⇗ Chapter 16

Sabine and Quigley raced down the dock, looking behind them every few seconds, paranoid that someone was following them. The hair on the back of Sabine's neck prickled, and she felt like someone was watching her. Someone was watching her, but the person wasn't watching her with a sinister intent.

"Volunteers," someone called.

Quigley stopped in his tracks, and Sabine stumbled into him. He caught her arm just as she started to fall, pulling her back to his side.

"Over here, volunteers," the voice called again.

Sabine searched the mostly empty dock and found the owner of the voice. It was a girl, not much older than Sabine herself, with odd triangle shaped glasses. Sabine did not recognize the girl, but the girl waved her and Quigley over. Quigley and Sabine shared a glance before heading to her.

"Aye, come aboard," the girl said with a smile. She was standing next to a metal hatch on a submarine that floated under the water by the dock. She twisted the wheel on the hatch, then flipped it open. The hatch revealed a metal ladder that led down to a dark room. It looked empty but for a few diving suits, and for some reason the sight made Sabine shiver.

"After you," the girl said, gesturing down the hatch.

Quigley pushed Sabine forward a few inches, his hand gently pressing on her back. She reluctantly stepped towards the hatch, then climbed down the ladder. The metal was cold and her hands felt like they were frozen by the time she hopped down into the small room.

"Sabine!" another voice called.

Sabine's head snapped quickly towards the small door that connected the small room to the rest of the submarine, and she smiled brightly.

"Kit!" she exclaimed, rushing over to the woman and giving her a hug.

Kit laughed and patted Sabine's head. "Nice to see you, too," Kit said as Quigley and the girl with triangle glasses climbed down the ladder.

"Hi, Kit," Quigley said with a wave once he spotted her.

Kit waved back and Sabine released her from the hug, wiping happy tears from her eyes.

"Welcome aboard the Queequeg," the girl with triangle glasses said as she closed the hatch above her and jumped off the ladder. Her boots hit the metal ground with a loud clang! "My name is Fiona Widdershins, and I'm the co-captain of this submarine."

"Who's the captain?" Quigley asked.

"My stepfather," Fiona replied with a proud grin. "Now, let's get going. 'He who hesitates is lost.'" Fiona bounced out of the small room and into the rest of the submarine.

"'He who hesitates is lost' is the motto on this submarine," Kit explained as they followed Fiona.

Sabine and Quigley nodded silently to show they understood.

"Stepfather! Fernald!" Fiona called as she entered the main room of the sub. An old man with a long gray beard entered the room, followed by a man with hooks for hands.

Sabine froze when she saw the hook handed man. He's one of Count Olaf's associates, she thought as she stared at him, her eyes wide with fear. The hook handed man caught Sabine's gaze and smiled apologetically.

"Nice to see you again," he said quietly.

"W-what?" Sabine stuttered.

"H-how?" Quigley asked.

"Fernald? He's my stepbrother," Fiona explained.

"B-but..." Sabine muttered. "S-sorry, he just used to work with Count Olaf and..."

"I'm aware of Fernald's history with that villain," Fiona said with a sigh. "But he doesn't work for Olaf anymore. He's back with his family now."

Sabine and Quigley nodded, but still kept their distance from the man as Fiona gave them a tour of the submarine.

~༄~

Sabine and Quigley stayed in the Queequeg for days, following the Hot Air Mobile Home as best as they could. Quigley was anxious to see his siblings again, and Sabine tried her best to calm his nerves, though nothing seemed to help.

The crew of the sub was sitting in the captain's office, waiting for a telegram to come and update them on the progress of rebuilding Hotel Denouement, (it had burned down in a terrible fire), when the alarms started blaring. The whole submarine was filled with the screeching noise and frightening red lights of the alarm system. Something suddenly rattled the submarine violently, making everyone fall to the ground. The telegram machine fell off the table and landed on Kit's legs. She gave a yelp of pain and tried to push the thing off of her.

Sabine gasped as the bookcase in the room started to tilt towards them. Another hit rocked the sub, making books fly off the shelf. A few hit Sabine in the head, and she tried to protect herself with her arms. The bookcase tilted farther towards them, and Quigley managed to shakily stand up. Kit cried out in pain again, trying to stand up too. With one hand, Quigley helped Kit up, and grabbed onto Sabine with the other.

"Everyone, watch out!" he shouted as the bookcase toppled to the ground. The Widdershins had just barely crawled out of the way of the shelf, narrowly avoiding getting crushed.

"What's going on?" Fiona shouted over the chaos.

"Something hit the Queequeg!" Captain Widdershins called. He scrambled over the fallen bookshelf and out to the main room of the submarine.

Everyone scurried behind him, Quigley and Sabine helping Kit limp along.

"What's hit us?" Fiona asked the captain as he leaned over the scanner near the steering mechanisms.

"There's two things," the captain said, "and one of them is The Great Unknown. Quickly! Turn everything off!"

Sabine and Quigley helped Kit sit down in a chair, then scurried to turn off all the lights and engines. They had encountered The Great Unknown before, but the attacks had never been this bad. Once everything had been turned off, they all huddled together in a dark corner.

"What was the other thing, stepfather?" Fiona whispered in a frightened tone.

"I'm not sure, but it fell out of the sky," Captain Widdershins replied.

Quigley gasped and reached out to grip Sabine's hand. "The mobile home..." he said quietly.

Sabine's eyes widened. "Oh, no. Could it have broken down?" she asked.

"It has received some heavy damage..." Kit said glumly.

"My siblings!" Quigley exclaimed, standing up just as the submarine lurched around again. He fell to the ground and one of the sides of the sub ripped open, flooding the insides with cold sea water.

Everyone screamed and held their breath as they were pulled under the water. In one loud whoosh! they were pushed out of the submarine by the water pressure.

Sabine had flashbacks to nearly drowning in Stricken Stream and suddenly all she could think of was getting to the surface. She swam up as quick as she could, and gasped for air as soon as her head was out of the water. She coughed up some of the salty water, then realized that no one else had surfaced with her.

Panicking but not wanting to leave her friends alone, she took in another deep breath and swam back under water. She couldn't see much, and the salt stung her eyes, but she kept swimming down until she found someone. She grabbed their wrist and pulled them up with her, and it wasn't until she and the person she grabbed were gasping for air again did she realize that she had saved Fiona.

"We've gotta go back for everyone," Fiona said in between shaky breaths.

Sabine nodded her agreement, and the girls inhaled deeply again before going back into the cold sea. Sabine grabbed two people's wrists and Fiona grabbed two others, and together they swam back up to the surface.

Everyone took in air as best as they could, trying to stay above the violent waves. Fiona had grabbed her stepfamily, and Sabine had grabbed Quigley and Kit. Suddenly, they heard frantic shouting coming from not too far away.

"Isadora!" one voice yelled.

"Duncan!" another replied.

"My siblings!" Quigley said. He began to swim towards them, calling each of their names.

Sabine followed, eager to see her friends again and try to help them out of the water.

"Duncan! Isadora!" Sabine yelled.

"Sabine?" Isadora called in confusion.

Sabine and Quigley swam closer to the other Quagmire triplets, and they could soon see each other's heads floating barely above the water.

"Yes! It's me!" Sabine said, swimming towards Isadora and grabbing her hands. "It's us, Izzie. We're here."

"Are the Baudelaires with you?" Duncan asked.

"No, but there's someone better," Sabine grinned.

Quigley swam up next to them and smiled excitedly. Duncan and Isadora gasped, then swam as fast as they could to their brother and hugged him tightly. But their happy reunion was cut short when a wave crashed over them, dragging them under water.

"Quagmires!" Sabine screeched, trying to help them back up.

They surfaced easily, still clinging to each other.

"Are you all okay?" Quigley asked.

"Other than falling out of the sky and then nearly drowning?" Isadora asked. "Yeah, we're fine."

Quigley chuckled and ruffled Isadora's hair. "I see you haven't lost your touch of sarcasm."

"It's my second language," she shrugged with a grin. Her grin faded as she looked into the distance, then screamed and started to swim the other way.

Sabine looked where Isadora had looked and screamed too. There, ginormous and horrifying, was The Great Unknown, and it was heading right towards them. Everyone followed Isadora as they tried to swim away from the beast, but it was no use.

"We can't out-swim it!" Duncan cried in terror. "I don't want to get eaten, but we can't out-swim it."

"I hate to say it," Isadora said as she stopped swimming, "but Duncan is right."

"Quagmires! Sabine!" someone yelled. The four children turned and saw Kit Snicket sitting atop a large raft made of books. "Come aboard!"

Sabine took a deep breath, then shook her head. "No," she said.

"What?" Kit asked.

"No," Quigley repeated. "We'll take our chances with this thing."

"Why?" Kit said.

"I'm tired of running," Isadora said.

"Me too," Duncan agreed.

"But that thing will eat you!" Kit exclaimed.

Sabine sighed, but it sounded more like a sob. "We know," she admitted.

Quigley's hand found hers under the water, and she felt a little calmer, despite the circumstances.

"But..." Kit said, but was interrupted when the children were swept under the water by a giant wave.

Quigley got pushed away from Sabine, and she instantly panicked. They hadn't had time to hold their breaths, so when they surfaced again, they came up coughing and sputtering.

"Help!" Isadora shouted, then broke down in tears. "Klaus!"

"Violet!" Duncan sobbed.

"Quigley!" Sabine yelled, searching around her frantically. "Quigley!"

"Sabine!" came his voice, but he sounded very far away. "Sabine, I'm here!"

Her eyes finally found him, floating a good distance away from her. She called his name and they swam towards each other. She was crying, terrified and cold, and missing her family. Missing her home.

"Sabine!" Quigley said as they met up with each other. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "It's okay, Sabine. I've got you."

She sobbed harder and hugged him tightly, trying her best to stay afloat. She collapsed in his embrace, but his grip didn't falter. He kept her close and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. She felt the strange sense of tranquility again and then realized that she was home. Her home was with Quigley, safe in his arms. He had always been her home, the one thing she could depend on.

"I've got you," he said again, and her sobbing quieted.

She held onto him, her face buried in his shoulder, and smiled. Her heart flooded with warmth, and for a moment all she felt was him. The moment shattered when they were dragged under water again. They surfaced quickly, still holding each other, and Sabine thought that maybe everything would be okay.

"It's okay, Sabine," Quigley whispered after he caught his breath again. "We'll be fine."

"Okay," she croaked.

She tried glancing behind her to see The Great Unknown, but Quigley cupped her chin and pulled her into a kiss before she could look. He kissed her frantically and deeply, like he was afraid he'd never see her again. She kissed him back, feeling tears spring to her eyes again.

Meanwhile, The Great Unknown was getting closer and closer to them, its big mouth open wide. Soon, the thing swallowed them up in one huge gulp. Quigley pulled away from the kiss, screaming something before taking a deep breath and being plunged under the water.

"I love you, Sabine!" he had said.

"I love you too, Quigley!" Sabine had cried, and as she fell down The Great Unknown's throat, she felt one last time like Alice in Wonderland.

Down, down, down, she went, into the belly of the beast...

𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜