Page 28 of Facade

But some of them were young and dumb enough to try to practice their magic without supervision. That could be very dangerous in a room full of electrical panels and machinery. Heath had set the alert, and obviously never disabled it.

Now, he had to decide what to do about this. After returning the book to its place on the shelf, Heath left the library. There was no point in talking to Ray, who was too lazy to lift a finger, and didn’t care what the students did.

Back in his office, Heath thought about how to handle this for several minutes before calling Jace.

“I have a class right now,” the shifter said in his usual brusque tone.

“There’s something I want to talk to you about,” Heath said. “Are you free for lunch?”

“Yeah.”

This was why it was so weird to see Jace engaged in animated conversations with Clark Voudrie. That wasn’t normal for 007.

Heath said he would have food delivered, and they agreed to meet in his office. The brief talk reminded Heath of the mysteries surrounding the shifter.

It occurred to him that Jace might be hiding a tattoo under the muscle shirts that he was still wearing every day now, but that didn’t make sense either. As far as Heath was aware, 007 didn’t have tats, and wasn’t into them.

If he was wrong, and Jace had gotten a tattoo, there would be no reason to hide it. Jace would choose a spot on his body that would always be hidden, like a thigh or hip, for a tattoo with personal meaning that he didn’t want displayed. That brought Heath back to possibilities that Jace couldn’t control the location of, such as a scar or mate mark.

It was a conundrum, but Heath elected not to quiz Jace about his unusual behavior. He might learn more through observation, and the students were the priority. Heath prepared for his next class after setting a reminder on his phone to order lunch.

Jace arrived on time, almost immediately after the food was delivered, entering Heath’s office after a brief, perfunctory knock.

“What’s up?”

Heath waved for Jace to have a seat before replying, “I was hearing a strange noise on Saturday and Sunday, and couldn’t figure out what it was at first.”

007 frowned at that. “Is everything ok? I can send security to patrol, if you’re worried about trespassers.”

“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary,” Heath said. “I realized today that the alert indicates activity in the basement under the dorm.” Jace looked surprised, and possibly annoyed. With him, it was hard to tell. “Casters were sneaking down there in my first year as a monitor, which caused me to set alerts.”

“Doesn’t it go off constantly?” Jace asked. “Maintenance is down there all the time.”

“No, it’s just for evenings and weekends, when the crews are off work. I know it’s not your job to worry about the casters, but I called you because Ray won’t give a shit,” Heath said.

“Ok, that makes sense, but I think Clark and I set it off,” Jace said to Heath’s surprise.

“I’m glad that both of you are checking the basement to make sure your students aren’t messing around, but why would either of you be under the caster dorm?” Heath asked.

“Clark asked if there were any rodent deterrents in place, since there have been signs of mice in the powered dorm,” Jace said. “I offered to come over, and check it out with him. It turns out that there is a tunnel under the dorms that runs from one end to the other with tracks for a trolley or whatever the right term is, to move supplies. We decided to explore it.”

Something in his expression gave Heath the impression that Jace wasn’t being completely honest. That was curious, and confusing. What other reason would they have to be down there, and why hide it?

Heath chose to brush it off for now. If Jace was lying, confronting him wouldn’t yield positive results.

“That’s what the tracks are for. I remember seeing them, now. So, you don’t think students were down there?” Heath asked.

“No, from what you said, I think Clark and I set off the alert. Students would be taking their lives in their hands by venturing into the basements at this point. There are enough mice to stage a rebellion, and take over the campus,” Jace commented with humor.

“That bad? I would think maintenance would have set traps,” Heath commented.

“We were surprised, too, and brainstorming how to fix the problem,” Jace mentioned. “One or two cats would be eaten alive. We’ll keep checking, and make sure students stay out of the basements, if you want to remove the spell. I agree that Ray and Mitch wouldn’t care, or do anything about it if they did see students sneaking downstairs.”

“Yeah, I can disable it,” Heath said. “I had forgotten about it until the alert went off on Saturday. Thank you for taking on more responsibilities. At this point, I’m hoping that Mitch and Ray either quit, or do something to merit termination, so we can get good monitors in those dorms.”

Ray should have his own alerts, but probably didn’t. Heath made a note reminding himself to cancel the spell. No longer having authority over the dorm, it would be senseless to leave it active.

He was curious about Jace’s reaction, but the shifter was an excellent monitor. The same could be said for Clark Voudrie. If they had other motives for meeting in the basement, it wasn’t Heath’s business.