The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Pulling a Switch on the Old Switcheroo

Previously: "Vee Is for Visit" 

You don't dignify Vee's question with a reply. What would be the point? You could tell her the truth about what happened to Shelly, but that wouldn't help you, and she is going to find out anyway.

She seems to have the same thought. "Keep it buttoned up if you want, Will," she says. "It's not going to do you any good. Sluuuuuurp!" She waggles the uncompleted mind band at you.

* * * * *

You've pissed her off, you can tell, because she stops talking to you. For your part, you don't feel like talking either.

Also, you're starting to feel feverish.

It starts with a sweat that pops out all over your body. Your forehead burns, and your throat is scratchy. You sigh and smack your mouth, and you try to get comfortable within your bonds, but your arms and legs are like wood, and except for a persistent ache in your lower back and the back of your legs, you're numb from the neck down.

Maybe you lose consciousness at one point—the swirling darkness is like a vortex sucking you down—but you snap awake again at the bang of metal against concrete. A heavy weight drops to the floor in front of you.

"Veeeeee!" a deep, masculine voice groans. "You're missing the best of the party!"

Vee yelps as the figure bends over her. "Get! Off! Todd! Are you drunk?"

"Just buzzed. Buzzed and horny."

"Well go— Quit it! I'm working!"

"Psss! You're such a— What's the word?" Todd's voice is slurred. "Prissy little perfect straight-A bitch."

"Fucking lucky for you! If I don't get you A's on your homework, how're you going to graduate?"

Todd mutters something under his breath. Vee says, "Yes. I was just finishing up when—"

Todd takes something from under his jacket. His back is to you, so you can't make out what it is. But it impresses Vee. "Wow," she says. "Is it done?"

"Yeah. Chris got a bug up his ass, used of one of those, whatchacallems?" Todd snaps his fingers, and sways. "Janitors polish floors with 'em."

"A floor polisher?"

"Yeah! So how 'bout we—?" He paws at her. She squirms and slaps Todd away.

But she also mutters "Fine," and gets to her feet. "Stay put, Will," she says, and grabs onto the ladder. Todd slaps her on the ass as she ascends. "Bottom's up," he chortles. Then, with an agility surprising for one so drunk, he scuttles up after her. The grate in the ceiling clanks back into place.

She's left the electric lantern on. Balancing on the oil drum, staring at you, is a mask. It glows with an inner, bluish light.

The world begins to swim again, and under the masks' eyeless gaze, you fall back into the darkness.

* * * * *

You're suffocating when you wake. An great weight is pressing down on you, and there's a labored rumbling in your ear. It's dark, and for a dreadful moment you're convinced you've buried alive.

A memory flashes: Chris and Todd, leaping out at you with a bag and a rope in their hands. Vee smirks at you.

But what the hell is this thing on top of you? It pulses and rumbles and saws in your ear as it crushes you beneath itself. You squirm and pant and grunt, trying to twist out from under. That's when you realize that your hands are free.

So are you feet. The thing is sprawled between your legs.

Suddenly, that rumbling in your ear sounds an awful lot like snoring. You freeze as a ghastly idea suggests itself—one borne from the sense that this is not the first time you have felt that kind of a weight atop you, or that kind of a buzzing in your ear.

You have Abi's memories again, you realize, and as you hesitantly pick at them, you understand that you must again be wearing that mask that you made of her— the one which Todd and his friends ripped from your face.

You have to stifle a shriek as a horror that prefers uncomprehension struggles with a horror that knows the answers.

You grit your teeth with loathing as you try to push away the thing that is crushing you. Your fingers slide over rough fabric—a sports coat, you'd guess—but you can get no leverage, and the thing is far too heavy. So, as gingerly as you can manage, you start to squirm, trying to slip out sideways. Fortunately, all the strength has returned to your arms and legs, and after a long, panting minute of wriggling and sliding, you pop out from beneath it.

It groans, and your heart pops into your throat as it flops over. By the light of the electric lantern, you make out Todd Baldwin's face. He rips out a single long snore, then sinks back into a gentler buzz without waking.

His clothes are disheveled in a way that makes your stomach heave. Both his coat and his shirt are open, exposing the firm torso with the washboard abs, and his slacks are unzipped and splayed open. Inside—

You wheel and clench your eyes shut. Maybe the dark patch was his boxers. But you're pretty sure it was a bushy patch of bristly hair, with his hog-like cock nestled within.

With infinite loathing you reach down to touch the front of your own trousers. They are still hanging around your hips, and the top button is undone. But the zipper is still up.

You sag against a concrete wall, and stifle a gasp of relief. Apparently Todd passed out before he could—

You retch, and push away the wall of hair that falls into your face.

The fuck was he thinking?

Oh, the answer to that is pretty clear, and the longer you stare at that answer, the more plausible it becomes. Todd, drunk and horny, brought Abi's mask down here and put it on you with the intention of having fun. All of Abi's outrage and loathing gushes up your spine and drowns your reason, and you can barely restrain yourself from kicking the unconscious sixth-former in the head.

But self-control prevails. You are free again—Todd had to untie you if he was going to have his way with you—and there's not a trace of stiffness in your limbs. Your head is cool and clear as well.

From above drifts the distant thrum and grumble of techno music. So the Halloween party is still raging, you think. Kristen and the others will be busy with it, and Todd is passed out at your feet. You've only to get back to Abi's room, change into real clothes, and then you can race away from St. Xavier's in car. This is your chance to escape.

But as you turn to grasp the the rungs of the ladder leading up and out, your eye falls onto Vee's makeshift work table. Resting on it are the new mask, the new mind band, a small plastic tub. Mask sealant? Vee made it sound like they were working straight through the book, and the spell for making sealant comes before the spell for making mind bands.

That's lucky, you think, And if Kristen has the book in Abi's room too, and I can get everything and get away!

Before you can make another move, though, there's another rumble from Todd. You turn to stare at him.

A mask. A mind band. Sealant. Here are all the ingredients here for disguising yourself as Todd Baldwin.

And if you can find a place to hide him, you could stay within St. Xavier under deep cover. If you're unlucky enough not to find the Libra in Abi's room, that might be the only way to retrieve it and all the other stuff, and to shut down these assholes' plans.

Next: "The Leader of the Pack" 

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