The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Study Date of Doom

Previously: "Candor and Candidates" 

The party eventually moves indoors again, with Aaron and Daniel—flushed and vibrating from an hour on the speedway—joining everyone else to eat hot dogs and popcorn and to shove quarters into the game machines. After another hour of food and laughter, the group fragments, with some heading off for parties on the other side of town and others driving to Eastman High to hang out before heading to the Warehouse.

You, though, plead a headache and return home, hours before your curfew. Your mom and dad—in robe and housecoat already, watching Netflix—are surprised to see you back so early, and you tell them that plans fell through at the last minute. Back in your bedroom, you stretch out on your bed and stare at the ceiling for a solid hour as you plot out your next move.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We can do it with just five Brothers, Sydney told you that afternoon when you talked. There's only one focus we can get to, and we only need five to use it.

The focus out at the Warehouse? you asked.

No, at the cemetery. Come on, Will, she said, did you really forget about our date out there? The focus inside that crypt? We only need five Brothers to use it, she repeated, so if you really want to recruit people instead of making fakes— Well, she concluded with tiny sigh, it would be easier for us to manage five of them than ten.

Easier for me to manage, you thought to yourself.

So you talked about body-swapping people and who you might swap and how they might react. You took Keith as an example, explaining to Sydney how Keith was a constant victim of bullying. If we swapped Keith, you told her, he'd probably be so grateful he'd do anything to help us out.

Or, Sydney countered, if you turned Seth into your friend Keith, he'd do anything to get his old life back.

I was thinking of that too, you replied. And if we swapped Keith and Seth, we'd have both set-ups.

Except they'd both kill each other, Sydney objected after a moment's thought. Wouldn't they? You allowed this was likely. So we only swap one of them, said with the air of having concluded a geometric proof. We turn the one who'd be hard to handle into a pedisequos, and trap the other one in a new body. One they'd pay anything to get out of. Or anything to keep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But despite Keith being the most obvious candidate—or maybe because he is too much the obvious candidate—your attention keeps reverting to some of the other names that occurred to you.

* * * * *

You go to bed early, so you wake early, and text Sydney to ask if you can come out. You're showered and dressed out in running shorts and a t-shirt by the time she gives the all-clear.

"Blake O'Brien?" she exclaims as you jog through her neighborhood in the cool of the morning. All the houses you pass are set back far from the road on big, grassy lots. "Sure, I can get him out the house. He's come on to me a couple of times."

That's not your memory from when you had Sydney's mask on, but maybe you just didn't spend enough time keeping track of who was flirting with you. "Who do you want to swap him with?" she continues.

She stumbles and almost sprawls when you tell her. "Excuse my French, Will, but the fuck?"

It is a wild idea, you have to admit, putting Genesis Lee into the body of her most recent crush. Impractical, maybe. Unpredictable. But something about it just feels right.

And, okay, maybe you're biased, considering who you are currently looking like. But you're inclined to trust Jack Li's gut feelings and his gut feelings say that putting Genesis in Blake's body is an inspired move. As far as an explanation is concerned, though, the best you can do is ask Sydney to trust you.

Of course, as a pedisequos she has no choice.

"Is there a trail around here?" you ask as you pass a stand of trees. "Someplace we can go off where no one can see?"

"Why?" she asks, sounding sly. "What have you got in mind, Will?"

"I want to get naked with you," you retort. "And then I want to be naked as you."

"With Jack?" she asks, sounding vastly amused.

"No, I just want to swap masks if we're going to do it this afternoon. Jack's gay, if you didn't already know. So stop trying to be so goddamned flirty with me."

* * * * *

It's well after lunch before you can get your two victims out to the house, but you need the time anyway to prepare masks. Sydney's mom has gone shopping, and you've sent Nicholas away, so there shouldn't be any complications. After you've got everything set up, you shower and slip on a short black dress that shows plenty of leg, and spend a good thirty minutes doing various things with your hair before giving up to let it fall in simple, shimmering sheets around your shoulders. With strappy sandals and a skinny belt cinching in your waist, you look like you're on your way to a cool club or a hot party.

Jack and Genesis are the first to arrive, as you'd planned, and you lightly hug Genesis on being introduced. "I hope you don't mind me bringing company," Fake-Jack says. "We were hanging out."

You tell him you're happy to have Genesis over, and insist on giving her a tour of the house as you and Jack discuss when to have a party and who to invite. You also make a point of soliciting Genesis's opinion. She falls in cheerfully with the planning, but there's a brittleness to her smile. And at one point, though you can't catch the words she mutters at Jack, you do hear his retort: Stop it. Now.

You're in the back yard, discussing whether it would be worth it to set up tiki torches, when your phone buzzes. "Oh, 'scuse me," you chirp as you check it. "My date's here. You guys can keep hanging out, we have to wait for my stepdad to get back before we can go." You make a face. "He insists on getting a look at all my dates before letting me out with them."

"Who's your date?" Genesis asks.

It's a rude question, so you can't help gloating a little over the answer. "Blake O'Brien."

There's no missing the flutter at her throat. But she doesn't squeal.

Blake is leaning back on his heels, checking his cell phone, when you open the front door. "Hey," you greet him. "Sorry, I was in the back yard when you texted, and I—"

But the words die in your throat as Blake raises his eyes to meet yours.

Because although Sydney has hitherto felt no real interest in him, there's no mistaking that, physically, he is exactly the kind of guy she is into.

He's a little over six feet, with dark brown hair and coffee-colored eyes, and a large—and very kissable—mole just under the hinge of his jaw. His pale face glows like cool, fresh milk. His lips are large and his cheeks taut, and he has a way of leaning forward when he listens that makes his very concentrated attention look like the prelude to a long, burning kiss. He's dressed in dark jeans, a navy-blue hoodie, and boots, and he has a backpack slung over his shoulders, for you've asked him over for a study session.

"Come on in," you gasp when you recover your voice, and step back from the door.

"So who else is here?" he asks as he follows you in.

"Guy from my history class. We just got done. Group project. He'll be going." Your breath is coming in short bursts, and you hope you don't start hiccupping. I'm acting just like Genesis, you shout at yourself. Stop it. It's embarrassing!

Blake follows you into the living room. "I'll go get my books," you tell him as he collapses onto one of the sofas.. "Thanks for coming out."

He looks up at you from under his brows, and you see the doubt in his eyes: Does this chick serious want to work on math? When we don't even have any classes together? If we don't end up making out, I'm gonna be really pissed.

You scamper upstairs and text Jack the signal. Then, to kill time (you tell yourself) you spend a couple of minutes primping and preening in the bathroom mirror, smoothing out your dress, touching your makeup, and fluffing out your hair. Dang, you think. Even if Blake knows I've got a boyfriend, no way he'd pass up a chance to put his hands on this girl.

Out in the upstairs hall again, you drop your backpack at the top of the stairway and pull out a blank mask. You listen to Jack's voice and Blake's drift up from below, until you hear the front door creak open and slam with a heavy bang. Then you run lightly down the hallway to the back stairs, and out the study door onto the patio. Genesis is sitting exactly where you told Fake-Jack to put her, at the patio table with her back to you. You run up behind. She just has time to lift her head before you reach around and press the mask into her face. You hold her, then let her fall forward gently onto the table.

Back upstairs, you pull out a second mask. Blake has his cell phone out again when you rejoin him in the living room. He blinks up at you as you saunter over.

"I want us to form a study group," you tell him. "A very special kind of study group." His eyes widen as you drop onto him, straddling his lap. "A life-changing study group," you say as you slam the mask onto his face.

Next: "Project Genesis" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"