The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Dragons Vs. Wildcats

Previously: "Golems and Gorgons" 

by Masktrix

Assist by Seuzz

“You did good,” you say, as the world closes in around you, a clammy, febrile agony. The icy cold of the truck bed is eating through your slacks and settling into your bones. “But I need to be someone else.”

“We all need that,” Ian says. “They’re gonna come. I told Shelly! I told her what would happen if you messed with this stuff!” He looks at you with resigned hatred.

“I’m sorry, Ian.” Shelly leans across you to give him a stiff, arms-only hug; you wonder if she's finally gotten over her aversion to gross boys. “It was just everything I ever wanted. Like, ever.”

“You’re not even her." Ian pushes Shelly away. “And none of this'd happened if I hadn't given that book to her, she would never have –”
It’s not really Shelly, you finally realize. It’s just the Shelly golem. She’s still dead.

He cuts himself off, then rounds on you.

“You think you had a shit day?" he yells. "This afternoon, Shelly asks me to hang out with her and her friend! Like an idiot, I say yes, and then—" He breaks off to glare at you.

"We told him everything, boss," Shelly says quietly. "I even showed him how to—" She touches her face. "I couldn't get it off. But I told him how to do it."

If you weren't feeling so shitty, you might understand better how horrible it was for Ian to pull Shelly's face off and find a lumpy stone thing underneath. As is, you can only mutter an apology before you feel your head sagging again. "Need a mask," you mutter before passing out again.

***

Che, you need to get up and get dressed before you’re late! Come on, vamanos.

Your head snaps up and you suck in a deep breath of icy air. For the briefest moment you are touched with confusion. But with one glance around to place yourself—you're in the back of your truck with a black, starless sky above—the horrible events of the last twenty-four hours come flooding back.

But your spirits are high. Very high. You feel flushed with energy, strong and vital, and you blink and smile as Will Prescott thrusts a bundle of clothes at you. "Better, boss?" he asks.

You feel completely human again. If only it wasn't so, so cold and dark. It must be after midnight by now.

"Much better," you tell your replacement as you flap open Coach Acuna's things. "Thank you, all of you. Especially— Especially you, Ian," you trill as his head pops out from around the side of the truck cab. He only glowers back. "I know you didn’t sign up for this, and every time I try and get you out, you seem to get dragged back in.”

“I’m not doing this for you,” he retorts. “I'm only doing it because they want to do it to me, too. You know that, right? When this is all over, Prescott, we won’t even be close to square.”

You nod as you pull on your things. Maybe you should be more sympathetic. But Carmen Acuna’s mind is organized, all business.

"Fair enough," you reply, and note with approval that Shelly, who is perched in the truck bed with you, sits up with a bright, alert expression. "Right now, we need a stock take. Opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.” Your brain seems to convert the whole mess into a sports match.

The Westside Dragons
Members: Ian Cowdray; ‘Shelly Nolan’ (golem); Will Prescott (Captain); ‘Will Prescott’ (golemized Abigail Steiner).
Advantages: Experience with the book, one blank mask, Acuna mask, Ruth mask. Unknown location.
Disadvantages: Everything else.

Versus

The St Francis Xavier Wildcats
Members: Todd Baldwin; Chris Fiore; Davina Macklin (Captain); ‘Abigail Steiner’ (Kristen Wright-Wallace).
Advantages: The Libra, wealth and privilege, ability to become anyone, Will mask, Shelly mask, Abi mask.
Disadvantages: Learning the spells, must take them hours to make a new mask, Kristen has no way to substitute herself, likely to cause rift if Todd and Chris realize Abi is not who she claims to be.

But are the three kids in front of you your only teammates? You ask about the boy they took you to see.

"My friend Tyler," Ian says, sounding grumpy. ("Purvis," Shelly adds.) "You were in shit shape, so we took you out see him, see if he knew how to fix you up. He helped my pop with rotor repairs on the combine, so I knew he was solid."

"He's in the ag program," Shelly says. "Knows livestock. So since we couldn't take you to a doctor—"

"You took me to a vet," you finish for her. "Brilliant." But it was a smart move. "Does he know about this stuff? With the masks and—?"

"Shit, no," Ian says. "And you're not gonna tell him, neither!"

"So how did you explain two people who looked like Will Prescott?"

"We told him you were my cousin," your twin says. He tugs your sleeve and gives you a warning look.

You blow out your cheeks. Too bad they didn't tell Tyler about all this. You could really use another ally.

But for now what you really need is a place to shelter.

"Let's go out to the basement," you announce. "You can drop me off there, and we can get together in the morning. Tomorrow's Saturday, isn't it?" The version of Coach Acuna you're pretending to be is sadly out of date.

"You can drop me off on the way home," Ian says. "I'll be spending the night hiding under the covers."

***

After leaving Ian off, Will and Shelly fill you in again on everything you were too sick to understand the first time.

"They thought we had to obey them," Will explains as the navigates the rattling truck along the dark, deserted streets of Saratoga Falls. "The girl you were pretending to be, boss? They made, like, another copy of her, and one of 'em put her mask on, and she was all, like, 'You have to do what I say right? Because it's me under the mask?' Well, I knew that was all wrong—"

He pauses to give you a sidelong look.

"Don't ask me how it works, but it's like I can feel when it's you." He looks past you at Shelly, who is seated on your right. "You know what I mean?"

"Yes," she says. "Back at St. Xavier's? I just had to look at you, Will, to know it was you." She gives you a squeeze.

"What happened down there?"

"Well, we got a call from the girl who was pretending to be you pretending to be the other girl," Will says, "and she told us to bring Ian out. We were pretty sure something'd gone wrong because we never heard from you all day, after we sent you those warnings. So today after school we told Ian more or less what was going on, because we thought maybe he could help—"

"He didn't tell his cousin about any of this, did he?" you demand.

"No. I don't think so." Will frowns. "But we told Ian and, uh, Shelly showed him—" Again he glances past you at Shelly. "So he wasn't too freaked out when we asked him to come out with us tonight." He pauses. "At least, not till we got to out to that school and that girl showed up."

"He didn't freak out," Shelly says.

"He did so. You would too."

"He had us with him."

"He didn't know we were on his side!"

"What happened?" you ask.

"Well, this girl showed up, the one who was with Abi yesterday? And she told us to grab him. So we had to pretend to—"

"And I whispered to him it was only pretend," Shelly interrupts.

"He still thought you were lying. But we had to hustle him over to that amphitheater and throw him down into that hole. And all the time that girl was telling him that if he didn't help out he was going to disappear, and no one would miss him because someone else was going to be him. Yeah, he was freaked out!"

Okay, you think. Now I know why Ian is so worried about people coming for him.

"But it all worked out," Shelly says. "As soon as we saw you, boss, we tackled her and then the three of us got you out. So Ian knows it's all okay."

Except it isn't. Not by a long shot.

***

They drop you off at the church with promises to be back bright and early in the morning. Maybe things will look better in the daylight.

You still think they'd look better if you had some ally other than your two golems and Ian Cowdray.

For the briefest moment, you wonder about Trucker Hat – Tyler Purvis. Ian was certain he was a solid guy, and you vaguely remember him from middle school. But are you prepared to bring someone else into this mess?

But then it comes to you in a flash, a possible ally you hadn’t considered before. Under the mask that mimics your face is the real Abigail Steiner. Sure, she’s a duplicitous bitch you can’t trust for a second, but… right now, the enemy of your enemy is your friend – and you doubt she’s going to be happy to learn Kristen has stolen her life. You could risk removing the Will mask and restoring her, briefing her and hoping that she’ll tip the balance in your favor: she knows her friends and all their secrets, and Vee already told you exactly what she’d want from the book – the life of Mathilde Ambard.

But can you really trust someone like her, and is it a price you’re willing to pay? Alternatively, there’s one ally Vee mentioned that you’re not sure if you’re willing to risk. In the basement, staring at you only a few metres away, is the real, petrified Michelle Nolan. If you put a mask on her, you don’t know if you can ever bring her back to the way she was before. But, right now, you need every ally you can get.

Next: "The Girl in the Golem Mask" 

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