Prufrock Prepatory School ✓

day one at caligari carnival

The kids drove for hours until they finally found a place to stop and get gas: it was what looked like an abandoned carnival.

"Do you think they have gas here?" Francine asked aloud.

"Maybe?" Jenny sighed. The kids took a deep breath, and walked into the carnival. They walked around, looking for signs of life.

After about ten minutes, they met back up at the front entrance. They had no luck.

"What are we going to do now?" Klaus asked everyone. "Olaf will find us if we stay here?"

"We're out of gas." Wyatt told him. "We can't go anywhere anyways."

"So we just give up and wait for Olaf to find us?" Isadora asked him.

"No." Violet stood straighter. "We didn't give up when Sunny got locked in the birdcage. We didn't give up when the adults didn't believe us. We didn't give up when Klaus got hypnotized. We didn't give up when Olaf found us all those times. We didn't give up when Pheonix told Olaf where we were. We came all this way. We're not giving up now."

This speech gave the group confidence again and encouraged them to continue on. They went as a group around the carnival again. As they walked past a tent, a figure walked in front of them. They stopped in their tracks. It was a woman. She had bushy black hair, and lots of makeup.

"Uh, hello?" Duncan asked timidly.

The woman gasped. "Are you...it can't be..."

"What?" Francine asked.

The woman stopped gaping at them, and said "Hello there. I am Madame Lulu. What are you children doing here?"

"We drove over here. We were wondering if you had any gas?" Jenny asked.

"I'm afraid we have no gas. But stay! It's almost dark, and I can't have children as young as yourselves being out there all alone."

"That's a kind offer, but..." Violet wanted to say no, but what if Olaf caught them because they decided not to stay at Caligari Carnival.

"We insist you stay." said a voice behind the group of kids. They turned around to see a man dressed almost like Madame Lulu. "Please stay the night."

The kids looked at one another. They relented, and said yes. The two adults led them to a different tent, the one where they would be staying. It had a changing area, a kitchen, a bathroom, and six beds. Madame Lulu and the man, who introduced himself as Monsieur Pierre, even gave them clothes to change into.

"How can we repay you?" Duncan asked the two.

"No repayment." Madame Lulu told him. "There's no need."

Francine walked up to Madame Lulu. "I'm sorry, but have we met? You seem very familiar..."

"Nope." Madame Lulu told her, a little too quickly. "I don't recall us meeting before."

Francine looked at her weirdly, then went to sit down on a bed.

"They're very nice people." Isadora stated once the two left. "To go to all this trouble just for a couple kids."

Sunny and Jenny made dinner that night in the kitchen. Sunny was showing to be a great cook. Wyatt joked that once Olaf was gone forever, Sunny would open her own restaurant and everyone would eat there for free every night.

"Where are we going to sleep?" Klaus asked. "There's six beds, and eight of us."

"Sunny can share with me." Violet said, setting Sunny down one of the beds. "And..."

"Klaus and Isadora can share." Jenny finished Violet's sentence. She had been noticing the way the two acted around each other, and wanted to see if the "only one bed" situation actually worked when getting two people together.

"What?" Klaus turned red. "Why us? Why don't you share with Isadora?"

"Because you're sharing with her." Violet told her brother. She too was suspicious of them.

Klaus sighed. He knew whatever he said wouldn't work. He would have to share a bed with Isadora.

xxxxxxx

The kids took showers and got dressed. They were happy to finally change. Klaus, Isadora, and Francine were the most ecstatic, because they had been wearing their Prufrock uniforms all this time. The outfits were the same. The girls changed into either white or purple oversized shirts with gray leggings. The boys changed into white shirts and black pants.The kids crawled in bed. Only Duncan stayed up to take a shower.

Klaus awkwardly slid in next to Isadora. The two were obviously very uncomfortable.

"I can asked Violet to switch with me." Klaus whispered to Isadora. "That way this won't be awkward."

"It's fine." Isadora told him. "I mean, you can if you want. But...it's fine."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

The two smiled at each other. Klaus was going to say something, but Duncan ran out of the bathroom with a giant book.

"Guys! You'll never believe what I found!" The kids sat up in bed and looked his way. "It's a book."

"You interrupted us for that?" Wyatt asked, rubbing his eyes.

"It's not just a normal book. Look right here."

Duncan opened the book. The kids walked towards him to see what was inside. It was a picture of--

"The tattoo Count Olaf has on his ankle." Violet said in a whisper.

The kids looked at each other, fear written on their faces. Why would this book have that tattoo inside it? And why does Caligari Carnival have this book?

"Let's keep reading."