CHAPTER 343: 343-HARD CONFRONTATION

Clementine:

"You want to speak to the headmaster?" she asked slowly as she descended from the platform.

"Fine. The headmaster is exactly who you’ll be dealing with from now on."

She stopped right in front of me. Fury bled from her eyes.

Then she spun around and stormed out with the others.

I knew where they were going. They’d call him here, thinking they could intimidate us into silence.

But we weren’t leaving, not until answers were given.

"Alright," Troy said, facing all of us. "Keep calm. Every question you’ve been holding in, we’re taking them straight to the headmaster."

We paced anxiously, rehearsing everything we needed to ask:

Why were criminals being sent North?

How were we being watched?

What else were they hiding?

And then there was my question, the one about the lurkers I’d seen there.

Suddenly the doors burst open. A wave of lurkers poured in.

The Red Squad instinctively shifted behind us. Oriana tried to cross the room to join us, but a lurker turned his head toward her.

She shrieked and immediately retreated to the corner she came from, frozen by fear.

They surrounded us in a loose circle before the headmaster finally appeared, emerging from behind them with the ringleaders trailing after him.

He stood on the platform, hands folded behind his back.

"You," he barked into the mic, pointing at Oriana. "Stand with the others."

She yelped again and scrambled forward. The lurkers parted just enough for her to reach us.

When she stopped right in front of me, I saw pure terror in her eyes.

She dropped her gaze and quickly hid behind us.

"I hear there are—complaints," the headmaster said.

"Yes," Haiden began. "We want to know why you’re sending criminals—"

The headmaster raised a hand, silencing him. "I already know."

"Good," I cut in. "Then you also know that I’ve seen lurkers in the North."

Every head snapped toward me except Ian’s. He already knew.

"So?" the headmaster asked, casual, almost bored.

"So? You told us lurkers couldn’t go there. You said they weren’t strong enough. You said they’d die." My voice rose. "So which part was the lie?"

"Yes, lurkers go to the North." The headmaster sounded entirely unbothered. "Along with the ringleaders. They observe. They intervene. They handle things you teenagers can’t."

"Really?" I stepped forward. "What can you handle that we can’t, when we’re the ones killing the monsters?"

He smirked.

"If you want to clean dead bodies and maintain the safe zones, go right ahead. We’ll send you to do that too."

He had an answer ready for everything, or an excuse. At this point, they were the same thing.

"About the criminals being sent to the north," I reminded him, returning to the main question after noticing that the headmaster had avoided it earlier.

"You do realize that the monsters are the ones you are sending from here," I added.

"This has been the way for years. We are not going to change it because you do not want it that way," the headmaster replied.

His reasoning felt vague, to the point that even the others seemed confused.

"But that is not right. You do realize that the criminals you are sending there are being given a second chance," Mira remarked.

The headmaster nodded.

"Exactly. We are giving them a second chance at life, in a tougher situation. Some of them choose to become monsters. The others might be somewhere in the north doing better things."

As soon as he said that, Yorick began to grunt and chuckle, and I could tell the others, along with the headmaster, found it disrespectful.

"You are giving them a chance to continue hurting people on a larger scale and with more power," Yorick replied.

The headmaster tilted his head, almost as if warning him. "

Yorick Bane. You should ask your parents if they agree with it or not."

The moment the headmaster mentioned his parents, Yorick’s entire demeanor shifted. He looked tense.

"Why are you speaking about my parents? What do they have to do with any of this?" he questioned in a harsh, stern tone.

"I am just saying, your parents sent you here. They must have had some vision," the headmaster responded.

It was clear he thought he could fool us with an excuse that made no sense.

"As if they had a choice. You said yourself that all families must oblige and send the crusaders when they are asked to. Why single out my parents?" Yorick continued to grunt.

I noticed a short cackle from the headmaster. It was the first time I had seen him do it, and it looked frightening.

"Because I am certain your parents do not believe in keeping criminals from being sent to the north," he explained.

But just when we thought he was finished, he added, "Do you remember Rocco?"

That was all he said before I noticed the way Yorick’s body twitched visibly.

Everybody was watching Yorick, waiting for him to counter the headmaster.

I assumed everyone expected him to have a response ready, but he suddenly went silent and did not say a word.

"What is the story of Rocco?" I heard Haiden ask Troy.

That was the thing. I had begun to remember that when Medusa attacked everyone, she claimed to be Rocco once.

And I started to recognize a pattern. Did she only follow or mimic the criminals who had been sent to the north?

Could it be that, or was it something else?

For now, I needed to regain my posture and continue arguing with the headmaster.

He was here today, but he would not be here every day, so we had to make sure we asked him the right questions.

"So you are not going to stop sending the criminals to the north and then using us to go and clean the north?" I asked.

The man I believed knew so much simply shrugged, showing he no longer cared.

"What if the world finds out about it?" Haiden wondered.

There was a brief moment when nobody moved before the headmaster responded.

"Who will tell them?"