Broken - Isadora Quagmire

Chapter Twenty - Found

"I hope you will forgive, please, the way I am talking but I am, please, a foreigner" Count Olaf rehearsed.

"You won't fool the Baudelaries with that ridiculous disguise" I said. Count Olaf came into the elevator shaft early that morning, he told us it was 6am. He was dressed in a pinstripe suit and had white hair that he put in a ponytail. He was wearing sunglasses to cover his single eyebrow and knee-high boots to cover his tattoo. He carried a cane and wore finger-less gloves.

"They'll know who you really are straight away and they'll tell Esme's husband. You and all your associates, including Esme, will be arrested and-"

"But if the Baudelaries do tell someone who actually believes them and I am arrested, you twins will never be found and will die a slow, painful death in the bottom of this elevator shaft"

"Boss" said the hook-handed man, appearing in the elevator shaft. "You should be going now"

"Right. I'll be back soon, will your little friends"

"What are we going to do?" I asked Duncan

"There's nothing we can do but wait for the Baudelaires"

And so we did. We waited for hours. We talked for most of the time but sat in silence for the rest

Duncan wrote in his commonplace but I stared at the candles. The flickering flames were our only sources of light, without them we wouldn't have been able to see, yet I hated them so so much. Staring at the flame for so long reminded me too much of the two fires I had been trapped in recently. The screaming became the only thing I could hear. the screams of Mother, Father, Aunt Agnes and Quigley echoed through my head, even though I didn't hear any of them die. It would have been a horrible death for them. It was a horrible aftermath for the rest of us. I remembered seeing Duncan in so much pain when we realised that there was no way Quigley, Mother and Father could have escaped. I remembered Valerie's screams. I remembered Valerie and Liam's faces when their home collapsed in front of their eyes. I remembered the man and woman that tried to kidnap us. I remembered what they said to Emily Lyon "Olaf lost you before but we won't make the same mistakes he did" "Olaf lost you before" "Olaf lost you" "Olaf". I though I was so stupid that it had taken me that long to remember that I had heard of Count Olaf before I met the-

Duncan shook me out of my trance, distracting me from my train of thought, and stood up. I stood too and clung onto the bars as I saw them, the Baudelaires had found us.

"You found us!" Duncan said, in utter shock,

"I'm so happy to see you" I said to the Baudealries, mostly Klaus but the Baudelaires, though honestly, mostly Klaus.

"I've never been so happy to see anyone" Klaus said, smiling at me.

"How did you find us" I asked.

"It was Klaus' idea"

"It was Violet's invention" he turned to his sister "can you pick this lock?"

"Not without any tools. I wish I could see what's down here"

"Try this" I said giving Violet me and Duncan's half of the spyglass, she joined them together.

"See the markings! If you line them up"

"And give it a half-turn counterclockwise" I said. Violet did and Duncan and I instructed and a light shone out of the spyglass. "We learned that in The Incomplete History of Secret Organisations"

"You found the book?"

"Right before we were kidnapped. We took as many noted as we could. We may be kidnap victims, but I'm still a journalist"

I don't think I can explain how happy it made me to hear Duncan say those words, i smiled then turned back to the Baudelaires "We've learned many haunting secrets"

"About our parents. And your parents, too"

"We were right. Everything is connected"

"Well, what did you learn?" asked Klaus

I was about to tell him everything that Duncan and I had found out, starting with the truth about Esme but there was a sudden thudding sound, Duncan and I jumped

"You can tell us when you're safe" Violet said.

"We heard Olaf's plan" I said, he had told us the minute he arrived that morning. "He's going to hide us in an item at the In Auction and sneak us out of the city tomorrow"

"No, he's not" Klaus insisted. "You're coming with us, right now"

"I think it's an electromagnetic circuit. It's not just light, it's heat. I wonder..." Violet turned the dials of the spyglass and a reed light shone out of it.

"The Incomplete History of Secret Organisations said it can be used for all sorts of things."

"Maybe it can melt the lock" Violet aimed the spyglass at the lock, it rattled and suddenly Violet took it away.

"Did it melt?" I asked

"No. It just got hotter" said Klaus.

"It's not gonna work. I can feel it overheating"

"There must be something else you can use"

Violet looked around "Can you hand me that newspaper?" she asked me, I gave it to her. She aimed the red light at the newspaper and it rose up "heat rises" she said

"What?" asked her brother.

"We have to go back to that penthouse"

"You're leaving?"

"We're gonna find something there to get you out. Klaus, gather the handkerchief as tight as you can"

"I see what you mean. Heat rises"

"And so will we"

"Sunny and I should stay here-"

"No, Klaus. Help your sister. Just come back soon."

"We will"

"We promise. You saved us at Prufrock. We'd be in Olaf's clutches if not for you"

"So I'm sure you know"

"What?"

"What friends are for" said Violet, The three Baudelaires rose up and up, higher and higher. I felt hopeful as I watched them slowly get smaller as they got further away. Duncan and I were about to sit down again when Klaus' screaming echoed down the elevator shaft, getting louder and louder, meaning they were falling. Luckily, the screaming stopped soon after and they got smaller again. I breathed a sigh of relief then BOOM!

The hot air balloon dropped to the ground and after a few moments of utter shock, Duncan and I started screaming and crying for help.

"What is going on?" Count Olaf demanded, swinging the door open, with the henchperson of indeterminate gender behind him. Count Olaf looked at the wreck. "What's that?"

Duncan and I became silent.

Count Olaf walked up to it and kicked it, the Baudelaires weren't in there. He left us alone with the henchperson of indeterminate gender and came back around fifteen minutes later with all his other henchmen. The bald henchman and the hook-handed man carried a large net and the white-faced women carried a blanket.

"Oh, they definitely found the orphans boss" said the hook-handed man looking at the balloon.

"Great" Count Olaf replied. "Well, you all know what to do. He walked up to the cage "I will see you two tomorrow morning at the auction"

The blanket was draped over the cage.