This choice: Return to work on the mask • Go Back...Chapter #6Old Acquaintances in New Haunts by: Seuzz   Caleb is already giving you impatient looks, so you start up the truck and jump out into a gap in the traffic, for you've got an adrenaline rush from the success you had with Mansfield. "What now?" you ask.
"We could finish up my mask, then use it on Lisa tomorrow," he replies. "Then we'd have a matched set. Okay, that wasn't funny," he hurriedly adds after you shoot him a dirty look. "I say we head back to the clubhouse. I bet we can use this sweet puppy to turn the next page in the book. I mean, if you're right about the way that it works."
That's something you hadn't been thinking about, so concentrated have you been on finishing up masks and finding someone to test them on: The pages in the book are locked, and it appears that a new page will only turn loose when you have completed the spell that it describes.
But before racing back to school, you take a short detour into Starbucks to pick up two celebratory macchiatos.
* * * * *
"Yo, Will," says the barista as he claps the two small paper cups onto the counter. "Get you a couple of fudge brownies too, if you're trying to put a little fat on your bones?" He grins cheekily.
It's tempting, but you demur. "I didn't know you were working here," you tell him.
"But now you do, right?" Connor Hutchison leans across the counter and lowers his voice. "Come in every day next week, order one of these in a venti size -- " He flicks a finger lightly against the caramel macchiatos. "And I'll start giving you unlimited refills on any regular coffees you buy."
Your eyes narrow. "Is this some kind of scam you're running on the store, or are you trying wrangle some long-term customers?"
"Why can't it be both?" His grin widens. "Hey, watch this." He straightens up as a customer comes up.
But it's not just any customer. It's Olivia Byrne, from school. She's in a tight, lemon-yellow strapless dress that hugs her boobs, her butt, and everything in between. She smiles at Connor, and runs the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip as she asks for a refill, and she traces a fingertip around the top of her ceramic cup. Wordlessly, Connor puts it under a tap of hot coffee, and returns it in a way so that his fingers brush over hers. She smiles brightly at him, tucks a strand of her long, brown hair behind one ear, and returns to her table.
You can't help staring at her ass as she goes, and you're sure Caleb and Connor are staring at it too.
You also can't help noticing that she completely ignored you and Caleb, though she was standing right beside you, and you know she knows your names.
"Is that why you want us in here regularly," Caleb asks. "So you can flirt with us?"
Connor blows him a quick kiss, and winks. Caleb turns a little pink.
"She wasn't putting on that show for you," you sneer. "I mean, she didn't get dressed up like that just get free refills on coffee while she texts her friends." Olivia has already bent her head over her iPhone and is busy tapping away at it.
"Who cares?" Connor says. "She comes in, she dresses like that, she -- " He imitates Olivia's action with her hair, even though his own brunette locks only curl to just below his ear lobe. He settles his elbows on the counter. "If she wants to suck my cock for free coffee I'll let her do that too," he says sotto voce.
"Just don't ask me to suck your cock," Caleb says.
"I already creamed your coffee, Johansson. Hey, where's Tilley? Isn't he usually hanging out with you guys?"
"Not today," you say. You lift the cups. "Thanks for these, and maybe we'll see you around."
"That offer's only good this week," Connor calls after you. "Oh, and when you see Ioeger and Lamont, give them the same message. It's good for when I'm at the counter or when Justin's here."
"Carr? He works here too?"
Connor makes a face. "You never come in, do you? Yeah, we're both full-time here. Saving up money for a road trip to Alaska next summer. You'll be graduated by then, too, and maybe you can tag along."
It's an intriguing offer, so you nod cheerily before letting Caleb drag you away. You notice his mood as soured. "We're not gonna start hanging out at Starbucks, are we?" he demands.
"No one says you have to. What've you got against Connor?"
"Nothing, except he's too much like Ioeger."
"And you don't like Carson 'cos he's too much like you. Jesus, even your names are too much the same," you continue as he flips you off. "Caleb. Carson. Connor. Even Keith has noticed. I remember last year he joked that it was like there was a machine someplace mass producing slightly different variants on the same model. You guys even all look alike. Tall, gangly and goofy looking."
"Then you must be the discount model, since the only difference is you're shorter than me."
"Barely."
"Two fucking inches is not 'barely'."
"I am not two inches -- "
"It's two inches, Will. You're two inches shorter, both flaccid and erect. Ow!" He jumps two inches and bangs the crown of his head on the roof of the truck cab when you punch him in the groin.
* * * * *
Your hopes for the book turn out to be justified. You lay the mask onto the page holding the spell, and when you lift it the page lifts as well.
On the reverse side you find a description of the spell and an explanation for what it does. It's a very long paragraph taking up most of the page, and it takes a long time to translate it using the online Latin dictionaries. But it's not hard to penetrate, since it basically describes the actions you've already performed and tells you what you've done.
The mask behaved perfectly on Geoff, according to the book. A mask, when placed on the face of a victim, will sink into him and remain there for roughly ten minutes, after which it will reemerge; and all the time that it is within him, the victim will be in a sleep-like stupor. Moreover, unless awakened by a loud noise or by being shaken, the victim will remain asleep for another ten minutes after the mask has been retrieved. "That's so you can get it onto him and get away without him knowing you were there," Caleb theorizes in a very smug tone.
When it emerges from a person, the mask will carry an imprint of his "imago" (whatever that is) but it will still be "soft like wax" according to the book, and more of these "imago" can be put into it in order to create new "imago." After puzzling over it for a bit, Caleb hits on what you both decide must be the solution: The mask now contains a copy of Geoff Mansfield, but if you place the mask onto another person, it will also copy that person, and merge the two copies into a "morph" halfway between them. "That's if you want to create a new look," Caleb suggests. The mask cannot be worn by anyone as a disguise, the spell concludes, until the mask has been "sealed."
And how do you "seal" a mask? Caleb taps the newly revealed page. "Betcha this one is all about sealing." And since you have all the ingredients on hand, you execute that spell now as well. It goes very quickly -- it is even quicker to make than the mask -- and results in a bowl full of a thin, paint-like paste. Setting the bowl on the book unlocks the next page, and on the reverse you find instructions for how to use it: simply paint the inside of a mask that contains an imago, and then it can be worn as a disguise.
Caleb thoughtfully studies the mask you made of Geoff. "Mansfield's looks could always be improved," he suggests in a half-hearted way, but you tell him you want to see if you copied him correctly.
Unfortunately, you don't have any kind of brush to paint the sealant into the mask, so after telling you not to do anything stupid in the meantime, Caleb drives off to hit a nearby crafts store. You amuse yourself in the meantime by studying the list of ingredients for the next spell, and entering them into your phone for your next shopping trip. You might have given them to Caleb, you reflect after he's gone, but then decide it's best to make a separate trip anyway. There are simply too many new items that would have to be bought, including metal strips and carving implements.
"My mom called me while I was out," Caleb says when he gets back. "So we're going to do this thing and then I gotta go."
"Do what thing?" you ask. "Test out the mask? Because that might take awhile depending on -- "
"No, we're going to seal it, and that's all."
"But I wanted to -- "
"Tonight," Caleb says. "If you're so hot to try it out, let's try to get back together tonight. But -- " He shoves a warning finger in your face. "I don't want you trying it without me, Prescott. You're way too hot to get into trouble with this thing, and I want to be around to make sure you don't fuck anything up."
You agree with a grumble, and with the new brush you coat the inside of the mask with the sealant. It dries quickly as you blow on it. You send Caleb home while you say you'll stay to tidy up the basement.
It's not even five o'clock, and your eye keeps reverting to Geoff's mask. To get your mind off temptation, you've halfway decided to make a shopping run for ingredients for the new spell. But just as you're finishing up in the basement, you get a text from Connor Hutchison: Up for a party, yo?   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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