Read Online Series of Unfortunate Events: The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket - Free Book Online

mycological studies be put to good use," and I'm sorry to say he was right. "Let's see," Fiona said, paging through a thick book entitled Mushroom Minutiae, a word which here means "obscure facts." "It was in the table of contents, that's all I've read so far. It was about halfway through." She brought the book over to the table, and ran a finger down the table of contents while the Baudelaires leaned over to see. "Chapter Thirty-Six, The Yeast of Beasts. Chapter Thirty-Seven, Morel Behavior in a Free Society. Chapter Thirty-Eight, Fungible Mold, Moldable Fungi. Chapter Thirty-Nine, Visitable Fungal Ditches. Chapter Forty, The Gorgonian Grotto, there!" "Grotto?" Sunny asked. " 'Grotto' is another word for 'cave'," Klaus explained, as Fiona flipped ahead to Chapter Forty." 'The Gorgonian Grotto,' " she read, " 'located in propinquity to Anwhistle Aquatics, has appropriately wraithlike nomenclature, with roots in Grecian mythology, as this conical cavern is fecund with what is perhaps the bugaboo of the entire mycological pantheon.' " "Aye! I told you that book was too difficult!" Captain Widdershins said. "A young child can't unlock that sort of vocabulary." "It's a very complicated prose style," Klaus admitted, "but I think I know what it says. The Gorgonian Grotto was named after something in Greek mythology." "A Gorgon," Violet said. "Like that woman with snakes instead of hair." "She could turn people into stone," Fiona said. "She was probably nice, when you got to know her," Phil said. "Aye! I think I went to school with such a woman!" the captain said. "I don't think she was a real person," Klaus said. "I think she was legendary. The book says it's appropriate that the grotto is named after a legendary monster, because there's a sort of monster living in a cave, a bugaboo." "Bugaboo?" Sunny asked. "A bugaboo can be any kind of monster," Klaus said. "We could call Count Olaf a bugaboo, if we felt so inclined." "I'd rather not speak of him at all," Violet said. "This bugaboo is a fungus of some sort," Fiona said, and continued reading from Mushroom Minutiae. " 'The Medusoid Mycelium has a unique conducive strategy of waxing and waning: first a brief dormant cycle, in which the mycelium is nearly invisible, and then a precipitated flowering into speckled stalks and caps of such intense venom that it is fortunate the grotto serves as quarantine.' " "I didn't understand all of that scientific terminology," Klaus said. "I did," Fiona said. "There are three main parts to a mushroom. One is the cap, which is shaped like an umbrella, and the second is the stalk, which holds the umbrella up. Those are the parts you can see." "There's part of a mushroom you can't see?" Violet asked. "It's called the mycelium," Fiona replied. "It's like a bunch of thread, branching out underneath the ground. Some mushrooms have mycelia that go on for miles." "How do you spell 'mycelium'?" Klaus asked, reaching into his waterproof pocket. "I want to write this down in my commonplace book." Fiona pointed the word out on the page. "The Medusoid Mycelium waxes and wanes," she said, "which means that the caps and stalks spring up from the mycelium, and then wither away, and then spring up again. It sounds like you wouldn't know the mushrooms are there until they poke up out of the ground." The Baudelaires pictured a group of mushrooms suddenly springing up under their feet, and felt a bit queasy, as if they already knew of the dreadful encounter they would soon have with this terrible fungus."That sounds unnerving," Violet said. "It gets worse," Fiona said. "The mushrooms are exceedingly poisonous. Listen to this: 'As the poet says, "A single spore has such grim power / That you may die within the hour." ' A spore is like a seed, if it has a place to grow, it will become another mycelium. But if someone eats it, or even breathes it in, it can cause death." "Within the hour?" Klaus said. "That's a fast-acting poison." "Most fungal