The New Principal Ch. 13

"Cynthia? Deborah? Why... What did you need?"

They responded but I couldn't focus on what they were saying. The hum was getting louder and harder to ignore. I looked at the two students, back and forth, catching their eyes. Their eyes looked back, unblinking.

I was trying to avoid it, but I locked into their minds, both of them somehow. I could see how similar their minds were, both very well organized and clearly quite smart. I knew immediately that it was Cynthia who had the spikey hair and Deborah, the long hair. It wasn't that Cynthia wanted her hair short. They had discussed who would cut their hair short, because they both wanted to look different. But, not because they didn't like each other, quite the opposite. They saw themselves a team, and the hair cutting brought them closer even as it made them look different.

They both had something new that I hadn't noticed in other minds. They had an area that was in shadow. It was an obvious place of secrets, things they didn't want people to know about. But they weren't good at hiding it at all. I had the impression that I could look into that area if I wanted to, but I was tired and distracted, and the hum was still in my head, although it had diminished slightly. Naturally without the power of focus, I slid inevitably into the more salacious parts of their minds. I could see they both had a very healthy sex drive, and they were sexually active, but both more than a little frustrated lately.

Then the hum got louder and without any warning, it rushed out of my head. I didn't even have a split-second of thought to try and hold it in. I could feel it push out, a warm rush of energy, leaving my mind cool, like a breeze over sweaty skin. I didn't aim it, I don't think I even could have. It flowed out in a broad wave toward the minds of the twins.

They were caught in mid-explanation. Cynthia, and somehow I knew it was her without question, was saying something about arrangements over the break. Both girls, who were standing stiff-backed and formal, reeled a bit, swaying on their feet. I wasn't in their minds anymore, but I could see the effect on their faces. Deborah's eyes widened, and her mouth flattened into a thin line. Cynthia seemed like she was biting her tongue to keep from saying something. They both regained their composure almost immediately.

My head was instantly clear, the hum was nowhere to be heard. It was like coming out of a swimming pool, the sights and sounds of the room rushed over me. The crowd was very nearly gone.

I realized that the dorm manager was looking at me, expecting an answer to a question I hadn't heard.

"Ah, pardon me... What do you think we should do?"

"Well... like I was saying, they're going to have to be out of the second and third floors over break for the renovation. Everybody's got to be down on the first floor if they're staying. But since they didn't let us know until so late, we can only give them that last single that hasn't been renovated. It's in pretty bad shape, but it'll do."

"That sounds fine. Do you have any objections?"

Cynthia was a bit out of it seemingly more distracted than before, but Deborah was in control enough to answer. "If that's the only option, we'll take it." She was clearly not pleased about it, but was having a hard time putting her emotions and thoughts together.

"Well, perhaps we can arrange a discount on your housing fees for the discomfort."

No response. Deborah looked a little unfocused and it looked like her eyes were dilating.

I turned to the manager questioningly.

"Alright, make sure and get all your things out of your rooms and down to room 138 before tomorrow morning, otherwise they'll get thrown out." He turned to me. "Demerits?"

I had no idea how heavy a fine five demerits was. I didn't like the demerits, but didn't want to overrule staff in front of students either.

"Three each, not five."

"Fine. Anything else, ladies?"

They were both nearly shaking with uneasiness now. Deborah was sweating, and still looking off into the distance. Cynthia was standing statue still. It hardly looked like she was breathing.

"Are you two okay? Deborah? Cynthia?"

At the sound of their names, they seemed to break out of some kind of trance. Both visibly slouched and exhaled deeply. Cynthia's gaze flashed from the manager's to mine. She looked deep into my eyes, and I very nearly moved into her mind, but instead I glanced over to Deborah. She was looking toward me too, but with something like suspicion.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Yeah. Do you have anything else for us, sir?"

"No. Take care of yourselves though. You both look a little shaky."

They stood still, not moving, but clearly wanting to leave.

The dorm manager broke in, "Dismissed, ladies. Get a move on!"

They both broke and nearly ran out of the room.

"You've got to give them direct orders sometimes. The students here are used to being told what to do and how to do it. It's the tradition here, and a good one. Although, those two usually have their act together a bit more. I'm not sure what that was all about. I'm afraid we should have kept the higher demerit fine. Well, I'm sure it'll be okay." He must have sensed my reluctance. "It's a good system. We don't have any trouble like other schools do."

I got the impression he was telling me how he expected me to run things. Probably he and a lot of other staff and faculty wanted to keep that tradition alive, and he was letting me know where I needed to stand if I wanted to keep their support.

"Well, I need to get out here. I'm all packed up, but if we're not at the ferry a half hour ahead of time, my wife'll have my head. It was good to meet you, Principal Lee. I hope you have a fine break."

"You as well." I realized I had no idea what his name was, but he had already spun on his heels and left with the last of the others, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Strange things were afoot.

***

When I got home, I found a manila envelope in my mailbox. It was sealed but had no postage or address. I walked in and tossed it on the kitchen counter, and it gave off a heavy metallic thunk. I stopped and picked it back up and dumped out the contents.

Inside there was an almost comically over-sized key, and a single sheet of paper:

Ben

Thought you might like something to amuse yourself with over break.

-V

The key looked like the one that she had used to open the door underneath the library. I guess I had some exploring to do.

***

The next few days were wonderfully relaxing. I kept up with my running and explored the town and surrounding area on the weekend. The beach area was truly gorgeous. The sand was an unreal pale white and with a good deal of the town gone, I had it nearly all to myself. I wasn't really a beach guy, but I could really see myself enjoying sitting out here, especially when the students came back. There were a handful of students hear and there, and happily, it was clear that the uniform rules did not apply to the beach area.

The town was adorable. There were many more stores than I expected. I didn't think there would be enough people to support them, but I suppose when the mainland is inaccessible, everyone would rely on what they could get here. There were a couple of grocery stores, a little bookstore with a coffee shop, a few curio and antique stores, and even a little pub. It was actually more like a guy's house with a big living room where he put in a bar and a few tables, but the beer was nice and they had some decent food too.

During the week I went into the office, and took care of all the regular maintenance things, handling questions from the marketing and design folks so we could get the advertisements and the new brand logos on everything. It was mostly fairly dull, but I do have to admit that the new logo came back fast, and it looked great. It was understated and classy, using the dark green campus color very nicely. The pamphlets were looking good too, and the online campaign was already starting. We would announce the women only transition near the end of the break with a video of me in my office.

I had not exactly forgotten about Veronica's key, but it was just a fairly low priority for me in the beginning of the break. As I was able gradually to get ahead of the paperwork, I thought more about the key, and decided to add a trip to the library basement on my tour of the campus.

I had just come back from lunch at a nice little diner down in town, complete with all-American apple pie, when I started my regular inspection tour. I tried to get around to see everyone on campus at least every other day, partially to try and get to know people, but also just to show the flag. Hopefully, they were learning that I actually cared about what was going on. Also, of course, I wanted to keep an eye on the renovations. I didn't have an eye for design like Kimberly, but I hoped that I would be able to see if anything was going wrong.

The dorms still had a handful of students, those who didn't or couldn't go home over break, but the uniform rules still applied as long as they were on campus grounds. That meant that many students went off campus during the day, so aside from the workmen, the dorms were usually pretty empty. That day, I did catch a glimpse of Cynthia and Deborah with a few other students, but they were headed out the door with a purpose, so I didn't interrupt them.

The folks that Kimberly hired first, a contractor named Clandon and his crew, were clearly master craftsmen. They were also just about the most taciturn group of men I had even seen. Every day that I showed up at the dorm, Clandon would materialize in front of me. He would give me a simple, " 'lo," and walk me to the area they were working on at the time.

At first, I tried to make small talk and ask them about their work, but no one would give more than dutiful, monosyllabic answers. I eventually got the hint, but I still wanted them to know that I was interested in their work, so I would linger and watch for a while. They worked quietly and slowly, but I could see they worked together seamlessly. They were a real team, passing from job to job, making sure that the real experts were handling their specialty.

It was also clear they loved their job and took great pride in the smallest details. One day, I watched one member of the team spend hours working on the stairway rail, carving detail into each post. It wasn't required, wasn't even on the plans, but Clandon saw what he was doing, grunted approval with a nod, and moved on. They seemed to appreciate me just hanging around and watching much more than the questions.

I would be lying if I didn't admit I was also thinking of the quality work that led to my secret library door. Any of these men were skilled enough to have made it, but I had no way of knowing more.

The athletic area was always more boisterous. I had seen why Kimberly was warier of this group. They were headed by a guy named Frank Sandle. His group were much more efficient. They might have been very good at their job, but it was clear that Sandle was driving them hard for speed above all. It turned out that one of the ways we were able to get them on short notice was to have a bonus in the contract if they finished before the deadline.

It wasn't that they were doing bad work, as near as I could tell, their work was good, solid, and workmanlike. It was all overbuilt, if anything. I was happy to see that Sandle was very focused on safety and stability. The gym would be fine in an earthquake, that's for sure. But, they had none of the pride or teamwork of Clandon's team. They didn't know each other well. The quality wouldn't be anything near the dorms, but we'd have a good solid gym.

That day I was making my rounds, Sandle came over to me to chat.

"Heya, Lee. How are things going over in that big office?"

"Same as always, more email and papercuts than any man could want."

"Ha! You need a real job. We could put you to work out here, make a real man outta ya!"

"No dice. I did a bit of construction work over summers growing up. I'm certain that all of those buildings I helped out on are piles of rubble today. I need these ones to stay together!"

That got a rough guffaw. "Oh, we could whip you into shape! Lemme show what we're doing right now."

We walked past the pool, which was already full of lovely blue chlorinated water, ready to go, which was new. There was a bathhouse that connected onto the main athletics building, and we walked through it. It was just about done too. Now that we were going single gender, the bathhouse and shower area was enlarged. The main area was a big communal shower. There was a small single shower and bathroom area that would have to serve for the remaining boys, and come to think of it, I would be able to use that too. I was never a swimmer, but that would be a nice balance to my running.

In the main athletics building, we walked through the revamped weight room. We had decided to keep most of the old weights rather than buy new, the technology hasn't improved that much in lifting heavy things. We did buy some new nautilus equipment, which was far too expensive, but really good for training, and, not insignificantly, would look great on the advertising pamphlets and tour videos we would be posting online.

Part of Sandle's crew was putting the finishing touches on the main gym area, testing out the expanding bleachers and the basketball backboards that came down from the ceiling. Looking through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, we could see the remainder of the crew renovating the soccer field, and installing the new track and field equipment.

"I've got to say, this place looks great, Sandle, and I don't doubt you are going to make us pay out that deadline bonus."

"You're damn right we are! Ha! It's been a hell of a time, but credit where it's due, my men have worked like dogs. We're going to need to take a break after this job. They've earned a little extra in the pay envelope."

"I still wish we could have afforded that scoreboard, but there's no way they would let me get away with spending that kind of money."

"Ain't that the truth. I'm surprised they let you do all this. I've been trying to get the school to do some upkeep on these buildings for years. And let me tell you, you need to give us a shot at that cafeteria. That thing's ugly as sin, and I just know the guts have got to be rotting from the inside. Nothing built back then holds together."

"I'm with you. I'm with you. Just turns out that was lowest on the to do list. We'll see if we can get money to tackle that next. Ok, I'll get out of your hair and let you get back to earning your bonus. Anything else I need to know about?"

"Actually, yeah. C'mon back here with me."

He led me back through to the bathhouse area and stopped in front of a wall that had a couple of sheets of plywood leaning up against it.

"So, I don't know what hair got up Kimberley's ass, but she asked us to look into what it would take to put in a sauna over here."

I laughed a bit. "Yeah, yeah, I know. That was my idea. Started as a joke. No chance, right?"

He looked at me askance when I admitted to the idea.

"Well, actually, no. I mean, it's doable. Might not even be that hard." He moved the plywood out of the way. "Over here there was an old door that led out back. It had been plastered over. Couldn't even see it no more. We cleaned it up, but the door's shot, you'd have to knock it out and replace. But that's not the main thing. You want a whole goddamn hot spring pool back there, it's doable. There's a real strong spring, good and hot too, that's not more than a dozen or two yards out that direction. It runs up in those hills right outside. There was an old survey of it all down in the city files. We were worried about the foundation of this building, but it turns out whoever sighted out this building knew what they were doing. The buildings are on good stable bedrock. Anyway, you want a sauna, you just tap into those springs, easy peasy. You want a full hot spring, all you'd really need to do is carve out some pools, then drill into that rockface back there and the spring should come flowing out hot as anything just like that."

"That sounds way to convenient. What the catch."

"Oh, there's plenty! First, you need folks who work stone, and you ain't got any. We'd need to bring someone in from the mainland, and that is not easy nor cheap. Second, we'd be happy to build you the structures you'll be wanting out there. You can't just lead right out from this bathhouse, you'd need walls and a couple of outbuildings. But... and here's the kicker, those would be new structures, not a remodel. And that requires way more planning and resources, and town approval, and unless you want it to be a barn, you'll need an architect, and all that? Let's be honest, that's going to run you more money than you've got right now."

"That's fair, and you're right, we don't have the cash right now. It is an interesting idea though. Awfully convenient that there's a spring right there. Seems like a pity not to take advantage of it. Ah, well, thoughts for a future day. Thanks for the tour and all the hard work from you and your men. I'll be back around in a day or two, but, hey, you might be done by then, eh?"

He laughed freely. "You might be right, there Lee, you might be right."

I headed toward the class building in high spirits. It was always nice to see progress on a plan.

***

The class building was completely empty and locked for the break, so I used my key to get in the main entrance, locking it behind me. My feet echoed loudly off the floor as I walked to the library.

Stepping inside, I was again struck by the beauty of the woodwork throughout the library. The shelves were emptier than before, though. It seems like Veronica somehow found some time to start clearing off the out-of-date books.

I didn't linger in the main reading room, but went straight for the stairs down to the basement. I got a bit turned around at the base of the stairs, and ended up poking my head into all the rooms. I thought about going into Veronica's office to take a look at the camera she found, but found the door locked. Oddly, my master key didn't open it. More strangeness.

I finally found the door for the key that she had left me. The door was heavy and solid wood. It was stiff, but swung back smoothly, opening up into a hallway where Veronica said the 'secret' was. Well, it was time to discover the secret. It would be nice to at least figure out one of the things going on here on campus.

The hallway was narrow, like it wasn't built to modern codes, and it led to another door, unlocked. I opened it and thought that it opened onto a wall. It was pitch dark, and seemed like there was something directly ahead. I reached out and touched... fabric? It was a heavy curtain. I pushed it aside and walked into a room. When the curtain fell back, any sliver of light that had been coming through from the hallway was blocked out and I was left in an absolute darkness like I had never known.

I fumbled for my phone, no signal down here, but I turned on the flashlight app.

I was in... a dressing room?

Looking around, in the wavering beam of light, I saw a row of desks facing mirrors against one wall. The other side of the room had several large wardrobes, empty. Everything was in the style of the library, heavy beautiful wood with intricate carvings. Nearly everything was also covered in a thick layer of dust. How long had it been since someone was in here? But then, there were signs. One table had showed where a hand had wiped through the dust, and on the ground, there was a path worn on the carpet toward a narrow door on the other side of the room.