Isadora Quagmire

I tugged my nightgown a little upwards and sat beside Klaus who was reading a book. I placed my head on the fluffy pillow next to him. I sighed and said, "I saw Vi crying a while ago and Quigley doesn't want to talk about it. Did you know what happened?"

Klaus put down the book on his lap and looked at me with those soulful eyes behind his shiny glasses. He put an arm around me and kissed me on the forehead while laughing softly. "You don't have to be too nosy Isadora." He said teasingly.

I threw my hands upward in frustration. "Okay, I was just being curious alright!" I said and pouted like a little child. As a person who already had a family, I was one childish person. Klaus smiled and shook his head lightly.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you. Quill and Vivian just got angry at Violet because she didn't want them to invent and stuff -- you already know this, it's just the usual thing." He said as he read while speaking, flipping a page as he did.

I stared at him in disbelief. "And I thought it was something more exasperating like, Count Olaf was raised from the dead or something," I said and rolled my eyes. "Although of course, I purely understand Vi since I'm a mother herself. But I don't think a child will do any harm if they use their talents." I briefly told him, stating my opinion.

"But it was you yourself that told me the reason you and Duncan found out about V.F.D. was because of your V.F.D. talents." Klaus pointed out.

What he told me gave me flashbacks of the time when one of the former teachers in Prufrock Prep has given a liking to my poetry and Duncan's researches that she always encouraged us to keep doing what we we're good at. But then one day, we found her dead on the school grounds, blood all over. As the police and medical staffs took her body, a note from her to us, dropped from her pocket containing some minimal information of V.F.D.

And as much as I hate to admit it, Klaus was right yet again. "Good point." I said and rested my head on his chest as he read out loud and ruffled my hair.

~*~

It was already 6:45 a.m. on the grandfather's clock and me and the rest of the adults, mainly Violet, Quigley, Klaus and Duncan were rushing from here to there, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper while brushing our hair and putting on perfume.

"Sunny! Have you seen the kids?" I asked Sunny as I hurriedly put powder on my face. Sunny and Beatrice were sitting down on the last steps of the staircase, giggling as they stared at us rushing from one place to another.

"They're upstairs in the playroom Isa." Sunny said while smiling. "With Quill and Vivian?" Violet asked them as well as she jumped over me to get a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror while putting on lipstick.

"Yes Vi. I mean seriously, stop worrying about where the 'kids' are because basically, they aren't kids anymore. I mean they're almost my age!" Sunny said and rolled her eyes while Beatrice laughed and nodded.

"Wait, wait, are we going to visit the organization after work?" Duncan asked as he frustratingly fixed his tie, grunting as he did.

"Apparently, yes. Snicket has a new mission for us I believe." Quigley replied as he adjusted his bowler's hat.

"A new mission?! Can we join?!" Sunny and Beatrice shouted in chorus. "NO!" we all shouted and looked upstairs for any signs of the children. "Oh come on, we're members of V.F.D. anyways!" Sunny said, disappointed.

"Hush! Do you want the children to hear you?! We'll all get trouble for this!" Violet hissed. "And besides, you guys get to stay here to protect them." Klaus added as he playfully ruffled both Beatrice and Sunny's hair.

"Klaus!" They both shouted and I smiled as I ran up the stairs to the playroom to check on the kids.

I heard the children laughing and I slowly crept towards the room and took a peek inside the slightly opened door to see what they were doing.

There inside with Quill and Vivian, were my triplets, Klara, Laura and Klad Baudelaire.

Klara Baudelaire, the eldest among them for five minutes were sharing to the others another poem she probably wrote or something she must have just made up on the spur moment. Just like me, she had the same kind of wavy hair and green eyes. Not only that, but she seemed to have adopted my writing skills in poetry, although she excels in different kinds of literary forms. She was a writer.

"My dear cousin do not fret,
we are here to support you 'til death.

From the same bloodline, you will see,
our parents knowing our talents in glory."

Klara recited and gave Vivian a hug who bit her lip, a habit Vivian had gotten from Violet. I wanted to enter and give Klara an astounding applause for her excellent couplets when I realized what they were talking about.

"Soon, Aunt Vi would see how awesome your inventions are! And some day, mom and dad will realize how incredibly useful my mastery of weaponry will be. . ." Laura added.

Laura Baudelaire, the next eldest, was older than Klad for three minutes. She was a beautiful mixture of me and Klaus' genes for she had hair that curls on the end and blue-green eyes that were like sapphires. She was the most adventurous among the three and was a skilled weapon master, even if she only took one session of basic weaponry when she was six years old.

"But for now, you guys should say sorry to Aunt Vi. You never know, maybe she has other reasons that she doesn't want to tell you guys." Klad said and I was a little taken aback. He had obliviously said a V.F.D. quote: You never know.

Klad Baudelaire, the youngest, was just like his father, Klaus. He had the same soft, feathery hair and had the crystal blue eyes of his. He resembles so much like his dad when he was young, it was hard to say who was more handsome. And just like Klaus, he was also the smartest among them and was a researcher at heart. All of them read books, but compared to him, he was the bookworm. He would stay inside the library for hours, reading books of different genres. Sometimes, when Klaus was at home, this was their kind of bonding time.

I was about to close the door for I had heard enough when someone suddenly placed their hand on my shoulder. I sharply turned around, about to push the person away when I saw Violet.

"Violet! God, you scared me." I whispered as I leaned on the wall and held my hand near my chest.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, whispering as well. "I was just checking on the kids." I replied with heavy breaths, still not getting over that shock.

Both of us were quiet for a moment when I decided to tell her what I've heard.

"V-Violet. . . the not acknowledging the kids' talents, is that really going to stop them from getting involved with V.F.D.? Because, I feel sorry as a mother, to not be able to support the things they are happy with." I said sadly, looking down the floor.

Violet fidgeted with her hands and bit her lip, a tear falling down her left eye. "Isadora, I don't even know anymore." She said, her lips trembling. We both hugged each other and tears were welling in my eyes as well. "We may not be the perfect mothers, but we still try to do our best Vi." I said in between tears.

"As for now, we don't have as much as a choice if we want to protect them." I told her as I wiped my tears away. Violet nodded and we both fixed ourselves before going downstairs to join the others in going to work.

~*~

I walked down an abandoned sidewalk and knocked three times on a metal door. An opening on the door opened and revealed the eyes of a person. He stared at me wearily and I stared back, waiting for him to speak.

"The night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one, yet the light of the bright world dies with the dying sun." He said in a clear voice. I smiled and replied with the same words of the poem. "The mind has a thousand eyes, and the heart but one, yet the the light of a bright life dies when the love is done."

The person's eyes sparkled with my words and he opened the metal door with a loud clang!

"Hello L." I said, nodding at the person who I just recited a poem with. "Hello to you too Isadora. What took you so long?" Lemony Snicket replied as I followed him, walking through a dark tunnel with only a flashlight as guide.

"Sorry, I got caught up with the new poetry book I was writing for work." I said as I looked around me. "Hey L, is this some kind of V.F.D. tunnel that the older volunteers made before the schism?" I asked him.

"Apparently, yes, good to know that you observed." He said and there was a series of twists and turns before we reached a dead end. He then handed the flashlight to me, and instructed me to point its light on the ceiling, in which a trap door was placed.

He grabbed a box nearby and placed it directly above the trap door. He stood on top of the box and tiptoed to knock on it. After a few seconds, the hatch was opened and Klaus and the others were there, peeking out.

We boosted ourselves up and I marveled at the amazing view of the organization. It was sort of like a school, and volunteers from all over the place were training using their God-gifted V.F.D. talents, some were even with their chaperones.

"Wait, is this the Institute for Volunteers Academy?" I asked, astounded. "Yes indeed, our alma mater has never been this beautiful." Klaus said as he wrapped his arms around me.

Before, when Klara and the others were only babies, we have agreed to sign up as volunteers to follow our parents' footsteps. And since we did, we were trained here, in the Institute for Volunteers Academy. We were lucky though for the famous noble volunteer, Lemony Snicket was the one who offered to chaperone and train us.

"Now, volunteers, follow me to the library." Lemony said, catching our attention and we went towards the library.

~*~

All of us gathered and sat on one table, near the far corner of the library so that no one will catch a word on what we will say. I'm guessing something's on the loose.

Lemony gave us all a grave look as he held a white folder in his hand and Violet couldn't help but ask unnecessary questions, "Is Count Olaf alive? Is the woman with hair but no beard and the man with a beard but no hair following us? Are our children in grave danger?"

Snicket shook his head and placed the folder on the table, pushing it towards us. Duncan, who was the nearest with the folder, opened it to reveal a picture of the treacherous woman and counterpart of Olaf, Esme Squalor.

It had her complete profile on it, not a thing was missing, but we didn't get the sense of it all.

"It was revealed that before Count Olaf died on the little island the Baudelaires were in years ago, he and Esme Squalor married illegally, using anagrams for their fake names and forging illegal marriage certificates." Lemony said and he pulled out a marriage certificate under Esme's profile. It said:

Certificate of Matrimony

We hereby certify that on the Thirteenth of the eleventh month, year 1999, Al Funcoot and Mal S. Quores have come, enjoined together in matrimony before witness and have set our seal and signature hereupon this certificate as proof that such union and ceremony did in fact take place.

And right below the marriage certificate were sloppy signatures of "witnesses".

Quigley held the paper on the light and analyzed it. "Absolutely fake." He mumbled, staring at the calligraphy of the writing. Lemony and the boys nodded but me and Violet exchanged puzzled looks.

"Who cares if they're married? That won't affect V.F.D. anyways, will it?" I asked.

Lemony looked at me and continued, "Olaf, which is Count Olaf's last name, is a very rare name that only 2% of the people here on earth have that last name. And now, one of our volunteers have spotted a profile on the internet that had the last names of Squalor and Olaf. He's name was Timothy Squalor (Olaf), and he's more or less the same age as your children."

Me and Violet's eyes widened at the news. "So it means, there's a possibility of a new bloodline of the Olafs. . ." Violet murmured as she started tying her hair with her dark purple ribbon.

"And that means, there's a probability that..." I stopped half-way as we all looked at each other and Lemony nodded gravely.

"Olaf and Esme has a child." We all said in chorus and I slumped onto my chair in disbelief.