One Kiss Later (K. Baudelaire)

Chapter 4

Candie

"Hey guys, um, actually I'm going to go, I-I'll catch up with you guys later." I announced. "Oh, okay." I heard Klaus said as I ran to the library.

I ran down the hall past the dinning hall and bathrooms and ran into the library shut the door with my back and slid down the door to sit down. "Oh dear, Candie, what happened to you?" Ms. Caliban said rushing to the door. "I guess... I just... got, over... whelmed." I said out of breath, "Do you have any medical books Ms. Caliban?" "I have all sorts of books." She responded winking at me. I stood up and climbed the bookcase ladder near the top and pulled down a few books, and slid down the ladder and sat down.

I read every book in the medical section and sat down, defeated. "What's wrong kiddo?" Ms. Caliban asked me. "I can't find the book to help or identify my symptoms." I said looking up at her. "What are your symptoms?" She asked me. I sat up straighter and tried to explain. "At lunch today I felt this falling feeling in my chest. I felt, hopeless. Like no one else was in the room, my jaw got tense, my hands began to shake and sweat." I said looking up at her hopefully.

"That sounds like jealousy. Not just any jealousy, jealousy with a boy." She said to me, "You sure that you felt like there was no one in the room with you?" I bit my lip. "Maybe there was one person there with me." I mumbled. "Ah, that's it." She said teasingly, "Who was it?" She smiled. "Oh, I don't know." I said trying to avoid the question.

And on that note, Carmelita waltzed in with a box. "Here Ms. Librarian." She said in a sing-song voice. She opened the box and gasped. Carmelita killed a mocking bird. I tried to find a heartbeat in the base of the beak. But it was clearly dead. Carmelita's face lit up like a psychopath. Ms. Caliban pushed Carmelita out of the library. "Get out of here and give this a descent burial." Ms. Caliban said shoving the box and bird back into Carmelita's chest. "You told me you liked To Kill a Mockingbird, so I did it for you." Carmelita said spitefully. "This is your last chance Spats. Next time, I call your mother and I steal your shoes." Ms. Caliban threatened. Carmelita started to sniff around mockingly, turning to the Baudelaires and Quagmires. "I smell people who lost their parents in fires." Carmelita said smiling devilishly.

Me and Ms. Caliban scoffed at her words. "Hey, Ms. Caliban, who's your favorite Spat?" I asked jokingly. She smiled at me and stood up straight. "Quagmires and the Baudelaires. Lovely to see you, and together, might I add." She said smiling at my friends. "Are you still open?" Isadora asked. "I'm afraid I was just locking up. Ten minutes sure goes my really fast. You can come back tomorrow." She said glumly. "We can't wait until tomorrow. Please." Violet pleads. "We're trying to find a book." Isadora starts. "An Important book." Duncan finishes. "We think it might have the answers to all out questions."

Ms. Caliban thought for a moment. Please don't let them in, Please don't let them in. I thought holding my breath. "What's the title?" She asked them. "The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations." Klaus answered. Please no, please no, please no. I thought. still holding my breath. "Let me see what I can do." I let out the air that I had been holding "We only have a few minutes before Nero comes on his rounds. If he catches you here, he'll make you trim his toe nails. Unless you're a Spats. Then he'll let you do anything." Ms. Caliban warn. "You make that sound like it's a bad thing" I say climbing one of the book shelf ladders. "He wouldn't." Violet challenged. "He would." Ms. Caliban says with all seriousness. "He would" The Quagmires confirmed.

"You don't happen to know its Dewy Decimal number?" Ms. Caliban asked. "We don't even know who wrote it." Klaus said defeatedly. "That's okay, that's what me and Candie are here for." She said looking at me from the ladder. "Lets see. The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations. The." Ms. Caliban turned to me "The." She said a little louder so I could hear. I gave her a thumbs up and climbed up to the top shelves and rolled myself to 'The'. I skimmed my fingers over the spines of the book. I sighed. "Nope." I said quietly to myself and slid down the ladder and walked over to Ms. Caliban. "I'm sorry." She said, defeated. "You don't have it..." Klaus said trailing off.

"Due to budget cuts, crumbling infrastructure, and the priorities of a certain vice principal, this place has become something of a faltering institution. Although, I do have a few other books that I think you might like." Ms. Caliban suggested. I nodded slightly. "The Incomplete History if Treachery?" I read, throwing it into the bookshelf. "The Incomplete History of Pretentiousness?" Ms. Caliban adds throwing the book as well. "The Incomplete History of History" I say finally, sitting down at a nearby desk.

"That does sound fascination, but..." Klaus says, trying to be nice. "I know." Ms. Caliban comforts, "In every library, there is a single book to answer the question that burns like a fire in the mind." "Where did you hear that?" Violet asks, urgently. "I don't know, I must've read it somewhere. Why" Ms. Caliban answers sweetly. "Our father said that once." Violet connects, looking down. "It's awful, isn't it, to have the people missing from your life. It's like a question that haunts you, night and day, and you never know if that question will ever be answered." Ms. Caliban comforted.

"We think it might be, with the right book." Klaus reasons. "I see." Ms. Caliban says finally, "Well, a friend of mine is sending me some new titles now that she's abandoned her dissertation to become a welterweight boxer. I'll ask her about it. Check back with me in a day or so." Ms. Caliban explains. "Do you mind of we have a look around." Klaus asks but is cut off by the timer that Ms. Caliban set.

"Drat." Ms. Caliban says rushing to the door, "Vice Principal Nero will be here in-" "Let me handle this." I say confidently, walking up to the door as Vice Principal Nero is coming in. "Vice Principal Nero will be here." Vice Principal Nero says imitating Ms. Caliban, "Vice Principal Nero is already here, and this library is supposed to be closed."

"Vice Principal Nero, Me and my friends were just looking around the library to find The Incomplete History of Julliard, the book that you are explicitly mentioned." I sweet talk. I guess being a Spat has more pros than I thought. "Oh, well then, I suppose you could stay a touch longer." Vice Principal Nero says feeling quite full of himself. "But right after, I need you to report to the athletic field in ten minutes. Attendance is mandatory. Now if you excuse me, I am going to get my violin for the pep rally. And show my that page when you've found it Candie." "Of course," I say in fake loyalty.

I turned around and bow. "And there, ladies and gentlemen are the perks of being related to Carmelita Spats." I laugh. "Okay, Okay sure, but what are the others?" Isadora asked jokingly. "Point taken" I laugh as I walk over to the other side of the library and take out a book. Klaus trails behind and looks at the bookshelf behind me. "What book are you reading?" He asked me curiously. "Diary of Anne Frank" I say closing my book. "Ah. Good book." he says, fiddling with his own book, "Sad" I nod my head.

"Why type of books do you like?" I ask him putting to book back in my basket. "Non-fiction." He says smiling at me, "You?" I smile and turn around to the bookshelf behind me for a moment before pulling a book out, "Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Mythology." I say setting the book, Intro to all things Magical and slid it to him, "Those magical witchy type things." He looks at the book and smiles at me.

"Anyway, I have to get to work." I say getting out a pen and paper. "What do you mean?" He askes me looking at my paper curiously. "I have to make that change in The Incomplete History of Julliard right?" I say with a wink.

After about ten minutes I was done perfecting the font and coloring in the picture of Vice Principal Nero. "Wow, how did you do that?" Klaus asks me as I'm walking across the room to the exit. I stop and give him a look. "Come on, I do this like 8 times a week." He smiles at me. "And did I mention that I am... quite capable in the fine arts as well?"