The Unforgiving School

“Welcome, welcome, children, to the School of the Intelligent! You have been chosen, out of fifteen million twelve-year-olds, for your courage and determination, and of course, your intelligence.” The lady in the front called to the small crowd of twenty students. She was wearing a long emerald green silk dress decorated with pearls. Her blond hair was tied in a tight bun that matched with her gold earrings. “I am your headmistress, Caroline Colley. Now, lessons will begin tomorrow, but today, you will be having an orientation with one of the teachers here, Ms. Dawn.  Dawn, could you…?”

“Yes, Headmistress. This school is special. We accept only the best and the talented. Those who violate rules (we will show it to you momentarily) will need to immediately leave campus. No warnings are allowed. Come late to class, you’re out. This program is the most difficult one in the world. Last year, only one student graduated. The rest were gone by three months. Now, I guess you wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?” The teacher stared at the students, making eye contact with every single student. All of them flinched as her gaze landed on them, except for one. One girl, who stared back at her, not only with intelligence in those dark brown eyes of hers but also with determination. With courage to meet her eyes, the eyes of a woman she’d never seen before. She had everything the school required of the students. Ms. Dawn nodded in approval. That girl would do. 

As Ms. Dawn continued with her instructions, she noticed that the girl, shorter than most of the other students, looked at her more intently than the others. She was sitting straight and looked like she was hanging on to each word she was saying. “You,” said Ms. Dawn, once she had finished her lecture and the students were filing out to go find their dormitories, “what is your name?”

Like before, the girl didn’t flinch. Instead, she responded, “I am Jessica Pensworth.”

“Jessica, I want you to know that I think you will do great in class.” Ms. Dawn smiled at her, and several students glared at Jessica, jealous of her sudden attention.

“Thank you, Miss,” Jessica replied, then walked away.

“The girl will do well,” Headmistress Colley noted, walking to Ms. Dawn. “And you realize that too.” 

“She has the things we require of her.” Ms. Dawn looked at the headmistress, and for a moment her form flickered, and she was a skeleton. ‘Your magic is weakening.”

“Not for long. I am getting better. This year of students will do well. I can sense it.”

As Jessica recalled the events of that day, she frowned and ran faster and faster. She was late for class. Last night, she had stayed up studying, and now she had overslept. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to graduate. The fact of leaving school scared her, so she ran even quicker, trying to get to class on time.

As Jessica ran, she could remember what Ms. Dawn had said the first day they met. Come late to class, you’re out. Jessica gulped. She hoped she could get to class quickly enough. On the first day of school, she had heard part of Ms.Dawn’s and the Headmistress’s conversation. The girl will do well. Headmistress Colley had said. And you realize that too.

That was the extent of what she had heard, but it was enough to motivate her for four months at school. She didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

She’d been less motivated because of her teachers, though. After four months, the first student had come to Ms. Dawn’s class late. Although the fair-haired, tall lady was nice to Jessica, she was strict, and when the student came late, the teacher’s form would flicker, and then Jessica would see a grey-haired, hunched lady with a cane. Her eyes had glowed red and she had radiated evil. That had made Jessica terrified, and as most people said, she was ‘the most level-headed person they ever met’

It wasn’t just Ms. Dawn. All the teachers would sometimes flicker, turning into ancient versions of themselves. The headmistress had it the worse, though. When someone came late to one of her lectures, they were expelled immediately, but not before she’d turn into a skeleton.

Jessica burst into her classroom, late. 

“...Jessica?” asked Ms. Dawn. “You’re late.”

Jessica ducked her head. “Sorry.”

“Sorry is not good enough!” yelled Ms. Dawn. Jessica flinched, and then she realized it was this first time she had even done so in the entire six months that she had learned at her new school. “You dare lose your chance at being at one of the most prestigious schools in the world?” Her form flickered, and Jessica backed away nervously. “You have made me disappointed, Jessica. And those who make me disappointed will suffer from the consequences.”

“Okay, I’m sorry!” Jessica shouted. She knew her teacher was angry, but it just felt so unfair that she would be expelled after coming to class late. “I’ll go pack up now.” She glared at the teacher boldly. “Because that’s my consequence, isn’t it?” She was about to leave when Ms. Dawn grabbed her arm. Instead of feeling flesh, she felt just something hard, something… like a bone.

“You don’t understand,” Ms. Dawn hissed. “Your consequences will be even worse.” She tried to punch Jessica in the face, but luckily Jessica managed to dodge it, and she wrenched her arm out of Ms. Dawn’s wrist.

Ms. Dawn lunged at Jessica, grabbing her hair. Jessica screamed as the rest of her classmates ran and hid behind their desks. With a twist, Jessica did a high kick (that was very difficult to do in her school uniform that valued looks instead of comfort) and managed to dislocate Ms. Dawn’s shoulder, making it possible for her to escape.

“Oh, you’ve made me really mad!” Ms. Dawn glared at her. 

Jessica ran further and further away from her former teacher. “What did I just do…?” she muttered to herself as she ran. 

Suddenly, she found herself falling through the ground, and suddenly she found herself back at Ms. Dawn’s room. Her face was red and she was scowling. “You made me really mad. And I am not a forgive-and-forget type of person.” Ms. Dawn laughed sourly. “Person… I am not a person anymore. I am not regular like you are. I hoped I could train you, train you into being something even greater, and that you would last the whole school year. Sadly, you did not. But what you did will ensure you a slow, painful death.”

“Um…” Jessica gulped. “But- but I don’t feel like dying today, so if you’ll excuse me…” She sprinted out of the room and into the hallway, only to bang into a suit of armor that wasn’t empty. It was moving. Someone was in it. The helmet popped off whoever was inside its head by itself, then dropped on the floor.

The person in the suit was Ms. Dawn.

“Wh-what?” Jessica gasped.

“I am the mistress of illusion,” Ms. Dawn announced. “I make things from nothing, I change things from what they are… by fooling people. I disguised a portal-”

Portals are real? I am so going to get in trouble if she can do that to me. Jessica thought, alarmed.

“-and you fell straight into it, coming back to my class. People are so easy to trick!” Ms. Dawn laughed maniacally. “You see, now, Jessica, that if you ever graduated from this school, you would become like me… a woman stronger and better than everyone else. An illusionist. One that could change the world by manipulating people to think people you’re wonderful, and that they must obey your every command! The world could be your command. All we needed was more illusionists… this year will be the last year for the school. We will have enough illusionists to take over the world.” She smiled evilly. “I will be better than everyone else!”

“I am better than you are,” Jessica told her. She wasn’t scared anymore. She had no idea why, but what she did know was that Ms. Dawn was evil, and she had to be stopped.

“No, you aren’t, you foolish child! This school is for people with qualities that make sure that they have the skills to attempt to be an illusionist. This school was their training to be an illusionist, a training that would teach them how to make illusions, without them knowing it! It’s a marvel that you’ve gotten this far if you think you can beat me,” Ms. Dawn added as she saw Jessica get up, putting her fists in a fighting position.

“Oh, I can,” bluffed Jessica as she tried to think of an idea to defeat the lady. 

Ms. Dawn sniffed. “Yeah, right.”

Jessica’s mind raced. Then she remembered something Ms. Dawn had said.  This school was their training to be an illusionist, a training that would teach them how to make illusions, without them knowing it! 

Jessica learned at this school. That meant she was going through the training that would teach them ‘how to make illusions’. And she had passed every single test, with top marks along the way. “I can,” she repeated, this time telling the truth. 

Ms. Dawn snorted. “Then show me,” she said rolling her eyes. “Show me that you are a failure and that you can do nothing.”

“Um, I…” Jessica had forgotten that she didn’t know how to do any spells. “Uh…”

“You can’t do anything!” Ms. Dawn said in glee, although she had expected it nonetheless. “HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” Ms. Dawn pointed at her chest, and said, “remouso amor.”

The armor she wore as a ‘disguise’ turned to dust.

That gave Jessica an idea. ‘Remouso’ probably meant remove, so that meant… “REMOUSO DAWN’S HAIR!” she declared, unable to think of anything else to say.

The hair on Ms. Dawn’s head disappeared. “Ah!” she shrieked. With a wave of her hand, the hair was back in place. “Girl, all these are illusions. They aren’t REAL.” she rolled her eyes.

Jessica paled. “Whoops,” she muttered, before running away to the library. There, she could at least hide.

Somehow, she didn’t fall into a portal this time. She made it into the library, gasping for breath… and then she realized that Ms. Dawn was right behind her. So Jessica ran right to the restricted section of the library. She climbed over the bars that normally stopped students from entering, and passed a sign that read: Turn back now! But Jessica didn’t care. It was a matter of life and death. 

She ran inside, and the many shelves hid her from Ms. Dawn, who by now resented Jessica.  

“I will get you!” Ms. Dawn screamed. 

“Uh… no you won’t?”

“GAH!” 

Ms. Dawn ran straight at Jessica but she dodged at the last second, causing Ms. Dawn to crash into a bunch of bookshelves. Jessica went to go hide behind another bookshelf. She gasped for breath and sunk to the ground. Then the tears came. She cried silently, scared out of her mind. But then something caught her attention. A book, with the title The Advanced Book of Defeating Illusionists

She was in a library, and in a library, you can find answers to almost anything. Jessica smiled despite her fear. She flipped the book open and began reading. Ms. Dawn was stuck and was taking a long time to get her leg out of a bookshelf. Jessica had some time. So she read. She skimmed the book and finally found the page she was looking for.

Jessica got up and faced her former teacher, who had just finished extracting herself from the bookshelf. “So,” sneered Ms. Dawn, “come to say goodbye before your death?”

“I won’t,” responded Jessica. She read from the book, “traop liwinths!”

Ms. Dawn shrieked as ropes appeared out of nowhere and started wrapping around her wrists and ankles, tying her up. “How do you know-” she managed to say before she was gagged with a piece of cloth that also materialized in front of her.

Jessica gave her a coy smile. “You did say I was your most talented student, and you, in your opinion, are the greatest illusionist of all time, aren’t you? So if you taught me and I am talented… I guess that makes me better than you are already, huh?”

“Miss Jessica! What are you doing?” The Headmistress came running, all the rest of the staff right behind her, shocked. She stopped. “Y-you defeated Dawn?”

“Hm, I dunno, maybe you could look at her and decide?” Jessica rolled her eyes. 

“But no one has bested her in a thousand years, except me, of course.” 

“You’re that old?” Jessica couldn’t hide her surprise.

“It doesn’t matter! You have found out one of our greatest secrets. So you must die.” Headmistress Colley opened her mouth to cast a spell, probably one that would kill Jessica, but before she could, she was interrupted by Jessica.

“I was the one who bested Ms. Dawn, so you’d better watch out. Traop liwinths!” Jessica watched satisfyingly as the ropes bound Headmistress Colley. Then a muffled scream echoed through the entire library. Ms. Dawn’s entire figure seemed to get shorter and shorter, and there was an old lady, the lady that Ms. Dawn always turned into when she got angry. Alarmed, Jessica checked her book. These ropes will reveal the illusionist’s real form.

“So this is what you actually look like… this whole time you were an illusion. So this must mean that-”

Headmistress Colley turned into a skeleton. A moving skeleton, one that was alive. The ropes tightened.

The staff cheered, and Jessica whirled around to find them hugging each other. She’d forgotten they were there. Slowly, their forms turned into teenagers. One of them turned to Jessica. “She enslaved us after we graduated,” the person told her. “Thank you for saving us all.”

“Oh, but you forgot one thing.” said an evil voice from behind them. “We are the mistresses of illusion. We were never even there.” 

Jessica screamed as bony hands gripped her shoulders. “Hello, dear.”