CHAPTER FOUR - The Professor

For five whole minutes, Kit stared at Mae as though she had gone mad. And Mae presumed that by the look he was giving her, he actually did think she was mentally unstable.
"Erm...so you - you somehow ended up going halfway around the world in a few hours...right...OK...", he muttered.
"You don't believe me, do you? I know it sounds insane, but I'm not making it up!" cried Mae, desperately.
Kit gazed at the sky for a while, then said in a quiet voice, "Yeah, I believe you. But not many other people would, so I don't suggest you go shouting it about."
"Well I don't intend to do anything of the sort. All I want to do is go home. I have a perfectly good school where I live, and at the moment, I don't feel like changing."
"You'll have to go a long way before you can go home. Everyone in our year and below does, and there's no escaping that fact," sighed Kit, smiling sardonically.
Mae stared at the ground for some time, before inquiring, "What year are we in?"
"I know I'm in the tenth, and Laurie's in the ninth. You should be in either of our years, by my reckoning. You'll be about fourteen or fifteen, I guess?" Mae nodded her assent, and Kit pronounced his judgement. "Yes, then you'll be in my year."
Grateful though she was to have at least one friend in the same year, she couldn't help but be somewhat afraid of what the schooling would be like here. She fervidly hoped that it wouldn't be much different from what she had experienced so far in her highschool, which was usually nothing but patient teaching and gentle reprimands, but she couldn't suppress the feeling that it would be very different from what she had known.

After walking around the lawn in silence for a quarter of an hour more, Mae and Kit reluctantly headed back towards the institute. "Do you want me to show you the actual entrance to the institute?" asked Kit.
"Yes, please," was Mae's blank response.
And so, Kit led her round the left side of the towering edifice, until they came to a small bare courtyard, with a cemented footpath leading from what looked like a gravel parking lot to the office of the institute. The only occupant of the parking lot was a large muddy truck, at which Kit pointed saying, "That's the truck they brought us in! Bart and Ted drive it. They introduced themselves before we started off; that's how I know their names," explained Kit.
He and Mae walked up the footpath to the office. The doors to the office were made of some kind of dark sturdy wood, and wide open. Kit told Mae to wait outside while he checked if it was OK to go in; he thought they might get into trouble if a professor found them. So Mae waited outside the door until Kit called her in. It was spacious hall, completely devoid of people but a buzz of chatter from students could be heard from the other end of the room, so obviously, it was not a forbidden place. There were no pictures on the walls, or flowers in pots or any kind of other decoration. Everything was plain and ordinary, with nothing to attract the senses at all.
Mae and Kit walked quietly through the corridor leading to the other side of the hall, and found themselves in yet another corridor, though much longer than the one they were in before. A good number of students were using this passageway, but none of them paid any attention to Mae or Kit. They joined a small tight-knit group of younger students, and three or four tall girls who looked like much older students. All of them were wearing the drab dark uniform, which did not beautify their appearances. A slim rather pretty girl with auburn hair tied back in a ponytail seemed to be explaining the history of the institute, in a very unenthusiastic voice. " - and in that year, this corridor was built to assist the teachers in making their way from their offices to the classrooms."
"Was anything ever built to assist the students in something?" asked Kit, in a loud voice.
The auburn-haired girl spun around, and stared at him for a few seconds before smiling grimly. "Even though this institute was built for the education of students, the only thing it's doing is torturing us. We learn, yes, but we are punished unfairly," she said, her voice rising. "We are punished for things that are not our fault. And most of us don't even understand our lessons! And we get sent to the dungeons for it. Yes, to the dungeons and that is the real torture. They let our souls and bodies rot in that awful darkness, and those horrid professors are happy about it. Happy that we'll never be the same again!"
"You wicked girl!" a cold hard voice hissed behind Mae and Kit. They jumped and whirled around. A very thin sallow-faced woman stood there, cold fury in every line of her face. She glared at the auburn-haired girl. "You insatiable liar! How dare you spread such filthy rumours around the institute! About the teachers who have sacrificed so many things for the good of your education! We keep a roof over your head, provide you with food, bedding, and educate your empty brains!" said the woman, her eyes glittering dangerously.
The auburn-haired girl didn't move or speak. She didn't even blink; her eyes showed a loathing so strong that Mae was amazed she hadn't lost control of herself yet. Perhaps this was why the woman did what she did. "What is your name?" she asked, very sternly.
"Rosalie Lewis," replied the girl.
The woman's face immediately darkened. "Rosalie Lewis, are you? I have heard many things about you. Many unpleasant things. And even though you were accepted into this institute, with your foul temper and spirit of a liar, you are still ungrateful."
Rosalie Lewis showed no fear of whatever punishment she was about to receive. Indeed, she was showing the sort of bravery that Mae very much admired. Rosalie stood straight-backed and calm, her head held high, and her voice strong and clear.
The sallow-faced woman, however, was very unimpressed. "Well then, Miss Lewis. A week of detentions should bring you to your senses, I hope. I will see you in my office this afternoon to sort it out."
Still Rosalie remained impassive. She seemed to be looking through the woman infront of her, as if she wasn't there at all. The woman turned Mae. "And why are you not in your uniform?" she questioned, her nostrils flaring.
"I - I - I only came today," Mae stammered, fearfully. She didn't know what the punishment the woman was going to inflict on her for not being in uniform, and she didn't want to know. She looked more than capable of murder at her present state of anger, and Mae just wanted to be as far away from her as possible. But no such luck for her.
"What is your name?" inquired the professor.
Now Mae was quite terrified. She only knew part of her first name, and if this woman found out that she couldn't remember it all, she would probably assume that Mae was lying and give her a horrible punishment that she would remember 'til the day of her death!
"I asked you, what is your name?" repeated the professor.
"Mae."
"Mae, what?" snapped the professor, impatiently.
"I don't know," breathed Mae. She could tell by the furious disbelieving glare that the woman was giving her, that she had sunk herself into a much bigger pool of trouble and danger than ever before.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" hissed the professor, slowly and with fury in every syllable.
"I don't remember! I said I don't know, and I'm not lying!" said Mae, growing impatient herself.
The professor's eyes narrowed and an ugly grimace crossed her face, almost like a smile. "If you expect me to believe that, then you have grown a very high opinion of yourself."
"Look, she said she can't remember and she doesn't look like the kind of person who would lie about it!" Rosalie pitched in.
The professor turned back to her and the expression on her face was much more terrible than any of the ones Mae had already witnessed. "You are already on a week of detentions, and yet you ask for more, do you? I suppose a visit to the dungeons wouldn't go amiss," she said, her voice low and harsh.
"NO!" exclaimed a little girl, with the same auburn hair that Rosalie had. But the professor ignored her, her full attention now on Rosalie. The little auburn-haired girl attempted to run to her sister, but was held back by an older girl. Rosalie seemed to be ignoring her sister, too, for she didn't speak or turn around; her eyes were dark, and her face showed no hint of coming tears. Thankfully, the professor appeared to have forgotten about Mae, but Mae was too afraid for Rosalie to care about herself, at that moment. The anxious silence was only broken by the sobs and struggling of Rosalie's little sister.
"You will go immediately to my office, and your detentions in the dungeons will be arranged. Move, now!" barked the professor to Rosalie. Rosalie took a deep breath and strode forward through the corridor to the doors at the end, silent and brave as the hero that she was in Mae's eyes. Before turning to follow her out, the professor turned to Mae, and spat, "I'll deal with you later."

When the professor had gone, the younger students burst into a tirade about her. But the little auburn-haired girl went upto Mae and spat, "How could you?"
Mae was fully bewildered. What had she done? But that question was immediately answered for her by the girl. "How could you let my sister be put in the dungeons, you - you heartless - you evil - "
"Now now, Carla! It wasn't her fault!" interrupted the older girl who had held her back.
"It WAS her fault! She should've just said her name and Rosalie wouldn't have been taken to the dungeons!" howled Carla.
"But I can't remember my name! I wasn't lying when I said that!" cried Mae.
Carla shot her a look of pure detestation, and ran off sobbing. The older girl watched her go with a pitying look on her face. Then she turned back to Mae and Kit and stretched out her hand, saying proudly, "Larna Murdin, Junior Monitor."
Both Mae and Kit shook her hand, muttering their names, and Larna surveyed them both with curiosity. She was a very tall girl, though not thin; her shoulder-length brown hair was kept from her face by a plain black head-band; her eyes were the same warm brown as her hair, and she had a round good-natured face; she looked to be about sixteen. "It's a shame that you're already on the bad side of Professor Parvell," she said.
"So that's Professor Parvell!" Mae blurted out.
Larna nodded, and said, "Lerene Melville's her favourite student. Parvell was the one suggested her for all those titles she's got. Senior Monitor, Senior Student Librarian, Senior House Leader - ," she checked off on her fingers precisely nine titles. "I've only got two: Junior Monitor, and Senior First Year Monitor."
"Well at least you've got some," said Kit, reasonably.
Larna nodded, and began telling them exactly how she came about them. But Mae had stopped listening. She couldn't get the look on Rosalie's face when she had heard she was going to the dungeons out of her mind. It wasn't a scared or an angry look; the wrath in her eyes seemed to have died when she heard her sentence fall. She just turned a deathly white, and her blue eyes took on a frightening piercing shade of an almost fluorescent blue. For the first time during her conversation with the professor, Rosalie had looked showed her feelings, but Mae couldn't interpret them. Yet.
" - And she was so kind to me, you see, so I'm trying to do the best I can," concluded Larna.
"Can you please tell us anything about the dungeons?" Mae asked her.
Both Kit and Larna looked at her in astonishment, but then the latter's look changed into one of fear. "I'm sorry, but - but I can't tell you. It's forbidden," dissented Larna. Mae noticed that her hands were clasped tightly together.
"But you know! And if it's something really awful, then we could stop it! Please tell us!" pleaded Mae.
But Larna shook her head, and whispered, "Get it out of your head, girl. You shouldn't be thinking about it at all. It's none of our business. We - we should just concern ourselves with things that concern us." She nodded to herself, as if she were sure that she was doing the right thing and would be approved of.
"It does concern us! What if your best friend was taken to the dungeons tomorrow? Would you just leave them there and carry on with what you do everyday?" Mae demanded, desperately.
"Look, you're already in trouble with Professor Parvell. You don't need any more trouble, so get it out of your head. It doesn't concern you, " Larna said, forcefully.
"But - "
"I've got to go now. See you later!" And with that, Larna briskly walked off, without giving Mae and Kit another glance.
Mae stamped her foot in frustration. "Oh why does she have to be so stubborn?!"
"Well, she's a monitor. You heard her; she only has those two badges, and she wants to keep them, so she stays out of trouble and does what every good girl does," Kit explained, simply. "But I'm on your side. I want to know what's so bad about them dungeons, too." And as they heard a loud bell tolling somewhere, he added, "C'mon, let's go; it's lunchtime."

As she and Kit walked to the Dining Hall, Mae's brain was a whirlpool of thoughts. What was so horrendous about the dungeons? Why did the professors use such a thing as a punishment? Laurie refused to tell her anything about the dungeons, and now Larna Murdin did the same. But Mae was determined to uncover the secret of the dungeons, and she wasn't going to let anything stop her from finding out.

(End of Chapter Four)