An Unusual Pupil

Chapter 1

The Headmaster was staring fixedly down at the playground, rather intrigued to witness the arrival of a new pupil. What interested him the most was that she had been enrolled into his school a few days later than everyone else, and by the school's resident prodigy. She must have stood out somehow, for Mr Brent to have taken an interest in her welfare. The girl herself stood out from the other new pupils he had so far seen this term by the fact that she was wearing dark glasses, just like he was. When the girl was brought to his office, he would have to get her to remove them, otherwise he would not be able to hypnotise her, like he planned to do. Seeing that Rose and Jeff had her in hand, the Headmaster turned away from the window and sat down behind his desk, studying the file he had received about the girl only yesterday.

He scanned it carefully, frowning as he considered her name. He was certain that he had seen it before and was determined to discover where as soon as possible. Her home situation also fascinated the Headmaster, as she was listed as a resident of Mr Brent's household. This made things a lot easier. Since it seemed she did not have any immediate family, any questionable activity related to the school would not find its way to people who were entirely focussed on the girl.

The Headmaster was startled out of his musings by a forceful knock on his office door. Snapping out "Enter!" he folded his hands and watched as Rose and Jeff pushed the new girl into his office and closed the door behind her. Unlike the insolent Miss Glass he had encountered a few days ago, this girl remained silent. While she was clearly attempting to show him respect by waiting for him to speak, the Headmaster also gained the strong impression that the girl was studying him intently, just as he was studying her. Eventually he waved a hand towards the empty chair in front of his desk, ordering curtly "Sit down". She did so at once, yet sat on the edge of the chair, tense and watchful.

Studying her file once more, the Headmaster looked up at the girl, and began his usual interview.

"Elizabeth Blake Taylor. You are living in the same residence as Mr Wallace Brent?"

At his question, the girl spoke for the first time, answering briefly and respectfully.

"I am, Sir"

It took the Headmaster a few moments longer than it normally did to ask his next question, as he was so preoccupied with her completely unusual voice. Her voice had a very harsh edge, and she hissed slightly whenever she said the letter 'S'. Clearly, she had some kind of speech impediment, but it was one the Headmaster had not encountered before.

"You are eight years old. How long have you been part of Mr Brent's household?"

This particular question seemed to make her uncomfortable for some reason, as Elizabeth took longer to reply than she had with the first question.

"I have lived with Mr Brent for six months, Sir."

The Headmaster nodded thoughtfully to himself. He had gained the basic knowledge he wanted about Miss Taylor, he would find out more about her in the days to come, he was certain. Withdrawing the usual test from his desk drawer, the Headmaster was glad when she began it without protest or any irrelevant comments, as Miss Glass had done. Once she had finished, the Headmaster studied her answers. While she was not a genius like Wallace Brent, she was slightly above average in intelligence. Knowing of Mr Brent's thirst for knowledge and hard work, it was more than likely that he had encouraged her to study. Dropping the test back onto his desk, the Headmaster prepared himself to hypnotise the girl. This was the time he always savoured, when he dominated the mind of the newest pupil sitting in front of his desk, another person to control, and another asset to his plans. First, however, he had to get her to remove her dark glasses. He decided on a direct approach.

"Why are you wearing dark glasses? They are not part of the school uniform and should not be worn."

Elizabeth answered him quickly.

"My glasses are medically needed; my eyes are overly sensitive and hurt in bright light."

Too quickly. She had covered her nervousness well, but the Headmaster knew she was lying, and he decided to enlighten her. He raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"Indeed? That is unfortunate."

His voice sharpened suddenly, as he snapped out:

"So why is this information not in your file?"

Elizabeth gasped and physically jerked at this sudden question, she had clearly not expected the Headmaster to catch onto her lie so quickly. The Headmaster was surprised when a sudden spasm of rage crossed the girl's face. She abruptly tugged off her glasses, almost snapping them with the force she used. Now it was obvious why she had worn them. For the first time in his life, the Headmaster was rendered utterly speechless. Her eyes were utterly inhuman. The closest animal he could compare them to was a cat, as her pupils were slits, instead of the normal circular shape. She had no white or irises, instead the rest of her eyes were intense, fiery amber.

When the Headmaster stayed silent for a few moments longer, Elizabeth suddenly spoke. Now her tone was a lot less respectful than it had been, as if she felt that she did not need to keep up a facade any longer.

"I am impressed; most people would have either run from me or branded me a monster and tried to kill me. Why are you so different from the rest of them?"

While he very much wanted to, the Headmaster knew that to attempt to address her disrespect could turn this meeting into a disaster. He would deal with that later. The Headmaster stood up, becoming more animated as he could not hide the excitement he felt about having a hybrid right in front of him.

"What makes me different? I will not act like those emotional fools; you are clearly not any kind of monster. You are a hybrid, a mixture of human and non-human DNA. Do you have any idea of the implications, of how priceless you are to those well-versed in science? There is so much to be learned from you!"

While the Headmaster had been saying this, he moved from behind his desk, moving closer to the girl. Unfortunately, moving close to her turned out to be a big mistake. She jumped to her feet, her chair toppling backwards and stepped back from him, trembling very slightly. Her voice shook too, as she gasped:

"S-stay away f-from me!"

She raised her hands, and the Headmaster was shocked into silence for the second time that morning. Claws suddenly erupted from the ends of her fingers, quite long and wickedly sharp. Elizabeth grimaced as this happened, the ends of her fingers bleeding slightly as her claws fought their way into the open. The Headmaster stood utterly still, knowing that if he said or did anything that the girl viewed as threatening, she would likely try to attack him. Slowly, he raised his hands in a placating gesture, and replied to her terrified demand gently and calmly.

"I am not your enemy, child. I will not hurt you."

Elizabeth stood as still as he was, seemingly considering what he had just said. Then she surprised the Headmaster yet again, by darting forwards suddenly and yanking at his waistcoat, attempting to gain a closer view of his face. The Headmaster was sure that she was attempting to see if he was lying. If it had been any other pupil, he would not have allowed them to maintain such a hold on his clothes, and he would have shaken them off by now. However, he did not want Elizabeth to see him as a threat, and did not attempt to remove her grip. Instead, as a gesture of goodwill, he removed his own dark glasses. This action, and what she seemed to see in his face, convinced her that the Headmaster had meant what he said. Slowly, she withdrew her claws from the Headmaster's waistcoat, wincing at the holes she had left in the material. The Headmaster paid no heed to the damage she had done. Instead, he put his glasses back on and glanced at her hands, stating quietly:

"Elizabeth, your fingers are bleeding."

Dazedly, she looked down at her hands, wincing slightly. Clearly, she had been so focussed on assessing the Headmaster, that she had not noticed that particular detail, even though she had clearly felt the pain her claws had caused her. Grimacing, the Headmaster pulled out his handkerchief, and held out a hand. He did not want to stain anything, yet he believed that if he could get Elizabeth to view him as an ally, someone who was on her side, she would be a lot easier to deal with. She hesitated for a few moments, before holding out her hands, and allowing the Headmaster to clean her fingers, retracting her claws just afterwards. Righting her fallen chair, the Headmaster gestured towards it, and Elizabeth sat down again, much more relaxed than she had been before.

While the Headmaster had been initially planning to hypnotise her, he would not do so now. To begin with, he was not certain that he could hypnotise her, as she was clearly not completely human. Also, if he tried to do so now, it was very likely that she would view such an act as a threat, and attack him. Throwing his stained handkerchief into the rubbish bin, he resumed his own seat, considering what to do with her. It would be dangerous to allow her into assembly, as she was not under his control, and would know that he was hypnotising his pupils. Much as he did not want her corrupted by that rabble of children who could not be hypnotised, the only solution was to place her with them. He was glad that he had split those children into separate classes, as this way she would not be with all of them at once. Having made his decision, he decided to enlighten Elizabeth, who was watching him nervously. It was a subtle indication that she trusted him, as she had not replaced her glasses as he had done, and kept her eyes uncovered.

"I believe it would be in your best interests that you are kept away from large groups of people, it is clear that you would feel threatened, and it would be hard to hide what you are in that circumstance. Therefore, it is best that you not participate in assembly. Instead, you will complete some extra work in the library. You will not be on your own, as there are other children who are also barred from assembly. You will do your work with them."

While he waited for Elizabeth's reaction to his decision, he contemplated which class to place her in. Ideally, he wanted her as close as possible to his office, so that he could deal with any issues that arose. As he finally fixed on the class he would put her, Elizabeth spoke up.

"I...thanks Sir. It will be a lot easier to hide things that way."

The Headmaster nodded in acceptance of her answer and quickly wrote a short note, before he rose to his feet with the note in his hand.

"I have decided which class to place you in. I will take you there, after we retrieve your bag from the school office."

Elizabeth looked surprised that the Headmaster knew it was there, and he smirked slightly as he replied:

"Mr Brent obtained my permission to leave your bag there, as it was not yet decided which class you would be in."

Opening his office door, he motioned for her to follow him, intending to lead her to the school office. She replaced her dark glasses and followed after him. Once her bag had been retrieved, he led her towards the classroom she had been assigned to. She hid behind his gowned figure slightly as he opened the door, wary of being thrust into a room full of strangers. The Headmaster cast her an amused look, before lightly seizing her shoulder, and hauling her into the room and in front of him. The class teacher stood from his desk, taking the note that the Headmaster gave him, as the Headmaster intoned:

"Mr Venables, you have a new pupil. Make sure that you follow the directions I have given you completely, it is vital that you do so."

Mr Venables studied the note carefully for a few moments, before replying to the Headmaster's announcement.

"Of course, Headmaster. Barney, move to the desk behind you. Elizabeth, you can sit next to Lloyd."

Elizabeth glanced uncertainly up at the Headmaster, who squeezed her shoulder slightly, and nodded towards the empty chair. Taking a deep breath, she moved towards the chair next to Lloyd, glancing at him nervously as she sat down. Giving her a reassuring nod, the Headmaster turned and left the classroom, striding towards the Prefect's room. He also had to give detailed instructions to them as well; otherwise they might make her too angry, and cause her to expose what she was. He knew that with her in his school, things had become a lot more complicated.