The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Spy Girl

Previously: "The Boys' Choices" 

You mull the names that Joe has given you. You have no idea who Lucy Gibbon and Bradley White are, or what they're like. At least you sort-of know Melanie Heath—one of Lindsay's friends, and who is one of the two girls (Paulina Nowack being the other) who know about the masks, and about what you did to Bhodi and Evie.

But mostly you know that she attends Eastman High.

Still, she would surely know what Lindsay is thinking and when she is thinking it. If you turned yourself into her, it would put you close to Lindsay.

You realize that Joe and Caleb are watching you very closely, with worried expressions. You shake your head clear.

"Okay, I'll have to think about it," you tell Joe. "But, uh, forget about Melanie, okay? That would be too weird. Like, she's a friend of you guys. Right?"

Joe gets a pinched look, but he doesn't argue. "Sure. But what do I tell the other guys?" he asks.

"Tell them to hang loose." You gesture him to follow as you turn back to the house. "Tell 'em to think about other people they might be, in case I— I mean we," you correct yourself with a nudge at Caleb, "can't think of anything. And we still have to take care of Dane Matthias and his mom."

Joe's face shows disappointment as you part on the back porch. He goes inside, while you and Caleb walk slowly around the house and clamber into his car.

You're both silent until you're a few blocks from Justin's house, when Caleb finally speaks. "You're totally going to turn yourself into Melanie, aren't you?" he says.

"You heard what Joe said. She'd be perfect. Perfect cover to spy on Lindsay from."

Caleb sucks in his cheeks. "You're taking this job pretty seriously."

"Don't you?"

"Well, sure. But I'm not volunteering to turn myself into—" He shuts his mouth with a snap.

"Into a what?" It feels like your scalp has erupted with fire ants.

He gives you a puckish, sidelong glance. "Oh, I'm sure it has totally to do with saving those guys back there from Lindsay. It has nothing to do with turning yourself into a girl with long, soft, blonde hair. And a nice set of boobs. And a great pair of legs."

You feel your face starting to burn, but you can't lay your tongue on any words.

"She's got a great smile, too," Caleb continues. "And she's really sassy. I didn't get to know her real well while you were gone, but we talked a couple of times. She can really raise a welt with the side of her tongue when she wants. I bet she can do lots of great things with her tongue," he adds with a smirk.

Still you say nothing. The drive continues in silence, with Caleb ignoring you even as you drill holes into the side of his face with your eyes.

"No, it can't be any of those things," Caleb finally says. "It's probably that really hot boyfriend she's got. That's the appeal, right?" He grins at you.

He's just braking at a stoplight, so you pound him in the balls. He howls and laughs and laughs again inside of his howls.

* * * * *

The trouble, of course, is that it will be very hard for you to get to Melanie Heath. Neither you nor Caleb have her contact info, and you can't ask any of the sophomores to set up a meeting without tipping your hand (probably) about what you're going to do. So back at the Donna you take turns working on masks and using Caleb's cell phone to scour the internet for clues. Eventually you find Melanie's Twitter account, and follow that into her other social media: Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler, x2z, etc. You learn that she is going to be attending a party Friday night.

"It's some kind of going-away party," Caleb informs you the next day when he stops by the Donna to help you move out. "A pretty big thing, apparently."

"Like how?" you ask. "And why should I care?"

"Because Melanie cares," he retorts, "and you're going to be her, right? Anyway, I can tell you that Ioeger and Lamont are jizzing over it—"

"Over an Eastman party?" you exclaim.

"Well, not directly. But it's all got something to do with Gordon getting kicked off the basketball team, and that's got them giving each other hand jobs. Oh, also, Javits punched you out at school the other day, and you punched him out, but I don't think that has anything to do with this party."

You straighten up from the cardboard box you're packing with masks. "You're not making any sense, dude."

"'Cos it doesn't make any sense to me either," he says. "But James and Carson were asking me and Tilley at lunch what it was all about—that fight you got into with Javits, I mean—and we had to tell them you weren't hanging out with us much anymore, so we didn't know, except that you'd gone crazy or something."

You give up on trying to follow Caleb's story, and just ask about the place where this party is being held. "House of some soccer player, so, like, all the freaking Eastman jocks are gonna be there. Including Melanie's boyfriend, 'cos he's a hairy, muscle-y jock too." He breaks off and waggles his eyebrows at you. "It's a going-away party for some guys they're all friends with."

"And you found out about this Eastman party at Westside today?"

"From Carson and James. Like I said, they were jizzing themselves over it."

Whatever. Carson Ioeger and James Lamont, with their weird anti-jock antics, are even crazier than the Will Prescott who is really Gordon Black in disguise.

* * * * *

Though the party is supposed to start at seven, you're sure that no respectable high school party could possibly get going earlier than nine, and Melanie (and her boyfriend) might not even show up until ten. So you and Caleb spend the evening preparing for the kidnapping and replacement, which you are timing for ten-thirty. You yourself don't have a curfew, of course; and Caleb has set his golem up to spend the evening at home. I'm going to have to get one of those for my own, you think.

At a quarter till eleven you pull up in front of a large house belonging to one Kyle Lakewood, but there are so many cars clogging the street that you have to park two blocks away and hoof it over. A low, rumbling beat thumps into the night as you approach; the front door hangs open, despite the cool October air, letting light and high school students spill out. You swallow at the sight of so many big guys (and lithe girls) in letterman jackets, laughing hoarsely and tossing back drinks from giant, plastic tumblers.

"Let's split up," Caleb shouts in your ear as you both confront the standing-room-only crowd. But you shake your head; even if one of you found Melanie, you'd never find each other again.

So you both push into the crowd, jostling (but mostly being jostled back by) lots of hulking guys who, thank God, don't pay much attention to you.

It's Caleb who first spots your quarry, and pulls you over. He must have keen eyes: there are at least a dozen people piled onto a sofa beside a piano, laughing with their heads thrown back. Most of them are girls sprawling across the laps of a couple of (lucky!) guys, and one of them is Melanie. Her smile seems wider and brighter than the rest, and she flips her long hair back behind her hair with tapering fingers.

Not until you are standing directly before her does she notice you, and even then she only gives you a blank look as you stare down at her. "Hey! Melanie!" you shout at her, but she doesn't react. Is she drunk? Her eyes are glassy. "Lindsay sent us to find you!" Caleb shouts in turn.

For a moment she gapes at you. Then she jumps. "Omigawd!" She struggles off the lap of the guy she's sitting on, then falls back as he grabs her. "What is it?" she asks you, giggling from atop his chest.

"Message from Lindsay!" you shout, and try to dodge the gaze of her boyfriend, whose expression is darkening into a scowl. "She couldn't send you a text on account of it's about—" You wave your hand before your face.

"Omigawd!" she exclaims again, and again she tries to rise. When her boyfriend pulls her back down, she jabbers into his ear. "I have to!" she shouts when he still hangs onto her. "I'll be right back! Promise!" She darts in and kisses him wetly on the cheek.

So he lets her go. But still he glares at you and Caleb.

"So what's it about?" she shouts as she follows you through the crowd. "Outside!" you shout back. "We have to go!" "Is it an emergency?" "Kind of!" Caleb assures her.

Once you're outside, you quickly explain as you hustle her along, that it's Mrs. Matthias: She's gone nuts or something, is demanding that she continue being Evie, and Lindsay wants you out there to talk some sense into her. "Ohmigawd!" is all Melanie can say in reply. You are starting to hope that she actually is drunk.

The next part is remarkably easy. You open the back door to Caleb's car for her, and she slides in. You lean in, as though to help her, reach past to pick up a mask, and press it into her face. She freezes, then slowly falls over.

* * * * *

"Omigawd!" you exclaim. A mask is still copying Melanie, but you're already wearing her brain band. "That was totally lucky, us catching Melanie like that and getting her away!"

"Why, was her boyfriend getting handsy?"

"That wasn't her boyfriend! I thought you met him!" Caleb blinks at you. "Melanie and Tyler had a huge-ass fight and he skipped the party. That was another guy she was making out with, and he's psycho weird!"

That's all for now.

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