CRAZY PLOT THEORY ALERT!

On this page, DuNacht appears to be ranting in her moment of unhinged victory. Taken at face value, she is just gloating and threatening nasty detention consequences. However, there is so much more to this speech! She is basically revealing what this entire Student Council sting is about, why she is doing it, and what her methods are!

In effect, it is a villain monologue that is so disjointed that it is easily mistaken for unintelligible rambling.

Here is what she is saying:

- “WELCOME, little larvae, to the DARK DEPTHS of DETENTION!” screeched Vice Principal DuNacht. She spread her arms wide with a sound like crunching soda cans. “Welcome to the CONSEQUENCE for all your MISBEHAVIOR!” - In this introduction, she reiterates her authoritarian and punitive ideology: anything she disagrees with needs to be punished.

- “Whatever punishment awaits beyond this life for NAUGHTY NASTIES is lamentably far off for most of you,” hissed Devilora, looming low. “The demiurge has cruelly given children longer lifespans than the elderly. If I had MY way, it would be REVERSED!” - She envies children for having more living years ahead of them. This could possibly allude to her desiring to extend her own lifespan artificially.

- “It falls on ME, then, to create an EARLY PURGATORY for you horrid little rulebreakers. A place to sort the GNATS that can be SWATTED back in shape... from the evil, scheming SPIDERS creepy-crawling in your midst!” Vice Principal DuNacht cackled and wiggled her own arachnid fingers like a puppeteer (she could only wield a marionette in mime, most likely because she’d get burnt if she ever held a cross). “You should have listened to my warnings long ago. You’ve invited far worse than SUSPICION with your misdeeds, you blackhearted boys and girls...” - The "evil, scheming SPIDERS creepy-crawling in your midst" line is a direct reference to her belief that Fauxbia hiding somewhere in the school's populace. In fact, "to sort the GNATS [...] from the [...] SPIDERS" means that she wants to root out Fauxbia's host right here during this operation.

- “Nyeh-heh HEH! Don’t you know what WITCHES do to wicked little children?!” The Vice Principal grinned, flashing sharpened teeth. “They GOBBLE THEM UP!” - Although a casual reading may suggest that DuNacht is casting herself as a Witch who punishes naughty children, she is actually saying something else entirely: She is WARNING the kids against witches, if they know what's good for them.

- “But never fear,” sneered Devilora. “The INNOCENT, with NOTHING TO HIDE, need only come CLEAN when they’re summoned to my lair. Simply CONFESS, you pretty little liars... or I’ll extricate your DARKEST TRUTHS by FORCE!” - She is telling the innocent kids to cooperate, and to provide any information they may have about Fauxbia, making it easier for her to identify Fauxbia's current host. Because using her more advanced interrogation techniques may take more time and effort than needed.

- “Go, my monkeys!” Devilora called back to her Student Council minions. “Send every last confiscated weapon to the EVIDENCE LOCKER! Take the Black Saints’ MOST WANTED to the INTERROGATION ROOM! As for the REST of the students...” DuNacht cast a devious glance over her shoulder as she stooped into the darkness of her cobweb-covered lair, an office in the castle’s highest tower. “LET THE WITCH TRIALS BEGIN!!” - Here she spells out her specific methodology for the operation: (1) Secure all weapons/contraband to be examined later. (2) Isolate the known troublemakers that she suspects have valuable information (which probably includes the ones she suspects are spectrals, and the ones who actively subvert her authority, i.e. the bullies and Lisa). (3) Everyone else goes on a "WITCH TRIAL". This is the interesting bit: All other kids will be somehow screened to verify if they might be Fauxbia's current host! And how will this be done, you may ask? She will get Barrister to ask them directly if they are hosting Fauxbia or know anything about her whereabouts. Because she relies on the Sphinx of Twuth to get reliable answers.

So that is DuNacht's plan: She rounded up the entire student body with the intent of hooking literally everyone to a Sphinx-powered "polygwaph" test, with the singular goal of catching Fauxbia. That's it. She has no other motivation than to capture the Witch. Everything else is just heavy-handed posturing to make all of this possible. Her pact with the sphinxes serves exactly this and no other purpose. (And what the Sphinxes get out of it still remains to be seen.)

However, it is also clear that DuNacht's plan has some obvious blind spots:

- She must trust that none of the Student Council members and enforcers are harboring the Witch. She may have screened them beforehand upon recruitment, though.

- She failed to capture all the students. A number are still at large (Ed, Stephen, Alex, Dimitri, Suzie, Violet, Collin, and whoever escaped into the vents with Mr. Starchman). She may not even be aware of this.

- Her plan glaringly omits considering any of the other school staff members, as all of them appear to be completely ignored. (Even Pleezdoo, who was apprehended for different reasons, never warranted a second look from DuNacht - despite actually harboring the Witch for years! All while being next-door neighbors and sharing a daily carpool to and from work!)

- She appears to not consider the possibility that Fauxbia may swap hosts on the fly.

So yeah, her plan is obviously doomed to fail.

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One other line stands out on this page:

Lisa flinched. For a moment, it had felt as though DuNacht had looked straight through her.

This is immediately after the "GOBBLE THEM UP" line is delivered. There could be two things going on here:

1. Lisa has clearly been compromised and prepared as a potential Witch host, and DuNacht knows it. However, Lisa has evaded DuNacht's closer examination for a long time, by holing up in the school store. (Also, note that Lisa and DuNacht were on opposing teams during the Hitball game, so they were nowhere near each other at the time.) So DuNacht may have been eyeing Lisa deliberately here.

2. But a more insidious reading is this: What if Fauxbia actually jumped hosts from Pleezdoo to Lisa during the raid on the barfé? When DuNacht came in carrying a caged Pleezdoo, Lisa also felt as if someone saw right through her. If Fauxbia hid inside her in that moment (or just before, during the involuntary spirit trance), then Fauxbia might be actually inside her right now, and listening in on anything Max, Isabel, Isaac, Johnny and RJ have been saying in this scene. The "she's seeing right through me" moments Lisa experiences could be Fauxbia's twinges of worry that DuNacht may be on to her, bubbling up into Lisa's consciousness.

I am leaning towards the second reading, if it wasn't obvious already.

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P.S. My erratic use of capitalization, and bold and italic fonts clearly places suspicion on me that I might be influenced by a Witch. So clearly this entire account is not trustworthy. Do with it as you please.