Begin!
Universe*
~Normal POV
"A jar of mustard, a container of olives, three jars of different kinds of jam, a bottle of lemon juice, a pickle in a small glass jug, and a few strands of some Very Fresh Dill," Isadora listed off the items Sunny had brought to them.
Klaus had shifted through several piles of ashes and found a scrap of paper that explained how the code worked. He copied the instructions into his notebook as Isadora set the fridge items around them in a semi-circle. The researcher examined the items while glancing at his notes. He picked up the glass jug and lemon juice and set them aside to discard them.
"Verbal Fridge Dialogue is an emergency communication system that involves using esoteric items from a refrigerator to send a secret message to other volunteers," Klaus read, "It says volunteers will know such code is being used by the presence of Very Fresh Dill. Or at least that's what it should say, the sentence cuts off there."
"What does esoteric mean," Isadora asked.
"In this case, it means things that aren't used much, or things that stay in the refrigerator for a long time. Much like the things we found here."
"So, we know that someone sent a message," Duncan said, "But how do we figure out what it's about or who it's for?"
"The receiver should first find their initials, then there's a poem, 'The darkest of the jams of three, contains within the addressee.'"
"That's a couplet," Isadora noted, "Just like mine. It seems to say the receiver's initials will be inside the darkest of the three jams."
Quigley examined the jars, "There's apricot, strawberry, and boysenberry. Boysenberry is the darkest."
He opened the jar and revealed the letters J.S. had been carved into the surface.
"J.S. so the message is for Jacques Snicket," Duncan wrote down, "But he's dead."
"I guess whoever wrote it doesn't know that. Next it says they use a small, rounded fruit to tell how many days until something happens. Meaning the number of olives in that jar represents a set number of days," Klaus continued, "How many are in there?"
Duncan picked up the jar and counted, "There's six, meaning six days, so that would be on Friday. Based on the date we saw in the newspaper when were at the Last Chance General Store then by process of elimination six days from now is Friday."
He quickly jotted down the information along with the others. Violet was still off working on her invention to get them up the waterfall, leaving the rest of them to sort this out. Sunny had curled up in Klaus' lap to keep warm from the chilly mountain winds; she was confident they were handling this well without her input, no matter how small it would have been. Violet and Klaus had not yet been able to teach her to read as they hadn't had time with everything happening so quickly in their lives, but they were sure she had been learning steadily on her own.
"So something is happening on Friday," Klaus said continuing down his notes, "Any spice-based condiment should have a coded label referring volunteers to encoded poems. Hm, Isadora read off the ingredients on that mustard jar."
She picked it up, "Vinegar, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, the final quatrain of the eleventh stanza of 'The Garden of Proserpine,' by Algernon Charles Swinburne, and calcium disodium, an allegedly natural preservative. A quatrain is four lines of a poem, and a stanza is another word for a verse. So, they hid the poem in the ingredients list because nobody ever reads it. How clever."
"Indeed," Quigley nodded, "But what does the poem say then?"
Klaus frowned, "I've read that one in a poetry book before, but it's not a very cheerful poem." He recited the verse:
"That no life lives forever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to the sea."
Quigley read through his notes, "I think the message might be referring to a meeting or gathering of some sort happening on Friday. Kit said she needs you to meet her at Briny Beach by the next 3 days, so she's probably intending to take us there. If the Headquarters are in ruins then the only V.F.D. safe place left would be Hotel Denouement. Jacques told me about it. It's this ritzy hotel run by three brothers Frank, Ernest, and the supposedly dead Dewey Denouement."
"Kit mentioned the name Dewey when she was driving us here from Heimlich Hospital," Klaus commented, "She's pregnant and she said, 'Dewey and I are hoping it's a girl.' He must be her husband; which means he's most likely alive."
Isadora smiled, "Then we figured it out. Kit is taking us to the meeting after she finishes whatever she was doing with the sugar bowl."
"The sugar bowl," Quigley asked, "She had it? Jacques mentioned it was very important to find."
"She had it in her hand before she left us on the mountain," Duncan said, "She said it was part of her mission and it was top priority. It had been hidden in Heimlich Hospital, but she got it out as Count Olaf set the building on fire. That's how we met her."
Quigley chuckled as they all stood up, "Wait, you guys actually got Duncan to willingly walk into a hospital? I'm shocked."
Duncan's face flushed with embarrassment, "Shut up, Quigley, you faint whenever somebody pulls out a needle. At least I was brave enough to take one for the team."
"Yeah, and you don't even want to know what happened after he and Violet got taken by Olaf while we were there," Isadora shuddered.
Klaus held Sunny's hand and the five of them returned to where Violet was waiting for them. They explained to her what they had found and she smiled as she started to explain her invention.
"I used the ropes and pocket knives from our backpacks to help out with this. Basically, I'm going to attach these forks and knives to our shoes and we're going to climb the waterfall," Violet started, "We use this broken candelabra to tap the ice and see where it's sturdy enough to pierce without breaking it. The ropes will tie us together by our waists for safety. Sunny will ride in the sling on my back, and we'll all climb up together. Now, everyone give me your shoes."
They did as they were told, and she quickly turned their normal sneakers into silverware-assisted climbing shoes before instructing them to put them back on. She tied several ropes together and around each of their waists; fastening them tightly with a new kind of knot she invented that would hold better than the Devil's Tongue Knot. Klaus helped Sunny back into her sling as the three triplets put on their backpacks and safely tucked their notebooks in their jackets. Violet grabbed the candelabra and made sure they weren't leaving anything behind before leading them over to the slope.
"Alright, Sunny and I will start first. Only follow the spots I say are safe, got it?"
"Got it!"
She nodded and began their daunting ascent. For several hours they climbed, one by one, with only a few ropes holding them together. Sunny held tightly to her sister's shoulders and shut her eyes to keep herself from looking down. Based on the direction of the sunlight since arriving at the Headquarters, it was late afternoon by the time they finally reached the Stricken Stream source. Violet and Sunny climbed to the safe landing first, followed by Klaus, then Isadora, and finally Duncan and Quigley. The six of them breathed a collective sigh of relief when they reached the top.
"We did it," Duncan said, grinning as they untied the ropes and shoved them back into their packs, "That was amazing Violet."
The inventor blushed and gave him a quick kiss, "Thank you, Duncan. I thought it worked pretty well too."
They walked across the snowy area examining the frozen stream source. From the top of Mount Fraught they could see their destination in the water far off in the distance as the sun was beginning to set. The air was getting colder as afternoon was turned into evening from their long climb. Violet removed her invention from their shoes, returning them to normal. Klaus took out his spyglass and turned on the flash light so they could see in the darkening sky. As Quigley had guessed, based on Kit's instructions, right by the source hidden behind some bushes was a boat just big enough to hold all of them.
"Well, it looks like no one is here," Klaus said, "What do we do now? The boat is here, and intact, but Kit said a volunteer would be here."
Violet examined the boat curiously. It looked like a simple row boat, but it had a complex steering mechanism attached to it.
"This is likely to help guide us down the river," She said, "It looks brand new. Anyway, there's a chance that the volunteer just hasn't arrived yet. We can't leave until False Spring, remember? I guess we should just camp out here until then."
"Awesome," Quigley said, "Camping out on a mountain top is something I never thought I'd do."
Isadora smiled gazing out at the sunset, "Same here, and the view is spectacular."
"We should sleep in shifts," Violet said, "That way one of us can watch out if someone comes."
They set down their bags and took out their remaining food to get back their energy. Violet removed the coat sling from her back and set it up in a pile on the ground to turn it into a bed for Sunny. Quigley offered to sleep by her to ensure she wouldn't roll around too much as she slept, given their high altitude. Much to Quigley's disgust, Klaus and Isadora shared a good night kiss before Isadora curled up in her boyfriend's arms for the night. Violet agreed to take the first watch, using Klaus' spyglass, and took a look out position facing the mountain trail in the opposite direction of the frozen stream and the rest of the group. Once the others were asleep, which happened rather quickly due to having been up for most of the previous night, Duncan took a seat beside her.
"You should really get some sleep," She said, "You've been up all night too."
Duncan shrugged, wrapping his arm around her, "I wanted some alone time with you. Is that so wrong?"
She smiled and relaxed into his arms, "I guess not... But you're not allowed to be cranky tomorrow from not getting enough sleep."
He chuckled, "I make no promises."
She gazed up at her charming boyfriend with a smile before kissing him. He pulled her close and happily deepened the kiss. The two didn't even feel the freezing cold air as they found plenty of warmth in each other's arms. They hadn't had a minute alone together since making their relationship official, and they both had the same idea to use their limited alone time wisely. Besides, it wasn't like they weren't aware of their surroundings. With the exception of their siblings' heavy breathing as they slept, there wasn't a sound on the mountain, meaning if something made a noise they would notice immediately. But for now, all that mattered was that a beautiful inventor and a handsome journalist had a short amount of time to spend alone in each other's embrace. They finally pulled away from their intimate kiss and smiled at each other, their foreheads touching.
"That was worth staying up for," Duncan whispered.
Violet chuckled, "I have to agree with you there."
He suddenly frowned a bit, "Uh... about what Quigley said when he met you..."
She put a finger to his lips, "I'm a faithful woman. Besides your brother is too narcissistic for my tastes. I chose you didn't I, and you're the one I'm staying with. I believe I said together to the end, right?"
He blushed, smiling at her once more, though it was hard to see in the moonlight, "You did say that. I'm sorry I just got a little worried that's all. It'd tear me apart if I lost you so soon after finding you. And I don't mean us being together, I mean after just meeting you. Violet, you're the best thing that's happened to me since I lost my parents. And I've never felt this strongly about anyone before."
"And you're the best thing that's happened to me since I lost my parents. I feel the same way. We've been through a lot since we met, haven't we?"
"Yeah we climbed a mountain today; I never thought I'd do that in my life. I especially never thought I'd do it with a girl as wonderful as you leading the way," He pulled her closer, his eyes never leaving hers; "I love you, Violet."
She kissed him once more before responding, "I love you too, Duncan. You should go to sleep, I have to keep watch."
He smiled, and kissed her forehead before moving to lie down beside her, "Good night, love, wake me up when it's my turn ok?"
"I will, honey," She smiled warmly at him, "Good night."
~End of Chapter