Never Tear Us Apart ~ Quigley Quagmire

Chapter Fourteen

Y/n's P.O.V.

I fell asleep next to Quigley as I waited for the fire to die down, it was uncomfortable having to wear the mask while I slept. It was tempting to take it off, but I didn't want to reveal my identity to the two travelers quite yet. As I started to fall asleep I felt Quigley gently rub my back helping fall into a peaceful slumber. I couldn't help but feel a small tug in my stomach. It didn't feel like I was going to be sick, but it was something else, something I had never felt before with anyone.

I loved him, more than life itself, but I had no idea how I was going to tell him my feelings during a time like this. Hopefully, when we found Duncan and Isadora, I would be able to tell him and hope for the best. After a while, I felt someone gently shake me awake, I looked up and I saw Quigley, he whispered "Shh," and he helped me stand up and we walked over to where the travelers were sleeping.

I lightly tapped the boy's shoulder while Quigley gently woke up the girl. When the two of them woke up, we whispered "shh," to them, and we walked over to a flame diversion inside of the cave. "We had to wait until the fire died down so we could show you," I whispered. "The Vertical Flame Diversion?" 

"It's not just a chimney, it's a secret passageway," Quigley softly explained. One of them asked how we knew about it. "We've read about it in a book called The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations," I answered. "We know about that book, but how do-" Before the girl finished her sentence, we heard a voice say something, we all turned around worried that we got caught, but to our surprise, it was just Carmelita talking in her sleep.

"We don't know who you two are, how do we know we can trust you?" The girl asked. "Xenial is an adjective that begins with X, it means welcoming to strangers. We know that having a good vocabulary doesn't guarantee that we're good people," Quigley answered. "But, it does mean that we've read a lot, and in our experience, well-read people are less likely to be evil," I added.

Carmelita mumbled out something again, and we all stayed silent for a moment until we were positive that she was still asleep. "You can take off your masks, they're asleep," the boy said. "But, there are enemies everywhere," I answered as I slightly shook my head. The four of us carefully climbed up the Vertical Flame Diversion, I went up first with Quigley and the two travelers behind me.

As I climbed up the chimney, my hand reached a small ledge, and I felt something foreign touch my hand. I pulled my hand out of the hold, and I saw there was a giant spider on my hand, I exclaimed in disgust and shook it off. "Spider!" I said a little louder. We didn't move an inch as the spider fell down to where the snow scouts were sleeping.

We saw that Carmelita woke up, but she quickly fell back asleep and continued talking in her sleep. As we continued climbing up the chimney, I saw there was a light at the top. "We're close," I whispered. When we reached the end of the chimney, we walked to a large door that looked almost similar to the vault you would find in a bank.

"This looks like the tunnel we found under our house," The girl said. "V.F.D. built these passageways everywhere, and underground organization needs a way to travel underground," I explained as we approached the large door. "According to The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations, the headquarters is behind that door," Quigley said. "How does the door open?" the boy asked.

"It's called a Vernacularly Fastened Door, it opens with language, the keyboard is wired to the hinges, you have to type a phrase. There are three phrases and if you get them wrong, it locks forever," I explained. We approached the small typewriter looking device and I watched as Quigley pulled out a small journal full of all the information we had gathered from reading the book.

"The first phrase is the name of the scientist most widely credited with the discovery of gravity," Quigley said. The girl said that it was Isaac Newton, and we watched as the door unlock slightly. Quigley handed me the journal so I could read the next question. "The Latin name of the lions found in the Hinterlands," I read out loud. "That's easy Panthero Leo," the boy said as he typed in the phrase. "V.F.D. used to train them before the schism,"

The door slightly unlocked once again, and we were so close to being able to get into the headquarters. "The third phrase is the central theme of the novel Anna Karenina, but we've never read it," Quigley sighed. "There are people that we are looking for, people that we've lost," The two travelers looked over at us, and told us that they were looking for people they had lost too. "We can find them, but only if you can tell us the central theme of Anna Karenina," I said.

They went on to explain that the central theme was that a rural life of moral simplicity is the preferable personal narrative to a daring life of impulsive passion, which only leads to tragedy. When they typed it in, the lock moved slightly but came to a stop with a loud squeak, but the door didn't open. "Why isn't it opening?" the girl asked. "It sounded like it was working until the last word," I suggested.

"Maybe the mechanism is stuck, or maybe a  daring life of impulsive passion leads to something else," Quigley added. After a minute, the lock fully unlocked and we all looked at each other with excitement on our faces. "We could walk in on the entire organization having a meeting," the boy with glasses smiled. We opened the door, hoping to find what we were looking for, but instead, we saw everything had gone up in smoke, I was so disappointed, I was hoping that we would finally be reunited with Duncan and Isadora.

"No!" I whispered as I looked around at the smoking headquarters. "One of our parents has to be here! Jacques Snicket said there was a survivor of the fire," Quigley and I looked at each other and knew that it was time to tell them. "There is, right here. We survived the fires that destroyed our homes," Quigley said. Quigley and I took off our masks revealing our identities.

"Duncan?" The girl asked. "No, Quigley, Quigley Quagmire and this my friend Y/n L/n,"