into her mouth. "It's a very creepy story about a man who murders his wife." "Right," Klaus said. "But if a volunteer used the name of the poem in a coded communication, the title might be 'My Last Wife' instead of 'My Last Duchess,' by the poet 'Obert Browning' instead of Robert Browning." "What purpose would that serve?" Violet said. "The volunteer reading it would notice the mistake," Klaus said. "The changing of certain words or letters is a kind of fluctuation. If you fixed the fluctuations in the poem, you'd receive the message." "Duchess R?" Fiona asked. "What kind of message is that?" "I'm not sure," Klaus admitted. "The next page in the book is missing." "Do you think the missing page is a code, too?" Violet asked. Klaus shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "Codes are nothing more than a way of talking so that some people understand and other people don't. Remember when we talked to Quigley in the cave, with all the other Snow Scouts listening?" "Yes," Violet said. "We used words that began with V, F, and D, so that we knew we were all on the same side." "Maybe we should have a code ourselves," Fiona said, "so that we can communicate if we run into trouble." "That's a good idea," Klaus said. "What should we use as code words?" "Food," Sunny suggested. "Perfect," Violet said. "We'll draw up a list of foods and what they mean in our code. We'll bring them up in conversation, and our enemies will never suspect that we're actually communicating." "And our enemies could be around any corner," Fiona said, handing the fishbowl of lo mein to Violet and picking up the envelope she had found. "Inside this envelope was a letter. Normally I don't like to read other people's mail, but it seems unlikely that this letter will ever reach Gregor Anwhistle." "Gregor Anwhistle?" Violet asked. "He's the man who founded the research center. Who was writing to him?" "A woman named Kit," Fiona said. "I think it's Kit Snicket, Jacques's sister." "Of course," Klaus said. "Your stepfather said she was a noble woman who helped build the Queequeg." "According to her letter," Fiona said, "Gregor Anwhistle was involved in something called a 'schism.' What's that?" "It was a big conflict within V.F.D.," Klaus said. "Quigley told us a little bit about it." "Everybody chose sides," Violet recalled, "and now the organization is in chaos. Which side was Gregor on?" "I don't know," Fiona said, frowning. "Some of this letter is in code, and some of it was in water. I can't understand all of it, but it sounds like Gregor was involved with something called Volatile Fungus Deportation." " 'Volatile' means 'unstable,' or 'likely to cause trouble,' " Klaus said. " 'Fungus,' of course, means 'mushrooms,' and 'deportation' means 'moving something from one place to another.' Who was moving unstable mushrooms?" "V.F.D.," Fiona replied. "During the schism, Gregor thought the Medusoid Mycelium might be useful." "The Medusoid Mycelium?" Violet said, looking nervously at the silent, gray mushrooms that still lined the entrance to the small, tiled room, their black splotches looking particularly eerie in the dim light. "I can't imagine thinking that such deadly things could be useful." "Listen to what Kit wrote about it," Fiona said. " 'The poisonous fungus you insist on cultivating in the grotto will bring grim consequences for all of us. Our factory at Lousy Lane can provide some dilution of the mycelium's destructive respiratory capabilities, and you assure me that the mycelium grows best in small, enclosed spaces, but this is of little comfort. One mistake, Gregor, and your entire facility would have to be abandoned. Please, do not become the thing you dread most by adopting the destructive tactic of our most villainous enemies: playing with fire." Klaus was busily copying Kit Snicket's letter into his commonplace book. "Gregor was growing those mushrooms," he said, "to use on enemies of V.F.D." "He was going to poison people?" Violet
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