Journey of a Girl

A Proper Education: Chapter Fifteen

There was no way out.

She would be seen. Credence would be found by that imposter.

Should she greet him and explain that she had been waiting for him to return?

No, she thought with a jolt of terror, he'll look in my eyes and know I found his secret.

"That will be all for tonight," the Headmaster said behind the door, and with a slight push he opened it—just as Credence dove behind his desk.

It was a foolish place to hide, she knew, and she would have to keep circling the desk if the Headmaster moved.

When he took his seat at the desk, Credence scrambled quietly as she could to settle at front of it and prayed he was not expecting company.

She tried to calm the panicked rhythm of her heart, afraid it might burst from terror, as she listened to the Headmaster, or whatever he was, scribbling with a quill.

Was he adding more names to his damned list? Was he choosing new children to consume?

As if sensing another's presence, the Headmaster's voice cut through the room:

"Is someone at the door?"

With a tinge of suspicion the Headmaster scanned the room. He couldn't put his finger on why, but something felt different. It felt like he was being watched. Instinctively, his hand moved to the top drawer on the right and took the black key from its home. He placed it into the lock of a seemingly trivial drawer in the center of the desk.

But when he turned the key there was no telling click that the drawer's lock had been released.

It was already open.

The Headmaster's eyes fell to a particular patch on the rug. It was a spot well known to him, for directly beneath it was his most valuable secret. The rug should have been smoothly settled over a hidden door, but there was a corner of it slightly folded over.

Someone had been messing with it.

Someone had neglected to properly replace it.

Someone had been in his room alone.

The Headmaster moved swiftly to the upturned corner, giving Credence a great fright and sending her scurrying around the desk. He knelt and touched the edge of the rug, and his brow furrowed in thought.

He moved to the heavy oak door and pulled a silver key from his pocket.

"We'll have us a game," he said with a wicked smile. Just as he was about to slip the key inside the lock, a sudden banging from below turned his attention back to the rug.

Through the screaming and pounding, the prisoner managed to move the hatch door, so much that the rug atop it trembled, though no one would see it unless they knew to look.

"You're in a state tonight," the Headmaster said to the floor. "Why the sudden tantrum?"

The Headmaster threw the rug aside and grinned at the hatch.

"Haven't you died yet? Taking an awfully long time, don't you think?" 

He stomped hard on top of the door in the ground.

A wail of suffering answered him.

"Senses are heightened, aren't they?" the Headmaster addressed the man under the floor. "Like thunder in your ears, I imagine."

He gave a few more stomps to rattle the prisoner.

"Someone was in my room. Someone was poking in places they shouldn't have. Who was it?"

Credence feared the man would give her away. She bit the inside of her cheek so hard she drew blood.

But the floor remained silent.

"If I must, I'll drag you from that hole and pull the truth from what's left of your tongue—"

"No one was here," the voice cried. "I swear it!"

"What's got you riled up?" The Headmaster paused. "Can you sense another child is turning?"

He chuckled to himself.

"A girl this time. Do you hear her twisting under the change? Her weak skin is cracking and hardening. Pretty Penny, such a young, tender thing. She'll be a beautiful sprig. No doubt she'll live for many years and make a most delicious meal."

When the pounding and screaming began again, Credence felt a stab of guilt.

"I want QUIET!" the Headmaster snarled and viciously stomped on the hatch door until the screaming died into a soft whimpering and the pounding ceased.

"So easy to torment," the Headmaster mused, "yet you still disobey. Maybe it's time to bring you out for another lesson in manners."

"No," came a muffled plea, "please!"

"Then cease your prattling! You know what I can do to you, and if you keep up these tantrums you'll leave me no choice."

The answer was silence.

The Headmaster kicked the rug over the hatch and smoothed its corner with his foot before returning to his desk. 

Having crawled back to the front of the desk, Credence cast a pitying look at the covered hatch.

How long had the real Headmaster been there? How many children had fallen while he was unable to help?

How many more would die if he stayed there?

She vowed to return and help him from the floor, but first she'd have to find a rope or some kind of ladder for him to climb—if he was able in such a state.

At the moment she could do nothing but sit and wait for her chance to escape.

She prayed the monster would need to sleep.

It felt like several hours passed before the false Headmaster finally rose from the desk. He yawned and stretched his arms towards the roof before dousing all but one of the candles in the room. With a single light to guide him, he left through a door hidden behind a tapestry on the wall, an exit Credence had never seen before.

When she heard it close with a soft click, Credence released a long sigh of relief.

She had a half-manic thought to take the fire poker and surprise the beast in its sleep, but she knew the odds were against her, for anything could lay behind the door under the tapestry.

And Credence wasn't sure she could destroy it.

She moved carefully, painfully slowly, through the dark room, feeling her way towards the door to leave.

Even though she could not see it, she spared one last glance towards the rug.

That poor man, she thought as she opened the door into the hallway.

I have to save him.

I have to help him kill the imposter.