One Kiss Later (K. Baudelaire)

Chapter 13

Klaus

We've all been really hurt by the death of Olivia. For Candie, it really hit home for her. Me and Violet stood looking out the window. "Do you think Sunny is okay with Count Olaf?" I wonder. "Nobody's safe with Count Olaf. But it's only until we reach the mountains. As soon as we're together, we'll escape and go look for the head quarters. " Violet promised. "What do you think we'll find there?" I ask her. She looked to me and looked away. We didn't know. I turned to see Candie sitting on the floor, her knees up to her face.

"Come on." I say to Violet. I walk over to Candie and sit down. Tears forming in her eyes. I wipe away a tear and turn her face to look at me. She sniffles and smiles at me sadly. I glance at her wrist. "Where'd you get this?" I ask pointing to her bracelet. She smiles sadly. "Olivia gave it to me. She also gave me this." She says holding up a copy of Romeo and Juliette I smile. "You like Shakespeare?" I ask her. "I do." She says looking back to me. "I didn't know that." I comment. She smiles. "What?" I ask. Her smile is contagious. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Baudelaire." She says ruffling my hair.

"Beverly, Elliot, Ivy. Press the red button to speak to me." Count Olaf says through the walkie talkie. We walk over to the window where Violet left it. "We're here." Violet says into the microphone. "Look out the window." Count Olaf says. "We are." Violet responds. "Guys..." Candie says looking out the other window. We run over. Hugo, Kevin and Colette cutting the rope connecting us to the car. We scream variations of "Stop! No!" I try to open the door of the caravan. "I didn't need Madam Lulu to tell me where the Baudelaire brats are. I figured that out all on my own. Now let me tell you your fate. A great dead of suffering and pain and then a long fall to rock bottom. Do you know what's that like? because I do. But things are looking up for me."

They finally cut the last tie of the rope. We gasp.  The caravan stops. We all stumble back. "Oh God, oh God. What do we do?" Candie panics. "Um, stay calm." I say. Me and Violet stumble out of our torn costume. "Sunny!" We scream as our baby sister drives away with the man that has put so much unfortune on our life. "Guys... we're reaching the end of the ro-" Candie says as the caravan jerked and turned.

"What just happened?" I scream. "We didn't die!" Violet screams back. "How does that happen?" Candie says grabbing onto my arm for stability "Not yet!" I say. "How do we stop this caravan?" I as Violet. "We have to invent some sort of braking system." Violet screams, standing up. "How are we supposed to do that?" Candie asks trying to steady herself on the caravan. "Violet, this would be a great time for an idea." I say trying to stay calm. Violet grabs a long tie hanging from the caravan ceiling and tying her hair up.

"Search the Caravan for anything long enough to reach the wheel." Violet yells to me. Candie picks up a paddle. "Does this work?" She asks Violet. "Perfect. Now use it to jam the wheel." She says. I take the paddle from Candie and try jamming the wheel. "I'm going to tie these together to make a drag chute. "Make it fast the road won't stay straight forever." I yell to my sister. "Yeah... on that note. We're running out of road you guys." Candie yells looking out the window.

"I think it's working I just need to apply more friction." I say applying more pressure to the stick. The wheels squeak. "Agh! My ears!" Candie says sliding down on the caravan to sit down. "Sorry, Candie." I say looking to her. "Don't mention it." She replies still holding her ears. "How's it going?" Violet asks tying her drag chute. Just like that the paddle broke. "Not great." I say looking at the broken paddle. "That's okay. You bought me time to make this." Violet yells to me. Throwing her drag chute out the door. Me and Candie give each other a look and look out different windows. We scream.

The Caravan hits the end. Candie screams louder. Then, we stop. The force of the caravan makes us hit the side of the caravan. We climb out way to the top of the caravan. Looking out at the drag chute. "Try not to think about falling." Violet advises. "But it's impossible tp think about anything else." We climb out of the caravan and start rock climbing up. Me and Violet at the top first, Candie struggling right behind. The drag chute rips. The caravan goes shooting down. Candie screams. "Here." I say reaching my hand out for her to take.

We sigh as we look down on the ledge. "We're alive." I pant. "We're alive but we're not okay. Count Olaf still has Sunny and we need to get her back." "She must be so scared." I comment. "So are we." Candie laughs. "How do you always manage to look on the bright side?" I laugh with her. "Just my personality, I guess." We sigh. "Sunny's tough. She's a fighter." Violet comments. "And a biter." Candie laughs. We laugh softly and stand up. "Come on, we're losing daylight." Candie says standing up.

"Can you remember anything from the map?" Violet asks me. "I didn't look at it for long, but this is the only road through the mountains." I say, making logical sense. "I do. It's at the Valley of the Four Drafts." Candie recites. "How did remember that?" I ask her in amazement. "Photographic memory." She says tapping the side of her head.

"Well, this road should lead us straight to Count Olaf." I sigh. "And Sunny." Candie says winking at me. "And Sunny." I repeat. "Count Olaf needs on of us to get out fortune. As long as he thinks we're dead, Sunny's safe." Violet comments. "She won't be safe until we're together again." I disagree. "Then we better keep walking." Violet says taking the ribbon out of her hair.

We keep walking and hit a fork in the road. "It's a crossroad." I say. "It's actually more of a fork." Violet corrects. "I meant figuratively. We have to decide which direction to go. Candie walks up o the signs covered in snow. "This road leads to the Valley of Four Drafts. That's where the Candie said the headquarters were hidden." I say turning back to Candie and Violet. Violet turns to the other road. She jogs over and grabs a bottle that was thrown on the ground.

"Look at this Sarsaparilla bottle. There's some liquid in it that isn't frozen. That means it was recently thrown by someone that doesn't care about littering. Count Olaf went this way." Violet concludes. "If we go to V.F.D headquarters they can help us find Sunny." I debate. "We can't wait that long. Sunny's in danger now." Violet debates back to me. "If one of our parents is alive up there, they can fix this." I argue. "If one of our parents are alive, do you want to face them without Sunny?" Violet asks. "No.." I mumble. "I think we should go this way." Violet finishes. "Well I think we should go this way." I say stubbornly. "Enough! This is exactly what Count Olaf wanted from the gecko. He wanted us to divide." Candie says. She turned around as we hear buzzing.

"Oh no." Me and Candie say in sync. "What are those?" Violet asks. "Snow gnats. I read about them in an obscure book." I say. "What did you read about them?" Violet asks. "They're ill-tempered and well organized." I recite, trying to remember. "Anything else?" Violet says looking to the snow gnats. "Yeah... they sting." "Yeah I think we should go that way." Violet finally says. "I agree." I comment. We all look at each other. "Well let's go!" Candie says starting to run. The snow gnats start to sting us. "What's stops them?" Violet asks. I think for a moment. "Smoke." I says swatting the gnats out of my face "Smoke? How are we supposed to get smoke up here?" Violet panics. "I don't know!" I scream as we turn a corner.

Candie whispers something to herself. "What?" I ask her. "Carmelita... The snow scouts!" Candie says. "Who?" I ask her again. "You'll see," She says running faster. "Follow me!" Me and Violet look at each other. We shrug and follow her. She keeps running and stops at the entrance of a cave. We catch up to her and the gnats fly away. "There must be something in the cave that scares them." I guess. "Let's hope it's not a hibernating animal." Violet wishes. "If my memory serves me correctly. It's much, much worse." Candie says walking in. "Oh, no." I say as the image emerges from the shadow. "Told you." Candie says. "Hello sister. And her cake-sniffing friends." Carmelita says. "Charming." Candie says.