Chapter Ten: Pupil
She had been locked inside an elaborately decorated room with only a piano for company. At first, she had tried to force the door open, then resorted to crying for help until her throat grew hoarse. In a fit of frustration, she had banged on the piano loudly. She started to think that she was in an empty house, and the fear gnawed her. But worse was the feeling that she was not alone. She made noises on the piano nervously. She could hear an occasional whisper or steps of running outside, but they never stopped for her. The sounds would fade away, and she would be alone again.
-
Ray followed closely behind Teacher, who stalked forward as if nothing could happen to her. She leapt down from high ledges and continued on, while Ray had to clamber down painfully slow. Ray was having a hard time running after her.
She was very silent most of the time. He wondered how her boots didn't make any sound against the Perion rock.
"Wait, Teacher," panted Ray, not knowing what else to call her. She turned her head to show she was listening. "Where did you hide Marissa?" Ray thought he saw a smirk, but it disappeared quickly into the shadow of the night.
"Maybe I just returned her to her parents," she teased.
"You're obviously bluffing." Ray hesitated for a second, but Teacher didn't react. Ray continued, "If you let Marissa go, I'll help you look for your black pig." (She scoffed.) "You could have asked. That's all you had to do. You didn't have to go through this useless kidnapping plan." She waved her hand dismissively.
"As if you wouldn't have roasted Bacon alive," she said. Truthfully, Ray wouldn't have minded eating Bacon after all the trouble it had caused.
"Maybe I did kill him."
"Don't even joke about that."
-
Meanwhile, far, far away in a locked room of an abandoned mansion, Marissa was seeking a way out. Actually, someone else was seeking a way out for her. She had been making noise on the piano restlessly when a knight burst in through the sealed door.
At first, Marissa thought it was Saign, who also wore metal armor, but the knight revealed himself to be an explorer, who had only come to see what the constant noise was about. He had heard that a noisy ghoul had come to reside in the piano room since yesterday night, and he had been keen on eliminating it himself.
His face fell heavily when he saw that it was only a girl. He had been about to leave when the girl grabbed his arm and asked urgently that he take her out of here. He let her follow him out, when he took a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end.
They continued the other way and ended up in an empty library of some sort. Tentatively, he asked her if she could wait here. He would be able to cover much more ground without her clinging on to him, and once he found the exit, he would come back for her. She had no choice but to agree, shivering a bit when she was left alone.
'Please hurry,' she thought helplessly. This mansion was huge, yet so empty.
She heard shuffling behind her. She whirled around and collided into something quite solid. Unable to regain her balance, she toppled to the ground, glaring up at whoever had knocked her down. There was no apology from the silent book that fluttered above her. It swooped down at her again. She screamed and scrambled to get out of the way.
The book slumped to the ground, but before it made another move, Marissa jumped up and ran from it. She seized the nearest door handle and rushed through it, making sure to slam the door shut. She listened carefully, but the corridor sounded empty.
It appeared to be an ordinary hallway. She walked forward a bit, wondering how far she should go.
She flinched when she heard a familiar voice. It was the knight who had rescued her from the piano room, but where was he? He sounded awfully close.
"I'm over here!" she called. She heard a gasp.
"What are you doing up on the ceiling?" the voice sounded below her. She glanced up.
"You're the one on the ceiling!" she shrieked. He was above her, feet firmly planted to the ceiling, gaping at her. He waved his arms frantically.
"Try jumping off!" he called. Marissa winced, lifting one foot off, and jumped, landing on the floor again. She and the knight were still on the opposite ends of heaven and earth. The knight scanned the room frantically, and ran up the stairs.
"Here! See if you can grab my hand!" he called, reaching out as far as he could. Marissa ran to him, seeing that she really was upside down. She marveled how she hadn't noticed the light fixture on the floor, nor how the doors were at least a foot off the floor. She jumped up and grabbed his hand. She swung slightly as he pulled her toward him. He had pulled her so close that she was able to grip the stairway banister, yet she still dangled as gravity dragged her the other way.
"How did this happen?" wondered the knight, clinging on the Marissa, but to no avail. They never noticed that two others were approaching.
"What in the world?" said a familiar voice from below, sounding amused. Marissa stared down at the floor in surprise at Ray and Saign.
"Put her down here. That isn't going to work," said Ray as if walking upside on the ceiling was perfectly normal. It was pretty high, but Marissa thought that she might make it down herself. Ray's face cautioned her not to jump, but she landed next to him before he could catch her.
Ray called up to the knight, "Do you know your way out of here?" He nodded shakily, as if he was baffled by their sudden appearance. Ray waved good-bye, but Marissa said, "We'll meet you outside. I think my friend knows his way out of here." Ray gave her an exasperated look, which Marissa didn't appear to see. She was busy peering nervously at Saign.
Ray suddenly remembered why Saign had agreed to go after Marissa in the first place. He knew the black pig was nowhere in sight. Saign didn't seem to be angry. She merely led the way out in her usual quiet manner. Ray cleared his throat.
"Teacher," he called, ignoring Marissa's shocked face. "I think you owe Marissa an explanation."
"I already know why she kidnapped me. She told me," Marissa hushed.
"Um, ok," he replied quietly. Ray found nothing else to say. She half-giggled then faltered when Saign turned their way.
"He's not here," said Saign, opening the door that freed them from the mansion. "I knew it." Marissa looked at her confused. "That knight you were with. He should have made it out before we did."
"He'll be out soon, won't he?" asked Marissa.
"I think he was lying when he said he knew his way out," answered Saign, glaring at Ray as if he had purposely abandoned the knight.
"Never mind how Teacher's mind works. We'll just wait here until he makes his way out," interrupted Ray. Saign walked out of the mansion and slumped down immediately.
"I'll wait here while you two search inside for him," she said resignedly. Ray narrowed his eyes angrily.
"You don't know everything," he declared. Teacher studied him, the corner of her mouth twitching.
"No, just most," she said. As if on cue, confused yells and sounds of struggle echoed in the mansion. Marissa tried to run back inside, but Ray's grip held her back.
"He helped me, Ray," said Marissa, struggling. "I have to help him." Ray sighed.
"He butted in-" Ray started to say, but hesitated when Marissa's shoulders sagged. She had been counting on Ray's help as well. Ray was way too worn out for this, but he headed back inside anyway. He tried not to feel better about seeing Marissa's face light up. At times like these, he missed his more dangerous days with Stram.
-
Inside the deserted depths of the mansion, Ray noticed that Marissa jumped at every sudden sound. At this rate, it looked like she was going to hyperventilate. It was a haunted building after all, but it wasn't as if there was anything gruesome hiding in here.
"Do you want to go back out? I'll keep searching for him," Ray said. Marissa shook her head after a small hesitation.
"There is unholy work in this place," whispered Marissa.
"I'm a priest. Battling against the unholy is my specialty," Ray replied with confidence. For once, Marissa didn't seem convinced of his title as the Shining Ray.
"Come on. Be brave," said Ray, feeling useless.
"Easy for you to say," exclaimed Marissa desperately. Marissa stopped and clapped her clammy face. She wished her heart wasn't thumping so hard. Ray stopped as well. To not alarm her, he slowly took her hand and stepped backward. Marissa uncertainly followed him. She felt stronger then, especially in the presence of Ray. She didn't notice the magical presence of the faeries glittering over her head. Ray normally Blessed with a wave of his hand. He thought it would be more encouraging if she felt that it was her own strength that was pulling her together.
They were walking much faster now, almost jogging, when Ray tried to pull his hand away, except that Marissa didn't let go. Instead, she thought Ray was urging her to run, so they ended up running, and soon found the lost knight. The knight must have been through some trouble for he had lost his helmet and his armor had been blackened. He saw them coming, and ran toward them pointing at the door he had just barred close.
"There's a horse out there breathing purple fire!" he yelled. Marissa noticed that the knight was alarmingly young. He gave a small glance at Marissa and Ray's joined hands. Marissa snatched her hand back as if Ray had burned her. Ray strode forward, barely noticing Marissa's reaction. He whipped out his mace, and slammed it right on the door, crashing through the wood and right on to the nose of a purple horse. It whinnied shrilly and drew its head back to launch a flaming attack. Ray stabbed forward with his mace, forcing it further back still, and the knight appeared at Ray's side, lashing at the violent horse with his sword. It's overly large head was thrown back, and it went up in its own purple flames. The wild fire flashed intensely, and disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving a smoldering pile of wreckage.
"A wooden horse…" murmured the knight.
"The sooner we leave, the happier I'll be. Let's go, let's go," he urged. Even at the slow pace of this party, they found the exit in no time.
Ray tiptoed to the main door of the mansion. He sidled alongside it, and slowly and as carefully as he could, took a peek. Instantly, a black whirl barreled his face. He snatched the black pig off his head, but it squirmed ferociously out of his grasp. It wiggled over to Marissa happily, who was staring at the pig with a mixture of disgust and fear. Ray spotted the blue-haired teacher still sitting at the edge of the mansion.
"You were right again, Ray. Bacon came looking for Marissa soon after you guys went back in. I knew you would try to evade me, so I planted Bacon right at the entrance," Teacher said smartly. Ray ignored her and ran away as far as he could with Marissa and the knight.