Page 32 of Facade

The mood of the staff was primarily a mix of anticipation, interest, and feeling burdened at needing to orchestrate an epic event on relatively short notice. Mitch was petulant, sending occasional glares in her direction. Ray was attentive, probably in an effort to return to the good graces of his department head. Russell watched, cataloguing everyone’s reaction.

Clarke didn’t mind the additional workload. She already knew exactly how many empty rooms were in her dorm.

Maintenance would be setting up the temporary housing. All she had to do was tell them where to put the buildings. The students staying there would all be legal adults.

Mitch was probably angry because slacking on this assignment would be obvious, and most likely result in losing his job. He couldn’t delegate this to one of the prefects.

If she was still here at that point, it would be fun to meet students and professors from other colleges, and watch the events. Having aimed for a career with the National Institute of Psionics, she hadn’t participated in one.

When the meeting adjourned, most were preoccupied, some muttering to themselves. Clarke waited for the department heads to leave before standing from the table. She wasn’t in a hurry.

Clarke followed two professors, flanked by Jace and Russell, as they walked to the main entrance of the Admin building. Heath Halston was a few feet behind them, engaged in conversation with Professor Radcliffe. After descending the marble steps, she nodded to Jace and Russell nonchalantly, like any other coworkers, as she stepped onto the cobbled path.

Since Professor Halston knew she and Jace had been in the basement over the weekend, Clarke was determined not to give him anything to wonder about. Jace admitted that he hadn’t reacted casually to mention of the spelled alerts. Chatting like pals might give him another reason to question the nature of their relationship.

And Russell was right next to her. He hadn’t brought up Jace in conversation yet, but Clarke worried more about Russell than she did Heath Halston. Russell noticed too much.

Better to play it safe. Nothing to see here. Just two coworkers dedicated to their jobs.

She did want to talk to Jace, and meet him in the tunnel. But she would text him when she was back in the dorm.

Her thoughts revolved around the tournament. Since she and Jace hadn’t found a single clue that led to her dad, Clarke had to wonder if the event was a factor in what had led her to Mars. But the vision hadn’t depicted Clementine, the stadium, or the auditorium.

And the tournament was months away. The thought of her dad still being missing at that point was like a weight crushing her chest.

Something had to be here. She just hadn’t found it yet. It was clear to Clarke that she needed another vision, one that would give her and Jace a direction to look in.

The campus was too vast, with thousands of people between students and staff. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack among thirty identical haystacks, without knowing what the needle looked like. At this rate, they could search for years, and find nothing. That was unacceptable.

“Hmm, this will be interesting.” Clarke was startled, looking to the left. She hadn’t realized that Russell was keeping pace with her until he spoke. “My, someone was far away,” he said teasingly.

“Yeah, I was lost in thought,” Clarke said. “What’s interesting?”

“Everything. The reactions. We had plenty of time to prepare for the previous tournament here, and I wasn’t involved in the planning sessions. I love people watching, and this meeting was a goldmine, revealing lots of nuggets. That aspect was more fascinating to me than the subject under discussion,” Russell said enthusiastically.

“Really? Care to share?”

“The chief of maintenance frowned seven times while he made notations for allocating tasks to his staff,” Russell said. “That tells me that he is worried, and at least one of them is unreliable. The head groundskeeper acted like he won a jackpot, which strikes me as suspicious. I would expect him to grumble, and bitch about all the extra work he needs to do for this tournament. But he clearly sees it as an opportunity for something.

“Dreamy Heath looked like the weight of the world suddenly fell on his shoulders. But why? Several casters he knows well will probably be enrolled in the tournament, but that won’t be his responsibility. Most of the coaching will be done by the professors that teach more advanced courses.

“He must have other concerns, but I have no idea what those might be. The academic department heads seem to be taking things in stride. Their reactions were expected.

“Ray is a question mark. He’s kissing ass right now, but who knows what he’ll do later. With his lack of initiative, Ray’s level of interest is either fake, or pertains to something other than the workload. Mitch is firmly on the path of self-destruction. You’ll need to stay alert for more sabotage from him,” Russell said.

“I didn’t notice half of that,” Clarke said.

Russell really was a valuable resource. He’d given her considerable food for thought. This was also proof positive that she and Jace had to be very careful how they acted around Russell.

Russell shrugged. “You don’t know them like I do. I did my undergrad studies here, and worked in the library part-time. This is my eighth year at Mars as the assistant librarian. You learn a lot about people when you work with them for years.”

“I’m still impressed. You’re very observant,” Clarke said honestly. “Was that everything you noticed? You left some people out of an otherwise detailed spy report.”

Russell chuckled at that. “Those were the highlights, and main points of interest. There were a few other curiosities to note, but minor in comparison.”

“What makes you think Mitch is getting worse?” Clark asked. “Jace said this is his second year at Mars. You might not know him as well as other staff members, keen perception notwithstanding.”

“Mitch grew up in Clementine, and is only a few years younger than me,” Russell said. “He has a history of blaming others for his limitations, and making little effort to earn his way.”