped and looked over my shoulder at them, my ears perking up. Sugar bowl? Survivor of the fire? They were volunteers! Maybe we could find the sugar bowl together. I'm going to need all the help I can get. I was about to say something when the two looked over their shoulders at me. But the look in their eye wasn't welcoming at all. It was piercing, vindictive even. I gulped. Maybe I should just look for it myself. I resumed walking, beginning to shiver. The air had grown heavy and suffocating all of a sudden. Maybe it was the cold making it hard for me to breathe. After all, I had been out here walking for an hour without a break.

Suddenly, a hand gripped my shoulder and the man and woman swooped in front of me. "Were you eavesdropping on us?" the man asked.

I felt my breath catch in my throat. Man, this mask is helpful. Otherwise they'd see the fear in my eyes. "No, sir," I managed to choke, sounding surprisingly calm.

"It seems to me you were," the man said.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations," the woman said.

My neck and face were now dewy, and not from all the walking I did. "I wasn't," I said.

"Well, since you'd like to be a part of the conversation, maybe you can help us," the man said. "We're looking for someone."

"Many someones," the woman said.

The man took out a newspaper clipping from his coat pocket and handed it to me. "Have you seen these children?"

I took the clipping from him and examined it. It wasn't an article, but rather, a picture. A picture I knew all too well. It was me and my family dressed in our Sunday best. But it wasn't this that frightened me. It was my parents. Both of them had a bold red X on their faces. I gulped. These two were in V.F.D. alright, but they didn't want to help me and my siblings…

They wanted to kill us.

My head was suddenly light, all the blood draining from it. Don't faint, don't faint, I told myself. I closed my eyes, ready to cry, which was something I rarely did. I scratched my head, hoping my body language would hide my emotional breakdown. "Uh…no, I haven't," I said finally, still sounding quite composed as I handed the picture back to him. "I've never seen them before."

"Really?" the man said. "Interesting. They were all over the news."

"Who are they?" I asked.

"The Quagmires," the man said. "A very rich, prestigious family just outside the city."

"Oh. No, I've never heard of them."

"I see."

"Well, perhaps you could help us find someone else," the woman said.

The man put the picture of my family away and took out another picture. "Maybe you've seen these children?" he asked, handing the picture to me. "You have to know them."

My eyes widened. It was her! The beautiful angel of my dreams: Violet Baudelaire. It was a picture of her, Klaus, and Sunny, but not at Damocles Dock like the one Jacques had shown me. It was a picture of her whole family, also dressed in their Sunday best. And the horror wasn't just limited to my family picture, either. No. On both Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire's faces was a bold red X, too.

They also wanted to kill the Baudelaires.

"Who are they?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"You don't know them?" the man asked, astonished. "They're the Baudelaires. Another very rich, prestigious family, but they live in the city."

"No, I haven't heard of them," I said.

"Really?" the man said. "You've never heard of the Baudelaires?"

"No, sir," I said, shaking my head.

"Oh, everyone knows the Baudelaires," the woman said. "They're very famous. How could you not know them?"

"I'm not from the city," I said.

The man and woman looked at each other. Please buy it, I thought frantically. "What are you doing up here, boy?" the man asked.

"Hiking, sir," I said.

"Hikers don't usually hike this high on Mount Fraught," the man said. "What are you really doing up here?"

I swallowed. "Hiking," I insisted. "I'm heading up top to celebrate False Spring."

They looked at each other again. "I see," the man said.

"What are you guys doing up here?" I asked.

"Same as you––hiking," the woman said.

"Oh…aren't you worried about the snow gnats?" I asked.

The man and the woman shared an evil smile. "Oh, you won't have to worry about them," the man said. "Not where you're going."

"Oh," I said. "Okay."

There was a pause. "Well. Thank you for your time. But be careful, boy. Sometimes eavesdropping is bad for your health," the man said, and with that, the two continued their walk down the mountain.

I stood there for a moment, pretending to look at my map, fighting not to fall over. Their interrogation had scared all the integrity out of my legs and had put my heart into overdrive. I don't know who those two were, but their message was clear: don't mess with us. I don't think I've ever met someone with such an aura of menace before, and frankly, I never wanted to be around them again. They were out for blood––my blood. If they ever found out who I was… I shuddered. I have to get out of here. Now.

I resumed walking up the trail, the wind and the snow worsening. I had to find cover, and fast. Otherwise, I'll never make it to the headquarters. I checked my map for real this time. There was a cave not far from my position. Fantastic. Just what I needed. I pressed on through the storm, keeping an eye out for it.

After what felt like eternity, I found the cave and hurried inside, thankful to be out of the cold. I made my way to the back of the cave, set my backpack down, and took out my wool blanket. Wrapping it around myself, I sat down, leaned back against the cave wall, and stared out at the blizzard, my mind still racing from earlier. Who were those two? Why did they say I didn't have to worry about snow gnats where I was going? I mean, they were right––I didn't encounter a single snow gnat since I'd met with them. But why were there no snow gnats up here? They were all over me after I'd met the woman and kids.

I sighed, looking up at the cave ceiling, trying to relax. Looking right back at me was a small eye, a very familiar eye. My eyes widened. It's the V.F.D. eye! And the ceiling wasn't a ceiling, but rather a Vertical Flame Diversion! Metal bars were sticking out of the cave wall just above my head––a ladder. Great! I had to get up there. If the V.F.D. eye was up there, then the headquarters wasn't too far from here.

I scrambled off my feet, put my blanket back in my backpack, slung the bag over my shoulder, and began my ascent. My heart began to race, not because I was scared, but because I was excited. I was so close to achieving the sugar bowl, I could almost feel it in my hands. Just a few more stories to go…

Finally. The top. I pushed open the hatch covering the Vertical Flame Diversion and climbed out. There, right ahead of me was a huge, thick, metal door with the V.F.D. eye on it, a typewriter keyboard hooked up to it. I grinned. The Vernacularly Fastened Door. I'd found it. My journey had finally paid off. But then, my grin faded. I didn't know the third answer to open the door, and if I got this wrong, it'd lock forever. I couldn't afford to screw this one up. But I was on a time clock, and time was running out. I had to get the sugar bowl before our enemies did, and God knows what would happen if I failed this mission. I had to find someone who knew the third answer, and fast. I couldn't do it right now because of the storm, but the minute it lets up, I'm on the trail again.

I climbed back down the Vertical Flame Diversion, making sure to close the hatch on the way. I can't believe it. I was so close to my objective but I couldn't get inside. Just my luck. It can't possibly get any worse.

"Hey, cakesniffer!" a familiar voice said after I'd sat down and got wrapped up in my blanket again.

Oh hell. Not her again.

"Get outta our cave!" Carmelita said as she marched in, the woman and the other kids in tow.

"Oh, hello again!" the woman said with a smile.

"Hi there," I said, ignoring Carmelita.

"Man, that storm is crazy!" the woman said.

"It is," I agreed.

"Let's get a fire going." The woman set her pack down and began digging through it.

A fire? Awesome! I'm freezing.

"Get outta our cave, cakesniffer!" Carmelita said again, hands on her hips.

I glared at her. There was no way I was leaving this cave. Not with that storm out there. If anything, she was in my cave. She was the one who was supposed to get out.

"Carmelita, there's a snow storm out there!" the woman told her. "Don't make him go out there!" She turned to me apologetically. "I'm so sorry. Please, make yourself at home."

"Thanks," I said, shrinking down in my blanket some more. At least somebody was accommodating to me.

Carmelita huffed and sat down, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

Before long, the woman had a roaring fire up and going and I scooched closer to it. Ahhh…that feels nice. A moment of complete comfort since I'd arrived here. I looked outside. It was still snowing like crazy. I hope Duncan and Isadora are okay. I hope the sugar bowl is still here after I find the answer to the third question. If only I could find somebody who knew the answer. "Has anybody ever read Anna Karenina?" I asked.

"No, I haven't," the woman said, everybody else shaking their heads.

Damn it. These were the only people I'd seen in the mountains that didn't want to kill me. No one else was on Mount Fraught. I couldn't go back into the city to find out because the buses don't run out here. I sighed.

I was screwed.

"Boooooring!" Carmelita said, rolling her eyes. "Let me tell you a good story. A story about the prettiest girl in the whole world!"

I groaned under my breath, rolling my eyes. This was going to be a long night.