Chapter #26Banked Fires by: Seuzz   Caleb is on the other side of some furniture, and you don't spot him until you move around a bookcase. His face -- ghostly in the light of the iPhone he's bent over -- is the only thing you can see in the dark.
"I thought we were going to do something with the masks," you cry out.
"It was getting late -- "
"It's only, like, nine thirty!"
" -- and this didn't seem like the place for it." Caleb turns a pinched expression on you. "And you were conked out."
"So they just took off with the masks? That's bullshit, they should have left them here!"
"No, that part made sense. Come on, let's go," Caleb says, and shuts his phone off. He continues to talk as the two of you feel your way to the stairs. "There weren't any clothes to go with the masks, so Connor said that he and Justin would take the masks home, get into them, make notes on the kind of clothes the girls have in their wardrobe. They'll go buy a few a things tomorrow. That way we're not all naked when we put them on."
"I thought that was the point of getting masks of Eva and Jessica," you say, and you don't keep the sarcasm out of your voice. "So we could be naked as them."
Caleb shrugs. "More chance for roleplaying, maybe. We could go out as them if we had clothes -- "
"We can't go out in public! We'd get caught or get in trouble."
Caleb turns, and even in the dark you can feel the chill of his gaze. "That didn't stop you at the library tonight."
"That was so we could get the masks."
"Anyway," Caleb says, "We'll get together with them tomorrow night at their place. Manuel should be going out, and we can have that 'slumber party'."
A shiver rattles you down to your core, and you clutch Caleb's arm. "Oh my God. We're going to have a slumber party, and we're going to be girls at it!" You'll be able to touch a naked girl -- a couple of naked girls -- and you'll be touched back by them!
"Three of us will be," Caleb reminds you. "We've only got masks of three girls."
You don't let that dampen the sudden burst of enthusiasm that has overwhelmed you, and you're in a daze all during the short trip back to your house. You even make an early night of it, so that you can be alone in the dark, in your bed, with your fantasies for as long as possible.
* * * * *
You don't have any classes with the Garner siblings, and the next morning you don't hear any news about the odd events at the municipal library. Not even Caleb has any real news when you ask him at lunch about what Eva had to say. "She was mad, but she wasn't mad at me, as near as I could tell," he says.
"What did she say? Did she say anything about Mansfield?"
"No, but she kept glaring over at him during second period. And she didn't really say anything to me, and I pretended like I didn't see anything."
"Told you it would be okay."
He snorts. "How about next time you play the stooge and I be the guy who makes trouble."
"That's the way we did it when we got a copy of Mansfield." You mean it in a teasing way, but Caleb still seems grumpy.
You're tempted to do a little snooping, to find out if Marc Garner has pasted Mansfield in the face; it would be awesome to see Geoff in trouble with his friends. But you play it cautiously instead, for you don't want anyone to link you or your friends to what happened; and if there have been any fireworks, they haven't been loud enough for you to hear about them. By the time the final set of classes roll around, you've mostly forgotten about last night and are looking forward intently to the evening's entertainment. You haven't heard back from Connor or Justin by the time the final bell rings, and you send each of them a text asking about plans. come over at eleven, Justin replies. can u stay out all nite?
You're in the parking lot when you get the text, and you hop and wheel in place impatiently. Eleven? That's more than six hours away! It'll probably also be a challenge getting your parents to let you stay out overnight. It was hard enough getting your dad to let you stay out last Saturday, and that was with a promise that you were only camping out nearby. You bet he's going to be a lot less sympathetic if you ask to spend a Friday night at a house shared by some college students.
Well, you can deal with that when the time comes. Right now you're too excited to go home, but you've nothing else to do. After driving around aimlessly for a bit, you decide to go back over the school basement. That'll put you close to the magical implements, at least; and you can spend the afternoon preparing a few more masks and brain-bands. After all, you got a copy of the Garners so you could get close to Kelsey to make a mask of her.
It's not until you've got two more blank masks made, and are just starting work on one of the brain bands, that you look around the basement with the perplexing feeling that something is wrong. But there are no noises coming from outside; nothing is missing; you don't have the feeling that someone has been hiding and watching you; but something in the place is not as it should be.
You realize what the problem is when your glance lights on that pile of dirt you and the other guys prepared last weekend. It's supposed to be burning, but it isn't.
Your heart quickens. The fire going out is a sign that it's done! You rush over to examine it.
It's no longer a loose pile of dirt, but has begun to resemble a crude bit of stone work. The mass has tightened up into a solid and vaguely cylindrical form. It is still soft to the touch, though, and you see no obvious utility in it. So you pull out the grimoire and consult the spell.
Oh. If the fire goes out you are supposed to relight it. Only when it fails to relight will it be finished. You dig out the cigarette lighter and set the flame to the mass. To your disappointment, it again blooms out in purple flames.
You've just turned your back on it when it makes a noise: a cracking sound, as of breaking stone. You whip around. The thing has split: a great rent has opened up one end, fracturing it almost in twain up to the middle. You bite your lip. If you've fucked up and have to start over again --
After a couple minutes of agonizing indecision, you text Justin, to ask if he can come out to the basement to look at the thing. He says he'll be out in thirty minutes.
* * * * *
"It wasn't on fire last night," says Eva. She looks between the burning pile and the grimoire. "I remember now that it wasn't, but we were all too distracted to notice. I wonder how long it was out for. Have you been checking it every night?"
She turns her brilliant green eyes on you. Your own eyes water, and you can't answer, for all your concentration is bent on keeping your erection at that point of delicate balance where your cock is pleasantly engorged but not actively throbbing. It's a hard trick, because for almost the first time in your life you feel like you could lay your hands upon Eva's bosom without risking the complete destruction of your high school career.
"Will?" she says.
"Um, actually I've been forgetting to come in to check on it," you confess.
She sighs through her nose. "What's the fucking point of it if you're not checking on it?"
You grind an eye with a finger. "You're right. I'm sorry. Uh, do you think it's broken or fucked up?"
"If it is, then we start over again, and you go out and get the dirt for it."
Her words move you to maudlin self-pity: possibly an overreaction after the excitement you felt all day. "I guess I could do that tonight," you mutter.
"I didn't say it was fucked up," she says. "Besides, we've got the party tonight."
"Maybe. I have to ask my dad, and I'm not sure he'll go for it. I mean, you guys are graduated, and -- Well, when you're not looking like this." You point at her boobs.
The corner of her mouth goes up. "So tell him you're sleeping over with a friend. With Caleb."
"I'm not sure he'll believe it. Besides, we've only got masks of three girls, and there's four of us."
She glances around your waist. "You're making up some new ones, right? We've got a couple of hours for you to get a copy of a fourth girl. You want Kelsey, right?"
"That's who I was thinking of."
Her expression turns thoughtful. "Eva can get in to see Kelsey at her place any time she wants. If you get a new mask set up by seven -- Oh, but it's Friday, and Kelsey's probably covered up with plans tonight."
"I have to get home for dinner anyway."
Eva doesn't reply immediately, but chews thoughtfully on her lower lip. You'd love to chew thoughtfully on it as well, but only suck on your own -- longingly -- instead. "Let's go back to our place," she says at last. "Take that mask of yourself with you. I can go eat dinner for you, try to talk your dad into letting you stay out. Meanwhile, you finish making up a new mask, and use this mask to get in to see Kelsey. Or someone else if you can't catch her. What do you think?"
Whoa. Yeah, what do you think?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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