The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

People and Possibilities, Part 2

Previously: "People and Possibilities, Part 1" 

At first, everyone is too stunned to speak. Or maybe they're just confused. Even you're not sure you follow what Caleb is saying.

"Well, here's an example," he says after surveying the puzzled looks. "We'll use Mrs. Matthias here as an example, since she's super into this stuff," he adds in a mutter. "So who's the most popular girl in your class," he asks the guys on the sofa. "Or who's a popular girl?"

"Leslie Osbourne?" says Joe.

"I don't like her," says Bhodi.

"Whatever. We'll just go with her. So we get a mask of this Leslie Os— Is she related to Spencer Osbourne? Okay, never mind," he continues when no one answers. "Anyway, we get a mask of her, it's got a brain band in it and everything so that when you're wearing it you've got all her memories, you can imitate her perfectly. We give that mask to Mrs. Matthias, she puts it on, now she can go out and pretend to be Leslie Osbourne, the way she was pretending to be Evie last week. Only no one will be able to catch on, because she's got all of the girl's memories.

"But what about the real Leslie?" he continues. "We can't have her running around. Also, people might actually miss Mrs. Matthias. So maybe she can't just disappear. What do you do?"

You catch Dane's mother giving a narrow and suspicious stare, and it occurs to you that she probably thinks you're the real Dwayne Macaulay.

"Turn her into a golem," Bhodi murmurs.

Caleb wheels on him with an upraised finger. "Right. But not permanently, not like we do to— Uh. No," he quickly resumes, "you make a mask of Mrs. Matthias, with a brain band and everything, and you put this paint inside it. 'Golem paint,' let's call it, because that's what it basically is. You put it on Leslie, and it will turn her into Mrs. Matthias. Then, while the new Leslie goes to school and takes over her life, the golem will play the part of Mrs. Matthias. As far as everyone else sees," says Caleb, "Leslie is still Leslie, and Mrs. Matthias is still Mrs. Matthias. But actually there's been a body swap."

But Justin still looks confused. "What happens when, uh, the new Mrs. Matthias starts telling people what happened? That she's really Leslie, I mean."

"She won't. She doesn't know it. She doesn't know anything about being Leslie. It's like Leslie has fallen asleep under the mask," he says as Justin starts to protest. "The mask takes over and just acts like Mrs. Matthias. Also, it has to obey Mrs. Matthias. Well, it does if we use her hair in the golem paint."

"How long does this last?" Joe asks in awestruck tones after a long silence has held the group.

"Until someone takes the mask off of Leslie, when Mrs. Matthias wants to switch back. Or, I dunno, maybe forever, if you leave it on her," Caleb says with a stiff shrug. "Oh, and when or if we do take the mask off Leslie, Leslie won't remember anything. It'll be like she had amnesia. So she still won't be able to tell anyone what happened."

There's a brief stir, but no one says anything until Mrs. Matthias, her breath coming in quick gulps, says, "I could go back to high school again. As someone else!"

"We could all be someone else," Andy blurts out. "Anyone else. Not just each other."

"Fuck," mutters Justin.

"Okay, that's where things stand now," Caleb says. "I assume we don't want to tell Lindsay or girls about this." He's answered with mumbled negations. "Then if we want to, uh, do anything with this stuff, we need to keep the book away from Lindsay until we can make this new stuff.

"If, you know," he stammers into the silence that has swallowed the group, "we actually wanna do anything with this new spell. Or with the book. With new masks."

Everyone looks very pale, and no one says anything. Furtive glances are exchanged.

"Okay," Caleb says, "I think that's all, so how about we all take off now. We'll get together, like, tomorrow after class to talk about what comes next."

"What about me?" Marianne demands. Her tone is fierce. "I know what I want!"

"You'll just have to wait a day, ma'am," Caleb says. And when no one else says anything, he punches you in the chest and leads you out of the trailer.

* * * * *

"So never mind those guys," Caleb says when you and he are hidden in the back corner of a Starbucks. "What are we going to do with you?"

And when you don't answer right away, he says, "I mean, you're not going to keep being this guy, are you?"

"No! I'm just thinking about what you told me. About what Gordon's got up to as me."

Caleb shrugs. "It's nothing too bad. So you drop these new friends of his and come back to being friends with me and Tilley."

"And quit that job?"

Caleb makes a face at you as he slurps his coffee. "It's good for you to have that job."

"I don't want it."

"So quit it and tell your dad I should have it. I still want it."

"Don't you want to use this new mask upgrade to give yourself a better life?"

Caleb freezes. You lean back and watch him.

"I don't know, man," he finally gasps, and puts his head in his hands. "It can be tempting. But part of me also wants to give that damn book to Lindsay so she can burn it."

Your mouth falls open. "Who are you, and what have you done with the real—?"

The jape dies in your throat as Caleb raises his head. It's not a funny line anymore, not now, not with the kind of stuff you've seen and the kind of stuff that you've done. In fact, that's all it takes to snap Dwayne Macaulay's finely tuned sense of paranoia back into action, and you let your eyes dart about the room before bringing them to rest back on Caleb.

"I can let you pull at my face if you want, man," Caleb says. "Ain't no mask coming off it. I've stayed out of them since I had that one run-in with Gordon's mask."

"You still feel burned by that?"

He hesitates, then shakes his head. "That was a cock-up because we didn't have those brain band thingies. If we did, we could'a replaced you with Gordon and no one would'a known. If we had that paint, the new Will Prescott would be acting just like the old one."

He pauses and cocks his head. But you ask him why it is he hasn't been back inside a mask.

"Because I've had those other guys to babysit. I mean, they're smart. Joe is. Andy is. Bhodi is, I think, except he's got your brain all mixed up in his, and I can't tell if it's making him smarter or dumber—"

The words catch in his throat as you jam your foot into his crotch. "Careful, asshole. I don't just got this fucker's face, I got his brain too."

"Uh huh," says Caleb, and with a grimace he turns sideways in the booth after you pull your foot back. "But the point is they're still sophomores. And how dumb were we when we were in the tenth grade?"

"What's that got to do with you not putting on a mask now?"

He shrugs. "I dunno. I guess I've gotten used to thinking and acting like the adult. But maybe I'll think different later." He rests his chin in his hand. "You ask what I'm going to do. I'll wait till I find out from them what they're going to do." He locks eyes on you again. "So what are you going to do?"

You slump in your seat and don't answer.

You'd try thinking things through, but it turns out Caleb is eager to do it for you. "Alright, the possibilities as I see them," he says, and he starts ticking off fingers.

"One, you go back to being yourself. Two, you go back to being yourself, but you keep doing like Gordon was doing, with the job and the new friends."

"That's too hard."

"No it isn't. It just occurred to me. You gave Bhodi that brain band of yourself, so he's got your brain inside him. When we take Gordon out of your mask, we could copy his brain into a band and you could wear that after going back to being yourself. Then you could act like he was acting when he was acting like you. Uh, if you follow."

Actually, to your surprise, you do. With a copy of Gordon's brain, you'd know what he was doing while playing you, and could keep acting the same way. "Any other possibilities?" you ask.

He shrugs. "Three, you could leave Gordon there. Four, you could leave Gordon there, but give him a copy of your brain and put that golem paint inside his mask. Then he'd act like you would if you went back to being yourself."

"And I'd go off and be someone else, you mean."

"Right. Lots of possibilities there."

You mull this for awhile, without really thinking it through in any detail. More to delay things than anything else, you observe, "We need to get Dane out of Gordon's mask, at least. His mom wants him back."

Caleb snorts. "Sure. But I bet she forgets about him when she's inside her new body."

"We're going to let her do that?"

"If it'll keep her happy and shut up, why not?"

You see his point. "Any other possibilities? For me, I mean."

"I think those are the main ones. Go back to being yourself. Be Gordon's version of you. Leave Gordon where he is while you run around having fun. Or turn Gordon into a golem version of your old self. You should decide on one of those first. If you decide to go off and be someone else, that should wait until you know what you want to do about Gordon."

* To continue: "Discarding Dwayne" 

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 2)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)"