Memento Mori

Chapter Seven

The last remaining Quagmires trooped upstairs to their - or Edgar and Albert's - room. The first step they took felt unnaturally heavy, but by the time they had reached the room, they felt weighed down by their sadness. A tear dripped from one of Duncan's wide brown eyes, filled with curiosity, and landed on his dark green pyjamas, what he had been wearing in bed before the fire that had changed his life.

Isadora, however, was done with crying. It wasn't because she was necessarily tough, although she could be fierce when she wanted to, it was because she felt as if she had cried all the tears she could. She felt empty, like the feeling you get when you've cried so much that you almost feel glad to get it all out. She sat on the bed, which was very small and had a pale blue cover patterned with white spots, and Duncan joined her. He cried silently, but Isadora could feel him shaking with sobs.

Isadora hesitated, wondering whether it would be alright to speak to her brother when she was in this state. Eventually, she decided to speak, and the words that fell from her lips were none other than her latest couplet. "We should try to be more positive, and get used to this new way to live."

Duncan wiped away his tears and gave a shaky smile to Isadora. "Yes. We'll try to face this with a more positive attitude."

A playful smile danced on Isadora's lips and there was a glimmer in her eye. "But did you notice what I said?"

Duncan frowned and looked bewildered. "What?"

"It was a couplet, silly!" exclaimed Isadora, giving her brother a friendly slap on the arm.

"Of course!" exclaimed Duncan, laughing. "Well, it was good."

It was the first time Duncan and Isadora Quagmire had been happy since the fire. However, their happiness was soon to be destroyed by two boys who - if you've ignored my warnings and read the previous chapter - you are sure to be able to guess.

"But I told you I'm nervous." they heard Edgar's voice said.

"Why are you nervous?" asked the voice of Edgar's older brother. "We sleep on our room every night."

"The orphans will be there!" exclaimed Edgar.

"And? They may be sentimental, very polite, and, of course, mother and fatherless, but they're too weak to be dangerous." replied Albert.

"Albert, you're forgetting something." whispered Edgar, and then his voice became so low that the triplets couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Duncan!" shouted Edgar. "Isadora!"

"What?" the female triplet asked, exasperated. "We could hear you talking about us by the way."

"So what?" said Albert rudely, walking over to their bed. He put his arms on Duncan's back and pushed.

Duncan didn't exactly fall off, but he stumbled and had to stand up quickly to avoid falling on his face. It was very unfortunate that Albert was actually quite strong, although the strength of the eldest Poe son was one of the least unfortunate things in the Quagmires' story after the death of three members of their family. The actual least unfortunate thing is a particular reunion that occurs in the fifth and final book in this series.

"Hey!" said Isadora as her brother sat back down. "This is our room too, you know!"

"Sadly." sighed Edgar. "But it's mainly our room. After all, our surname is Poe, and this is the Poe house. Your surname is Quogmeer, and the Quogmeer house has burnt down."

"Actually, it's Quagmire." corrected Duncan, sitting back down next to Isadora.

"Quagmire." said Albert slowly, sitting down on the other side of Isadora. "That's a word. I can't remember what it means."

"'Quagmire' means an 'awkward situation'." explained Duncan.

"It can also mean 'something complex'." added Isadora.

"How many times have you read the dictionary?" asked Edgar, attempting to sit next to his brother. However, the bed was too small and he fell off. The two triplets had to stifle their giggles.

"Actually, we just really enjoy reading." said Isadora.

"Reading!" exclaimed Edgar, shaking his head. "I only like reading interesting things!"

And he jumped onto his own bed and opened a magazine about video games.