Broken - Isadora Quagmire

Chapter Fifty Five - Disguises

Duncan could hardly believe it when we told him what happened at the beach.

"He didn't do anything?"

"No. He just waited until Kit left with the Baudelaires"

"Are they okay?"

"We think so" said Quigley.

"They were talking about us as they left"

"How come they've only just came off of the Carmelita? Didn't Fiona give them the letter?"

"I don't know" I said.

"She said she did, and I believe her" said Quigley.

"Did you two hear what Carmelita said when she came into the room with Esme earlier?"

"Are you going to go on about that again?"

"Yes. You've got to admit that I have a point"

"We aren't saying that you are wrong but if Carmelita was really good, why hasn't she let us go?"

"Duncan's right. We all know that there has been times when Count Olaf and Esme have left her here"

"Maybe she was looking for the keys"

"You have to let this go, Issy-dora"

"Fine, I will, for now"

"I think we should try and get out of here"

"Seriously Duncan"

"You know what happened last time we tried to get out of here, Isadora and I didn't even get out of the door and you ended up with a black eye"

"They literally let us out of the door today, you two know that right?"

"Of course we know that but the van was right outside the door"

"I bet over the next few days we'll be outdoors more often"

"The person most likely to be let to of the door is Quigley" I said. "I tried to run today"

"Trust me, Isadora. We'll be outside raking leaves and chopping firewood before we know it"

I hate to say it, but Duncan was right. On day 10, all three of us were brought outside to do exactly what Duncan said: rake leaves and chop firewood. We were in the back garden, which had a fence around it meaning no escape, being watched by Olaf and Esme. Duncan offered to chop the firewood, but I insisted that Quigley do it because of the "utter failure" that occurred when Duncan tried to chop firewood on Mount Fraught (sorry Duncan). While Duncan and I raked leaves, he kept talking about being right and how this could be our chance. Count Olaf ordered takeout that night which meant that we had bread and water. But it also meant that Quigley and I had to listen to Duncan go on and on about escaping all night.

By the morning, he had us convinced, and by that I mean we told him that we would do it if he let us sleep. We were let out of the room at 10am, I remember because we passed a clock in one of the hallways. This time, just as Duncan predicted, we were let into the front garden to rake the leaves, again watched by Count Olaf and Esme, Carmelita was there too.

"I'm not sure about this" I said.

"What are you talking about?" asked Duncan. "I thought we agreed-"

"Well, I've thought about it and is it worth it?"

"Worth what?"

"Trying to escape. What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?"

"We'll go to the Hotel Denouement"

"And do you know where it is?"

"No. But Quigley will work it out"