Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 39: Old Memories and New Dangers

*Duncan's POV*

We were well on our way back to Damocles Dock. Violet, Sunny, and I were working the boat, Isadora was sitting on the floor, staring out at the water of the lake and trying to relax now that things were looking up. Klaus was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open, and Josephine was sitting a few feet from me, bouncing her leg anxiously.

"Oh no..." Josephine said. None of us said anything. The worst of the hurricane was over, if not ended completely, and Count Olaf would soon be brought to justice since we could prove that our guardian was alive and... Well... "Oh no..." She repeated. "Oh noo..."

"Aunt Josephine," Violet said, "I really do wish you'd stop saying that..."

"We're as safe as can possibly be expected." I added.

Klaus perked up and yawned a little. "Maybe you could think back to a time where you were a little more fierce, and formidable." He said to her, producing a picture from his coat and showing it to her. She gasped.

"Where did you find this?" She asked, smiling brightly.

"In the library."

"I haven't seen this photograph in years," Josephine explained. "Lucky Smells Lumbermill... It's not far from here! Oh, look at Ike! Look at how handsome he looks in that hat." She said with a giggle. "And there's Monty, and the Quagmires, and Bea and Bertrand! Go show it to your sisters and Duncan and Isadora!"

Klaus handed it to me and Violet and Sunny looked at it. There were ten people in total and they all looked so happy. My parents and a couple I assumed to be Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire, based on the features on Violet and Klaus, were standing in the center. Next to Dad was Uncle Monty and standing next to the Baudelaires were Josephine and Ike. A man I recognized to be Larry, our waiter at the restaurant, was in the picture too. To the right of him was one more couple: a man in a suit staring down lovingly at a blonde woman in a hat leaning on him with a bright smile. They were the only two I couldn't recognize. Before I could ask, she began to talk about the people I already put a name to.

"Such brave and noble. Oh, how I miss them!"

"We miss them too..." Isadora chimed in. "But we have some questions about them."

"They never told us about you or Uncle Monty," Violet said.

"And Mom and Dad didn't ever mention the name Baudelaire to the two of us."

"I have a feeling there's lots of things they never told us about." Klaus said, shaking his head and putting the picture back into his coat pocket.

"Your parents wanted to raise you in a quiet world, children, far away from the fiery injustices that were threatening all of us," She explained. "They wanted to keep you safe."

"It didn't work..." Klaus pointed out softly.

"No... No, it didn't. I assume it's hard to keep such intelligent and curious children out of trouble."

"Especially Quigley." I joked.

Isadora let out a breath and chuckled a little. "Causing a ruckus: what else was he known for?"

"Climbing the trees out beyond the yard!"

"Dating habits!"

"His obsession with peaches!"

"And with his hair!"

The two of us smiled at eachother, giggling softly to ourselves.

"Oh no," Josephine said. "And I mean it this time!!!"

"What's wrong?"

"We are now entering the territory of the Lachrymose Leeches!" She exclaimed. "Oh, my poor Ike! He always loved shredded beef tamales and they ended up sealing his doom!"

"I'm sure we'll be alright," Violet comforted. "You said that the leeches were usually harmless."

"Unless you have eaten recently..." Josephine pointed out.

"Well, we haven't eaten since brunch yesterday, and it's almost morning."

I frowned, dreading her answer to the question I was about to ask. "You didn't eat anything recently, did you, Josephine?"

She let out a distressed noise. "... Banana..." She blurted out. "I ate a banana just before you arrived!"

"Uh oh..." Isadora said, fiddling nervously with her fingers.

"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about!" Klaus said, trying to calm down Izzie and Josephine. "Leeches are very small animals. If we were in the water, we might have reason to fear, but I doubt they'd attack a sailboat... Hurricane Herman might have even scared them out of their territory!" He looked around at the surrounding water. "Uh oh..." He said with a nervous chuckle.

I looked over and a stream of bubbling water was headed towards the boat and it bumped into the boat, and I could only imagine their little teeth gnashing against the wood. "Speak of the devil..." I muttered.

"Klaus, you jinx!!" Isadora cried, backing closer away from the side of the boat the leeches were on.

"Izzie, calm down, please," Violet said. The stream of bubbles turned around and moved away from the boat. "See? We're perfectly safe."

"Yeah, see? They're leaving. Perfectly safe, Izzie." I added.

Just moments later, the leeches swam back even faster towards us and there was a loud noise as they hit the side of the boat again. The sailboat rocked back and forth and the quiet night was replaced with our screams. I really hoped that we were close enough to be heard by people on land, if any happened to be awake so late, or early... The leeches prepared for another attack and we all felt more doomed with each passing millisecond on Lachrymose Lake. Being attacked by bloodthirsty leeches at probably four in the morning on a lake that feels the size of an ocean? How could things get any worse??