The next morning saw the school open as normal. Since the ‘meditation practice’ had stopped during the school’s relocation, all the kids were present, though that would change quickly as the remaining students managed to complete their constitutions. Tara, for one, was immensely happy to be back on the island. The annex had been interesting and allowed them to do fun things after school that the couldn’t do here, but it didn’t have a gym. She enjoyed gymnastics practice with Mrs. Zirai and had missed it dearly.
While the students were returning to class, Principal Cartwright and Rejya Xinasa were having a meeting. They didn’t speak long, but what they did say came down to a very important point - they needed someone else to help run the school. Before he’d been informed, John had been confident in his ability to make this move along by himself, but now he was in the middle of the school year and facing the need to reinterview his entire staff, with the understanding that he might be replacing a large portion of it shortly.
Lunchtime saw the staff in an uproar, though it was carefully hidden from the students. The reason was simple - everyone had been informed of the requirement to reinterview. The details on the why and how were being kept strictly confidential, but it wasn’t hard for the staff to conclude that they were hunting for the person who had reported the health issues on campus. All of the staff members were shocked and dismayed by the prospect. After all, even if the school did discover who had made the report, that person would be protected by the whistleblower laws. The school couldn’t fire them. So what was the point of this obvious witch hunt?
Dianna Ochoa was not the type to hide behind her peers. At the end of that school day, she marched down to the Principal’s office. Having heard what was taking place, her intentions were quite clear - if this was indeed a witch hunt to find, and fire, the person who had made the report which had caused so much trouble, she would not only acknowledge that it had been her that had done so but willingly resign. That wouldn’t stop her from taking other actions to make sure the actions of the school became known, but she refused to work for any institution of learning that would punish someone for protecting their students. To her it wasn’t just wrong, it was unthinkable.
As she approached the office she noticed that, contrary to her expectations, no teachers were waiting. The only person in the office when she entered was the Principal’s secretary. “Ms. Ochoa, you’re right on time. The principal is waiting for you,” said the secretary.
The announcement was quite unexpected. She got a sinking feeling in her gut. They not only knew that she was the one who had made the report, but they had been expecting her to confront them about the decision to reinterview. While she didn’t exactly like the feeling of being predictable, she pulled her courage together and walked resolutely into the inner office, her head held high.
“Dianna, so glad you came down. I had a rather large bet with myself that you would come forward as soon as we made the announcement.” Mr. Cartwright’s tone wasn’t condescending or angry as she’d expected. Rather, it was open and jovial, a friendly and inviting manner that immediately put her hackles up. After all, she was expecting to lose her job, not a matter of which she felt the Principal should be making light.
“Since I am so predictable, Mr. Cartwright,” she said acerbically, “Then let's get this out of the way. You can call off this ridiculous witch hunt. I am the one who made the report. If you intend to censure me for doing so, you can save your breath. I’ll not work for any school that punishes teachers for seeing to the welfare of their students.” She was quite proud of herself at that moment. Despite her currently fiery disposition, it had taken her quite a lot of courage to pursue this course of action. Just because it was right didn’t mean it was easy, after all.
To her annoyance, the principal laughed at her. Laughed! She was about to let out an angry retort and storm out when he held up his hands. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just that I was quite hoping for exactly this outcome. I wasn’t sure if you would follow through, but I am quite pleased you did.” Pleased? He was pleased? Before she could begin speaking he continued. “Dianna, I am going to be blunt - things have changed. When I took this position it was decided that I would be handling it alone. The reason is that the scope of the job, contrary to what might be normal in public schools, is quite narrow. Oh, I have plenty of work to do, but mostly I pass on the expectations of the headmaster and manage the teachers. Other than that, I do paperwork. Not a terribly hard job, especially since we have so few kids. Because of this, I declined to hire a Vice Principal, thinking that there would be very little for them to do. However, I find that I’ve underestimated the work quite badly. Remarkably badly.”
He took a deep breath before looking her dead in the eyes, his visage suddenly serious. “So I find myself in the position now that I must hire a Vice Principal. I was hoping you would consider the position.”
Dianna was silent for a long moment, her mind whirling around and around as she considered the possibilities. Inevitably her thoughts landed on one with the finality of a building collapsing. “Mr. Cartwright, I will not be bribed into compliance. Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing. This ‘reward’ is nothing more than the standard operating procedure to get me to play along while you cover everything up. Well, I won’t be a party to it. I quit.”
“Wait,” said Mr. Cartwright, standing up and once again holding up his hands. “I see that I’ve given you the wrong impression. How about this? I’ll make a wager with you, Dianna. The headmaster has decided that he made a mistake by not entrusting this staff with the full knowledge of this school’s purpose. So, having been given all the information, I can now tell you the full story. It will be unbelievable, but I have a feeling you’re quite capable of handling it. So my wager is this - I will tell you everything that is happening in this school, right up to and including what is happening to our students. I will hide nothing. You will then have a choice; either agree to be my Vice Principal or resign. If you resign I will personally see to it that when you file your lawsuit against the school for discrimination that the school will settle and that the settlement will include an admission of guilt. You will receive a generous payout and your reputation will be undamaged. But if you stay, if you take on the position of Vice-Principal, you agree to be loyal to this school.”
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“I am looking for someone to be our moral guide. Someone who will object when they believe we are going the wrong direction. I can’t promise that will be easy, or that we’ll always agree. What I can guarantee is that your opinion won’t be ignored and that you won’t be left out of the loop. Ultimately, I’ll be entrusting the welfare of the children to you. Given what you’ve already done, I know you would take the position seriously.”
“Now,” he said, sitting back down and folding his hands across his lap, “Are you willing to take my wager and give me the chance to convince you? Or are you resigning?”
Dianna stared at him, speechless for a moment. When her mind worked again she immediately voiced the first thing that was on her mind. “You know the cause of the children’s condition? And you didn’t say anything?”
“Two things,” said John. “First, I found out last night. Second, even if I had known I wouldn’t have stopped it. I know that’s hard to believe at the moment and makes me sound like a villain, but once you have the complete picture I trust that you’ll agree with my stance. Or, if you don’t, that we can at least discuss it seriously. This particular issue has already been decided, however. Regardless of what you or I think, it is done. I can promise that the children have come to no harm. My understanding is that they’ll see quite a bit of benefit.”
Dianna felt her face redden and her anger boil over. “What, they’re performing some type of medical treatment on the children and you’re just going to let them?”
“Please don’t make unfounded assumptions,” said John, his voice turning hard. “Rather than fight about what could be going on, why don’t you let me show you what is actually happening.”
That stopped her anger cold. It seemed his words weren’t just for show. He appeared to be quite willing to tell her everything. Rather than reassure her, the prospect scared her. This seemed dangerous. If this was some secret government project or something there was a chance that if she didn’t agree she could be in real danger.
John must have caught some hint of her fears because he gave her a slight smile. “You’re in no danger, Dianna. This isn’t some covert government operation or criminal enterprise. I’m not some spy that has experience with this sort of thing. How can I put you at ease?”
Dianna thought about it for a long moment before conceding. “I have cell reception in this office. We don’t leave here. If I feel in danger at any time I will call 911. I’ll give you an hour to make your case. It had better be a good one.”
John considered it for a moment before responding. “I can do one demonstration in the office. There are other things I’ll need to show you, but I can’t show them to you here. How about this - I’ll do the first demonstration here and then we’ll decide if you’re willing to proceed. If you are, we’ll talk about going somewhere I can finish convincing you. Is that acceptable?”
The offer sounded reasonable. She couldn’t find a reason to decline. “Alright, I’ll play along. We’ll leave the decision of whether or not to go elsewhere until later.”
“Fair,” said John before picking up his phone and punching in a number. “Ms. Rejya, Ms. Ochoa has agreed to sit through a preliminary demonstration. I assume you can arrange something suitable?” There was a pause then he was grinning. “I think that should suffice to start with. We’re in my office.”
Another moment passed before he hung up. “They’ll be here in a few minutes. Would you care for something to drink?” Dianna declined the offer and they sat in tense silence while they waited. Finally, the secretary paged his desk to inform him that Ms. Rejya and guest had arrived. The Principal told her to send them in.
“Ms. Ochoa, thank you so much for agreeing to hear us out,” said Xinasa as she came into the room, offering her hand politely.
“I have to admit that I have my reservations,” said Dianna.
“Naturally,” said Xinasa. “I’d like to introduce a friend, Piach Tariff. Mr. Piach, this is Dianna Ochoa. If she accepts she’ll be the school’s new Vice Principal.” The two shook hands.
“One last thing to do,” said John. He paged his secretary and told her that their meeting would last a while and that she could go home. They waited discreetly while she packed up her things and left. Dianna had the desire to make small talk just to clear the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room but decided against it. In her hand, she had her phone, ready to call the police if she should feel threatened. In her mind, sending the secretary home wasn’t exactly a good sign.
“Now,” said Xinasa once the secretary was gone, “Rather than give you the full story, a story which you wouldn’t believe a word of, upfront, we’re going to give you a little demonstration. Before we do, however, let me reassure you that you aren’t in any danger. No matter what happens, you are safe. Understand?” For some reason, the words which should have put Dianna more on edge calmed her instead. After a couple of deep breaths, she nodded.
“Mr. Piach, if you would?” asked Xinasa. He nodded in reply before turning to Dianna.
“I am not human, Dianna. I am what is known as a beast. I just happen to have hung on long enough that I can assume a human form. My true form is that of the Divine Temple Dog. My true form is white and green and has rather large sharp teeth. Despite not being able to speak the human tongue in that form my mental capacity does not change. Once I’ve transformed I’ll prove this to you. Understand?”
Dianna gave him the look she would give a crazy person before looking at John. “Are they for real?” Her tone of incredulity was unmistakable.
“I am,” replied Tariff. “Since you understand, prepare yourself. Also, while I wouldn’t normally allow it, I don’t think you’ll be convinced of the truth unless you’re allowed to touch me, so once I’m in my true form you may pet me.”
Xinasa smiled. “That is a great honor, Dianna. The Divine Temple Dog is a herald of good fortune. Petting one is guaranteed to bring you good luck.”
“You’re all crazy,” said Dianna. She started to stand up, but before she could get halfway out of her chair, the man standing in front of her, Tariff, turned into a dog, a huge dog, his head while standing on all four feet easily even with her head while sitting. She plopped back down into her chair. Just like the man had said, the dog was white and green and had enormous fangs. Despite that, his face was almost… puppyish. Cute, if you ignored his obvious ability to tear her apart. She just stared for a long time, her mind running in pointless circles. If she had to guess, it took her about five minutes before she realized she was shaking, her knees pulled up onto the chair. The dog, in contrast, had just sat down, waiting for her to relax. Its eyes are on her the entire time. Rather than feel like a challenge, or like it was hunting her, when she looked at them they seemed gentle and serene, not threatening at all.
Eventually, she worked up the courage to reach out a hand. The dog ducked his head so that she could run her fingers between its ears and down its back. The fur was soft and luxurious, so warm and comforting that Dianna had the urge to wrap her arms around this dog like she had done to her dog when she was a little girl. She spent a minute petting it, her shaking subsiding before she withdrew her hand. When she did she turned to John and made the first coherent sound she’d made since the man had turned into a dog. “Ok, what the actual fuck is going on here?”