Chapter #36Of Old Books and New Brains by: Seuzz   All at once you feel like you're covered by a swarm of golden bees, needling at you. You cannot just lay here daydreaming. You have to do something.
Go find Joe and Frank Durras? You now know what they know about the Libra Personae: its history, its temptations, its dangers. They and their colleagues can safely dispose of it, and they can easily handle Patterson and Black and Lynch--
And you?
You tug at your lip. It's very hard to know what Joe would think of you and Caleb and Keith, for in this disguise you're doing the thinking for him. Oh, but you can judge Frank's reaction. Frank wouldn't approve, and he wouldn't be gentle. No sir.
Okay, so you can't go to them. What can you do?
Your eye is turned inward, so even though you've been staring at the cupboard for awhile, it takes a moment to register: the combination lock is off the "secret cupboard."
Before you can tell your feet to move, you've hopped over and ripped the door open. Inside is the Libra; also a lot of masks, and many plastic containers with raw ingredients, you'd warrant.
You snatch up the book and flip it open. A smile creases your face: with Joe's education and background, the fiendishly difficult spells are like children's puzzles. The Latin--Oh stars, that doggerel Latin--resolves itself into ungrammatical but digestible gibberish. You glance down at the sigils, and your smile widens. Joe knows sigil work, and though these are hideously complex signs, with his mind you can read the elements and their conjugations. Slowly you trace your fingers around the wheel of one, tracking its internal logic. Ah, this is the one that turns people into golems; you shiver, and it's not just Joe's emotional reaction. If you're not careful you could yet be on the receiving end of this spell.
You snap the book shut and drum your fingers on the cover. You could take the book, and if you moved quickly you might be able to do what you need and want before Patterson knew it had been taken. But what are you going to do?
After a few minutes of furious thinking, you decide that you can't decide: there are too many imponderables. But though you can't risk making off with the book, you can at least make yourself a copy of the key spells. Joe has a nearly photographic memory--and he understands this stuff anyway, far better than you ever could--so a careful reading of the open spells is enough to secure you a knowledge of the ingredients and methods of preparation for each spell. The sigils are much harder--they are so complex that memorization is not really an option. There is a notebook in the cupboard, though, so you quickly rip out a couple of pages and start copying down the sigils. With Joe's mask, it goes much more quickly than you otherwise would have been able to copy them down.
* * * * *
You're close to being finished when your cell phone rings--a noise that makes you jump. You grit your teeth when you see it's Patterson calling. "Gordon told me there's something funky going on with that mask you scored today," he says, and his voice is grim.
"Gordon doesn't know what he's talking about," you retort. "It's one of the Eastman basketball guys, like you asked for."
"He said there was a crazy name inside the mask."
"Yeah, but it's nothing. It's Joe Durras. You know, one of the new guys?" Patterson grunts. "Turns out he's originally from Germany, got adopted and moved to the US. That's all. The mask copied his real name, not his Americanized one."
There's a pause. "How do you know? And what's the deal with your voice?"
"Sorry." You cough and make an elaborate show of clearing your throat; when you speak again, it is in your normal voice. "Gordon was right that the name was weird, so after he left I tried the mask on, to figure out what the deal was."
"Huh. Okay. Main reason I'm calling is to remind you that Gordon is your boss, just like me, so you do whatever the fuck he tells you to do."
"I did," you reply through gritted teeth. "The masks are all ready to go." Thinking quickly: "I couldn't put all the stuff away because you've got that one cabinet locked."
"You still up at the school?"
"Nah. You need me to go back up there?"
"No. We'll talk on Monday." Another pause. "Unless you found out anything interesting inside that mask."
"Nope. He's just a moron."
"Okay. Hang loose until the after-school club meeting, then."
After hanging up, you quickly finish your task, return the book to the cupboard, and put the combination lock back on. You do a little tidying up, then take off the mask and leave the school. You are quite happy and excited, of course, by your discoveries, and of course you take the mask with you. Aside from being able to borrow Joe Durras's brain while studying the sigils you copied, you reflect that his voice could also be useful. He is a gifted mimic--a fact you were able to use to fool Patterson into thinking you were in your natural form--and that might prove useful at spreading misinformation by phone.
* * * * *
You toy with telling Caleb and Keith about what you've done and discovered, but decide to keep it close for now, and instead spend the next afternoon at the old elementary school, where you study your copies from the book. You sketch and diagram and dissect and rearrange the sigils, giving yourself--or, at least, yourself when you're in Joe Durras's form--a thorough mastery of them. You did not copy all of them, only the sigils that make masks, mind bands, and sealant; and the sigil that binds mind bands to masks. You also copied out the sigil for the spell that comes after the one that turns people into golems. It's the spell that Patterson used to make that "goop" he says that he put inside some of the masks. More technically, it's a sealant that puts a kind of golem inside the mask. When the mask is placed on a victim, it encloses them inside something like the shell of a golem, and then places the mask image over them. This has the effect of making them disappear--the victim goes into a deep sleep, and the personality inside the mask takes over. And because it is riding on a golem, the new personality is under the control of a master: the person whose essentia has been used to make the golem. The master is able to wear the mask without danger, but it has the effect of making it his own personal property.
That makes the spell very useful, though also very dangerous to you and your friends. If Patterson wanted, he could simply put golem shells inside the masks he has of you and Caleb and Keith, put those masks onto you and your friends, and turn you into his slaves. (And, of course, he could do the same to Gordon and to Lynch.) But now that you have the same spell, you can do the same to him and to his friends.
You can also do the same thing to the real Joe Durras and his "brother."
You're in the midst of these reflections when Patterson calls; you adjust your throat a little and answer in your own voice. "Kinda early for an after-school meeting, isn't it?" you josh, and instantly regret it. You shove Joe's personality to the background.
But he ignores it. "Where's that mask you made yesterday?" he demands.
"After you called I realized I'd walked off with it. I've got it here."
There's a long pause. "Put it on," he finally say. "I wanna talk to that guy."
"I hope no one walks in on me," you say, trying to preserve the illusion you're talking to him from home. You also let him wait a good long time before you pick up the phone again. "Is this the great Steve Patterson," you chirp in Joe's voice when you've decided you've teased him long enough. "How's the asshole business?"
Again, a pause; and again, you chide yourself for playing it dangerously. "Sure, have your fun," he snaps. "But if I wanted to get this guy alone, how would I do it?"
"You mean lure him into a trap? Do yourself up as sexy girl. He's a sucker for anything with big tits."
"What if I just called him, asked him to hang out?"
"That'd work too. He's a sociable guy, and he wouldn't hold your reputation against you. But how come? We got a mask of him already. Obviously."
"Never mind. Just make sure you bring it with you on Monday."
Patterson is up to something, you think after you've hung up. But what?
You take Joe's mask off, and then return home to get your truck so you can run some errands. In studying the golem-shell spell you've noticed that the choice of actual ingredients for the shell is not vital, and that lots of substitutions are possible; and so although you don't have a lot of pocket money you are able to procure a cheap set of ingredients that will let you perform the spell. The only necessary ingredient is a handful of dirt from a graveyard, and that's free and easy--if a little creepy--to procure by stopping briefly by the city cemetery. Back at the elementary school, you coat the inside of Joe's mask with a shell that will put its wearer under your control. You don't want Patterson being able to get into that mask and discover what you have learned.
It sounds like he is going to try to get together with the real Joe Durras. Maybe you should surprise him.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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