Stagmantel watched the students depart. Once they were gone, a familiar presence came through the hedge tunnel: Mathias. It was dark, but through his glowing eyes, Stagmantel could see the colors of the peacock feathers on the front of Chancellor Moseley's bowler hat. The patterns of the feathers resembled an extra pair of eyes. To mirror the pattern, the shades he wore over his eyes had dark blue glass and lime green frames. The chancellor also wore a black grad robe, which was unzipped to reveal an outfit with colors that conformed to the peacock pattern: dark blue formal slacks, a green dress shirt, and necktie with both of those colors forming many peacock feather eyes. And he also wore black dress shoes.

“Same question as always, I expect,” Stagmantel anticipated. “Yes, I have seen the new mascot. And given your routine, I suppose you have disposed of the others who auditioned.”

“Some were chicken, and some were mine. I had some company with which to dine. Though one candidate joined that company. Just one, so that there are not too many.”

He removed his shades, revealing milky white eyes mirroring the moon and its light.

“Discarding your disguise,” Stagmantel acknowledged.

“Too much color in this world alone. I am in need of my Twilight Zone.”

Stagmantel noticed something different about him.

“Did you use makeup to cover up that scar?”