The Book of Masks (Vol. 5)

Thieves We Be

Previously: "Partners from Crime" 

Owen's idea—to maybe force a reset by pulling the metal bands from off your foreheads—is probably the smart one. But you're too mad for something as simple as that.

It had frustrated you talking to "Oliver" and "Owen" back at school. It baffles you that Will and his friend Caleb won't talk to you about what they did. And it scares you, too, if you're honest.

And between the fright and frustration, you are furious.

"Oh, fuck 'em!" you burst out in a way that makes Owen's eyes pop. (And since Caleb Johansson has bulging fish eyes anyway, it looks almost comical when they do.) "Those fuckers!" you shout as you pace the living room. "They do this to us, and then—! I don't know what! But you know what, we got their stuff now! We got their bodies and their stuff, their supplies, their book, the spells! All of it!"

You wheel on Owen. "Whadda they got? They got shit, bruh! We can do anything we want with their shit and they can't do shit about it! So if they just wanna just, you know, stay where they are, fuck 'em!" You feel your breath turning ragged. "We can have fun with their shit! Do whatever we fucking want with it!"

Owen's expression is guarded, but there's a light in his eyes. "Like what?"

"Like what?" you exclaim. "Let's get us some good bodies, man! Why the fuck we wanna go back being ourselves when we can—" You shiver with anticipation all over. "We can be anyone!"

Owen doesn't have to say anything. You can tell he likes your idea.

* * * * *

Except he doesn't want to be "anyone." He wants to be one person in specific.

Brett Landon is on the freshman soccer team with you and Owen. He is also one of the most popular boys in your classes. He is on the small side, and he doesn't appear to work out much, not like some of the other boys in your classes. But he is insanely popular with the girls, who think he's cute and adorable and munchable. He is also, despite his size and lack of build, a more-than-fair athlete. He wasn't big enough and strong enough—like Chase Weir—to get onto the JV soccer squad, but he's the star of the freshman squad, and even Chase has admitted that Brett will be a better player than him, once he catches up in size and strength.

You're a little surprised that Owen is so fixed on stealing Brett's face and body and life and identity for himself, and the more insistent Owen is, the more impressed (though disquieted) you are at how envious he seems.

"Bruh," you tell him, "you're talking like you're nothing! I mean, you're better than me on the field—"

"Gavin'ld be better than you," he retorts, naming the smartest but least athletic kid the two of you know.

"And if it's the girls you want—"

"I want to be him," Owen stubbornly insists, folding his arms.

And that throws a bit of a wrench into your own plans.

Because you weren't thinking of turning yourself into a ninth-grader. You were already that, and you were tired of it. No car, no parties, no freedom, always having to get a ride to go someplace and get permission. You didn't even want to be a senior, really, not if the memories you picked up from Will Prescott are anything to go by. You were thinking of college, at least, and maybe older. Sure, it's not a lot of fun having a job, and you had to kick hard gray and dank misery that settled on Shannon Welch's head when you were wearing her mask at school. But being an adult—a young one—with at least a little money and a little freedom was so much better than what you had before, that you can't really picture yourself going back to being fifteen.

You're also disappointed because you were kind of hoping to talk Owen into you both becoming female. Him as a woman so you could be a woman without him thinking you were weird, and yourself as a woman because that was the one part of being Shannon that you really found yourself warming to.

It wasn't that way at first, it was kind of weird and horrible. But after that shower you took, and the little talk you gave yourself; and especially this morning as you marveled at the feeling of being in high heels— Well, it is the one part of being Shannon Welch that you don't really want to give up.

But there's lots of other women her age out there that you could be. Even a little older.

Take for instance, Will Prescott's own mother, Martha.

You can tell from Will's own memories that he has never really thought about her that way (just as you've never thought of your own mother that way—yuck!) but she is definitely what would be called a MILF. Dark, straight hair bobbed to bounce just above her shoulders; a handsome though slightly aged face that was probably stunning when she was younger, and is still beautiful but which now has character; and a body that is still curved in the right directions in the right places, and looks good in a body stocking. Will even had to sleep with her, when he was impersonating his own father, and that memory excites you far more than it excited Will.

But more exciting than that would be inhabiting her body. It's clear that she and her husband are far more in love than Shannon and Stephan Welch are, and you are sure that the lovemaking between them is awesome on her end. Imagine having her tits and cunny to play with, and her orgasms!

* * * * *

Naturally, when you pitch this idea to Owen, you don't pitch it from that angle.

"Look," you tell him, "we're pretty sure we got all their stuff, but we gotta hide out where they won't come looking for us, where we can be totally safe, if they got something going we don't know about. So, I mean, I got Will's body, and his dad's a freaking golem or whatever it is they're calling it. If we hide out in his house—"

"As who?" Owen demands, suspiciously.

It's a fair point, but one that plays into your hands.

"Well, I'd have to be Will or his dad. And we'd need to turn his mom and his brother into golem things too."

"Uh huh?" Owen's eyes narrow.

"So, okay, you couldn't be Will or his dad. But you could be his brother. I'd let you, and I'd— Okay, I'd make his mom into a golem." (And, secretly, you'd occasionally switch around to be her when—as you'd explain to Owen—it is convenient.)

"Why do I want to be his brother?" Owen demands. "Isn't he still in middle school?"

"Eighth grade. We were in eighth grade until last year."

"Yeah," Owen says dismissively, "if you want to camp out in his house, you can be all of them. I'll be Brett."

"Bruh, we can't hang out if you're Brett and I'm Will's mom!" you blurt out before you can stop yourself.

"So be Brett's mom," he retorts in a way like he hasn't even really noticed what he's said. "If you want to be someone's mom!"

You pause. You've seen Brett's mom, at soccer practice and soccer games. She's another MILF. But you don't know anything about the rest of his family.

"But," you protest, "we need to hang out someplace where we can do stuff, like Will and his friend were doing here, and also spy on those guys. Spy on, um, us! So we can keep an eye on them, see if they get up to something!"

* * * * *

So it's a really long and involved conversation you have over the course of the evening and night. About the only thing you really agree on is that you should return Shannon and Stephan Welch to normal, and even that takes a lot of argument.

(You're for keeping them as golems, like Will and Caleb kept Barbara Meek as a golem, because you might want to do work at their house, and you'd want a place to retreat to in case something went wrong in your new impersonations. But Owen—who is maybe thinking with Caleb's brain, because what he says seems too smart for him—says that the other guys know about Shannon and Stephan, so their house wouldn't be a safe place, and that the best way to hide, if Will and Caleb come looking for you guys, is if Shannon and Stephan are themselves again, with no memory of what happened to them.)

As for where you guys will go and who you will be:

You keep arguing for replacing the entire Prescott family with golems, though you concede that you or Owen would need a spare identity to connect Brett—Owen is unbudging there—to them. For his part, Owen is impressed enough by your argument that he continues to argue that Brett's family should be the one you take over, even though he too knows nothing about them.

But you also keep thinking of how to "keep an eye" on your old bodies. That's not really possible from either the Prescott or Landon households, and neither of you want to turn any of your other friends into golems.

Except maybe Lori Fitzhugh, who is a girl you all hang out with, and who you all speculate endlessly over if she is interested in one of you guys and if so which one. Owen gets kind of a strange look when you suggest her, but he does allow that she's the only friend of yours you might do that to, because there's an advantage there.

The last possibility you pitch him is your sexy PE teacher, Coach Schell, who is in her twenties and who all the guys in your class are in lust with. She would be independent, and you're pretty sure she lives alone.

But Owen keeps insisting that you should steal the identity of one of Brett's school friends, saying that that's the easiest thing to do.

Next: "Counterfeits and Originals" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 5)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 5)"