Jace #2
“For all I know, the mechanical rooms could be identical, but it looks like the basement under my dorm,” Clarke said.
“I searched the basement my first day here before meeting you in the training center. There was nothing, so I brushed it off. I assumed the door was a tool closet, since it’s on an outside wall facing the caster dorm.
I’m kicking myself now for not investigating further.
From the paint color and other characteristics, it looks like the same door. ”
“Then we’ll start there,” Jace said. “I’ll be over in about a half an hour.”
“Are you sure you can swing that without any problems?” Clarke asked.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” he said.
After ending the call, Jace texted his junior and senior prefects, telling them that he would be out for a bit, but would have his phone if they needed him. They told him to take some time to himself, and that they would handle things at the dorm in his absence.
Clarke was waiting for him at the back door of the powered dorm. A few students were in the common room watching TV or studying at tables, but most were elsewhere. None of them paid attention to him and Clarke as they walked to the staircase and opened the basement-access door.
“I should have checked this out over a week ago,” Clarke said irritably. “Focusing on the staff made sense to me at the time, but the door was right here, and I didn’t bother to open it.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. We’re checking now. If there is something here, I’d rather be with you than have you discover it on your own,” he said. “Maintenance personnel are in the mechanical rooms frequently. I wouldn’t have considered that a likely spot to find evidence either.”
The basement was huge. It was also loud from the sound of machinery, water running through pipes, and the whooshing of the blowers pushing air into the vents. Rodents scurried for cover as Clarke led him to the door on the far wall. It did look like the same one in the sketch.
“Damn, we need to get some cats down here before the mice take over the whole building,” Clarke said.
“Yeah, rodents tend to stay away from the shifter dorm out of self-preservation, but you definitely need a deterrent here,” Jace agreed.
They both felt a keen sense of anticipation as the latch clicked, and Clarke opened the door. It wasn’t a closet. Overhead lighting illuminated a large room with concrete walls and floors.
“Holy shit! Is this a mining tunnel?” Clarke wondered.
Metal tracks were inlaid on the right side. What appeared to be a wagon with metal wheels that fitted to the track sat on it. The front had a single seat and controls. To the left were storage shelves along that wall filled with labeled boxes.
“This has to be for moving supplies,” Jace guessed. “But how far does it go?”
Taking one of her hands in his, he and Clarke started following the tracks in unspoken agreement. Just being able to touch her freely settled something inside him.
The cleanliness and organization here meant that maintenance knew about, and used this tunnel. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t something else here, however.
The tunnel narrowed with occasional wider spaces for more supplies. Everything from furnace filters to plastic-wrapped mattresses seemed to be kept down here. Up ahead was a wide, sliding door that the tracks ran under. Black block letters read, Caster Boilers and Mechanicals.
“This access tunnel runs under all the dorms, and probably ends with yours,” Clarke said.
She was right. With increasing excitement, they scoured every inch of the walls finding nothing but more colonies of startled mice. There were no hidden doors or passageways. When they reached the basement of the shifter dorm, Clarke heaved a shuddering sigh.
“I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up,” she said, sounding defeated.
“Hey, stop that. You had a vision, and that means you were led here for a reason,” Jace stated with conviction. “We’ll figure it out.”
“I think I already know,” Clarke said. “It wasn’t easy to clear my mind. Right before I went into the trance, a thought popped into my head that we need to find a place to meet covertly, and talk in private. That has to be why I was shown the basement door.”
“Ok, we don’t have a lead to Charlie yet, but this is good,” Jace said.
“You’re learning how to call your visions, and what works to do that.
It’s progress. This is also valuable. We do need a private place, and this is perfect for that.
Since the tunnels can be accessed from any of the dorms, we can meet in the middle without anyone seeing us or being too far away from our students. It’s a great solution, Clarke.”
“You’re right. I need to see this as a win,” she said. “Honestly, I should be relieved. My mind was running through all the possibilities of what we might find if Dad was somehow down here. If we had discovered a dungeon or Satanic ritual site with a sacrificial altar, I would be freaking out.”
“Yeah, that would be worse,” Jace agreed.
“The more I think about it, the more I like this, though. Discounting something breaking down in the middle of the night, the maintenance crew works day shifts during the week. We should be able to meet down here in the evenings and on weekends without being noticed.”
This really was a gift, given neither of them had a private place outside the dorms. Since he spent very little time off campus, Jace rented a room in Clementine, sharing a house with three other single guys. He couldn’t meet Clarke there.
Clarke nodded that she agreed. “Which is when we have more free time, anyway. It works.”