Chapter 14: Aftermath

The rest of the day was unnaturally quiet. Many of the students and teachers were in shock. Matron went about her duties in a wooden manner. Wherever Linda went, a path opened up in front of her. Students and teachers alike regarded her in different mixtures of admiration and fear. While a small part of her felt almost supernaturally powerful as a result, she knew that this reaction would have to be broken. Her plans required interacting with the students as a peer, not as some Olympian deity.

She barely noticed lunch. The rest of her classes were handled in a quiet, businesslike manner. PE was led by the same teacher she had for maths the previous class.

After their last class of the day, she invited Victoria to her office. As a precaution, she used Blue Boy to scan for new bugs. The room was apparently clean. She sat there, hugging the rabbit, as she gazed thoughtfully at her friend.

"This is not good. I wanted to get some of the teachers and staff in line, not stomp the whole school."

"For what it's worth, some of the girls have started humming 'Ding, dong, the Witch is Dead' in the halls. The teachers don't like it at all."

That gave Linda an idea. "Who do we have with a good hand for drawing? Or maybe cartooning?"

"What are you up to?"

"Just an idea to break the mood. But I need someone who can draw quickly and well."

"I can think of a few, but..."

"Bring them. I can interview anyone I want here, and right now, I want to interview them."

Victoria rose to her feet, coming to attention and snapping a salute. "Yes, Ma'am! Right away, Ma'am!"

"Quit that!" she paused, as Victoria grinned. "Oh, you! Just get going."

While she waited, she pulled up the school student records to see whether they contained any information about artistic skill. After a disappointing search, she started looking at the financial records. The school was bringing in a lot of money, but the spending records did not seem to add up, and there were income streams that seemingly came from nowhere. She made a note to look into it later.

By that time, the girls were arriving. With the exception of Victoria, they looked very nervous. Some even looked frightened. Victoria closed the door behind them, and Linda began.

"Oh, relax. You're not in trouble, and I haven't eaten anyone's soul in days." They didn't seem as reassured as she would have liked. "I have some projects in mind, but I am going to need some artistic help. I may even need more than one of you before this is all done. They shouldn't take much time. In fact, time is very important. And I can make sure you don't get in trouble for it. How many of you can draw cartoon style images quickly, but fairly well?" About half raised their hands. "Good. Now, how many can do drawings on the computer?" A smaller group, some from the first group, some not, raised their hands. "Alright. Those who can do both, stay. For the rest, thank you and I'll see you around school. Please don't tell anyone about this meeting or what you think might be happening." About 2/3 of the girls left.

"Ok. How many of you have seen "The Wizard of Oz" more than once, or read the books more than once?" All of the girls indicated they had. "Great! Some of you may have heard your friends quietly humming a song from the movie. Some of you may have been among those doing the humming. We're going to build on that. What I need is an image to secretly circulate. It is important that nobody knows it came from me, however. Do you all remember the scene where they see the Professor behind the curtain, operating the giant head?" More nods.

"We want something like that. We need a big, frightening image that can symbolize the image many people have of me after the recent events. Bigger than life. Scary beyond all reason. You know, that kind of thing. It should be in a school uniform, or something like it. Nearby, there should be a curtain on a rod, pulled aside. Behind the curtain, life size or even a bit smaller, is a naked, blushing, maybe cringing figure which can be recognized as me. It could be holding one of my stuffed animals," she indicated the Gainsboroughs, "or not. Mostly, she should be an ordinary, non frightening girl. And it should say something like 'pay no attention to the girl behind the curtain.'" She looked around the group.