✨𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐭.✨

Chapter 15- Don't You Dare Die

Violet's POV:

With my invention, we made it down the elevator shaft quickly. At the bottom was a welcome surprise. I had hoped to find the Quagmires in the shaft, but I didn't think it would be true.

"Violet!" Duncan exclaimed when he saw me. I smiled at him, tears running down my face, and climbed out of the basket.

"We're so happy to see you all," Isadora said, grabbing Sunny's hands through the bars of the cage she and her brother were trapped in.

"Happy!" Sunny shrieked in reply.

Duncan was smiling and crying too as we tried to wipe each others tears away through the cage bars. "I missed you so much," I whispered, laughing quietly in relief.

"I missed you too, my love," Duncan replied. I blushed, taking his hand and giving his palm a soft kiss.

"How did you find us?" Isadora asked.

"It was Violet's invention," Klaus replied.

"Klaus had the idea to look down here," I said.

"Are you guys okay?" Y/n asked, giving Duncan and Isadora's hands a tight squeeze. "Besides the cage and everything, I mean."

Duncan laughed a little, nodding. "Yeah, we're fine. Just scared," he said.

Y/n nodded too, her expression calm but her eyes filled with rage. "We'll get you two out," she said firmly. "It will be okay. You don't have to be scared."

"No scare," Sunny agreed, crossing her arms determinedly as she looked up at Y/n, who had her arms crossed in the same way. "We help."

Isadora smiled, giving Sunny a pat on her head. She then turned to me, gesturing to the lock on the cage. "Do you think you can pick that lock, Violet?" she asked.

I glanced to the lock, taking it in my hand. It was heavy and cold. I pulled it downwards, hoping maybe it was a cheap lock that would just pop open if you tugged it hard enough. To my disappointment, it was not a cheap lock. "I don't think I can without the proper tools," I said, dropping the lock. Isadora reached into her pocket and pulled out half the spyglass.

"Do you guys have the other half?" she asked. Y/n nodded and took the other half out of her pocket. They clicked the two halves together, forming a full spyglass.

"This might be able to help us," Y/n said. "Mom and I read The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations and learned about the spyglass. It can make light"-here she turned the dials on the spyglass and a light came out the top like a flashlight- "but also heat." She clicked it again and the light turned an orange-red color. "Maybe you could melt the lock?"

I took the spyglass from her, feeling the subtle warmth of the thing in my hands. It continued to heat up as I pointed it at the lock. The lock shook around a little bit, but after a while of holding the heat to it, the lock hadn't even started to melt. I turned the spyglass off so it wouldn't overheat.

"Did it work?" Duncan asked hopefully. Klaus hovered his hand over the lock and shook his head.

"No, it just got warmer," he said. We all heaved a big sigh of disappointment.

"What do we do?" Y/n asked. I looked above us at the empty shaft, then back at the spyglass in my hands.

"Hand me one of those newspapers," I said to the Quagmires. The floor of their cage was littered with old newspapers, and Duncan handed me one through the bars. I took it from him, clicking the spyglass back on. The orange-red light shone from the top and heated the cold air a bit. I held the newspaper a few inches over the light, then let go, watching as the paper hovered in the air. "Heat rises," I said.