Chapter Four Part 3

Third part

The weather grew stormy as noon approached. Frontal rains drenched the meadows and forests. Rainwater poured through the open corridors and windows into the castle.
Alyssa and Jeff, still without words, staggered across the wet floor of the sixth floor corridor. Only one door beside the corridor stood ajar, and that was of course the Artifacts class. A shiny metal plate, similar to one on the door to the Hall of the Historicals, read:-
STUDY OF ARTIFACTS
Andrew. J. C. Morse
A violent flash of lightning cut across the castle like a sword, and a deep loud rumbling of thunder followed it. Alyssa and Jeff walked into the classroom. A Payne’s grey darkness occluded their vision for a moment. Then it slowly dissolved, and the room swam into view. The darkness was due to the overcast sky, and all windows were shut tight to prevent the rain from coming into the room. The glass panes had been hazed by the raindrops, and water tipped over them in small streams. Alyssa sat on the empty third bench and looked around. She found Vorshevky sitting on the very first bench with Samantha Daisy and Maria White on her either side. She did not seem to be in a good mood. She was trying to explain something to her friends in a suppressed voice. Alyssa drew her ear nearer to eavesdrop.
“Exactly, I would have made it. But you just made it difficult for me. You peeped over my paper, so I had to slow down. And that’s why I couldn’t complete. I was writing the last one but Skyrie won’t give a second extra.”
“It’s a pity, Elena. Hope you complete the next one.” Albert Borlaug tried to console her. Vorshevky opened her mouth to say something but shut it up without a word as a middle aged man banged into the room. He was clad in a raincoat from which water droplets tripped off to the ground. His half bald head became visible as he removed his hood. He unbuttoned his coat and threw it upon his own chair. And the next moment he uttered, “How foolish!” and quickly picked it up and hung it from a hook on the wall.
“Good Afternoon, first years.” He spoke, as he glared at the soggy chair, “Welcome to your first lesson of Study of Artifacts with me. I am Andrew Morse, that’s not the full name, but never mind my full name.” Morse laughed at his own joke. “Sorry for being late. One of my old friends was to come by yesterday’s Mail, which was unfortunately held up till morning. I had to go receive my friend.
Alyssa noticed that Morse was slightly panting as he paused. She had rarely seen someone who spoke this fast.    
“There’s a reason he’s come.” Morse inserted his fist into his book pocket and drew out a parcel wrapped in an aluminum foil. Slowly but carefully, Morse placed the parcel on the table. He began to unfold the foil slowly and gently picked up the object that was inside it. With a tug on a switch hanging from the ceiling, Morse turned the lights on. Bright golden light diluted the darkness inside the room and the object held by him high in the air became vividly visible. It was shaped like a star with five arms stretched out in all directions. Crystals resembling diamond were studded all over its silvery body. And, at the center of the star was a transparent piece of highly polished glass which was shaped like a pentagon. The pentagon bore a dotted symbol that seemed very familiar to Alyssa.
“This is what my friend traded with me- a precious artifact. It has beautiful name also, The Korplus.” Morse spoke with excitement. Alyssa and a few others gave a slight gasp of awe.
“It’s beautiful, mysterious and capable of arousing curiosity in anyone.” He jabbered. “No abnormalities, no distortions, nothing; but there’s something wrong with it. Can anyone guess what it is?”
The whole class sank into a prolonged silence. Samuel Brown replied after a long spell of thoughts, “Some part of the artifact is missing?”
“No, it’s visually perfect.” Morse nodded horizontally.
“Are it’s powers drained away?” Vorshevky was the next to try. Alyssa noticed that for the very first time her answer lacked her usual confidence.
“You are close to it, but not absolutely correct.” Morse nodded his head in a similar manner.
Then suddenly it hit Alyssa-she understood. Heart pounding in apprehension of a correct guess, she said, “Sir, is it fake?”
“Exactly.” Morse yelled in excitement. Then he turned to Elena, “See how close you were. It’s powerless, so no question of draining powers.” Vorshevky nodded. Morse rolled her eyes back to Alyssa, “What’s your name?”
“Alyssa Stewart, Sir.” She said.
“Stewart?!” Morse’s brows furrowed. He thought something for a brief moment and then gestured her to sit down.
“Artifacts are the most relevant and important elements of Archaeology. They are precious and attractive but to find the original one is like searching for a needle in a haystack.  There might be hundreds of so-called  Korpluses out there. And almost a dozen of them is absolutely similar to the original one. The powers for which the Korplus is so valuable to us is buried deep within its glass core, only present at the heart of the original one…
When the class ended, the showers had ceased and clouds were thinning. Sunlight was pervading into the  grounds like spotlight. But the chilly gust was still blowing, and for that the chilly weather persisted even after the rains stopped.
Back in the common room, discussions about Morse’s class showed no sign of ending. Alyssa especially felt that this was the best class since her first one with Skyrie. Jeff and some others were of similar opinion.
“I was in a very bad mood after that rubbish exam; Prof. Morse’s class has cheered me up.” Jeff had told her.
“Midnight told me about him a number of times. She thinks Morse is the best teacher at Elderwoods.” Samuel said.
Discussions and debates regarding the Korplus crept into their chat alongside admirations of Morse. In the late afternoon, third years surged into the room at the end of day. Midnight joined Alyssa, Jeff and Samuel’s discussions. She looked wearied after a long streak of classes back to back.
“What about your class with Morse?” She asked.
“A bit out of the ordinary.” Samuel instantly replied.
“He came to class with a fake artifact in his pocket.” Jeff said.
“He’s just like as you described…” Samuel said to Midnight.
“The artifact he showed us…” Jeff started but Alyssa interrupted, “Have you heard of any artifact called the Korplus?”
“Korplus!” Midnight frowned at her, brow furrowed. Alyssa recognized her expression as a similar one to Morse’s when she had told her name.
“No.” Midnight muttered, and her face grew paler.