"Brian, how could you do this to us?" Madelyn shrieked.
"I had to. It was the only way to clear my name." Brian defended.
While Brian was her student, Velma wanted to start screaming at him for what he had done. She couldn't believe he was so selfish. However, Velma fought this urge, and shifted her mind's full focus to figuring out how she was going to keep her students safe.
"We have to run." Velma suggested.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You're already in enough trouble as it is." Brian coldly said.
Velma felt a rage boil up inside her body. She couldn't believe anybody could be stupid enough to completely sell them out to Merlin. However, she tried to keep her composure as she spoke to Brian.
"Brian." Velma said, keeping her voice calm. "I hope you realize that this trouble we're in is all because of you. I understand that you didn't want to get caught, but you've now potentially doomed eight of your classmates and your teacher, all because you didn't want to get caught at something Merlin never would have known about in the first place if you hadn't told him."
"Well, I hope you realize you got yourself into that trouble." Brian rebutted. "It's your own fault for starting a club against Merlin's policies. In fact, I think you're the selfish one for not telling your students that you were putting them in danger!"
"We all knew what we were getting into." Sabrina defended. "Well, at least until you came along."
"What you did wasn't some act of bravery." Mitch pointed out. "It's cowardice. You're so afraid of yourself getting hurt that you don't even care that you've just hurt eight other people."
"We don't have time for this!" Velma interrupted. "We have to get out of here before Merlin comes here."
Annabelle hurried over to the door and slowly creaked it open to see if anyone was in the hall.
"Nobody's out here. Let's run!" Annabelle said, right before she quickly shot out the door and ran through the hall.
"I'm with her." Ashley agreed, as she too sprinted out of the room.
"Yeah, I'm not sticking around to let Merlin get me." Mitch quickly followed. Sabrina, Kara and Sadie were quick to follow.
"Are you coming, sis?" Madelyn asked.
"It won't matter if you run. I've told Merlin all of your names, so he'll find you sooner or later. Running is only going to be delaying the inevitable punishment you'll get for disobeying Merlin." Brian responded. "In fact, you'll probably just be punished more for running away."
Velma was absolutely livid at Brian. She wanted to shout in his face, and ask him how he was going to sleep at night after he had done this to his peers and teacher. She knew this wouldn't do any good, though.
"What should we do, sis?" Madelyn asked.
"Well, this is a club for coming up with solutions, so maybe we can think of some way to phrase this to Merlin that makes it sound like we actually appreciate him." Velma pondered.
"We could do that, but I'm sure Mr. Tattletale over there would just tell him about our conversation." Madelyn sighed.
"Look guys, I'm sorry I had to do this. I don't like Merlin any more than you do, but revolting against him is only going to cause more trouble." Brian reasoned.
"You're not wrong, my loyal confidant." the terrifying voice of the ghost wizard rasped. "What's this I hear about a club to overthrow me?"
"Umm…they meant over…throw you a party! It's your birthday in a couple weeks, isn't it?" Owen sheepishly said.
"Is this true, Brian?" Merlin asked.
Brian looked terrified. It took him a moment to even respond to the wizard because he was shaking so much.
"No, it's a lie." Brian finally said. "They were just talking a minute ago about how to trick you into letting them go."
"Thank you for being honest with me, Brian." Merlin creepily patted him on the head. "As for you, what were you thinking, trying to overthrow me? You cannot defeat me!"
As much as Velma didn't want to respond, she knew she couldn't put that burden on her students.
"The students don't like being forced to work." Velma simply said.
"Ah yes, but they're doing it for a good cause." Merlin replied. "Retrieving my wand will help me regain my full power, so their hard work will pay off in the end. Now, we must address the fact that you directly disobeyed me. Since you're so passionate about helping students, you will help them…in the work room. Every moment you are not teaching or preparing for class, you will perform hard labor and dig with them."
"What?!" Velma gasped. These past few weeks, she'd been thinking how she couldn't possibly imagine having to work round the clock like the students were, and now she'd know exactly how it felt.
"Madelyn and Owen, your work hours will be extended. You will now have a designated period of two hours each night to do homework and eight hours to sleep. Other than this, any time you are not in class, you will be assigned to a shift in the work room." Merlin informed. "All you will do is work, eat and sleep! Hahahaha!"
"Oh my god, we received the worst punishment of all: adulthood!" Owen said in horror.
"This will teach you to revolt against me!" Merlin cackled. "Now, where are the other six students?"
Velma simply looked to Brian. "You might as well tell him. You've told him everything else."
The brunette teacher noticed her student blush as she said this about him.
"They ran off." he responded. "Down the hall."
"Thank you, Brian. They may think they can run now, but I'll hunt them down sooner or later. Speaking of which, I nearly forgot to implement the Club Club Club rule." Merlin replied as he took a large club out from his cloak and clubbed Velma over the head.
Velma felt her stomach churn, her muscles tense up, and her hands shaking. She couldn't believe this had just happened. Now, her entire life would be either teaching or working for Merlin. The worst part is that she had actually done a good job keeping this club a secret from Merlin. If not for being kind to Brian and inviting him in the club, they probably could have secretly met for the remainder of the semester without him ever finding out. No, scratch that. The actual worst part of this was that Velma felt like she was partially responsible for the horror these eight students would have to go through now that Merlin had found out. She didn't know if she could ever forgive herself.
Laboring in the work room was perhaps one of the most grueling tasks Velma had ever done. It was a constant pace of lifting her shovel, digging it in the dirt, then tossing that dirt to the side if there was no wand. She was sure she had done this repetitive action thousands of times by now, and she would have to do it thousands more. Today marked a full week in the work room, and Velma was already sick to death of the constant hard labor.
"So what are you here for?" a young blond-haired male asked.
Velma figured she had nothing left to lose, so she chose to be honest with the student. "I started a club to plan how to overthrow Merlin. How about you?"
Velma immediately realized it was silly to say this since all students were working. However, the student still replied "Yeah, I'm in a similar boat. I called Merlin a cotton-headed ninny muggins, so this is actually a work release from detention."
"I wish he would give us better shovels." Velma complained. "This could barely dig into a pile of gelatin."
"Yeah, Merlin's kind of a cheapskate. Would you believe he gave me one hour below the minimum amount of hours you need for it to be considered a part-time job? Now my parents won't be able to claim this on their taxes! They're gonna be so mad."
This comment struck Velma a bit odd, as she surely thought his parents would be a lot angrier to know their child was being forced into hard labor by a phantom wizard.
"Velma!" the voice of her undead boss shouted.
"Uh oh. Guess the boss calls." Velma sighed, as she put down her shovel and climbed up the ladder. "Yes?"
"We have a faculty meeting I would like you to be at right now." Merlin informed. "There are many important things to discuss."
"Okay! Lead the way!" Velma tried to sound eager-to-please. In this situation, some people would sass the dickens out of their dictator, but Velma didn't feel like this would do any good. Merlin had already reduced her life to teaching and shoveling. It was demeaning and soul-crushing to be forced into a situation like this, so she felt her best strategy of not getting punished further was to be on Merlin's good side. "So, what exactly are these important things?"
"There are many, but there's one thing that is of particular importance." Merlin's expression turned into a cruel grin. "You are going to tell everyone what you have done, and explain to them how it was an affront to the school."
"Oh…you really want them to know?" Velma was confused. Surely that would just give somebody else the idea to do the same thing.
"Yes. I want them all to hear an apology from you, and a cautionary tale of why no one should ever try something like this again." Merlin grinned.
So that was Merlin's intent. He was trying to create a work culture of fear where everyone was so scared that nobody would ever dare defy him. An incredibly smart plan, and sadly, Velma couldn't do anything but be complicit with it.
Merlin and Velma walked silently the rest of the way down the hall, until reaching the conference room. Although it was the same room, it had a very different feel to Velma than it'd had previously. Instead of excited and eager, the faculty all seemed as if they were in a dungeon. Velma didn't blame them, but she did envy them. She wished more than anything that she'd never told Brian about that club. If she hadn't, she'd likely still have a normal life where her worst worries were just about running into Merlin, rather than being worked to the brink of exhaustion.
"Hello, esteemed faculty. I have a number of policies I'd like to run by you today." Merlin informed. "Firstly, any student that is late for class will be sentenced to public humiliation using the humiliation machine. Motion to pass?"
No teacher uttered a peep.
"Motion to deny?" Merlin inquired.
"Nay." everyone said.
"Well, as headmaster, my vote usurps all of yours, so the humiliation policy shall commence." Merlin asserted his authority.
"I don't know why you ask us if our votes don't matter in the first place." Matt spoke out.
Merlin seemed to ignore him. "Next policy, mid-day ala carte snacks in the dining hall will be replaced by another helping of goulash. All in favor? By the way, if you're not in favor, you will be publicly humiliated."
"Aye." everyone said.
"Motion passed. Next policy, the optional mid-day helping of goulash will be replaced by half a helping of goulash to save money. Our budget's really been stretched with the tools we've needed for the work room. Motion to pass? Anyone who does not pass will be subject to an hourlong shift in the work room."
"Aye." everyone sighed.
"The pleasure will be all ours, I'm sure!" Doris Rumbridge added cautiously.
Velma couldn't think of a worse drudgery than being asked to agree to policies that they were going to be forced to abide by anyway. Well, that is, until she thought about how she'd have to spend another seven hours straight in the work room after teaching today.
"Now, Velma has something she would like to tell us regarding an egregious act against this school she's committed." Merlin laughed. "Speak, woman!"
Velma felt utterly degraded. She would be forced to humiliate herself by talking about what she'd done, and presumably, Merlin would want her to talk about herself in a negative light.
"Alright, I started a club that was coming up with a plan to get rid of Merlin." Velma admitted.
"Sweet! How's the progress comin'?" Mr. Mistara looked delighted.
"Well, what do you think?" Velma snapped, pointing at Merlin. "Merlin caught me, and I'm here to tell you not to revolt against Merlin. It won't work. We have to accept Merlin as our leader…actually, not only accept. We need to embrace him."
"Good, good." Merlin smiled. "Now tell them of your punishment so everyone may hear of what you've earned with your misbehavior. I want the entire Whirlen Merlin faculty to know what you have been subjected to."
"Bumbledore's not here, though." Mikayla pointed out.
"Ah yes, I tasked him with watching over the children in the work room to ensure nobody uses the absence of the adults as an excuse to escape." Merlin responded. "Now, no more waiting. Tell them, Velma!"
"I have to do hard labor amongst the children in the work room." Velma sighed. "Other than teaching, eating and sleeping, all I can do is work night and day."
"Yes, because that's what you deserve for turning against me, isn't it?" Merlin laughed.
Velma had to fight back the urge to tear up. She didn't want to say these words, but she had gotten to a point where she had no power over anything that happened in her life. Merlin was in complete control of everything she did. "Yes, you're right. My life is work, and that is all I deserve."
Merlin began laughing maniacally, which caused Velma to completely lose composure of herself. Her eyes began to get wet and puffy, as the tears streamed down her face. Her whole life had become a miserable wreck.
"That will be all for our meeting for today. I hope you found it useful, particularly Velma's presentation." Merlin concluded. Velma hardly felt like it was a "presentation," it was more like an excuse to humiliate her to tears.
"I sure did! I was actually considering setting an elaborate trap for you to end your reign of terror, but Velma's presentation sure talked me outta doin' that stupid crap!" Mr. Mistara announced. "See, it's right over there!"
Mr. Mistara then pointed to a small tripwire over by the door, along with a sign reading "step right here for free cookies" placed directly above it.
"Good, good." Merlin smiled. "I'm glad you've reconsidered your harmful actions. We all know that my leadership is what's best for this school, so there's little reason to not collaborate."
Merlin being casual and acting as if he was some sort of leader, rather than a usurping fiend, felt even more sinister to Velma than when Merlin was being openly evil. She tried to pretend he hadn't said that, and went to lunch to savor her few moments of not working.
As she left the room, Velma saw her sister headed to lunch as well. The brunette teacher had been so exhausted that she'd barely talked to her sister lately, as all of them had been working around the clock.
"Sis! How's it been going?" Madelyn asked. She looked exhausted. Her eyes looked red and puffy, with dark circles outlining the bottom of each eye. Velma wasn't sure if the puffiness was from crying or tiredness, but she assumed it could be either.
"It's been hard." Velma replied, as they sat down at their normal table. "I've had no energy for anything."
"Yeah, same." Madelyn answered.
"At least you had a little break from Merlin today when Bumbledore was watching over the work room during our faculty meeting." Velma recalled.
"Nobody was in the work room when you were in the meeting." Madelyn gave her sister a confused look. Velma was quite confused herself, before realizing that perhaps Bumbledore found himself in another bumble which prevented him from making it to the work room. It would certainly be in-character for him. "Well, I guess it's time for more goulash."
"They've got potatoes." Velma said.
"Yeah, but they're just whole uncooked potatoes." Madelyn said, looking at Owen's plate at the table directly adjacent to them.
"I've just been eating them like an apple." Owen shrugged, as he took a large bite of his raw potato. Velma shivered as he did it…it looked disgusting. It didn't really matter anyway, Velma supposed. She hated the constant dose of goulash she'd been getting every single meal, and given Merlin's 'no leaving the school' policy, she couldn't exactly go out and get another meal. Her eating was now for basic nourishment for the heavy labor she'd be doing, rather than actual enjoyment.
Velma felt a sense of relief when she got into class. Lately, this was her singular escape from the drudgery of forced labor. Now more than ever, she enjoyed being with her students. She didn't know if they enjoyed this class as much as she did, but she presumed that this was a part of the day they looked forward to, since it meant not having to work…well, unless Merlin pulled them out of class, which he had a few times. Unfortunately for Velma, it appeared he was perhaps doing the same thing again as he came into the room just as class was about to start.
"Sorry to interrupt you, Ms. Dinkley, but I need to make an announcement to your class. Do you think you can set aside a few minutes here at the beginning?" Merlin questioned.
"The floor's all yours." Velma said, sitting down in a nearby seat with her students. She didn't know why he always asked if he could do things, given he was going to just force her to do what he wanted anyway.
"Greetings, class." Merlin began. "Today, I would like to invite a few students on stage to discuss something that happened recently. When I call your name, come up on the stage so I may have you speak to the class. Madelyn, Sadie, Annabelle, Sabrina, Mitch, Kara, Owen, and Ashley."
Velma's heart sunk. She knew exactly what Merlin was going to do.
"Now, students, tell them about the little illegal club you were recently a part of." Merlin said.
All of them looked absolutely terrified. None of them spoke, each of them hoping one of the other chosen students might volunteer to speak instead of them.
"So, you aren't going to cooperate, huh? Ashley! Speak!" Merlin commanded.
Ashley was probably the worst person he could have chosen to scream at. She was so sweet and sensitive that she wouldn't handle that kind of treatment well. This was quickly demonstrated by her immediate tearing up.
"Well…we were a part of this club…it was talking about…umm…" Ashley stuttered through her tears.
"Tell them!" Merlin shouted.
"We stupidly were planning how to bring the school back to how it was." Ashley said. It was clear she didn't want to say anything to hint they had tried to revolt against Merlin, as not to anger him further.
"And how were you planning to do that?" Merlin coldly pressured.
"Alright, I admit it! The eight of us were thinking up a plan to get rid of Merlin, but that was stupid and misguided. We never should have done that ever, and I'll regret being a part of that club for the rest of my life!" Ashley groveled, fully bursting into tears now.
"Yes, and thankfully, your classmate Brian told me about these rebels, so I was able to take care of them." Merlin smirked, now pointing Whirlen's finger towards Mitch. "You! Tell them what your punishment for this was!"
"We've all got extra shifts in the work room. We're working all the time, except sleeping, eating and two hours for homework." Mitch informed.
"The work isn't so bad." Ron shrugged. "For me, the torture is being forced to listen to Merlin playing "We Built This City" on continuous repeat while we dig!"
"Yes, it is awful." Merlin said, gracing Whirlen's face with a Cheshire cat smile. "Thanks to Brian, your misbehaving classmates were stopped. Now, where is Brian?"
"I don't know." Velma admitted. "He didn't show up today."
"Well, that's good. I will be dropping him from your class. Clearly, you are unfit to teach a bright mind like his." Merlin taunted.
"Excuse me, Ms. Dinkley is not unfit!" Ramando snapped.
"What did you say?!" a rage boiled up in Merlin, shown through Whirlen's squinted eyes and flaring nostrils.
"I said she's not unfit!" Ramando defended. "I wasn't doing very well in this class, but Ms. Dinkley believed in me, and it motivated me to raise my grade."
Velma was shocked, both that Ramando had defied Merlin like that, and that he believed she was such a good teacher. He had never directly told her that before.
"You are clearly a troublemaker who doesn't have a drop of sense in his head." Merlin snarled. "Ms. Dinkley, I command you to fail that student immediately!"
Velma felt a panic wash over her entire body. She had adopted the philosophy of just doing whatever Merlin said to avoid certain torture, but what he was asking her to do was flat-out wrong. Ramando had improved so much as a student since the beginning of the semester, and he'd just admitted that he was only doing well because she believed in him. She couldn't fail a student with such a bright future like him. Doing that might affect his development forever, and make him feel that nobody really believed in him. No matter how much she was trying to cater to Merlin's whims, she couldn't ruin a student's life by telling them they were unworthy like that.
"No." Velma said. "Ramando may have spoken out when he shouldn't have, but he doesn't deserve to fail."
"Velma Dinkley, I am placing you on probation! I will teach your class for the remainder of the semester, and you will spend your remaining few weeks here in the work room! Night and day, with only short breaks to eat and sleep, so that you can work, and work, and work until you pass out!" Merlin screamed.
Velma had never felt more stricken with panic in her entire life. Merlin had now taken away the only thing left that brought her happiness, and had condemned her entire being to a constant state of work. Velma had no idea of what to do, so she ran out of the room sobbing. It was embarrassing to do this in front of all her students, but she presumed they understood given what Merlin had just done.
Before she pushed her body to the outer limits with heavy labor, she needed a few minutes to breathe so that she didn't have a full-on heart attack. Her heart was racing so fast that it was beginning to physically hurt from how quickly it was pulsating. She began to feel like she couldn't even breathe. She had no idea where she was going, but she wanted to go somewhere that nobody would think to look for her. She was too terrified to even process what she was doing clearly, so without thinking, she ran into the first dorm room she saw. Once she had gone through the door, she realized that this was Whirlen's old room. Although it was risky to be in the room Merlin now resided in, she presumed Merlin would still be teaching her class, so he wouldn't think of coming in here now.
Velma was so rattled that she needed to lay down so she could bring her heart rate back down to a steady level, as it was beginning to feel like it was going to beat right out of her chest. She laid down on Whirlen's king-sized bed, resting her shaking body on the soft white quilt. For a few moments, she simply laid there and paid attention only to her breathing, so that she could hopefully slow down her breaths from hyperventilation back to a normal level.
Just as she was beginning to relax, her heart began to speed up rapidly again when she heard a thumping noise. She lied there on Whirlen's bed, staying completely still for a moment. Throughout the few minutes she stayed still as a frightened deer, she didn't hear any sign of the noise, which was a relief. Velma decided to go back to focusing on her breathing to slow down her elevated heart rate.
All of a sudden, she heard the thump again. However, what was most frightening to the brunette is that she didn't just hear the thump. She felt it.
There was something under the bed.
Her heart rate had now gone sky-high again, knowing what she had to do. She had to kneel down and look under the bed to make sure she was still safe in this room.
Velma could feel the sheer terror as she lifted up the hanging sheet that covered her view of seeing under the bed. As she slowly knelt down on the floor and lifted up the sheet, her emotions quickly shifted from fear to shock when she saw who it was.
Whirlen was tied up and gagged under the bed.
Author's note:
Bet you weren't expecting that haha! Just a singular reference here, the student calling Merlin a "cotton-headed ninny muggins" is a reference to one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time, Elf. In the film, it's jokingly used an alternative word for "stupid."
I'm going to take a short break from publishing, since next week is Thanksgiving and I will be visiting family. I know I've mentioned that this fanfic was entirely written before I published the first chapter, but I won't be bringing my laptop, and it's not really worth the hassle to try to get this published on the mobile site while I'm traveling. I will resume publishing the following week.