The Grim Grotto

As the four volunteers suited up – a phrase which here means 'prepared their helmets for an underwater journey' – the Baudelaire children felt as if Fiona fit them like a glove – as a friend, or possibly something more. It felt as if Fiona and the Baudelaires were part of the same team, or the same organization, trying to solve the same mysteries and defeat the sane villains. It felt that way to the two younger Baudelaires, anyway. Only Violet felt as if their friendship were more volatile, as if Fiona fit her like the wrong glove, or as if their friendship had a tiny flaw – a flaw that might turn into a schism.

As Violet put the diving helmet over her head, and made sure that the zipper of the uniform was zipped tight over the portrait of Herman Melville, she heard the slight rustle of the newspaper clipping in her pocket and frowned. She kept frowning as the last of the mushrooms disappeared into the sand, and the four children stepped carefully back into the icy dark water. Because they were traveling against the tide, the volunteers had decided to hold hands, so they would not lose track of one another as they returned to the Queequeg, and as their dark journey began, Violet thought of the dangerous and risky secret concealed in her pocket and realized, as Klaus led the way back to the submarine, with Fiona holding Klaus's hand, and Violet holding Fiona's, and Sunny, curled in her helmet, tucked tightly under Violet's arm, that even while swimming in the icy depths of the ocean, the Baudelaires were playing with fire.

The sinister information in the newspaper clipping was like a tiny spore, blossoming in the small, enclosed space of Violet's pocket – like a spore of the deadly Medusoid Mycelium, which at that very moment was blossoming in the small, enclosed space of a diving helmet worn by one of the Baudelaire orphans.

Chapter Eight

The water cycle consists of three phenomena: evaporation, precipitation, and collection, three phenomena known collectively as the three phenomena of what is referred to as 'the water cycle.' The second of these phenomena – precipitation – is the process by which vapor turns into water and falls as rain, something you might notice during a rainfall or by going outdoors on a rainy morning, afternoon, evening, or night. This falling water you notice is known as 'rain,' which is the result of the phenomenon of precipitation, one of the three phenomena that comprise the water cycle. Of these three phenomena, precipitation is regarded as the second one, particularly if a list of the three phenomena places precipitation in the middle, or second, spot on the list. 'Precipitation' is quite simply a term for the transformation of vapor into water, which then falls as rain – something you might encounter if you were to step outside during a rainstorm. Rain consists of water, which was formerly vapor but underwent the process known as 'precipitation,' one of the three phenomena in the water cycle, and by now this tedious description must have put you back to sleep, so you may avoid the gruesome details of my account of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire as they made their way through the Gorgonian Grotto back to the Queequeg.

The Baudelaire orphans knew that something was wrong the moment they arrived at the submarine, knocked on the metal hatch, and heard no answer from the captain inside. It had been a dark and cold journey back through the cave, made all the more difficult by the fact that they were swimming against the tide, rather than letting the current carry them along.

Klaus, who was leading the way, swept one arm in front of him from side to side, fearful that he would miss the Queequeg altogether, or brush his hand against something sinister lurking in the cavern. Fiona trembled throughout the entire journey, and Violet could feel her nervous fingers twitching as she held her hand. And Sunny tried not to panic inside her diving helmet, as her siblings' swim made her bounce up and down in the blackness. The youngest Baudelaire could not see a single light through the small round window in her helmet, but as with all of the Baudelaires, she concentrated on arriving safely, and the thought of returning to the Queequeg felt like a small light glowing in the gloom of the grotto.

Soon, the Baudelaires thought, they would hear the booming 'Aye!' of Captain Widdershins as he welcomed them back from their mission. Perhaps Phil would have cooked them a nice hot meal, even without the culinary assistance of Sunny. And perhaps the telegram device would have received another Volunteer Factual Dispatch, one that might help them find the sugar bowl so their entire journey would not have been a fool's errand.

But when Klaus led them to the hatch, they found no sign that anyone aboard the Queequeg was welcoming them. After knocking for several minutes, the worried children had to open the hatch by themselves, a difficult task in the dark, and enter the passageway, quickly closing the hatch behind them. They grew more worried as they discovered that nobody had activated the hatch, so quite a bit of water flowed into the passageway and poured down to the room in which the Baudelaires had first met Captain Widdershins. They could hear the water splashing on the submarine floor as they began their climb down, and strained to hear the captain shouting 'Aye! What a mess!' or 'Aye! The valve is broken!' or even something optimistic from Phil, like 'Look on the bright side – it's like having a wading pool!'

'Captain Widdershins?' Violet called, her voice muffled through her helmet.

'Stepfather?' Fiona called, her voice muffled through hers.

'Phil?' Klaus called.

'Crew?' Sunny called.

Nobody answered these calls, and nobody commented on the water from the passageway, and when the volunteers reached the end of the passageway and lowered themselves into the small, dim room, they found nobody there to meet them.

'Stepfather?' Fiona called again, but they heard only the movement of the water as it settled into a large puddle on the floor. Without bothering to take off their helmets, the four children splashed through the water and hurried down the hallway, past the plaque with the captain's personal philosophy engraved on it, until they reached the Main Hall.

The room was just as enormous as ever, of course, with all of the bewildering pipes, panels, and warning signs, although it seemed as if the place had been tidied up a bit, and there was now a tiny hit of decoration near the wooden table where the Baudelaires had eaten Sonny's chowder and planned their journey through the Gorgonian Grotto. Tied to three chairs were small blue balloons that hovered in the air, and each balloon had a letter printed on its surface in thick, black ink. The first balloon read 'V,' the second read 'F,' and only someone as dim as an underwater cave would be surprised to hear that the third read 'D.'

'V.F.D.,' Violet said. 'Do you think it's a code?'

'I'm not interested in codes at the moment,' Fiona said, her voice tense and echoey inside her helmet. 'I want to find my crewmates. Look around, everyone.'

The Baudelaires looked around the room, but it seemed as empty and lonely as the grotto. Without the enormous presence of Captain Widdershins – 'enormous presence' is a phrase which here means 'large physical size, combined with a vibrant personality and loud voice' – the Main Hall seemed utterly deserted.

'Maybe they're in the kitchen,' Klaus said, although it sounded like he didn't believe it himself, 'or napping in the barracks.'

'They wouldn't have napped,' Violet said. 'They said they'd be watching us the entire time.'

Fiona took a step toward the door to the kitchen, but then stopped and looked at the wooden table. 'Their helmets are gone,' she said. 'Both Phil and my stepfather were keeping their diving helmets on the table, in case of an emergency.' She ran her hand along the table, as if she could make the helmets reappear. 'They're gone,' she said. 'They've left the Queequeg.'

'I can't believe that,' Klaus said, shaking his head. 'They knew we were traveling through the grotto. They wouldn't abandon their fellow volunteers.'

'Maybe they thought we weren't coming back,' Fiona said.

'No,' Violet said, pointing to a panel on the wall. 'They could see us. We were tiny green dots on the sonar detector.'

The children looked at the sonar panel, hoping to see dots that might represent their missing crewmates.

'They must have had a very good reason to leave,' Fiona said.

'What reason could there be?' Klaus said. 'No matter what occurred, they would have waited for us.'