Tzurtzurk looked at the children who didn't understand him at all.
"You should be told. Do you know why the corridor is called like that? Not because no one finds it anymore, but because whoever enters it's really lost. That's why it's called the lost aisle, of the lost one ... for anyone who dares to enter it ..."
The kids didn't say anything. Because what they experienced made them realize what dangers they faced and they could experience something even worse than that.
They looked down, ashamed.
Tzurtzurk waved his wand in his hand and they all disappeared from the crypt, reaching the place where ... they were likely to hear their punishment.
…
"You haven't been told since you came here that there are some places where you don't have to go?" the stone elf responsible for the surveillance of the crypt walked very furiously around the three children, in Mr. Knudlac's great room.
The children were very scared of the elf's words.
"You should be kicked out of this school. Sent back to your home ... or three months to the 'Recovery Wizard School' before being sent home. Yeah, better there. Eight rules of conduct violated ... Eight! Ever since I came here at Elmbridge School, I haven't heard anything like that, so many rules broken."
"It means you haven't heard of the ogre adventure," Johnny tried to joke, though he didn't choose the right moment.
"What!? Are you joking?! Recovery Wizard School, all of you!"
The third time when they heard the same text of the elf, the children stopped even breathing ... they were scared to death, terrified.
Alexander thought what humiliation it would be for his parents and for him to have the Recovery Wizard School detention record. The famous school where most of the young wizards who took the wrong path returned to the right path of magic ... the psychological torture they were subjected to, helped them find the right path.
All those who used spells without hiding from the presence of sceptics, or used them against them, who tried to make harmful and powerful potions, or worse, who had "inclinations" towards black magic, returned to the right path of witchcraft. And they swore they'd never get there a second time, so bad it was for them.
"Anything but not Recovery School. No Recovery School ..." Prince Soimesti was talking to himself.
Johnny, on the other hand, thought if he went home it would be worse for him. His stepfather would turn him into a total sceptic. That would mean to become a postman, a factory worker, or something like that. No ... he didn't want to give up his wand, he didn't want to go home. Better Recovery School.
"Better Recovery school, better."
Elizabeth ... she could get back to the orphanage. And there, apart from Dorothy's memory, there could be nothing good for her.
"If only Dorothy were there," she sighed.
She knew her best friend was no longer there, so she was about to start crying, because she didn't have any reason to go back to the orphanage.
Mr. Harmony came into Mr. Knudlac's office, smiling and as sweet as ever.
"Hello, dear," she greeted the children.
Her smile and her kindness when speaking made that grumpy elf even grumpier:
"I found them in the crypt ... they barely escaped alive. Eight rules violated in one evening!"
"I know, Mr. Tzurtzurk. In fact I think there are nine rules violated ... I think they woke up one more creature in the basement of Elmbridge school. A creature hibernating quietly for over thirty years," Miss Harmony replied to the elf as kindly as usual.
"Where's Knudlac? He'll agree with me. He'll send these kids back to where they came from. Or to the Recovery School…"
"To the Recovery Wizard School !?" Miss Harmony laughed. "Why? Did they try to kill someone?"
"Yes ... themselves," said the grumpy guy again very firmly, yet, sure that he couldn't reach a consensus with this witch.
"They'll certainly be punished, but I don't know how because ..."
"I know how. Let me take care of it!" intervened Tzurtzurk.
"I just hope they won't punish you as well…They'd say it was your fault to let these kids go down into the crypt and get into the lost Lane ..."
"Are you blaming me?"
"I swear on Merlin's cape, of course not," completed Miss Harmony smiling as usual. "But…"
Mr. Knudlac entered the office. One could see clearly on his face that he was concerned about important things.
"Hello, Miss Harmony. Tzurtzurk, kids ... Did anything happen?" asked the professor, starting to look for something in his office.
For a few moments he forgot about the others, after which he seemed to wake up from a dream and saw them all again.
"If it's the contest, please handle it, Harmony ..."
He looked at the stone elf that was grumpier than usual, or at least so it seemed, because on his face one couldn't see a smile, neither a frown. His face was like a statue's. When you spoke, though, he looked like a living being."
"Or ... is there anything else, Tzurtzurk?"
"Yes, it's something else," the little elf approached.
The children just froze there, while Miss Harmony's smile faded away, as lightly as the sun in sea waters at the end of a magnificent summer day.
"These children need to be better supervised ..."
No one breathed except Knudlac and Tzurtzurk.
The grumpy elf glared at the others, one by one.
"Because I want to take them to see 'The Purple Oasis Depths'. There I know the second test will be held. A cousin of mine told me. And I want to accompany these kids for their safety."
Everyone breathed again.
Knudlac, although very caught up with the school problems, focused on the contest for a few moments.
"So ... Big shot, this emir. Everyone prepared for an event thinking it would take place in a torrid, desert area, with no water. While he ... he'll force us to stay in water. Great guy though... it's his own way."
He thought for a couple of moments and then continued:
"Yes, it looks like he thought it right. Many will appreciate it. Not Nakutsck, for sure..."
Then looking at the children:
"Dear, thank Tzurtzurk and pay close attention to the details you'll see in the Purple Oasis Depths. As for the other competitors, maybe ..."
"Everyone knows, Knudlac. My cousin already announced them."
"Well then, you can go with Miss Harmony and Tzurtzurk."
The children looked at Miss Harmony, who smiled again. The stone elf didn't smile; not even when they thanked him.
The children were visibly pleased for not being accused and then punished. Moreover, the punishment became a real gift. At least for Elizabeth and Alexander.
"Knudlac ... a little detail. Can Mr. Tzurtzurk let the stone dogs into the crypt? Especially when he'll be gone?"
Mr. Knudlac was very careful about some papers he held, but he nodded.
Finally, a slight lip movement, which could mean the first smile in Tzurtzurk's long life.
He had his reason. It's years since he had been trying to convince Knudlac to let the stone dogs free through the crypt. It would be as if ... he had nothing more to do, except to transmute where the dogs bark when they catch a student wandering through the crypt. As for the possibility of something inside the crypt from the other side, the dogs would keep any danger away. So Tzurtzurk felt he gained the most from this situation. He didn't regret anything any longer.
On the way to the door, Miss Harmony could show her kindness again. With the risk of disturbing Knudlac again in his thoughts, she took advantage of his distraction:
"Can we take Johnny with us? He sacrificed himself for the team ... and the team loves him."
The stone elf slightly turned up his nose as if he was sorry he didn't complain about the three students, but the thought that from now on he could leave his dogs free, those huge stone monsters, made him give up any opposition.
"Yes, do as you please," said Knudlac.
Everyone came out happily from Knudlac's office and left him with a lot of tasks to do.
Tzurtzurk was pleased, Miss Harmony as well, especially since it was difficult to get Knudlac change his mind.
As for the children, they were happier than ever. Including Johnny; he'd never hoped for such a trip, especially since he was no longer part of the team at the Magic Contest of the Decade.
Knudlac was alone. After a few moments he put the papers down, turned his wand made of magic ginseng and saw the three children followed by a huge and fierce beast.
"Carticors ... I haven't heard for a long time about someone meeting such creatures. Not to speak about facing them."
He sighed.
"It was Dragoesti's achievement for sure. We felt much better when they were in the depths of the Earth."
He smiled.
"And yet, these three children ... are incredible ..."
He smiled again, slightly when he saw four monsters, as large as elephants, running on the steps of the crypt, more precisely jumping over ten steps at a time. The beasts, those rock dogs, would guard the crypt with Tzutzurk from that moment.
The dogs were just as happy as the stone elf, because they were free. Some said they hadn't seen the corridors of the crypt for decades. And now they jumped like lambs in a meadow, they were so happy ... those big stone sculptures, Tzutzurk's hounds.
But the frisky beasts kept jumping around until Tzurtzurk called them and they ran to him, waiting for their master's directions.
"It's better to have as many guards as possible, especially in such times," the professor thought.
Then twisting his wand he wiped all those images and went about his business.
And once again he showed everyone there was nothing this great wizard could skip.
This was exciting and dangerous too. If he could know everything that happened in the Elmbridge School of Magic, someone else could also know it too for sure ...