The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

New Spells, and a New Complication

Previously: "A Confrontation, Finally" 

"Something found me after Frank buried me," you tell Joe. "The house Guardian, I think." You shudder at the memory. "And then I wound up in the Libra again, I think. After that--" You grimace. "Well, it's kind of confusing. I woke up in the library, like this." You chew on the inside of your cheek. "I don't like these trips."

"I don't like them either," Joe says. "It seems like Libra is interested in you, for some reason. You shouldn't have been able to escape that thing Blackwell had."

"Any idea where he is? Blackwell, I mean?"

Joe shrugs irritably. "How would I know? Frank might, but I'm not putting that mask of me back on so I can relive the past week."

"Won't you have to, to catch up on things? We can get rid of that golem shell inside it." You briefly describe the "reverse" spell in the book.

"One thing at a time. First, I just wanna get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we start putting things back together."

You talk a little about what has to be done--restoring the Vredenburg sisters; getting rid of your own golem, which is still at your house being you; undoing whatever Frank has done recently. Seemingly in answer to his own name, Frank briefly appears. "I'm off to bed," he says gruffly, and without another word goes out the sliding glass doors into the backyard, where he will sleep for the night. You and Joe exchange a glance, and then he helps you make out the couch so you can sleep.

It's a long night, full of harsh, vivid dreams that you cannot remember upon waking.

* * * * *

"I'll bring your alter ego out to the house this afternoon," Frank says over breakfast the next morning. "We'll get rid of all the masks in one fell swoop."

"Prescott's still gonna need his mask," Joe points out. "If I noticed he's been flipped left to right, his parents will too. He'll have to wear it if he's gonna appear unchanged."

"He can't wear it," Frank frowns. "It's still under my control. You don't want to disappear inside a dumb golem, do you, Prescott?"

"But we can get the golem shell out of it," Joe says. "Tell Frank what you told me last night."

You recount what you'd found in the Libra, that every spell and not just the one that turns people into golems, can apparently be undone. For the first time in more than twelve hours, Frank smiles. "Excellent. We can destroy all the masks, you say? That'd be better than burying them someplace."

"Something you'd know about," you murmur in an inaudible tone. "We're going to fix Lucy and Cindy too, right?"

"Yes," Frank says. "That's the other reason to get rid of your double. I put it on Lucy. In the meantime, you can spend the day looking through the Libra, trying to figure out how fix all the shit I've been pulling." He shifts awkwardly in his seat.

Joe gives you some of his clothes to wear--you've been in his pajamas since last night--and after they're gone you settle down on the couch with the Libra.

* * * * *

It makes for horrifying reading, even without knowing the details of what Frank got up to with the book. Oh, some of the new spells are innocuous enough, though a close reading of the reverse sigils discloses some disquieting side effects. Immediately after the spell that creates the Binding Nail is a spell that strips the contents from masks, mind bands, and anima bands, leaving fresh and untainted items that can be recycled to make new copies. The problem--and you'll have to talk to Frank about how exactly he executed the spell--is that the instructions are not fully given, and a key bit has to inferred from a close reading of the sigil. Otherwise--

Well, let's just say that if Frank didn't do it right, Blackwell's house will now be a lot creepier, especially at night.

After that comes a spell that copies the contents of a mask, mind band, or anima band into a blank, creating a duplicate magical item without the presence of the original person who has been copied. Again, unless the spell is executed with more precision than the explicit instructions indicate, there will be untoward side effects.

But it's the next two spells that leave you quivering. No wonder Frank has a bad conscience!

The first strips a living person of their mind, leaving nothing but a fleshy shell that would be indistinguishable from a catatonic. What possible use such a thing could be--it won't even be animate, so you can't use it even as a zombie--completely escapes you. It's as though the compiler of the book had simply inserted it as a test to separate those with ethical scruples from those without.

And then comes something even worse: a spell that transforms human victims into golems. At first, this strikes you as a simple and inexplicable redundancy: Isn't there already a spell--one you and Joe know too well--that already does this? You have to read it several times in dumb bafflement until the full evil of the thing sinks in.

It comes with no cure. When this fact hits you flip back to examine the earlier spells, and discover none of the spells after the Binding Nail spell come with a reversal. The "hidden text" in each merely makes explicit the insidious side effects that come from using the spells. This means that transformation of a person into a golem, using the advanced technique, will be a one-way trip. Closer perusal discloses a further danger: the new golem will be born "free" and not under the control of any master. Only if a golemized mask is placed upon it will come under a master's control. This makes it seem even more pointless.

Compared to what has come before, the spell that comes after seems innocuous: It shrinks a golem down to something the size of a small doll. There are no further hints about what such an item might be used for, though the phrase "voodoo doll" crosses your mind.

And then comes the weirdest spell of all, one that creates a doppelganger of another person by copying and forging his mind and body directly into a golem. There will be no masks that can be removed or stolen; worse (or better, depending on your attitude toward these things) the duplicate will not be under anyone's control. It will be a copy of the original, with a free will of its own.

You frown over this last spell a bit, then turn the page. You take one glance at the next spell, and the world spins into darkness ...

* * * * *

You are woken by rough shaking, and groggily revive to find Joe peering down at you. "Are you okay?" he asks. "You were out colder than I've ever seen anyone beofre."

"It's the last spell I got to," Frank says. He has the closed Libra tucked under his arm. "It knocked me out for six hours. You can't even look at it straight."

"You could've warned me," you groan. You sit up, and as you do so catch sight of a third figure: Will Prescott, hanging back guiltily.

Frank follows your glance, and nods. "Been awhile, hasn't it? Get that reverse sigil ready when your head has cleared. I'll get the mask off it." He leads your double back into a bedroom.

It takes you longer to prepare the sigil than you'd like, for in your still-dizzy state you make many small mistakes. But finally it is ready, and you set the mask inside it. The golem shell melts and runs, disappearing into the sigil. "Okay," you sigh. "I guess it's time to face the music." You put the mask to your face.

Again, darkness enfolds, but it is darkness with vivid memories and emotions: angry parents, barking teachers, hissing classmates. You twist, trying to escape, but they press upon you and into you, and you wake with a feeling of pitiless dread.

But it's still dark. Worse, you can't breathe.

You snatch at your face, and it's light again. You sit up. You're holding a mask: the mask of yourself. Joe and Frank stare at you.

"What's going on," Frank asks. "Why didn't the mask bind to you?"

You look down at it. There's no golem shell, and your own visage--the unaltered one, that holds your features in their correct alignment--gleams back at you. Absurdly, it takes you a few moments to understand ...

"I can't wear it," you stammer. "You can't disguise yourself as yourself. This is a mask of me, so I can't wear it."

"You've worn it before," Frank objects.

"When he was a golem," Joe says softly. "He's himself again."

"But he's reversed!"

"Doesn't matter. As far as imago goes, it's just a cosmetic change." Joe's eyebrows twitch as he regards you. "You go home like that--" He points. "Back to front, or you don't go home at all."

"I can't," you gasp. "How will I explain it?"

Frank groans, and the two brothers sit down.

* * * * *

The discussion takes the rest of the afternoon, and finally Frank has to put the mask back onto Lucy's golemized form, and sends Joe take it home.

"Well, you can't go around like that," he sighs, pointing to you. "You still look too much like yourself." He pulls on his ear. "I guess we'll have to make up a new identify for you. We can forge a brand-new face for you inside a mask by copying several people into it, right?" You nod. "Simplest thing, then," he continues, "is to copy me and Joe. I suppose we could use a little brother."

Next: "Frank Tells His Story" 

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