The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

New Bosses

Previously: "Senior Secrets" 

Keith is already at the school, jogging across the Westside student parking lot, when you arrive that evening. It's after seven, but that's the earliest that everyone could meet for the club meeting. Patterson was tied up at Eastman until five o'clock, by which point dinner plans started to intrude.

"How'd your make-out session with Javits go this morning?" you shout at Tilley as you hustle to catch up to him.

"Fuck you," he shouts back. "You and Johansson can go fuck yourselves!"

"Aw, that bad?"

"Fucking selfish rat-bastards, that's what you are!" At least he slows up enough to let you catch up—probably the better to rain spittle in your face as he yells at you. "I knock myself out to help you guys make your quota, but when it's my turn, oh no, Tilley has to do his own dirty work!"

"So I'll help you get Yumi tonight or tomorrow, and then the others."

Keith's eyes blaze. "That's not what Johansson said! He said I had to do it myself!"

"So he's being the fucking selfish rat-bastard. Don't mix me up with him."

Keith's eyes narrow. "He said it was an order from Patterson. Senior people don't help junior people. They have to do it themselves."

You blink. "First I've heard of this. But come on, I'll help you out, even if it's a secret."

"I'm still mad at you," he growls as he turns back toward the gym. There's a bunch of cars parked next to it, so you guess that you and he are both late. "You told me to go fuck myself at lunch!"

You sigh. "I was busy."

"Doing what?"

"Thinking about stuff. Come on, don't be mad at me. You do want my help, don't you?"

He flinches without answering.

* * * * *

The others are already up in the loft, waiting impatiently: Gordon Black, Jason Lynch, Seth Javits (really Caleb); Patterson is there too, but now he's done up like Frank Durras.

"About time," he snaps at you and Keith "I've just been explaining to the others how things are going to change." He folds his arms and leans against a crate. "Gordon and I are moving over to Eastman. That'll leave Johansson and Prescott in charge over here until Tilley and Lynch gets their jobs done."

Lynch flushes. Seth flashes you a surreptitious grin.

"They'll also be in charge of the VIP room here," Patterson continues, "and all the masks that go with this school. We expect you to make a lot more masks, and not just the ones Tilley and Lynch still have to secure. But for the time being, Johansson is in charge of scheduling for this place. If you want the room, talk to him."

"Do I have to do my jobs by myself?" Keith bluntly asks, and you wince at the challenge in his tone. "Or do these guys get to help me?" He jerks his chin at you and Seth.

"The point of being a junior member is that you have to prove you can do your jobs without the help of seniors," Patterson says. "Lynch is still junior, you and him can help each other."

"Pfft," Jason says, which puts that idea in a coffin and buries it under a marble slab of hostility. Keith flushes and hangs his head.

"And you should have fun while you can," Patterson continues. "I'm researching some new spells in that book, and we may have to re-calibrate our hierarchy. Right now it's junior and senior memberships. We may have to add more layers. Maybe bump juniors and seniors down to freshman and sophomore, and introduce new top levels."

"You mean we might have to go back to doing jobs?" Seth asks.

"Maybe. I'll have to see what else turns up in the book." He surveys everyone in the room with a glittering eye. "Okay, that's it for now."

He and Gordon and Jason leave together. There's silence for a moment after they've gone, then Seth raises his fists over his head and dances in place. "Score! This school is ours now, bitches!"

"You mean it's yours and Prescott's," Keith retorts. "Come on, you guys gotta help me get Yumi!"

"No we don't," Seth says. "You heard Steve. Do it yourself."

"I helped you guys! I helped you get Cindy!"

"And I helped you get Seth. Who else did you help me with?"

Keith opens his mouth, then snaps it shut. "Well, okay, only with Cindy. But I helped Prescott with that Eastman guy!"

"And I also helped you with Seth," you reply, seeing what Caleb is getting at. "Who else?"

Keith turns very red. "You mean you're not going to help me?"

"We're all even on helping each other out," Seth says with a smirk. "If you want my help, you can get to Yumi by pretending to be Cindy." He turns to you while Keith curses long and hard under his breath. "So what's next for you? Gonna get yourself a new face, like I did?"

You don't answer directly, but go over to the cabinets to examine the masks therein. Seth follows. "You know, it doesn't have to be one of these guys," he reminds you, and hangs an arm around your shoulder. "We can make you a new one. Lemme help you score some dumb asshole who likes to hang out with Javits."

You still don't answer. He's right that you don't have to settle for taking the place of someone you've already copied. But neither do you have to pick a new identity right away. You could just cycle through the possibilities that are laid out there in front of you. Not only would you get a taste of some new lives, but you'd also get leads on some other possible lives.

Also, in cycling through these masks, you could start fulfilling Patterson's order to make new masks, by using these temporary identities to get at some new people.

Seth nods when you tell him that you want to try out a couple of the masks, to get a feel for what's out there. "Start with Eva or Jessica," he says. "They hang out with Cindy, so you could hang out with us too."

"And you could help me get close to Yumi," Keith puts in.

"Shut up," Seth says.

"Or," you tell Seth, "you could get me a mask of someone on the basketball team. Or some other 'asshole' that Javits likes to hang out with."

"Right," he replies with a grin. But he also bends forward to tap Laurent Delacroix's mask. "Delacroix'd be a good choice. And if I'm in charge up here, I could set it up so he—and what I mean by 'he' is that you—could take some of his girls up here. Do your thing with 'em—with his thing, sure. But get copies of 'em while you got 'em up here. Pretty sure that's how come Patterson and Black wanted a mask of him in the first place."

"And I bet Laurent could get Yumi up here," Keith pipes up.

"I'm not telling you to shut the fuck up again."

Or, you muse to yourself, if I really wanted to help Keith, I could get a blank mask onto Jenny Ashton, and disguise myself as her just long enough to help him get a blank mask onto Yumi.

* * * * *

The next morning, after sleeping on it, you've decided on:

That's all for now.

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 3)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)"