Chapter Four
'Give me that towel, Violet, please.' Lars asked, pointing to a towel partially immersed in a bowl contaning hot water. Violet grabbed the towel and gave it to him. It was unbelievable, but Lars was feeling much better. The doctor at the Volcanic Furnace Department gave him a transfusion, as he had lost so much blood, and he again had colors on his scarred face. Even though he felt much better physically, with the stab wound carefully sealed with stitches and properly sterilized, Lars had a sad expression on his face. Now that he was conscious and not at death's door - an expression here meaning 'on the verge of dying' - Lars had to cope with not only where they were - a dangerous volcano on the verge of a powerful eruption - but with who had given him that wound. It was bound to become another scar.
'All I ever got were scars. I lost everything.' Lars suddenly said, as he put the towel on his forehead. He still had a fever, and the water the towel was soaked in was from the Sizzling Springs, and many said they had medicinal properties due to the volcanic minerals they were spiked with. Violet shruddered upon hearing Lars talk. She had managed to not think about the gruesome events at the Casanova Casino rooftop for quite a while, but now they rushed back into her mind.
'Lars...When...
He...' Violet began to ask, hesitating at pronouncing the name
Felix. She knew it could hurt Lars to hear that name the same way hearing Quigley's hurt her. 'When
her said he came back from the Great Unknown...Was he speaking the truth?' Lars looked at Violet, immediately reading her mind. 'If you're asking if one can return from there...It's more than possible.' Lars said, repositioning himself on the hospital bed to make himself more comfortable.
'Really? So...do you think...' Violet hesitated again. She did not want to enunciate her question, as if doing so would give fate another tip at ruining her life again. Lars picked up on it rather quickly for an injured, tired man. 'Yes. If
Felix has returned from the Unknown, others might make it out alive too. How exactly is what puzzles me.'
'See, Violet...There are more things in this world than we can imagine. I don't know what exactly is the Great Unknown, and how Felix returned from it, but I suspect there's
much more to it than I will ever know.' Lars said, looking up at the ceiling. The round windows still displayed the constant ashfall, and the sky was just as dark as it was before.
'I'll leave you, Lars. You need rest. I'll be back in a few hours. We have to go to the Verdant Forest Dome, by cable car.' Violet said, standing up and closing the blinds, to let Lars have some sleep. 'Thank you, Violet.' Lars said, closing his eyes. Violet walked out of the infirmary, closing the doors behind her. The inside of the Volcanic Furnace Department looked as if was located underground, with copper-colored pipes running on the ceiling in all directions, and pressure readers and steam outlets in every corner. As an inventor, Violet was curious about the machinery in the station, but she was just not in the mood.
'Oh, Violet, there you are. Jane is calling us.' Klaus said, after he appeared from an adjacent corridor, while several volunteers in the characteristic department uniforms passed them by. 'What is it?' Violet asked.
Klaus didn't answer, instead grabbing Violet's hand and heading back the same way which he had come from, and after a few twists and turns, they arrived at a large room with a circular table, at which sat not only Sunny and Beatrice Baudelaire, but also a bunch of volunteers, including the woman named Katia and Jane Boreas. Jane looked positively worried.
'Baudelaires! We need to commence the preparations for your transference to the Verdant Forest Dome. The readings are worrying me, and I also need to discuss something with you.' Jane said, hand signaling the Baudelaires to sit down, which they did.
'A strange object showed up on our radar, and it's been trying to find a way to penetrate our sea mine shield in the western part of the island, close to Indigo Lagoon. That very much worries me, because Indigo Lagoon is connected to the Verdant Forest Dome's Aqua Lagoon, and the passage is fairly large enough that a small submarine, or intruders in diving suits might invade it. The mines are big and scattered in a chess-like display, any attempt to go
under them will only set off the mines which are hidden beneath the surface, and doing so would trigger all nearby mines, causing a big explosion. Given this island's geological instability, a big explosion is never good. Do you four follow?' Jane asked. Violet and Klaus nodded positively while Sunny quickly summed up what Jane had said to Beatrice, who was still a tad too young to understand.
'I've already contacted my sisters about it, and they will be expecting you. You must take the sugar bowl with you, as it is not safe for it to be here.' Jane said. Violet felt startled, as she had forgotten to mention the sugarbowl, but a quick look from Klaus was enough for her to know he had told Jane. 'If the people inside the
submarine near our island
do invade, they'll be in for quite a jam. Mt. Gulug is at the brink of a powerful explosion. After you have left for the Verdant Forest Dome by cable car, we will evacuate this station and leave by ground, before it is too late.'
'Is the station in jeopardy too?' Klaus asked. The rock shield-like formation protecting the station from a constant lava flow and potential pyroclastic flows - a geological term for 'deadly descending or ascending clouds coumpound of rock and gas that are expelled by volcanoes' - but if the volunteers were
leaving the station, then the Baudelaires did not want to argue at all.
'What about Lars? He's gone through a rough patch to put it lightly. We can't keep moving him around like this. He could take a turn for the worse and die!' Violet argued. She was truly concerned for Lars, because she so much related to him, specially now, after the events at Casanova Casino.
'Lars is going with you. Trust me. The water from the Sizzling Springs has curious medicinal properties. He'll be back in one piece in no time. Now I suggest you grab a few jungle survival kits, and
please, take at least four cans of our special insect repellent. Where you're going...They are
vile.' Jane said, offering the Baudelaires four cans that looked like mace sprays, except they had the VFD insignia on them.
'Insects?' Klaus asked, a lump forming in his throat. The Baudelaires were unfortunate enough in the past to have suffered the attack of the particularly
vile insects known as snow gnats, disgusting little creatures who take pleasure in stinging humans for absolute no reason.
'You don't have to worry about them if you use the repellent. But, I have to warn you...One sting from any insects in the northern jungle and you'll be in hot water. They're
all poisonous.' Jane alerted them. She removed one of her gloves to show an ugly scar on the back of her hand - which had perfectly manicured nails in contrast - 'See? And I got
lucky.'
Jane was kind enough to take the Baudelaires to a room filled with brand new Volcanic Furnace Department uniforms, and Violet was particularly pleased by getting her own red goggles, while Klaus very much enjoyed the gloves and boots, as his shoes were quite worn out and muddy from the jungle's soil. There wasn't much available for Beatrice and Sunny because both were little girls and little girls were hard to come by at the station, so Beatrice asked for some scissors and quickly - with Jane Boreas' permission - made a jacket for her and another for Sunny, impressing Jane Boreas, who said 'When you grow up I'll want some clothes from you, Beatrice!'
When they finally went outside after grabbing new back packs with jungle survival kits, the ash had acumulated quite a bit, in fact, their feet sunk deep into it witch each step, and they had a bit difficulty heading for the second cable car station behind the enormous antenna of the Volcanic Furnace Department. The sky was very dark, and it was still day, but far away, towards the Verdant Forest Dome, the sky was less gloomy, and the dome still shimmered, hit by sunlight that managed to pierce the thick clouds. Jane Boreas opened the cable car station, just as Lars Gabriel walked out of the station, coming towards the Baudelaires. He was limping, and had his left hand against his stomach. But he was surprisingly well for a man who had almost died recently. The Baudelaires took great joy in seeing him bounce back, and fully believed the medical properties and applications of the water from the Sizzling Springs.
'Are you ok, Lars?' Violet said, while putting on her red goggles. 'Yeah. That water helped a lot. Now let's go. We have a cable car to ride.' After Lars entered the cable car station, the two white powder faced women - who did not have white powder on their faces anymore - came out, both in the red, brown and black uniforms of other Volcanic Furnace Department volunteers.
'We've come to say goodbye to you, Baudelaires.' Agatha said. 'Agatha, it's not actually a goodbye, it's a see you later. We'll be joining the other volunteers by ground.' Christie said. 'We're very thankful that you could find it in your hearts to let us come along, even after we helped Count Olaf do all those horrible things.'
'We hope to see you again soon!' Agatha said while she and Christie walked away, back into the Volcanic Furnace Department.
'Now, Baudelaires. We don't have much time.' Jane said, and the Baudelaires followed her and Lars into the cable car station, and then went into the cable car. The ashfall was heavier than before, and even the air seemed different...restless. Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice could not be more thrilled to be leaving Mt. Gulug, but if they knew what was expecting them inside the Verdant Forest Dome, they would have jumped out of the cable car and went right back into the Volcanic Furnace Department.
'Off you go now!' Jane said, pushing a few levers, unlocking the mechanism of the cables. the cable car began to shake, and soon, it was leaving the station, and the Baudelaires waved to Jane, who shouted at them. 'Meet you at the dome! Say hello to my sisters for me! See ya!' But Jane was quickly concealed by a thick layer of mist that formed, made up from the rising steam of the Sizzling Springs and the Fiery Fissures below them. As they were headed for the shimmering, distant, remarkable dome across the jungle, little did the Baudelaires know just about
who they were bound to meet, sooner than later.