Chapter #55Of Frying Pans and Fires by: Seuzz   Once Joe is out of sight, you duck down between two houses. Joe is fast, very fast, but you're in the student ghetto close to Keyserling, and it's a maze. You'll have some chance of dodging him.
So you weave in and out of alleys and around corners, keeping an alert eye out. Gradually you make your way to the campus, where you should have an easier time hiding. You see a crowd of students walking along, and duck in amongst them. They give you a passing glance, but take no further notice.
As you stroll along in their company, you take stock of your situation. You've got two pretty scary groups of people after you: Joe and Frank, and Eric Kim and Curt Straussler. Your chances of avoiding them seem slim, especially since they all know exactly who you are. You'll have to get another face. A new one.
For that you'll need a mask. Only place for that is back at Westside, on the other side of town. And you've no money and no phone.
You're sweating hard before you remember that there's an old, battered public phone in the Keyserling library. You had to use it once last year, when you forgot your own phone during one of your very rare forays up to the campus.
And then, once you've got the receiver in your grasp, you have another problem. Who to call? Caleb? You've no idea where he is. Keith? You don't remember Ian's number.
In fact, the only number you can remember is Patterson's. You'll have to come clean with him before he'll help you. But if the two of you can get up to the fuck room--
What the fuck is the 'fuh'? Joe's barked question returns to you. Shit, you told him where the book was. He and Frank might be on their way over there now! With trembling fingers you dial Patterson.
* * * * *
"This better be fucking important, Prescott," he growls through the window of his car, and slaps the lock down before you can get the door open. "I was getting ready for a party."
"We have to get to Westside," you pant back at him. "Some of the guys I replaced? They got loose. Big guys. They beat all kinds of shit out of me, made me tell 'em about the book and where it is. They're probably on their way out there now!"
His eyes blaze. "You. Fucking. Moron!" he screams. "Of all the fucked up--!"
"Who's the fuck up, Patterson," you scream back. "The fuck up or the fuck up who's too busy screaming at him to start fixing it?"
He wrenches the door open for you, and pops you in the face as you leap in. It's only a glancing blow, but it hurts hard enough.
"Can't fucking trust you with anything! Gordon told me you and your shit friends were--" He's trembling so hard he can barely speak. "But no, I had to treat you fair, give you a chance so you could fuck us all in the ass!"
"Just don't have a wreck," you plead.
"Oh, we'll make it out there okay," he says. "No way I'm killing myself before I get a chance to--" His phone rings, and he slams it to the side of his face. "What?" He listens. "I got a situation here, bigger than anything than you--" His mouth slams shut. He listens some more, his face passing through various shades as his eyes bug out. "Understood," he says in a very quiet voice, and drops the phone.
"What was that about?" you ask.
Icicles like daggers shine in the eyes he turns on you. "Orders from the boss," he says. "We're to meet him. And if you think I'm scary, Prescott, wait until the real me hears what you've done!"
* * * * *
You huddle in a ball, not even watching where you're going. Despite your pleas, the golem refuses to change course, and your chance of getting the book and finding a hiding place recede behind you. You shut your eyes and don't even watch where you're going.
So it's far too late to argue, or to jump out of the car, when you look up to find yourself-- "Jesus hell! What are we doing here?" Golem-Patterson is pulling up in front of the Strausslers' house. Joe and Frank's truck is still parked there.
"Boss is here," the golem says. "Like it? Too bad he'll never let you see it a second time."
No, you're not likely to see it ever again.
But that doesn't mean you'll go willingly, and you refuse to leave the car, even after the golem tries yanking you out. Only when two burly men join him does he get you disentangled from the front seat. They carry you, thrashing furiously, up the steps into the house.
Through that gallery they carry you, and past the solarium, and into a sitting room in the back of the house, where they hurl you onto the floor. You look up fearfully.
Steve Patterson is slouching insolently on the couch. Fucking Patterson, master of the domain.
And then you see the bruises on his face, and look over to see Curt Straussler glowering in the corner. He strides up to you. "A nice little bonus," he sneers. "How did you get away from Kim?" He looks at golem-Patterson. "And what's he doing with you?"
The golem looks at Patterson. So does Straussler. "Tell him to answer me," the latter says.
Patterson swallows. "Answer the man. Whatever he asks you."
The golem looks between them. "He called me. I was at home, and he called me up to the university to pick him up. Screaming some shit about how some guys got loose and were on their way up to Westside--"
"Tell it to shut up," you scream at Patterson. "Don't let it--!"
You're silenced by a hard kick to the ribs, and you gasp and retch into the carpet.
"Tell it to keep going," Straussler says.
"He said some guys were on their way to Westside to get the book," the golem continues after Patterson nods at it. "He's a fucking incompetent, boss, just like Gordon--"
"How'd you get away from Kim?" Straussler demands of you. You don't answer. He grabs you by a hank of hair. "Answer me, boy! My employees broke your friend here, and they can break you."
"I beat him up and ran away," you mumble back.
"Bah! Take him back to the panic room. I'll be there in a minute. Wait. First," he says as rough hands lift you up. Straussler is facing Patterson. He jerks his head at the golem. "Is that where my boy is?"
Patterson nods curtly. Straussler swings around and shoves something against the golem. It screams, folds in half, and falls onto a settee. A mask slips from its face, revealing Jonathan Straussler.
You gasp. Only now do you notice that Patterson is dressed in some of Straussler's clothes.
* * * * *
They return you to the room where you woke earlier, and under their hard blows and Straussler's rough questions, you spill it all: about the Libra, and the masks, and how you and Patterson and your friends were replacing people. You tell him you didn't know that Patterson had himself replaced Jonathan, but he doesn't care. You also tell him about Joe and Frank, how they were "special guys", and how you let Joe loose, and how he was the one who beat Eric Kim unconscious. Then they leave.
Hours pass. You hurt too much to think.
Finally, the door opens again, and you're dragged back into that sitting room. It's dark outside, and the room is lit only by soft, tasteful lamps. Patterson is still where he'd been sitting. Straussler is there too, with his goons. And so is Eric Kim. His forehead is heavily bandaged. He's looking at a laptop. Tinny voices come from it, and you recognize one of them as your own.
He's watching a video of your interrogation.
He looks up at you. There's no smile on his face, but no anger either. He just looks tired. "You say the magic book was in a loft at Westside High?" he asks. "Just answer me, guys. It's been a long day, and none of us want to make it longer."
Patterson sighs. "Yeah."
"And Will, you told--" He looks at some notes. "You told a guy named Joe Durras where it was?"
You nod, and avoid Patterson's eye.
"Because it's not there now," Eric says. "The place was cleaned out. And there's no one at the house that was being rented to two guys by that name. And it was Joe that did this to me?" He points to his head, and faintly smiles. You nod again. "And on this video, you said they were what, exactly?"
"Stellae."
"What's that?"
"Magicians. Like a secret society. Very old, very powerful." Patterson lifts his head.
Eric takes a deep breath. "Curt, this is very bad. Get your family to the airport. No time to pack."
"What, because some bloody boys--"
"They're not 'bloody boys,' Curt. They are very dangerous. The dissuo isn't going to stop them. Nothing I've got can stop them. Only the big boys at Fane can protect you."
"If this is a bloody trick to get me to sell out--"
"It's not, Curt." They hold each other's eye. "Fine, stay here if you want. I'm bugging out. I know when I'm out of my weight class." He stands, and flicks a finger between you and Patterson. "You two can come with me if you want. I'd really like it if you did, but I'm not forcing anything on you."
Straussler explodes. "What right have you got to--"
"I've got the right to try to keep them alive, Curt!" Eric shouts back. "They're dead, Curt, dead like you and your wife and son, if they stay. Damn yourself and them if you're too proud, but you've no right to damn these guys!"  | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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