Velma couldn't believe it. How was this even possible? Whirlen was currently possessed by Merlin, yet here he was tied up under the bed.
Whirlen's mouth made muffled noises under his gag, presumably trying to get Velma to take it off. She quickly removed the gag, and once she did, he began to rapidly breathe in the fresh air.
"Thank goodness you found me!" Whirlen exclaimed.
Velma found herself at a complete loss for words. "How is this possible? Merlin possessed you."
"No, he didn't. I'm right here, aren't I?" Whirlen questioned.
"Well, yes, you are…but I watched him possess you." Velma replied. "Right as you were announcing the results of the election."
"I'm afraid that's impossible. About an hour before I was planning to go to the gym and hold the election, Merlin grabbed me from my office, tied me up, and hid me under the bed. I've been tied up under here for nearly a month now."
Velma felt sick to her stomach at this revelation. "Oh my god. I thought I was going through torture, but this is horrible. I'm so sorry you've had to go through this."
"Oh, it's quite alright." Whirlen shrugged. "Merlin's been quite kind to me, actually. I get two hours of exercise time in this room every day, and each night, he makes me a gourmet meal. I've been using the exercise time to work on this puzzle."
Whirlen pointed over to the back corner of the room, where a one-thousand piece puzzle was mostly set up. Nearly all the pieces were in place, showing a picture of a group of koalas with the caption "We're koala in this together."
"I don't understand…" Velma struggled to process through what she had just discovered. "So Merlin captured you? Did he use his powers to ambush you?"
"No, not at all. He grabbed me from behind and said 'you're coming with me,' tied me up, and put me under the bed." Whirlen said.
"What purpose would Merlin have for kidnapping and pretending to possess you? Unless…" Velma began to postulate a theory. "I don't think Merlin is a real ghost."
"But what purpose would somebody have for impersonating my ancestor?" Whirlen questioned.
"If Merlin was a real ghost, he wouldn't have needed to come up with this elaborate scheme of possessing you." Velma pointed out. "In fact, I've never seen him use his powers once in the three weeks he's been in charge of the school."
"If he's not really the ghost of my ancestor, why would he do this?" Whirlen questioned.
"Well, he seems to want to take over the school, for some reason." Velma replied. "I don't think that's the whole reason, though. I think that wand he's looking for might have something to do with it."
"The Wand of Eternity?" Whirlen gasped. "Has he found it?"
"No, but he's been having students…and me…dig for it night and day. He hasn't been able to find it yet, but I fear he's getting close." Velma worried. "We need to do something to stop him."
"Are you proposing we set a trap?" Whirlen asked.
"Well…yes. However, even if Merlin can't stop us with magic, he still could be a dangerous criminal, so we have to be careful." Velma cautiously suggested. "Now that I've angered him, we can't risk executing a plan tonight. He'll be expecting me to do something right away, but if I show him I'm still complacent, he might let his guard down just enough for us to strike."
"Perhaps you could get all your students involved in that club together again." Whirlen suggested.
Velma stuttered as she attempted to formulate a response. She really hesitated to rely on her students at all anymore. She felt horrible about putting them in such a dangerous position so many times. Not only that, but she had consistently let them down again and again. First, she had converted her class to a course teaching about Merlin, and that caused Madelyn and Parry to be kidnapped. Then, she'd started the secret club, only to have Merlin strike before any plan could come to fruition. If that wasn't bad enough, she'd then started the club again a week later, but was stupid enough to tell Brian, who sold them out to Merlin. Now eight of her students were all subjected to intensely heavy labor nearly around the clock all because she involved them. She thought about Ramando as well, who was probably punished by Merlin for defending Velma after she had left.
After pondering it for a few moments, Velma finally gave her response with a strict tone of voice. "No."
"No?" Whirlen gasped. "That could be our only chance in defeating Merlin!"
"I won't involve my students in this again." Velma firmly asserted. "My students have been kidnapped, punished, and subjected to heavy labor all because they were associated with me. It's not fair to me to keep involving them in something that could put them in danger. They're so young that they might not even know what they're getting into. It's unethical."
"I think the students are far smarter than you give them credit for. Did you ever force them to come to your meetings?" Whirlen asked.
"No." Velma simply responded. Even though she hadn't forced them, it still didn't change her firm opinion.
"Did you ever tempt them with extra credit, or try to persuade them into joining this club?" Whirlen further questioned.
"No." Velma repeated.
"Were the students who joined the club doing poorly in your class?" Whirlen inquired.
"No. In fact, all of them are the best students I have." Velma could feel her tight mental hold on her opinions begin to loosen as Whirlen continued asking questions. Maybe he was right. These students weren't mindless puppets who she'd tricked into joining this club. She had been completely neutral when presenting the idea of the club to them, and all of them made the effort to join. None of the students in the club were getting bad grades; in fact, they regularly demonstrated insightful analysis of the concepts.
"Well, then, if you don't mind me being blunt: what exactly are you concerned about here? Their happiness, or the guilt around the situation you'd created in your own mind?" Whirlen asked.
He did have a point, actually. If Velma were concerned about their happiness, which she should be, she would do anything she could to free them from these oppressive conditions. Given the realization that Merlin was likely just some criminal in a Halloween costume, this provided more of a reason than ever to stand up to Merlin. Merlin hadn't shown many signs of strength at all. In fact, he was just using people's fear to his advantage. Everyone believed that if they disobeyed, Merlin would cast some horrible spell or use the full extent of his magic on them, but in reality, Merlin had no power.
"If I wouldn't have trusted Brian and told him about the club, this never would have happened." Velma lamented.
"How would you have known that? Did Brian give you any reason to mistrust him?" Whirlen probed.
"No, not exactly." Velma paused as she thought deeper about what Whirlen was saying. "He seemed like an anxious student who needed my help, to be honest."
"See? You can't be too hard on yourself for something you never could have anticipated. All you can do is use it as a learning experience to grow into a better person." Whirlen provided his advice.
Velma couldn't help but let a slight smile show on her face. Although Whirlen could be a quirky boss with strange whims at times, this was definitely one of his more insightful moments.
"You know, that's a fair point." Velma nodded. "I couldn't have anticipated Brian doing that. He seemed like he was practically scared of his own shadow, so I never would have expected him to go to Merlin."
"What's the harm in including your students in this plan, then?" Whirlen wondered aloud. "Honestly, you're one of the most compassionate teachers we've ever had at the Me School of Magic. You didn't take advantage of your students. You took steps to ensure this school would remain a safe place for the students to live and study, and that is truly admirable."
Velma felt her frightened heart warm up a bit as Whirlen complimented her. She knew the students loved her because of this vision they had of her as a "hero," but hearing how beloved she was because of her teaching philosophy and values felt like so much more of a genuine appreciation of her identity.
"You're right." Velma agreed. "I got my students into this, and now, I'm going to get them out. I still think it's a good idea to wait a few days so that Merlin really thinks he's crushed my spirit."
"Could we perhaps wait until a week from today?" Whirlen inquired.
"Okay, but why would we do that?" Velma asked.
"Merlin serves chicken cacciatore on Tuesday evenings." Whirlen informed. "I've been trying to figure out the secret ingredient in his recipe so I can make it myself, but I haven't quite been able to do it yet."
Velma was a little insulted. "It's a kidnapping though…you aren't supposed to enjoy it. Besides, you're saying that both of us should suffer another week in this drudgery so that you can figure out his secret recipe?"
"Yes, I thought it was quite clear I was saying that." Whirlen looked annoyed.
"Okay fine, we'll execute our plan on Wednesday morning then?" Velma asked.
"Oh drat." Whirlen sighed. "Wednesday mornings are when Merlin makes his famous Belgian waffles with fresh vine-picked raspberries and just a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Could we perhaps schedule the ambush for late morning?"
"You do know the rest of us are being served goulash for every meal, right?" Velma found herself losing her patience. "But fine. Yes. You can have your raspberry waffles."
"What exactly is the plan, anyway?" Whirlen inquired.
"Well…" Velma remembered back to one of the more recent meetings of Dinkley's Army, where Mitch suggested pestering him until he cast a spell. "Actually, one of my students had a great idea. If I confront him and demand that he use a spell, he's not going to be able to do it. Even if he were to do something to me, that's where you and my eight students come in. He won't know that all of them are in on the plan, and he especially won't expect you, so it's pretty foolproof. If he does anything to me, the nine of you will just grab him and that will stop him. Then, we can call the police, and voila, no more Merlin!"
"Sounds like a smart plan to me." Whirlen replied. "Can you take care of telling each of the students about your plan?"
"Yeah, that shouldn't be too hard…maybe." Velma paused for a moment. Her mind wandered back to how Merlin was going to be extremely suspicious of anything she did. Her plan continued to morph as she spoke. "Actually, I think the best course of action is to just find Madelyn and tell her. Merlin won't suspect anything if he happens to see me talking to her, since she's my sister, but he might suspect something if I'm talking to the other students. I'll tell Madelyn about our plan, and then she can tell the rest of the students."
"Well, sounds like you've got things figured out. Tie me up again and I'll see you in a week." Whirlen nonchalantly said.
"You seem awfully relaxed about being tied up under a bed for another whole week." Velma pointed out.
"It's been quite peaceful. There's a surprising amount of time for contemplation when you're crammed under a bed with a cloth wrapped around your mouth. In fact, all of this time has allowed me to finally come to terms with why being bullied in middle school was so damaging to my self-esteem." Whirlen revealed.
"What's that?" Velma wondered.
"Well, it took a lot of self-reflection and personal growth, but I've ultimately come to the conclusion that I'm afraid of jerks." Whirlen plainly stated.
Velma didn't even know how to begin to respond to a shallow realization like that. "Are you sure you're okay with being tied up again? I feel bad."
"Yes, I'm okay with it. You're doing a noble thing for this school, Velma, and I want you to know you will be generously rewarded if you defeat Merlin." Whirlen said, as he climbed under the bed again. Velma quickly picked the ropes up off the floor and began tying her boss up.
"Thank you, Whirlen. I'm so sorry about this." Velma replied, as she tied the cloth gag around his mouth. She tried to keep it somewhat loose so it wasn't choking him like before, but she didn't want to make it too loose so that Merlin wouldn't notice anything was amiss. She felt a horrible sense of dread wash over her as she thought about having to go back to the work room. The best she could do to comfort her mind was making a promise to herself that this would all be over in a week.
It had been a grueling week of backbreaking work thus far. Unfortunately for her, it was only Monday, so she still had two more days left of this drudgery. As Velma slogged back to her room for the evening in a tired stupor to take a shower, she perked up when she saw Madelyn walking down the hall right behind her.
"Mads!" Velma said. "Can we go in my room and watch a movie?"
"At this hour? Sis, I'm wiped." Madelyn said.
Velma felt the tension building in her shoulders. This could be her only chance to tell her sister about the plan, so that she could disseminate the word to the other students. She couldn't outright say what she wanted though, in case Merlin was listening, so she had to package it under the guise of a movie. "Madelyn, I'm sorry, but I really need you to watch a movie with me."
"Oh…oh!" Velma could see the switch in Madelyn's brain flip to realize what Velma was saying. "Yeah, let's watch one real quick. I need time to unwind."
Velma quickly pulled her key out of her pocket, and unlocked the door to her room. Madelyn rapidly glanced from side to side before darting in, presumably to ensure nobody saw her.
"Alright, I think we're safe. There's so much to tell you I don't even know where to start." Velma could feel her heart rate begin to speed up.
"Well, start from the beginning." Madelyn suggested. She seemed eager to hear the news.
"That day that Merlin kicked me out of class and sent me to the work room…" Velma began, before Madelyn interrupted her.
"Oh my gosh, that was awful!" Madelyn exclaimed. "I've never felt such a sense of dread and terror as I did that day."
"Can you let me finish?" Velma snapped, before immediately feeling bad for doing so. "I'm sorry, we can catch up about how you feel and what's been going on with Merlin later. I just want to tell you this as quickly as I can. If Merlin passes by your room and doesn't see you there, he could suspect something."
"I'm sorry." Madelyn apologized. "Please continue."
"Anyway, that day, I needed a moment to breathe before diving into hours of heavy manual labor, so I ducked into Whirlen's room." Velma explained.
"Sis, you didn't!" Madelyn gasped. "What if Merlin would have caught you?"
"I knew he was in class with you, so I thought I had a few minutes. Turns out, I did, and guess who I found in there?" Velma rhetorically asked. "Whirlen. He was tied up under the bed."
"What?! How is that possible?" Madelyn cried out.
"Merlin isn't a real ghost, or a wizard. If he were, he wouldn't have had to lie about possessing Whirlen. Apparently, Whirlen's been tied up under there for weeks ever since the day of the election." Velma continued. "He's still in there now, in fact."
"Oh my god! We have to get him out!" Madelyn gasped.
"Shhh…" Velma lowered her voice to a whisper. "I know we're safe in this room, but I don't want to risk Merlin listening at the door. We are going to get him out, but I'm going to need the DA's help one last time. We're going to overthrow Merlin on Wednesday morning."
Madelyn's eager look changed to a cautious one. "I don't want to hurt your feelings, sis, but…"
"But what?" Velma became concerned.
"This is the third time you've asked us to help, and the other two times didn't work out so well." Madelyn pointed out.
Velma hung her head a bit in disgrace. The feelings of guilt from before Whirlen comforted her were returning.
"I know, but this time, I think we're really going to defeat him." Velma promised. "Think about it, he's been forcing you guys to dig all these weeks under the guise that he has magic powers to hurt you with. In reality, he has nothing. I was thinking of executing Mitch's plan where I confront Merlin and refuse to work, and dare him to put a spell on me."
"He could still hurt you, sis!" Madelyn exclaimed quietly. "Even if he doesn't have magic powers, he could still beat you up, or worse."
"That's where you all come in. He won't expect any of you to step in anymore. He thinks he's got you all scared stiff, but when eight students step up to defend me, he won't have a chance to do anything. If he tries anything, push him to the ground and hold him down. He can't fight eight of you. Besides, I'm going to untie Whirlen right before I do it, and he'll come to gym and help with the ambush." Velma explained.
"That's a brilliant idea! I knew you'd save the day, sis!" Madelyn replied, hugging her sister. It was a brief hug, however, as both of them still needed to shower from being so sweaty.
"You've still got an important role too. I can't risk talking to any of the other students. If I do, Merlin will suspect I'm up to something." Velma said. "If you do it, though, he'll just think you're talking to them about class or something. I need you to find some way to let the rest of the DA know about this. No matter what, be extremely careful. If we want to have any chance of defeating Merlin, he can't know our plan this time, no matter what."
"Your secret is safe with me, sis." Madelyn smiled. "I wish I could tell you everything that's been going on in class, but I guess I have to leave."
"I'm sorry. I think that's best, in case Merlin notices you're not in your room." Velma sighed. She really missed teaching, and it significantly bothered her that she couldn't teach on one of the last weeks of the semester (especially given the reason for her absence was digging for a maniacally authoritarian villain).
"Bye, sis. Love you! I'll be waiting for Wednesday morning!" Madelyn replied.
"Bye! Love you too, sis." Velma said, feeling depressed and worried as her sister left. Besides the fact that it would be depressing to have to work herself to the bone digging for another endless day, Velma felt a pang of worry about screwing up again. She was pretty confident about the plan this time, given Merlin's main weapon was the power of fear, but she found herself beginning to feel frightened of letting her students down and screwing up their lives once again.
Wednesday had finally arrived, and Velma's anxiety had only increased since Monday night. Promptly after breakfast, she knew what she had to do: slip off briefly to untie Whirlen, then go to the work room, work for a brief period, then lay down her shovel and confront Merlin. Unfortunately for her, she only had a few bites left of her morning goulash. However, despite her fear, Velma knew she had to be brave for her students. If she didn't, she knew they would continue to be subject to his reign of tyranny.
Velma glanced around to ensure nobody was watching her. Thankfully, nobody was; there were only a few students eating a meal in the dining hall. Just in case, she didn't want to look like she was sneaking around. As casually as she could, she tried to look like she was heading back to the work room. She passed a few students in the hallway, but it was nobody she recognized, and nobody professed to recognizing her, so thankfully, she was safe. Velma vigorously looked around when she reached the hallway leading to Whirlen's room, but didn't see anyone around. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally arrived in the room and headed inside, although the weight of the rest of the plan quickly hit her again once she realized she'd only gotten the easy part out of the way.
"What are you doing here?" a voice asked.
Velma practically jumped ten feet when she heard the voice from outside Whirlen's room. She peeked her head out of the room and saw it was a male student whom she didn't recognize. He was wearing a purple Whirlen Merlin shirt and blue jeans.
"Oh…I…Merlin had me run and do an errand. He forgot his…um….beard trimmer in here." Velma immediately facepalmed at what she said. Surely this stupid excuse would make this student think she was lying and report her to Merlin.
"Well, Merlin's beard sure is long." the student pondered. "Never mind. Sorry to bother you."
Velma exhaled deeply once the student was out of hearing range. Knowing that she had to act fast invigorated her to move past her anxiety, because if she didn't, she knew she might ruin her only chance to defeat Merlin and rescue everyone.
The brunette teacher dropped down to her hands and knees, and lifted up the bed sheet covering the view under the bed. A tied-up Whirlen quickly shifted his glance over to her, as she untied the ropes around his legs. Once his legs were free, it removed the constriction that prevented him from rolling out from under the bed. Whirlen used his legs to move the rest of his body out from under the bed. As his arms came beyond the threshold of the bed, Velma de-knotted the ropes around his wrists, and removed the cloth gag tied firmly around his mouth.
"Merlin must have tightened that gag again, huh?" Velma questioned.
"Ah yes, he removed it last night so we could have a conversation. We had quite an engaging chat about the current state of our country's economic system." Whirlen revealed. "So, are we ready to execute the plan?"
"I'm ready if you are." Velma replied, before adding a caveat. "At least, I think I am."
"Why the hesitation?" Whirlen wondered.
"Well…I just don't want to screw up." Velma admitted. "If I mess this up, it's going to have disastrous consequences for my students."
"That's part of the journey of being a teacher. You don't have all the answers, you just have to give it your best attempt and do everything you can to help your students." Whirlen provided his insight. "Well, that's what I'd tell you if your students weren't being forced to work by a crazed person dressed up as my ancestor. Instead, I'll tell you don't screw up, no matter what! If you do, you'll be facing unimaginable anguish."
"I think I like the first sentiment better." Velma rolled her eyes. Whirlen was right after all. She didn't have all the answers, but she and Whirlen had carefully thought out this plan that seemed foolproof. If something didn't go according to plan, she'd just have to remain brave and do whatever she could to make sure it still worked.
"We don't have time to be exchanging sentiments." Whirlen pointed out. "I'll be in the gym in 15 minutes, and you should get there now."
"Agreed. Let's hope the next time we meet, Merlin will be defeated." Velma optimistically replied, as she scampered off to the gym. She thankfully didn't run into any other curious students on the way, and was able to make a straight shot to the gym.
The thought of having to get back in the pit and dig wasn't appealing to her in the slightest, given she'd worked herself to exhaustion in the past week. She tried to comfort herself with the thought that she'd only need to do it for about 10 or 15 minutes so that Merlin would think it was just another normal day.
It saddened Velma to see all eight members of the DA digging down in the pit when she arrived. She didn't want to risk talking to them before the plan began, so she picked up a shovel and started digging. She dug the shovel into the ground with great vigor, using it as an outlet to express her anger at Merlin for doing this to her.
"Wow, you're really working hard this morning!" a male student whom she didn't recognize said to her.
"I'm not in a good mood." Velma admitted. She supposed saying this wouldn't bring her any harm…in fact, it worked into her plan of confronting Merlin perfectly.
"Yeah, me either." the student admitted. "Merlin wouldn't honor the overtime I put in. I tried to convince him it should count as flextime, but he wasn't going for it. He just said I could take extra breaks until I made up the time. Man, what a jerk!"
"Eh, what are you gonna do?" another female student in a pink shirt and blue jeans said. "I was under the impression that there were vision benefits in this job, but it turns out he just meant that his vision for finding the wand would benefit everybody. Now I've gotta cancel the checkup with my eye doctor!"
"These working conditions are really unfair." Velma complained. "I can't believe he's making people work like this."
"You're telling me. He's been playing "Believe" by Cher for the past two hours!" Mitch lamented. "Seems like it's finally almost over, though."
Just as Mitch presumed, the song finally ended, and was followed by a radio jingle of sorts.
"MRLN, Merlin Radio!" a chorus of high voices sang, before another song Velma found annoying, "Together Forever" by Rick Astley, began playing.
"He already played this for three hours yesterday!" Ron harrumphed.
"Ow!" another student screamed in the distance. This seemed to get Merlin's attention. Merlin quickly pivoted his head over to the student who had shouted. The ghostly wizard didn't look particularly pleased.
"What seems to be the problem?" Merlin asked.
"An unfortunate-yet-clownish series of events led to me bonking my funnybone!" the student responded.
"Keep working!" Merlin demanded.
"But I'm injured!" the student lamented. "I never realized it, but getting hit in the funnybone isn't so funny at all!"
"As long as you can still work, you will finish your shift!" Merlin shouted.
"What about that injury insurance paperwork I signed, though?" the student inquired.
"The only thing that insured is my right to make you keep working!" Merlin snapped.
"Ah man, everything around here's about work!" the student griped. "In fact, I'm starting to think that vacation day you gave me to work on the other side of the pit wasn't really a vacation at all!"
Velma realized this argument would provide the perfect catalyst for her to execute her plan. Forcefully, she threw her shovel across the pit.
"Ow, my other funnybone! I don't find this very funny at all!" the student cried, as the shovel accidentally hit him in the arm.
Velma climbed up the ladder in a frustrated frenzy, walking so fast that her feet barely grazed each step. Once she reached solid ground again, she began to raise her voice and unload on Merlin. Even though this was technically an act to ambush him, she really felt the anger boil up in every ounce of her body. She'd been tortured by this man for a month at this point, and she'd had enough. Teaching at Whirlen Merlin's had been an incredible experience for her up until recently. Merlin had ruined what could have been one of the most unique, amazing experiences of her life, and now he was going to pay for it.
"Merlin, I am finished!" Velma screamed.
"You too?" Merlin chuckled, his voice sounding so superior that it was almost as if she was an insignificant bug to him.
"You've been treating me and these students awfully for the past month, and I won't stand for it anymore!" Velma yelled.
"Velma, you don't have a leg to stand on. I've already made you work every second of every day, stripped you of your teaching privileges, and humiliated you in front of your entire class. Are you really so stupid as to ask for more punishment? I'd be delighted to punish you further, but if you know what's good for you, you'll get down in that pit and work before you receive further reprimand!" Merlin threatened.
"Go ahead, punish me more. I don't care." Velma shrugged.
"From here on in, you have no more breaks or lunch! It will be a working lunch! It's the latest innovation in workplace efficiency!" Merlin's tone of voice heightened.
"He'll do it, you know." a male student in a blue dirt-covered shirt said. "Last week, he made me get lunch with the city building inspector so he could get a digging permit."
"How about this, no dinners or breakfasts either!" Velma added onto her punishment.
"Are you really that moronic as to challenge your superior leader in such a disrespectful way?" Merlin hissed, his cape swooping as he moved closer to her near the pit's edge.
"Actually, you know what, I'll just work 25 hours a day." Velma sassed.
"You don't understand how your foolish actions have doomed you yet, but soon you will." Merlin's face grew grim. "Now, all your meals will be served to you in a dog bowl on the ground, like the animal you are! You will have to eat your scraps as you work yourself into oblivion. In addition, the two snacks you usually receive in the afternoon and before bedtime will now be brought down to only one snack in the afternoon."
At that moment, Mr. Mistara walked into the gym. He'd apparently overheard at least part of the conversation, given his exclamation. "No bedtime snack? That girl must be whack!"
"No. I don't accept that." Velma firmly said. "That is mistreatment, and I'm tired of these poor working conditions. I'm walking out of here."
"No! You will not walk out on me!" Merlin shouted.
"How are you going to stop me? Casting one of your silly spells on me? I bet you couldn't even cast a spell that would cut paper." Velma taunted.
"Do not invoke my powerful magic!" Merlin screamed. He continued to inch closer to Velma until they were only standing a few feet away from each other.
"I dare you to cast a spell on me." Velma challenged.
"Just because you are so impetuous, I'm not even going to waste my puny magic on you." Merlin cackled, as he unexpectedly grabbed Velma and put his arms around her neck.
Velma gasped for air as Merlin's hands grasped her neck. She only managed to muster out a faint "Help!," with a glance at the eight students who had been a part of the DA.
"I'm sorry, but we can't." Mitch said. His comment nearly put Velma in a state of shock. "You sold us out to Merlin, and now, we've gotta spend every moment we aren't studying in the work room."
"Yeah, why would we help you again?" Owen agreed with his classmate. "We'd just get in more trouble."
The glasses-clad teacher couldn't believe her ears. Madelyn must not have been able to convince them to help like Velma had wrongly assumed they'd want to.
"Sis?" Velma whimpered.
Madelyn glanced back at her with a cold, detached look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Velma, but I can't help you. You shouldn't have challenged Merlin like that."
"There, what do you say now?" Merlin chuckled. "As your sister said, you should not have challenged me like that. You have let down everybody you care about. Now who will help you? Hahahahahaha!"
"I will." the voice of Whirlen said from the doorway. "You're not my ancestor, you impetuous fraud!"
Velma glanced around as Merlin's hands remained on her neck, and noticed a sea of shocked faces in front of her. None of the students looked like they could believe it.
"I am Merlin! You are the fraud!" Merlin laughed.
"Unhand my employee immediately." Whirlen snarled, as he rushed towards Merlin.
"If you say so." Merlin smirked, as he removed his grasp around Velma's neck. To her shock, he then made his hand into a fist, and punched Velma squarely in the face. Velma felt a rush of pain as Merlin's fist hit her cheek. She quickly realized that he had punched her so hard that it had knocked her off her feet, as she rapidly lost her balance and fell face first on the ground. She didn't lose consciousness, but she saw stars for a minute.
"You can't do that to my employee!" Whirlen shouted, as he ran at Merlin. "Didn't you read the anti-punching policy in the Faculty Handbook, you fiend?"
"Well, if I can't do it to your employee, I'll just have to do it to you!" Merlin laughed, as he rapidly reached for Whirlen's neck and began choking him as well. "This silly little 'revolt' of yours was doomed to fail. Nobody will save either one of you now!"
"That's where you're wrong." Sabrina responded. Velma had been so disoriented from the punch she hadn't even noticed the eight students had left the pit, and were now standing right in front of Merlin.
"If you like this pit so much, why don't you spend a while in it?" Sadie snapped.
"Now!" Madelyn exclaimed. To everybody's surprise, all eight of the DA members pushed Merlin. Unable to withstand the force behind the students all simultaneously shoving his body at once, Merlin fell directly into the pit, hitting the ground hard with a loud thud. When he hit the ground, he did not get up.
"Oh my god! We did it!" Sabrina exclaimed.
"Yeah, I wasn't sure if we'd pull that off!" Annabelle responded.
"What…how…?" Velma was so disoriented she didn't feel like she was tracking anything well. "I thought you all said you didn't want to help me, because I'd let you down."
"We're sorry we had to lie." Owen apologized.
"That was all just an act so that we could really catch Merlin by surprise." Ashley further explained.
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, Velms." Madelyn apologized, a bit of guilt visible in her eyes. "I know it must have been scary, but there was no opportunity to tell you without Merlin overhearing. I just couldn't risk it."
"It's okay, Mads." Velma replied, giving her sister a warm hug. "Thank you so much for organizing all this for me."
"Of course! It's what any sister would do." Madelyn responded.
"Looks like you were right all along, Kara." Velma shifted her attention to the brown-haired girl. "Merlin was a fake."
"It seemed a bit too convenient that nobody ever saw Merlin actually use any spells." Kara pointed out. "It always bothered me how easily he was defeated previously, as well. A real ghost wizard would never be defeated by somebody pushing them up against a wall, or at least, I can't imagine they would if there are any real ghost wizards out there."
"What I'm more curious about is who would go to all the trouble to dress up in a ghost wizard costume and a Whirlen costume?" Sadie questioned.
"Who wants to do the honors of unmasking him?" Velma asked. She was surprised by who answered, given she hadn't even seen that this person was in the room.
"The pleasure will be all mine, I'm sure!" Doris Rumbridge said, as she climbed down into the pit and approached the currently incapacitated body of Merlin.
Velma waited in anticipation as Doris removed the Whirlen mask. Her heart raced a bit with a mix of nervousness and excitement. Not only did she wonder who could have possibly done something like this, but it also gave her a bit of exhilaration remembering back to the days of doing this with the gang. In classic Mystery Inc. style, Velma said a phrase that she'd said so much previously that it had nearly become a catchphrase. "Now let's see who Merlin really is."
