The Demon Headmaster

by Cross, Gillian

  Her lip trembled, from genuine nervousness, and that appeared to convince Mr Venables. He called over his shoulder, ‘Come on, everyone. We’ve got to go down to the swimming pool. Some mad stunt of Eddy Hair’s.’

  Groaning wearily, the teachers began to emerge from the staffroom. They trooped out of the building and across the playground, towards the single storey block where the swimming pool was housed. When they were halfway there, Ingrid said anxiously, ‘Oh, do please hurry. Run. The Headmaster was so impatient!’

  The group of teachers broke into a trot, making for the open door of the swimming pool. As the first few of them hurried through the door, their feet slipped on the oil which Ian had spread carefully all over the tiles. Slithering towards the water, they began to yell, but this only brought the other teachers running faster. As the last of them slipped through the door, the splashes began. One after another, they fell into the swimming pool, skidding uncontrollably over the edge.

  Immediately, Mandy appeared from her hiding place round one corner, waving the swimming pool key. As Ingrid pushed the doors shut, she slid it into the lock. The shouting, splashing teachers had still not realized that they were not involved in one of Eddy Hair’s crazy pranks. It would be some time before they discovered that they were prisoners. Ingrid winked at Mandy. ‘That should keep them busy. Let’s get out of here.’

  At the same moment, Lloyd and Dinah were crouching round the corner from the prefects’ room, quarrelling in whispers.

  ‘They’re not all there,’ Dinah was saying. ‘Rose and Jeff are still around the school somewhere. If we don’t get them, it could be very dangerous.’

  ‘Don’t be so bossy.’ Lloyd frowned. ‘All the other four are there, but they might come out once they’ve eaten their sandwiches. And if we don’t lock them in and get down to the Hall, someone’s going to notice that we’re not eating ours. We’ll just have to do without Rose and Jeff.’

  ‘But they’re the worst.’

  ‘Oh, shut up!’ Lloyd knew she was right really, but it did not make him better tempered. ‘You’re always interfering.’

  Dinah shut her mouth tight. No use saying she had only been trying to help. She knew what Lloyd was like now. He wanted to be in charge all the time. Well, let him. She did not really think trapping the prefects would make any difference anyway.

  ‘Go on, then,’ she said quietly. ‘Let’s get it over with.’

  Like a shadow, Lloyd stepped forwards and locked the door of the prefects’ room. Then he put his ear to it.

  ‘Hey,’ he mouthed. ‘They’re saying something.’

  Dinah came up beside him. Through the wood of the door, she heard Simon’s voice reciting, as if he had learnt it by heart, ‘And I take charge of transport. With twenty children to help me. According to Master Plan, Section C.’

  Lloyd frowned. ‘What are they on about?’ he said noiselessly.

  Dinah put a finger to her lips and leaned closer, hearing Sarah’s voice now.

  ‘I’m in charge of work camps. Master Plan, Section F. With fifty children to help. All people to be split up according to age. Museums and public buildings to be used for housing them and—’

  ‘Oh, come on.’ Lloyd pulled Dinah’s sleeve. ‘I don’t know what they’re up to, but it doesn’t sound as though it’s got anything to do with today. Let’s go and eat our sandwiches. Then we can sneak off again and see how Harvey’s doing.’

  Dinah dragged her ear away from the door, feeling frustrated. She was sure she was missing something very important, but Lloyd was right. They could not risk being seen with their ears to the door.

  ‘OK,’ she said. ‘They sound as though they’ll go on talking for hours. And I don’t suppose it’ll matter about Rose and Jeff.’

  ‘Of course it won’t matter,’ Lloyd said angrily. But he was not very happy as they crept off down the corridor. It was the first thing that had gone wrong.

  Back in the middle of the town again, Ian was beginning to grow restless. Perhaps he had missed Eddy Hair. He might have been looking for the wrong sort of person. Perhaps the purple curls were just a wig and the crazy clothes were only for wearing on television. In that case, Eddy Hair could have slipped past a hundred times without being noticed. What an idiot he was not to have thought of that before! He frowned, and marched up and down by the traffic lights, stamping his feet to keep them warm.

  Then he saw it. A little, low sports car, zooming along the main road towards him. There was no mistaking it. Even if the number plate had not been EH1. Even if the car had not been painted in stripes of red, yellow, and mustard colour. For there, at the wheel, was Eddy Hair himself, his huge bunch of purple curls almost filling the windscreen and a cheerful grin on his loony face.

  Bounding with relief, Ian started to leap up and down beside the red traffic light, ready with his next set of false directions.

  And for a moment it looked as though it was going to work. The sports car squealed to a stop and Eddy Hair leaned over and wound down the window.

  ‘Please—’ Ian started.

  But Eddy Hair was obviously used to being stopped by waving children. He did not even give Ian a chance to finish his sentence. Instead, beaming all over his face, he shouted, ‘Want an autograph, do you? Bless you, boy, you don’t suppose I can write, do you?’

  With a great screech of laughter, he banged the car into gear, roared the engine, and was away as the lights changed, leaving only a cloud of exhaust fumes.

  ‘Blast it,’ Ian said softly. ‘Blast, blast, blast!’

  Then he began to run as fast as he could towards the school. He had to warn the others that the plan was not working perfectly. Luckily, he knew where he would find them all.

  In the school boiler room, Harvey was shaking with fright, reading over and over again the instructions that Dinah had given him. ‘It’s quite safe if you do it in the right order,’ she had said firmly. ‘But if you don’t, you might kill yourself.’

  He looked at his watch. Why didn’t the others come? It was after half past four. He could not leave it any longer. Oh well, he would have to do without their help. Pulling a torch out of his pocket, he looked nervously up at the big red handle on the wall which said Mains Supply.

  ‘Here goes,’ he murmured.

  Gripping the handle tightly with his right hand, he pulled it hard down.

  Instantly, the cellar was pitch black. Harvey switched on the torch and wrenched open the door of the fuse box. With his left hand he began to tug out the fuses, cramming them into his pockets.

  There was a quick clatter of feet outside the door. Glancing nervously over his shoulder, he saw Mandy and Ingrid run in.

  ‘Smashing!’ Ingrid said enthusiastically. She leaped for the fuse box. ‘We’ll give you a hand.’

  As her fingers reached for a fuse, Lloyd and Dinah came creeping in.

  ‘OK, H?’ Lloyd muttered. ‘Everything else is going according to plan. Well—nearly. Ian’s on his way. I saw him racing through the gate while we were on our way up here. Now let’s get a move on with those fuses. Once we’ve chucked them away, they won’t be able to do anything, even if they do get the lights and cameras here.’

  They had just cleared the fuse box when Ian arrived. He pulled a face, gasping for breath. ‘I couldn’t stop Eddy Hair,’ he panted. ‘He really is as crazy as he seems on TV. But I’ve got the lorries locked up in the quarry OK, and—hey, Harvey!’

  Harvey’s hand, holding the torch, had begun to shake wildly, flashing light distractingly into everyone’s eyes.

  ‘Knock it off, Harvey!’ Lloyd snapped. ‘We’ve got to get out of here.’

  ‘B—b—but—’ stuttered Harvey, ‘oh—look!’

  He gestured despairingly towards the door, and the others spun round.

  There, outlined in the doorway, was a tall figure in a gown. On either side of him stood Rose and Jeff, smirking.

  ‘Well, well,’ said the Headmaster. ‘You’ve all been very busy today, haven’t you?
’

  14

  The Headmaster in Control

  For a whole minute there was complete, horrified silence in the crowded boiler room. Then the Headmaster said, very quietly, ‘Put the fuses back.’

  ‘We won’t!’ Ingrid shouted. ‘You’re evil and wicked and we won’t do anything to help you.’

  The Headmaster smiled. ‘I think you will.’ He raised his voice slightly. ‘Children—come along to the door.’

  There was a tramping of feet in the corridor outside and suddenly the space behind the Headmaster was full of faces with blank, glazed eyes. Thirty or forty hypnotized children.

  ‘We’d better do it,’ Ian groaned. ‘Otherwise they’ll just make us. Come on, everyone.’

  Despairingly, they began to push the fuses back into the box. Then Harvey switched on the mains supply again and they were all blinking in the sudden glare of light.

  ‘That’s better,’ said the Headmaster, in a satisfied voice. ‘Now we had better repair the rest of the damage you have done. Rose, where are all the teachers?’

  ‘I saw Mandy and Ingrid lock them into the swimming pool.’

  ‘And the prefects, Jeff?’

  ‘Locked in their room,’ Jeff said.

  The Headmaster nodded and glanced back at the miserable members of SPLAT. ‘I have had you watched, you see. I am not entirely stupid. The only thing I did not know was what had happened to the camera crew. But from what I heard as we arrived, I would guess that they are shut up in the old quarry. If you are sensible, you will hand over all the keys to me. Now.’

  Sullenly, Lloyd, Ian, and Mandy tossed the keys on to the floor. At a signal from the Headmaster, Rose and Jeff scooped them off and ran away down the corridor. The Headmaster did not speak again until the sound of their feet had died away. Then he stepped further into the room and looked at Dinah.

  ‘I think,’ he said, ‘that we had better discuss what is going to happen next.’

  ‘I know what you want,’ Dinah said stiffly. ‘You want me to win the Great School Quiz for you. So that you can have a chance to hypnotize everyone in the country. Well, I won’t do it. If it’s the only way to stop you, I’ll make sure I get all the questions wrong.’

  The Headmaster raised his eyebrows. ‘You have worked things out very cleverly. I can see that I have not overestimated your intelligence. But you have underestimated my determination. You cannot refuse to do what I want.’

  ‘Can’t I?’ Dinah stepped forward belligerently, but the Headmaster did not look in the least worried. Turning to the children massed in the doorway, he snapped at them in a brisk voice.

  ‘Listen to my orders. In front of you are six straw dolls. They are no longer needed. You will advance on them and,’ he drew a deep breath, ‘you will tear them to pieces.’

  Simultaneously, all the children swivelled their eyes to look into the boiler room. They showed no signs of recognition. It was plain that they were seeing precisely what they had been told to see. As they started to advance, Dinah watched Lucy, who was in the middle of the front row. Her face was as calm and cheerful as if she had been going out to pick daisies.

  Knowing it would be no use, Dinah began to yell at her as the children marched into the boiler room.

  ‘Lucy! It’s me, Dinah! And there’s Lloyd and Harvey and the others. You can’t hurt us!’

  ‘She won’t hear you,’ the Headmaster said icily. ‘She is programmed to listen only to me and the prefects.’

  Dinah and the others cowered against the wall behind them as the children came steadily tramping towards them.

  ‘Think, Dinah, think!’ Lloyd yelled. ‘There must be some way out of this. Otherwise they’ll kill us.’

  The foremost children had reached them now. Slowly they raised their arms, hands outstretched like claws.

  ‘Oh, help!’ Harvey yelled. ‘Someone, help!’

  The claw-like hands grabbed. Dinah found her blazer gripped firmly by Lucy and she heard Mandy’s blouse rip. From beside her, Ingrid wailed, ‘Oh, I’m frightened.’

  More and more hands were pulling at them. Glancing across the room, Dinah saw the Headmaster smiling calmly, with no sign of wavering. Coldly, she realized that he would not relent. If he had to kill them, he would kill them. As someone started to tug at her hair, she shouted, ‘All right, I’ll do it! Whatever you say! Just stop them!’

  At once, with a triumphant smile, the Headmaster said softly, ‘Stop, children.’

  Slowly, the arms dropped. Mandy gave a quick gasp of relief and Harvey drew a sobbing breath.

  ‘You will be in the Quiz?’ the Headmaster murmured.

  Dinah nodded, hanging her head.

  ‘And you will win?’

  ‘If that’s what I have to do.’

  ‘Very well.’ The Headmaster’s mouth twisted in an unpleasant expression. ‘But do not suppose that I shall be so foolish as to trust you. Your friends will be in the Hall, surrounded by these children. If you break your promise, all I have to do is to say, “Destroy the dolls!” and they will be dead. Is that clear?’

  Dumb with despair, Dinah nodded again. Beside her, she heard Lloyd’s familiar snort, comforting in its ordinariness.

  ‘We may not be able to stop you,’ Lloyd said scornfully, ‘but we still think you’re wicked. Wicked and pathetic. Fancy being prepared to kill us. Just for money.’

  For the first time, the Headmaster looked startled. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘That’s what you’re after, isn’t it?’ Lloyd said stoutly. ‘You want to hypnotize everyone so that you can get their money and be the richest man in the world. Well, I think it’s pathetic.’

  To their amazement, the Headmaster suddenly flung back his head and laughed, soundlessly and horribly. When he stopped, he shook his head at them sadly.

  ‘Money? Oh yes, I should be really pathetic if that was all I wanted. No wonder you have been my enemies. No wonder you think I am wicked.’

  ‘Well you are, aren’t you?’ Ingrid said stoutly. He shook his head at her again.

  ‘No, I am not wicked. My plans are for the good of everyone.’ His voice rose, almost hysterically. ‘My plans are glorious and splendid!’

  ‘But you aren’t going to tell us what they are?’ said Dinah.

  ‘You will see soon. Very soon now.’ He looked round at them all. ‘And when you do, you will understand how wrong you have been. Until then, I must remember that it is the fate of great men always to be misunderstood. Now—let us go to the Hall.’

  They began to walk along the corridor, the Headmaster gripping Dinah’s shoulder and the others marching in the middle of the crowd of hypnotized children. As she walked, Dinah was thinking busily. What was it that the Headmaster wanted? He, at least, must believe that it was good. But—what was it?

  In the Hall, everything was in chaos. The television men had just arrived and they were leaping about at high speed, hanging lights, positioning microphones, and connecting wires. In the centre of it all, a wiry figure with a crop of purple curls was dancing wildly from place to place.

  ‘Come on, lads!’ Eddy Hair was shouting. ‘You can just do it. If you work hard.’

  The Headmaster walked straight up the middle of the Hall, with all the children following. Dinah saw his face twitch with distaste as he stared round at the crazy scene. Then he forced a jovial smile and tapped Eddy Hair on the arm.

  ‘Aaaagh!’ With a scream, Eddy Hair fell to the ground as if he had been shot. ‘You got me!’ He lay on the floor, looking up at the Headmaster.

  ‘I beg your pardon,’ the Headmaster said gravely. ‘I didn’t mean to startle you.’

  ‘Good for the soul, being startled,’ chuckled Eddy Hair. ‘Nothing like the unexpected for keeping people on their—TOES!’ As he said the last word, he bounded to his feet. ‘What can I do for you, O Master?’

  ‘Do you want me to bring the school into the Hall yet?’

  ‘Why not, why not?’ Eddy Hair flapped a hand. ‘Good for the lads here to
have an audience. And I don’t suppose they’ll be finished until thirty seconds before the show starts. No time to set the audience up then. Yes, get the kids in now. And have your Quiz team ready at the side of the stage. But make sure they’re all quiet. We don’t want a racket.’

  ‘Oh yes,’ the Headmaster said, with an amused smile, ‘I think I can assure you that all my pupils will be perfectly quiet.’

  Dinah stood at the side of the stage, out of range of the cameras, with the rest of the children taking part in the Quiz. It had not occurred to her to wonder before who would be picked to make up the rest of the team. Now she discovered that it was to be Rose and Lucy. Rose was her usual unpleasant self, but Lucy, woken out of her hypnotized trance, was bubbling with excitement, hardly able to keep silent. She grinned merrily at Dinah. It was all that Dinah could do to grin back.

  You nearly killed me an hour ago, she thought. But, looking at Lucy now, she found it almost impossible to believe. And if she could barely believe it, who else would?

  The Manor Road Quiz team had just arrived and Lucy smiled at the boy with glasses. ‘You’re Alec Bates, aren’t you?’ she whispered. ‘I saw you on television last week. You were very good.’

  The boy grinned back at her, cockily. ‘I’ve been practising since then. I’m even better now. You’ll never beat us.’

  One of the sound engineers frowned at them and wagged a finger. ‘Ssh,’ he said loudly. ‘The show’s just about to start.’

  As the first notes of the opening music filled the Hall, Dinah craned her neck to see what was going on. In the front row of chairs were the other members of SPLAT, surrounded by wooden-faced children, all ready to attack them if the instruction was given. She shuddered and looked sideways at the Headmaster, who was next to her.

  He was staring across at the stage. Out there, Eddy Hair had begun a fight with a giant plateful of spaghetti. And the spaghetti was fighting him back, huge white strands slapping slimily round his neck and spoonfuls of sauce splattering messily all over the stage. The Headmaster’s face was white. His fingers twitched and he looked as though he were going to be sick.