Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 37: Grand Theft Dinghy

*Duncan's POV*

When we finally reached Damocles Dock, our teeth were chattering and my feet, at least, were so cold I could scarcely feel my toes, and when we came to realize the error in our plan, we could barely stand it...

"'Weather Permitting'!!" He exclaimed.

'What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means the f-f-fucking ferry is closed" Klaus cried, his voice rising with despair and in order to be heard over Hurricane Herman. "How will we get to Curdled Cave now?"

"We'll have to wait until it opens," Violet replied.

"But it won't open until the storm is past," I pointed out, "and by then Captain Sham will find us and take us far away. We have to get to Josephine as soon as possible."

"I don't know how we can," Isadora said, shivering. "The atlas says that the cave is all the way across the lake, and we can't swim all that way in this weather."

"Entro!" Sunny shrieked, which meant something along the lines of "And we don't have enough time to walk around the lake, either."

"There must be other boats on this lake," Klaus said, "besides the ferry. Motorboats, or fishing boats, or-" He trailed off, and his eyes met those of his sisters. All of us were thinking the same thing.

"Or sailboats" Violet finished for him. "Captain Sham's Sailboat Rentals. He said it was right on Damocles Dock."

"Oh, we can't steal a sailboat..." Isadora whined in despair. "That would be horrible, even if it's from Count Olaf, right? I mean... The worst thing I've stolen was a pair of my mother's shoes! And we'll get caught, won't we?"

"No," Violet said. "Captain Sham is either at the Anxious Clown still, or is on his way to Aunt Josephine's to fetch us. He's not gonna be there."

"Whoever's there wouldn't let us rent a sailboat; we know his henchmen are here, so they could be there."

"And that gate looks locked tight," I said, slightly quieter as we approached a sailboat rental building with a sticker of an enlarged business card for Captain Sham's Saiboat Rentals.

"Then we'll have to steal the keys," Klaus said simply. "They're probably inside."

We peered into the window, seeing the keys on the desk where Emerson, Count Olaf's henchperson, was napping. I had no idea how they were able to sleep with such a loud storm outside. I tried the door carefully, but it creaked loudly and probably wouldn't be able to open enough to fit us inside without waking up Emerson.

"Maybe this window can open from the outside," Violet said, running her fingers along the edges of it. "Isadora, get on someone's shoulders and you can crawl inside."

Isadora squeaked from a particularly loud clap of thunder. "No, I couldn't," she said desperately, "besides the window doesn't open from the outside. Look at it."

I sighed, looking down, and gasped. "Violet, did you put Sunny onto the ground?"

"Yeah, she's right..." Violet's voice trailed off as she looked down. "Where the fuck is Sunny?"

"Found her..." Klaus answered, looking in the shop's window again.

    We crowded around the window, watching try to stand as she grabbed the keys from a small hook on the side of the desk. Once she had the keys, she carefully lowered herself so that she didn't collapse and she put the key ring in her mouth and started crawling back to the door.

"Sunny, that was amazing!" Violet exclaimed, picking her up as another loud clap of thunder accompanied the lightning. Klaus took the ring from Sunny and went to the gate to try all three.

"Guys..." Isadora said fearfully. "The thunder woke them up!"

"Klaus, hurry!" I exclaimed as Emerson walked out and sighed.

"What are you guys doing here?" They asked, annoyed. "You're supposed to be at brunch with Captain Sham."

"We were hoping to come look for you, actually!" I said with a plastered-on smile. "We wanted to see... Um... If you ever got to audition for Equus! I overheard that Count Olaf made you leave it so you could help in his scheme, so... Yeah, how about that audition?"

Emerson blinked at me. "You're really bad at this." They commented.

"Bad at what? I haven't a clue what you're talking about."

"You have a specific voice when you lie; it gives you away. Lying isn't good for your soul, you know. Neither is stealing. They can both put much pressure on your conscience."

I looked behind them and saw that Klaus had gotten the gate open. "Yeah well I assume assisting in evil schemes isn't much better for your conscience." I said to them before the three of us ran under their arms and through the gate. Klaus slammed it shut directly after we ran through, keeping Emerson on the other side and unable to get over without climbing on it. Violet grabbed some nearby raincoats and threw them into a big boat that looked like it could fit all of us, plus Josephine.

"We'll bring it back," Violet said with a small smile as she put on a red raincoat. "Think of it more like we're borrowing it." I put on the green one as soon as I saw it. Isadora wrung out her hair and her teddy bear into the lake before putting her black raincoat's hood on and resting her hands in her lap, her leg shaking like it does when she gets anxious. She was being so brave and I hoped she knew Mom and Dad would be extremely proud of her. Klaus was helping Sunny into her little yellow coat while Violet looked at the mechanical parts of the boat.

Curdled Cave, here we come...