This choice: Take Carson to see Caleb • Go Back...Chapter #12An Unexpected Adventure by: Seuzz   "Quarterback? Hell yeah, I said I'd take his position!" You punch Carson lightly in the knee, and get up. "Let's go talk to Caleb."
"About selling the book?" Carson asks.
"No, just about the book itself. Let's not mention those professors or anything. You won't want to see the book sold, not after we talk to Caleb." His eyes narrow at your grin.
* * * * *
Caleb seems oddly subdued, considering the speed and ease with which you've brought him a new recruit. "So how's it feel, Carson?" he asks.
"Carson's not here," James Lamont replies. He sucks the inside of his cheek and leans against the wall. He smiles faintly. "Well, he is, but no one would know that, would they?"
"Not if they didn't know better," you agree. James is a little taller than you, so you have to hike up your pants a little as you stand. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Oh yeah." He continues to stare thoughtfully past you. "But we're not gonna just be swapping with each other, right?" Now he looks at Caleb. "The, uh, conversations I remember having earlier--"
"Yeah," Caleb says, and shifts in his chair. "We're gonna move in on other people, take their place. Reshape things." His eye briefly meets yours. "We already have Cameron. A couple of others."
"Who?"
"We'll have a team meeting later to talk about it. But you're in, right?"
"Definitely." Carson looks at you, then glances down at his own clothes. He tugs at the shirt. He picks his bandana up from the bed and puts it on his head. It fits badly, since James's hair is a lot longer and bushier than Carson's. He pulls it off again. "This is fun, but I guess I should change clothes if I'm gonna go home as James."
Caleb says nothing, but you do: "Who said you were gonna do that?"
"Well, I got the mask on, I might as well--"
"And what do I do?"
He blinks. "Can't you go home?"
"I've got a double at home. My dad thinks even one of me is a handful, and my mom doesn't remember giving birth to twins."
"Can't you get rid of him?"
You look to Caleb for support, but he just leans forward, resting his arms on the back of his chair. "Um ... I don't know how to do that," you say. "Besides, don't you have to go home?"
"I can always say I'm sleeping over at James's."
Caleb continues to say nothing. You snap your fingers at Carson. "Come on, I should take it back."
He grumbles, but plops onto the bed. "When can I get a mask of my own?"
Your friend stirs. "I dunno. Soon. Maybe tomorrow." He shrugs and avoids Carson's eye. Carson grunts softly, then puts his hand to his face. Since the James mask now carries memories of how to remove a mask, he is able to easily pull it off.
"Dude, what is your problem," you ask, rounding on Caleb.
"I don't have a problem," he says, looking genuinely startled.
"You're just sitting there like a lump, like all this is boring. Or you're pissed off." You look at him closely. "Are you pissed that I switched with James? Or that I told Carson all about this already?"
"No," he says slowly. "I don't think I am. I'm just thinking, that's all." He sucks on his lower lip. "It's all kind of complicated, you know. I'm just thinking it all through."
Carson, of course, had noticed Caleb's demeanor, and he asks you about it on the drive back. "I think he was just distracted," you assure him, though you hardly feel reassured yourself. "If he was upset we'd have known. It's all kind of complicated, and with you coming in it's gotten more complicated."
"Doesn't he want me to join?" Carson asks.
"Of course he does. He told me to make sure you did. But, uh, it's all complicated." You've nothing but Caleb's own words to fall back on.
Carson is silent for a bit. "Yeah, I guess it would be. That was a pretty thick book. I'm guessing there's a hell of a lot more in it than just making these masks." He doesn't expand on the thought.
* * * * *
You have a rendezvous with James's personal bully, Jason Lynch, the next morning, but you're rescued by Cameron Huber. Otherwise, it's a good day, with Caleb back to being his ebullient self. He even passes a mask along to Carson.
Then he calls you at James's house that night: "Carson told me there's a professor who knows something about the book." He pauses. "Let's you and me go talk to him tomorrow."
"You're not thinking of selling it, are you?"
"Of course not. But I don't want Carson nosing around. The best way to do that is to beat him to the punch."
"How do you mean?"
"We'll go talk to this prof guy. Then we'll pass that info on to Carson. Scratch his itch for him."
"Don't you have work?"
"Someone will cover for me."
* * * * *
Caleb is dressed as Sean when he meets you after school, and drives you out to the professor's in Sean's truck. The address is attached to a large stone villa on the outskirts of town. It's very quiet as you approach the door. The lawn is dead and the elaborate flower beds are empty and there is only one tree. Maybe that explains why there are no bird sounds. You and Sean glance at each other when you reach the door: the doorbell sits inside the gaping mouth of a ravening wolf's head. So Sean just raps sharply at the door.
It is opened by an extremely portly gentleman with a moustache-goatee and a bad comb over. "Gentlemen," he greets you an amiable tone. "So pleased to meet you. I'm Professor Aubrey Blackwell." You introduce yourselves; his hand, when you take it, is clammy. "So you and your friends are interested in the Libra Personae," he says as he lets you into the foyer.
Sean nods. "The father of a friend of ours has a book called that," he says. You're prepared, so you don't react to the falsehood. "It looks really old, and we just did a little research on it. I don't think he knows anything about it. We thought it might be a cool surprise, like a birthday present or something, if we found out for him that it's valuable."
"If it is the genuine article it is quite valuable, I assure you," Blackwell says. "How long as he had it?"
"For as long as I can remember," Sean says. Blackwell smiles faintly and makes a "hmm" noise. "So, what's the deal with it?"
"Let me get you boys some refreshments," he smiles. "If you'll just go into the library." He points. "Down the hall, first door on the left."
You and Sean exchange a brief glance as Blackwell steps to the side, and go down the hall. You've only taken a few steps before you are overcome by a terrible feeling of drowsiness ...
* * * * *
"I don't wanna go to school," you mumble at the figure who is shaking you. It slaps you, and the figure comes into focus, finally. It's Sean.
"Get up, Prescott," he snarls. "Come on." Your legs don't want to work, but he roughly pulls you to your feet, and slaps you again. "I let you sleep long enough."
You stare at him. He's naked. You glance down. You're naked. You glance over at the third person. She's also naked.
You do a double take and look her over much more slowly. She turns a very crimson color, but you're only able to look away when Sean grabs you by the hair and turns your head forcibly back to his face. He grimaces hard. "First, we get out of here. Then we ogle our friends."
"Where are we? What--" You look around. You're in a long, narrow room with a high ceiling. The floor is bare concrete. The walls are brick. A narrow spiral staircase leads up to a panel high in the wall overhead. There is a single narrow window, but it opens into darkness. The room is illuminated by a bare bulb. "The fuck--?"
"It's that old bastard," Sean spits. "He knows all about the book. He wants it, and he's going to get it for himself."
"How--"
"No time for that, Will. We need to get out of here. Lucy can tell you all about what he's done later." You start to turn to the girl again, but Sean again wrenches your head over. "We can't take the stairs, so we need to go out the window. You're the only one skinny enough." Behind him you see the girl shoot him a dirty look. "So you're elected."
You're still way too confused, but you let him haul you over to the window. A metal cot has been wedged beneath it as a makeshift ladder. "You go up, you go out, you come back into the house and let us out," he says. "Lucy says the door is somewhere in the library." You stare at him. He just pushes you at the cot.
Okay, you're just going to have to wing it the way he wants. The cot wobbles beneath you, but Sean steadies it. At the top you carefully put your hand through the open frame. "Mind the glass," Sean says. "I tried to get it cleaned out as best I could." You grit your teeth and very carefully slip through. Only a few times, and lightly, do you nick yourself.
You look around when you're outside. It's night. Light spills from nearby French windows. You start to step toward them when you hear a sound. Something or someone is shuffling beyond the corner of the house. | Members who added to this interactive
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