Beatrice Snicket-Baudelaire II

I sighed in exasperation as I glanced at the others hopelessly. Violet was staring into the midst, whilst Klaus had kept his hand running across his disheveled hair.

Every single one of us were desperate and hopeless, having not one single clue onto where the kids could be. A tear rolled down my cheek. We were all frustrated.

"Tell me," Klaus said quietly, staring at the floor. "What are we suppose to do, Vi?"

Violet didn't reply and Isadora's distant eyes welled up in tears as she cuddled the only thing she had left of her son, Klad. His flashlight.

"Why are you asking me?!" Violet blurted out, all of a sudden. "I mean, why does it always have to me -- why do I always have to be responsible for any unfortunate thing that has ever happened to us? Why?!"

Klaus stood up, glaring at Violet. "You're the eldest! You've been leading and protecting us for most of our life so tell me, what are we going to do Vi? Tell me!"

Violet's tear-stained face looked up to meet Klaus's frustrated eyes as she whispered the words that broke my heart. "I-I don't know..."

Klaus covered his face with a gruff hand, plopping down the floor. With one hand, he removed his eyeglasses, and the other, trying to hide the tears that were trying to fall.

Quigley hushed and comforted Violet, wrapping his arms around her. Sunny and Duncan were seated on the sofas, their faces buried in their hands. I on the other hand looked at all of them helplessly as I sat on the foot of the staircase.

And then I started crying. I wanted to help, but what can I do? I'm the youngest, and probably the most unhelpful thing to them right now. Sometimes I wonder to myself if I really am the daughter of the famous Kit Snicket.

For the umpteenth time, I sighed once again, tasting my tears as they fell. It tasted like despair.

As I was about to lose hope, just like the others, I noticed a bird cooing near the window. Its claws sat on the window pane and as odd as it already was, it felt like it was looking at me.

"A pigeon-n...?" I asked in a confused whisper as the bird gently tapped its beak on the glass.

Haunted by my own curiosity, I wiped my tears away and slowly walked towards the window pane. I glanced at the others, who took no notice of me.

Breathing, I then opened the window to let the pigeon in. I stared at the bird's beady eyes and gulped. I was no bird practitioner, only a skilled baticeer -- so I had no idea about what I was doing as I gently held the bird in my arms.

I gave the pigeon a little smile, and frowned when my fingers felt something tied onto its leg. Grasping the thing I had discovered, I realized it was a small leather pocket.

Excitement suddenly got the best of me as I opened the flap of the pocket. There was a folded paper inside.

Not daring to breathe, I placed the pigeon on the windowsill before opening the folded piece of paper.

Vile are those who flamed,
the innocent little dolls.
They burn those unfortunate,
ashes black as night falls.

The treacherous darkness,
had the dolls engulfed.
Their bloody screams roared,
their bloody burns, gore and sore.

Thou read thy lines in occasion,
let them fall unto threes.
One shall need observation,
as the dolls rest in peace.

~ K

My eyebrows knitted in confusion as I read the words written on the paper. I reread it for the second time, and still, the words made no sense to me.

"Bea?" I heard Klaus say my name softly. I whirled around to see him looking at me worriedly. "Are you okay?"

I quickly nodded. "Yeah, I just -- look at this." I said, handing him over the note I had found.

"What's this?" He asked, reading the paper as his nose scrunched up in concentration. Violet and the others heard Klaus and looked up to our direction.

"I don't know. I found a pigeon outside the window and that message was in the pocket tied to one of its legs." I told them. Isadora wiped her tears away and gently placed Klad's flashlight on the coffee table before walking towards us. Even the others crowded over Klaus and peered at the note he was holding in his hands.

"Message? Why would you think it's a message?" Sunny asked curiously and I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's a gut-instinct or something." I told her.

"Wait!" Isadora exclaimed, placing s finger on the note. "It's from... K...?"

"Who's K?" Duncan asked.

"Could it be mother?" I suggested, my forehead creasing as I looked up to Violet and Quigley who were reading the note.

"Kit Snicket?" Quigley whispered. "But she's... gone. That's impossible..."

"It can't be Kit." I heard Isadora muttered. "It's in poetry. Kit's forte is not poetry..."

The whole room were engulfed in a deafening silence, not until Isadora's eyes glinted up and she and Klaus shared a glance.

"Klara..." Isadora said, her eyes widened in realization. Klaus adjusted his glasses and nodded grimly. "It could be Klara or Klad; either way, we have to decode this message that they probably sent to us."

"It might be like the one you sent to us in the Village of Fowl Devotees, Isa." Violet suggested and we looked at the first letters of each phrase.

Klaus shook his head. "No it can't be. It doesn't make any sense." He said in frustration.

Isadora sighed and placed an arm around him as comfort. Klaus took a deep breath and gave her a small smile before rubbing his thumb on Isa's hand. He then placed the note on the coffee table for us to be able to read and surround it better.

"We'll be able to solve this." Vi told us as she tied her hair up with the familiar dark purple ribbon, determination aroused in her eyes.

"How are you so sure Vi?" Sunny asked.

"Because we've solved much harder things before. And if it is written by either Klara or Klad, then we'd be able to crack the code." Violet told her with a smile before facing Isa and Klaus. "I'm mostly counting on you two."

Isa nodded and grabbed a pencil from the small container below the coffee table before kneeling in front of it.

"So basically, the poem doesn't really give us a direct meaning onto anything and is probably hiding some cryptic code." Isadora started. "But we can confirm that Klara or Klad might've written this because of the dark theme of the poem -- a story about dolls being burned. Obviously, the dolls here can probably be used as an idiom for people. And we all know that the children knew about our parents..."

Isadora's voice trailed off, her eyes blinking as she remembered Katia and Quintin Quagmire, and Bertrand and Beatrice Baudelaire, all in ashes.

Klaus had noticed Isadora and therefore held her hand tightly before continuing what Isa had said. "So it could only mean that the children were probably getting our attention." He stated as he entangled his fingers with Isa.

I breathed and glanced at the poem again, the last paragraph catching my attention. "Look," I told them as I pointed to one of the lines. "It says: Read thy lines in occasion, let them fall unto threes."

"It might only be misspelled and was really meant as trees." Sunny remarked and Isadora shook her head.

"No Sun... I think it's a clue..." Isa said and clutched the pencil in her hand before underlining each word that counted in threes, her eyes focused in concentration.

Klaus gave a small smirk when Isadora leaned back to see the words that she underlined as we all peered at it.

Vile are those who flamed,
the innocent little dolls.
They burn those unfortunate,
ashes black as night falls.

The treacherous darkness,
had the dolls engulfed.
Their bloody screams roared,
their bloody burns, gore and sore.

Thou read thy lines in occasion,
let them fall unto threes.
One shall need observation,
as the dolls rest in peace.

~ K

"Vile flame dolls? Unfortunate night -- what does that even mean?" Quigley asked in exasperation as he tugged his hair.

"Don't you see it?" Klaus asked. "It's not the words, it's the first letter of the underlined words..."

He then got the pencil from Isa and wrote the first letters of the underlined words at the bottom of the poem.

V.F.D. UNDERGROUND

"That was nice work Isa," Vi smiled and Klaus gave her a proud smirk. "You too Bea." He told me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"But I still don't get it though." Duncan said and scratched his head in confusion. "What V.F.D. are they talking about?"

"Well, what are the possible places here that have the initials of V.F.D.?" Klaus asked.

"Wait..." Quigley told them as he ran upstairs. He then came back with an old map in his hands.

"It's a V.F.D. map of the city, where all places that had the initials V.F.D. are noted -- as well as all the V.F.D. places." He explained as he spread it over the table as well.

"Vernon's Fresh Delicacies..." Sunny muttered, tracing her hand as soon as Quigley opened the map.

I shook my head. "Vernon and Jane Walker won't let any fire-starting members hide there."

"Village of Fowl Devotees?" Vi suggested and Quigley shook his head in disagreement. "That village has been wiped away from most maps."

"Hotel Denouement, no..." Klaus muttered.

"How 'bout..." Isadora's eyebrows suddenly ceased together. "Valley of the Four Drafts...?"

Violet's eyes glinted up. "OF COURSE! Why didn't we think of that?!" She exclaimed and grabbed Klad's flashlight. "This tunnel leads exactly to the Valley of the Four Drafts!"

We glanced at each other and hurriedly, entered the secret passageway with Violet in the lead.

~*~

Were you able to solve the code before they did? ^^ I have to say I enjoyed writing this chapter, haha! Also, a big hello to volunteer Jane_Walker who was mentioned in this story :D

So this is it volunteers, are you ready for the penultimate chapter?