Very Frightful Days-- An Unfortunate Events Short Story

Chapter 7

Klaus nearly screamed, but a cloth gagged his mouth. The middle child was pulled away by a mysterious figure, while Sunny let out a shriek in fear. 

Violet turned around, only to find that her brother and sister weren't behind her. She grabbed her bag and ran through the tunnels.

"Klaus! Sunny!" She cried out, her voice echoing through the shafts. The 14-year-old soon heard Sunny's cries again and ran to the noise. She soon found her little brother and sister, tied up and gagged underneath a small light.

"Hello, Hello, Hello." A voice echoed, making the orphans freeze in fear.

She and the other children looked to see a shadow appear from the tunnel behind the girl. More shadows appeared, from the holes around them. When they walked into the light, it revealed to be Count Olaf, The Hook-Handed-Man, The Bald Man, The Henchperson of Intermediate Gender, and The Two Pale Faced Women.

"I am Count Olaf," He greeted in a chilling voice.

"I know who you are," Violet said to him, trying to sound brave.

He looked confused as did his henchmen. "How?"

She froze, realizing her mistake. The girl clenched onto her bag but The Hook-Handed Man took grabbed it from her while The Bald Man held onto her. Count Olaf's associate handed the bag to him. He opened it and pulled out the time machine. He examined it. He looked back into the bag, handing the mechanical device to the Henchperson of Intermediate Gender. Count Olaf pulled out the folded blueprints, making Violet gasp. The man unfolded it, seeing the sketch of the device and his eye widened when he read the name of it.

"A time machine?" He questioned with an evil grin. He looked at Violet, who frowned "How does it work?"

"Why do you need to know?" Violet asked with caution.

"That none of your concern, you orphan." He laughed while his troupe laughed with him.
Violet glanced at her siblings. She noticed Sunny biting through the rope with her four sharp teeth. The evil man nor his associates noticed the baby break free and bite through her brother bounds. 

Count Olaf stopped laughing and looked back at the designs of the instrument and his troupe surrounded him, looking at the sketches with interest. The oldest Baudelaire child saw him set in the time to who knows where and connect all the switches to each other, one of the designs she made when somebody was operating the machine alone. She closed her eyes, waiting for the world to change again.

Nothing happened. Rather of hearing the switches and the sound of rushing wind, she overheard a scream. She opened her eyes to see The Bald Man bend down, where Sunny was biting. He soon let go of the eldest Baudelaire from his strong grip. Klaus helped her up to her feet and grabbed Sunny. They ran through one of the open tunnels, but Violet ran back to Count Olaf. 

She grabbed the time machine from his hands, which he surprisingly let go of. He didn't realize that the device was out of his grasp until the two sets of orphans ran through the tunnels.

The children could hear Count Olaf command his troupe to get them, their feet splashing in the water. The orphans went left, then right, and right again somehow walking to a dead end.

"What do we do?" Klaus whispered. The tunnels no longer echoed the footsteps. It was quiet. Too quiet. 

"That's the wrong question?" Violet answered. "The right question is what will happen now in the future?" 

"Pato?" Sunny whispered, which translated to, "Can someone please clarify what is happening right now?"

"Long story," Klaus explained to Sunny. "Six years in the future, Violet made a time machine. We were supposed to go find the Quagmire triplets, Duncan, Quigley, and Isadora. We first met Isadora and Duncan at a boarding school and Quigley on the side of the Mortmain Mountain. We thought we were going to go find Isadora and Duncan when they will go on the hot-air-mobile-home in the Village of Fowl Devotees later this year. Then later find Quigley in the mountains. The small predicament is that Violet and I went too far back and now the entire future has changed." 

"Woah," Sunny said, which probably meant "Wow! That is a long story,"

"It's actually a lot longer," Klaus continued. "But now we have to go."

"Ga?" Sunny asked which interpreted to "Go where?"

"Not where" Violet realized. "When. We're taking you with us," 

"Then what?" Klaus said. "We don't know what will happen in the future." 

"Neither will we, but at least we'll be together," 

Klaus prepared Violet's invention on the wet ground. The two placed their hands on two of the switches, while the middle child held onto Sunny. They took in a deep breath and pulled the switches, a bright light blinding them again.