Free A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket Page B

would get them out of their quandary. "How will that help?" Violet asked doubtfully. "I don't know," Hector admitted. "But they're almost ready, and my recipe is a delicious one, if I do say so myself. Come on, let's eat. Maybe a good dinner will help you think of something." The children sighed, but nodded their heads in agreement and got up to set the table, and curiously enough, a good dinner did in fact help the Baudelaires think of something. As Violet took her first bite of beans, she felt the gears and levers of her inventing brain spring into action. As Klaus dipped his tortilla into the spicy tomato sauce, he began to think of books he had read that might be helpful. And as Sunny smeared egg yolks all over her face, she clicked her four sharp teeth together and tried to think of a way that they might be useful. By the time the Baudelaires were finishing the meal Hector had prepared for them, their ideas had grown and developed into full-fledged plans, just as Nevermore Tree had grown a long time ago from a tiny seed and Fowl Fountain had been built recently from someone's hideous blueprint. It was Sunny who spoke up first. "Plan!" she said. "What is it, Sunny?" Klaus asked. With a tiny finger covered in tomato sauce, Sunny pointed out the window at Nevermore Tree, which was covered in the V.F.D. crows as it was every evening. "Merganser!" she said firmly. "My sister says that tomorrow morning there will probably be another poem from Isadora in the same spot," Klaus explained to Hector. "She wants to spend the night underneath the tree. She's so small that whoever is delivering the poems probably won't spot her, and she'll be able to find out how the couplets are getting to us." "And that should bring us closer to finding the Quagmires," Violet said. "That's a good plan, Sunny." "My goodness, Sunny," Hector said. "Won't you be frightened spending all night underneath a whole murder of crows?" "Therill," Sunny said, which meant "It won't be any more frightening than the time I climbed up an elevator shaft with my teeth." "I think I have a good plan, too," Klaus said. "Hector, yesterday you told us about the secret library you have in the barn." "Ssh!" Hector said, looking around the kitchen. "Not so loud! You know it's against the rules to have all those books, and I don't want to be burned at the stake." "I don't want anyone to be burned at the stake," Klaus said. "Now, does the secret library contain books about the rules of V.F.D.?" "Absolutely," Hector said. "Lots of them. Because the rule books describe people breaking the rules, they break Rule #108, which clearly states that the V.F.D. library cannot contain any books that break any of the rules." "Well, I'm going to read as many rule books as I can," Klaus said. "There must be a way to save Jacques from being burned at the stake, and I bet I'll find it in the pages of those books." "My word, Klaus," Hector said. "Won't you be bored reading all those rule books?" "It won't be any more boring than the time I had to read all about grammar, in order to save Aunt Josephine," he replied. "Sunny is working to save the Quagmires," Violet said, "and Klaus is working to save Jacques. I've got to work to save us. " "What do you mean?" Klaus asked. "Well, I think Count Olaf must be behind all this trouble," Violet said. "Grebe!" Sunny said, which meant "As usual!" "If the town of V.F.D. burns Jacques at the stake," Violet continued, "then everyone will think Count Olaf is dead. I bet The Daily Punctilio will even have a story that says so. It will be very good news for Olaf, the real one, that is. If everyone thinks he's dead, Olaf can be as treacherous as he likes, and the authorities won't come looking for him." "That's true," Klaus said. "Count Olaf must have found Jacques, whoever he is, and brought him into town. He knew that Officer Luciana would think he was Olaf. But what does that have to do with saving us?" "Well, if we rescue the Quagmires and prove that Jacques