Even though she had been exhausted, Lina found it challenging to sleep as she replayed every interaction she'd had with Tom, Adora and Mara Jade through her mind as she tried to figure out what she had missed, anything that could have warned about what was coming. But even after she'd abandoned sleep and gone down to breakfast, Lina was none the wiser. But as she ate she realized that she was in good company at least as all the other teachers could discuss was how blindsided they felt.
But while Lina was ready to grill the students who had joined Tom's group, there was one person she needed to see first.
"How are you feeling?" Lina asked Anne as she pulled up a chair by her bed as Gourry stood behind her and put his hands steadily on her shoulders.
"I'm doing well. Lady Amelia wants me to rest some more and even got me breakfast in bed." Anne said.
"A concussion is nothing to sneeze at so get better and recover." Lina said with a smile as she felt a pang of guilt. Anne had been one of the students they had treated with suspicion and she had let her annoyance with her slip on more than one occasion. But she had also stood up to Tom in the end.
"I will," Anne said.
Lina grabbed the book beside Anne, "This is a good read."
Anne smiled widely, "I used to read it all the time at the orphanage. It was really the only book they had. It went missing one day though."
"I guess with all those kids around it was easy for things to go missing." Lina said.
"Well, Tom liked to take trophies." Anne said as she looked down, "And then blame it on me."
"What else did Tom do?" Lina asked.
Anne shuddered suddenly, "I-I don't know for sure. But in the city we grew up in, some kids went missing. One of them was a young boy who had a coat with beautiful blue buttons. After he went missing I saw Tom with the buttons."
Lina looked up at Gourry in shock for a moment and, if she was honest with herself, a horrible sense of relief. And then back at Anne. "What happened?"
"I told the woman who ran the orphanage. But she thought I was telling lies." Anne said as she lowered her head. "And then after I snitched, I found the buttons under my bedcovers. Just as Tom brought the headmistress in to show her. I managed to throw them out before she got there but…"
Lina's stomach knotted as it became apparent just how deranged Tom was before he'd even stepped foot into Maninstit. And though it was terrifying to think that a child could be so monstrous, it also helped Lina to see that there was little she could have done, "Is there anything else?"
Anne shook her head as she looked reproachful as Lina's heart lurched as she wondered what she must have endured at the orphanage because of Tom and whether or not he'd continued that here.
"I'm glad you told us." Lina said, "Now I want you to rest up and get better. And just so you know, you still have a place at Maninstit next year, and things will be different for you."
Anne smiled brightly at her, "Really?"
"Yeah," Lina said as she patted her hand, "Get some rest."
She stood up and followed Gourry out, barely managing to restrain her words until she got out, "If Tom had murdered others before he came to Maninstit…" Lina said.
"I know." He said as he squeezed her hand.
"And it looks like the headmistress there missed it completely…" Lina said as the sound of someone knocking on the front door rang through the foyer.
Lina's heart raced as she hoped it was the students coming back with Tom as she and Gourry rushed to answer it. But when she opened the door it was Marcus and Susan. And while Marcus was smiling amiably, Susan's face fell as she said, "I see I got here too late."
Lina blushed as she wondered what all she'd revealed with her thoughts, "Well, we could have really used you yesterday, but I'm still glad you're here today. Come in. How are things in Dils?"
"It's a slow recovery, given everything that came before," Susan said as Marcus followed her in. "But we're recovering. It sounds as though you've had some rough times."
"Care to fill me in?" Marcus asked.
"Yes, let's go to the parlor." Lina said, "Then I'd like you to sit in as I interview the students involved in Tom's group."
"I feel like such an idiot." Indy groused as he buried his face in his hands.
"Start at the beginning." Lina said as she sat across from him with Sylphiel, Susan and Gourry.
Indy took a drink of coffee, his raccoon eyes bloodshot. It looked as though Lina was not the only one who'd had difficulty sleeping. "One day Tom came up to me, told me I was very talented and how much he admired me. Looking back I see how he worked me over. He'd just slather me with praise and would say that I was smarter than Jean Luc and a better sorcerer. Stuff like that.
"But after awhile he started asking me about your private Giga Slave group. He knew Jean Luc was in it and that I wasn't, and he kept saying that you made the wrong call, that I deserved to learn the Giga Slave more than Jean Luc and damn, it went to my head!
"So Tom told me about his group and asked me to look into it. So I did and, I mean hell, I knew their beliefs were weird, but I sorta ignored it because Tom thought the world of me, you know?"
"What sort of beliefs?" Sylphiel asked.
Indy finished his coffee and set his cup down as he scratched his head, "Tom believed that demons are…misunderstood."
Lina felt her jaw drop as she asked. "In what way?"
"He spun some yarn about how they were just defending themselves, that Ceifeed was actually the aggressor and we have it all wrong. Tom believed that the Gods are just as bad as the demons and the whatnot. He said that the demons couldn't possibly really want to destroy the world because they would have done it by now."
Lina shook her head in disbelief, "I mean, I guess I can see why the new students might be deceived. But the older ones? The ones who were in Dils? How could they see that and brush it all away?"
"He hooked Adora because of the revelation about her true birth mom. Adora's world had been turned upside down, everything she knew growing up was a lie, all that. And Tom managed to use that to hook her in." Indy said. "Hyacinth loved the idea of an exclusive club. Mara Jade, she was a hard one for me to read. I could never really figure her out. You may want to talk to Danielle, they'd been close one but had had some sort of falling out."
"What about Owen?" Gourry asked.
"He brought Owen the way he brought me in, but Owen said it was all bullshit when Tom started sprouting his mythology. But Tom had ways to keep us in line if we stood up to him."
"What do you mean?" Lina asked even though she had a good idea about the answer.
Indy turned red as he said, "Tom knew things…embarrassing things."
"Tom is a telepath." Lina said.
Indy nodded, "He knew people's secrets and blackmailed them with them. He was blackmailing Owen. If I made noise about leaving the club he would say that people like me who…" Indy blushed, "Look, it's rather personal, it wasn't like he caught us red handed in some crime, just stupid stuff about crushes we have and things boys do."
"Enough said." Lina said.
"But he'd also say that perhaps he was wrong about me, that Jean Luc was the better sorcerer, and suddenly I wanted to show he was wrong!"
He did play you like a fiddle, Lina thought. But then she couldn't be too hard on him. Xellos had played her once.
"Anyway," Indy said morosely, "Tom was obsessed with the Giga Slave. He had some plan to go to the Kataart Mountains and to use it to free the Demon Lord of the North."
Lina's eyes widened in surprise as she wondered how the Giga Slave could be used for that or if it was more lies on Tom's part. But then in the future Gourry had witnessed Tom had revived him. So she couldn't discount it.
"According to Tom the Demon Lord of the North would be grateful to us and he would turn us into demons and that we would be even more powerful than we are now, all that nonsense. Those in his group were special, chosen."
That explains Arnold, Lina thought as she shook her head as Gourry asked, "What happened with Jean Luc last night?"
"Tom asked me to bring him to the group, so I did. Tom started asking him about the Giga Slave. But Jean Luc refused. We all ganged up on him, but Jean Luc wouldn't say a word. I hate to say it, but you made the right choice, Dame Lina." Indy said as he buried his face in his hands.
What are you thinking, Susan? Lina thought.
He's telling the truth. And he's genuinely remorseful. Susan replied.
"You came around just in time." Lina said. "And good thing, because otherwise I would be insisting that you serve some prison time."
"What's going to happen to me?"
"I'm still thinking." Lina said, "We'll see if your information helps us to find Tom and let the group know to head north. For now, back to your cell. But I won't have you gagged again."
"But if I fuck this up…"
"Exactly." Lina said. "So make sure you don't."
Indy nodded as Gourry stood up to escort him back to his cell as Lina stood up to tell Amelia to be ready to pass on the information about the Kataart Mountains the next time that the group checked in and to prepare for the next interrogation.
"Your name came up frequently," Lina said to Morticia. It was now nearly dinner time and they had interviewed the students who had been influenced by Tom. But as always, there was something different about Morticia, "Word on the street is that you resisted and stood up to Tom."
"I did." Morticia said casually, despite the fact that from what Lina had gathered Morticia had been harassed for it in the manner that Jean Luc had for refusing to give Tom the Giga Slave.
Lina exchanged a glance with Gourry and the others and then said, "Tell us about that."
"Well, Tom came on strong with the flattery." Morticia said. "I told him that my heart belonged to another but decided to indulge my curiosity about the group he kept talking about. And at first it was fun."
"Then what happened?" Lina asked.
"Well, Tom started talking about how demons don't want to destroy the world. And that is simply preposterous and I told him that it was ridiculous to believe such a foolish thing." Morticia gave a wry little smile, "He didn't like hearing that I'm afraid. None of them did."
"And you weren't intimidated?" Lina asked.
Morticia shrugged as she smiled coyly, "Well I am descended from a long line of witches that refused to burn."
Lina smiled a little, "Several of the students claimed that Tom would blackmail them with secrets he knew."
"Well, Tom did threaten to tell the school about how I like to dance naked in the moonlight and how the thought of the rack thrills me." Lina's hair stood on end as Morticia continued, "Anything Tom threatened I just resolved to tell the school myself." Morticia smiled as she blinked, "That stopped him in his tracks."
Lina coughed as she squared her shoulders, "Well you know how to handle a manipulator. Do you have any information that may help us?"
"I'm afraid that after I disabused them of their notions of the Dark Lord they didn't let me any further into their inner circle." Morticia said, "And I was perfectly happy to leave them."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Sylphiel asked.
"I figured that once they met a demon their eyes would be open. I didn't expect this chaos."
"Thank you, Morticia. That is all." Lina said as she stood up and looked outside the window as her stomach growled with hunger.
"She's telling the truth." Susan said after Morticia closed the door behind her.
"I figured as much," Lina said, "She may be weird, but her heart's in the right place."
Someone knocked, and a charge of excitement ran through Lina as she wondered if the group searching for Tom had been successful, "Come in!"
"Dame Lina," Jeeves said, "The Eternal Queen has arrived."
The excitement twisted into anxiety and dread. "Thank you. Please let her know we will meet her in the dining room."
Gourry came up and put an arm around her as she wondered how mad the Eternal Queen would be. "Let's get this over with." Lina said.
The walk to the dining room was mercifully brief, and as soon as Lina walked in the Eternal Queen came up and gently placed her hands on her shoulders, "The hardest part of being a leader is losing people in battle. Especially in a manner such as this."
Lina relaxed as she saw the compassion in the Eternal Queen's eyes just as she heard the sound of someone knocking on the front door. The excitement flared once more but after so many false alarms Lina was no longer ready to rush to the door only to be disappointed again. "Come on, let's sit down and start on dinner. I'll explain what information we've gathered."
They had just sat down when Jeeves came into the dining room, "Dame Lina, the students have returned. And they successfully apprehended the renegade students."
"Thank goodness," Lina said as she stood up.
"I want to talk to Adora." The Eternal Queen announced.
"And I guess I'll sit in with Susan as she interrogates Tom." Gourry said uncertainly as he looked at Lina.
"Let's start with Adora, and then Mara Jade." Lina said, "I guess I should sit out on interrogating Tom. And I want him to be interviewed last. I want to make him sweat."
"Dame Lina, there's more." Jeeves said.
"What?" Lina said as her shoulders slumped as she wondered what had gone wrong.
"It sounds incredible, but a shadow helped them to apprehend the renegades," Jeeves explained, "And they think it's Peter's shadow."