Page 45 of Facade

“I appreciate it, sir,” Clark said.

Heath was dismissed when security arrived. He walked back to his office, plagued with heavy thoughts.

Jace

He had never expected to be grateful for Ray, but he was now. As they walked to the dorms, dozens of students and several teachers expressed how relieved they were that the boys were safe. Most of them mentioned what they had witnessed of the near-catastrophe.

The boys recounted the incident from the moment they had seen the wave approaching. Every comment increased his anger, until Jace felt like he might explode with it. Seeing the classroom made it clear that Clarke and the boys had been in danger.

But Jace hadn’t realized how serious it was until now. Their description of the ice spears made it clear to Jace that this wasn’t a case of a student losing control. His blood pressure rose with every word.

Opposite of him, the students were more relaxed and animated by the minute. They seemed to have bounced back from the terror quickly. All of them were currently focused on the impressive power displays by Carl Washington and Clarke on their behalf.

But those efforts shouldn’t have been necessary in the first place. Everyone in that classroom had been in considerable peril. His mate, and every underage student, could have been killed, or at least sustained serious wounds from this attack.

For the first time in his life, Jace legitimately felt homicidal. This was deeper than anger. His wolverine wanted to remove the threat to his mate and the innocents in his care.

There was one target for his rage. Jace was honestly afraid of what he might do if he caught sight of Mitch. As far as his animal was concerned, it was simple.

Killing Mitch would ensure the safety of Clarke and all the boys. The wolverine didn’t understand the concept of laws, and gathering evidence of a crime.

A battle of wills ensued, man versus wolverine. Jace had never felt such a division between himself and his animal side. They had always been two parts of a whole.

Now, his primitive instincts were opposed to human rationality. The thought of solving this with violence was disturbingly tempting. But, he couldn’t succumb to it.

Even if he wouldn’t end up in prison over it, and he would, shifting to his wolverine and attacking Mitch would traumatize the boys further. They needed his moral support, not his protective fury.

Ray picked up the slack as they walked, chatting with the boys to provide a sense of normalcy. He thanked the older students and professors who approached them for their concern. There was tension beneath his amiability, but that was logical.

The caster sent a couple of worried glances in Jace’s direction, but it was subtle enough that the kids probably didn’t notice. He engaged Jace in conversation on neutral, surface topics. Ray’s chatter helped Jace stay in control, and seemed deliberate. Thus his gratitude to the caster monitor.

By the time they reached the greenspace behind the dorms, Jace’s wolverine had stopped pushing for murder. He wasn’t precisely calm, but willing to listen to human logic.

Jace won the internal argument by reminding his wolverine that Mitch was probably not the only threat on campus. He would be unable to protect Clarke from prison if he was arrested for killing Mitch. Without him, Clarke would be alone in her search for Charlie.

Ray summoned a few frisbees from the caster dorm, and told the boys to relax. At a request from Liam, a game of checkers floated toward them, and landed on one of the stone tables. Once the kids were engaged in activities, he turned to Jace.

“Are you good, now, or do you need a minute?” Ray asked quietly.

“I wouldn’t say good, but I’m better,” Jace replied. “Thanks.”

Ray shrugged. “One of my best friends is a shifter. His animal is extremely protective, especially of children. These students may be nearing adulthood, but they have no control over their powers and animals. They were defenseless today. I saw you struggling, and knew your wolverine had to be losing it.”

That was surprisingly sensitive of Ray, but they hadn’t spoken to each other often about anything that wasn’t strictly work-related.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” One of the boys shouted with laughter in his voice.

Jace looked in that direction, seeing that Marcel had shifted to his mountain lion, and caught the frisbee in his teeth. Seeing the kids happy and goofing off settled Jace further. They were safe.

“The fact that Carlos is in the infirmary has to make it harder to calm your wolverine,” Ray said, continuing the previous conversation. “You’ll be able to relax when he and Clark join us later, and you can see that they are fine. In the meantime, if you need a distraction, say the word.”

“I appreciate it,” Jace said honestly, but with a baffled look at the caster monitor.

“What?” Ray asked. He wasn’t belligerent about it, only sounding curious.

“It’s just weird,” Jace said. “You and me, seeming to have the same goals, getting along, having a pleasant conversation. Good, weird instead of bad weird, but weird.”

Ray sighed at that, looking sheepish. “I thought Mitch and I were friends. Being the newest monitors with a lot to live up to, was one of several things we had in common. I felt like an outsider here until he was hired. We got along right away. The first drill this year was humiliating, because I didn’t wake up immediately to the siren. Mitch had been ranting that Dean Stanhope favored Clark for the teaching position because they both have physical powers. I made the mistake of assuming that he had facts, or some kind of evidence, to support that theory.