The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Signals in the Dark

Previously: "Life Behind the School" 

You freeze all over. "What did you say?" you ask Jamie.

"What was in the coffin?" He chucks his chin impudently at you.

"What coffin?" you ask, even though you know perfectly well he's talking about the time capsule you and Caleb dug up. "What are you talking about?"

He just laughs and levers himself out of the desk. You stiffen all over as he slaps you on the shoulder, and with a further chuckle saunters back to his seat.

* * * * *

You bolt from Astronomy as soon as class is out and position yourself at the junction where the Science wing joins the central corridor. From here you should be able to spot Jack as he leaves class for his locker.

You spot Caleb first, though, and grab him as he passes you. "Hey man, I found out who Clover Mystery is," you tell him.

He blinks at you. Then his eyes pop. "The person sending those texts? Who?"

"Jamie Rennerhoff."

"No shit? How did you find that out?"

"He more or less told me it was him." You glance anxiously through the crowd for Rennerhoff, then pull Caleb aside.

"He came up to me before class and sat his skanky ass down in front of me and said, 'What was in the coffin?'" you say. "That's what 'Clover Mystery' asked me in those texts!" you remind him when he doesn't reply. "What was in the coffin?"

But he looks skeptical. "I dunno, that doesn't sound like something Rennerhoff would do," he says. "Sending text messages. It's not nasty enough."

"That's what Rennerhoff! Says nasty things and then dares you to do anything about it!"

"But why come out and say it to your face?" Caleb says. "Why not keep sending you texts?"

"Because I was ignoring his texts!"

"I thought you said you weren't getting any more texts."

"And maybe that's how come. I'm ignoring his texts, so he stops sending them, and comes right out instead and—"

"You're not making any sense, Will."

"You're not making sense! He said exactly the same thing that—!"

"Calm down, man!" Caleb lays his hand over your chest. "You're gonna burst something if you don't— Look, maybe Rennerhoff just saw that video online. Maybe it got posted and he saw it. Maybe Clover Mystery posted it and said something like, 'What's in the coffin?' and Rennerhoff saw it and he recognized you so he—"

"And maybe it was space aliens!" you holler back. "Point is, Rennerhoff knows it was me in the video, and if he knows it's me then his asshole friends and lowlifes know it's me! And then they're gonna know it was you too!"

Caleb gives you a look.

"Let's not lose our shit yet," he says. "Although why you'd tell Rennerhoff it was you, I don't know."

"I didn't tell him! He just recognized me!"

"So what did you say to him? When said—"

"I just asked him what the fuck he was talking about!"

"Oh, Jesus," Caleb groans. "Then he doesn't know it was you, not if you managed to bluff him. God damn it, just keep denying it was you, man! Just keep cool and—"

Then he breaks off with a ragged sigh. "Oh, look who I'm telling to keep calm. You're right, you're boned." With a roll of the eyes, he turns and shuffles off into the crowd. You flip off his retreating back.

* * * * *

Jack must have slipped by while you were talking to Caleb, so you text him to ask where he is. Theater, he replies.

The stage lights are up when you enter, but the auditorium itself is dark, so you're only able to make out the solitary figure on stage: Laura MacGregor. She's in an eye-catching ensemble of blue jeans and stiletto heels, a poncho that is a swirl of colors, and a black beret tilted at a jaunty angle. She is holding her phone to her ear and declaiming in a voice that projects all the way to the back.

"Cedric, don't talk so fast and you won't stutter so!" she shouts (presumably to whoever is on the line). "Yes, now I can hear you. Yes, clearly!"

"Laura, darling!" a lazy voice floats out of the dark. "Don't clench your teeth when you say 'clearly'!"

"I'm trying to show that I'm frustrated!" she shouts back through clenched teeth.

"Wha'dju say?"

"I said—!"

"You're still clenching your teeth, I can't hear you clearly!"

A dim light pops up in the back row, and you recognize Maria Vasquez, her face bent over her phone. Another humped shape, a few rows down, turns around to glance back at her, and you recognize it as Jack. You slip along the row to take a seat next to him.

"Hey, is this what we're doing today?" you ask him as Laura goes back to shouting into her phone.

"Shh," he whispers, "if you don't wanna get thrown out." A light goes on his lap, and you see the silhouette of his thumbs dancing over his phone. He tilts the screen to show you when he's done: Laura rehearsing big scene here for moeal support.

You take out your own phone and reply with a notepad app: Cool. Then: I find it who clove mystery is its jamie rennerhoff.

Jack doesn't reply right away, then only types, huh. When he says nothing else, you type, Is leah comuing u see her we doing somethng afterthis? Again Jack gives only a one-word reply: Maybe. Then he puts his phone away, which seems like a hint, so you put yours away too and turn to watching the stage.

You have no clear idea what Laura is doing—what her character is supposed to be doing, at any rate—but her "big scene" apparently consists of talking to someone over the phone, and alternating between giddy excitement and teeth-clenching anger. "Darling, you've made me so happy!" she exclaims with a thrilling smile, followed immediately by a furious, "Cedric, stop stuttering so!"

But she holds your attention as she waltzes lazily with herself in the center of the stage and throwing her free hand about like it's a tethered bird. She's too expressive for Charles's taste, though, and he reminds her waspishly at several points that she'll be talking on a corded phone and won't be able to move about so freely with the prop phone. "Then why don't we get a prop phone out here!" she snarls at him with the same fury that she turns on the imaginary stutterer. To which Charles retorts, "Don't turn your method acting on me, dearie!"

In fact, you get so caught up in the stagecraft that Jack has to nudge you to get your attention. He shows you his phone again: Leah on way. Happy? You nod vigorously.

Then a guilty thought comes to you, and you ask Jack, Shld I talk to elle?

You sense the exasperated look on the face that Jack turns to you in the dark, and say no more.

* * * * *

Leah and two others join you in the darkened theater a little later, but they won't use their phones to talk, so after a minute or so of loud whispering, Jack leans over to growl at you: "Take it outside, okay?" You nudge Leah, and force her and the other two to slide back out of their seats and troop outside. You blink in the sunlight when you emerge.

It's Brianna Kirschke and Genesis Lee she's brought along. Brianna was one of the girls at Panera when you talked with Jack, while Genesis was at frisbee-golf with you yesterday. Both girls wear black-frame glasses and have long, dark, fluffy hair, but Brianna pulls her hair back into an enormous pony tail while Genesis lets her mane float free. Brianna is also quite short, while Genesis is almost as tall as you are. Both of them act with you now as though you've always hung out with them.

"So what are we doing?" Brianna asks.

Genesis says, "I thought we were waiting for Jack and Laura."

"They're gonna be in there forever," says Leah. "What do you think, Will?" She turns a bright glance on you. "What are we doing?"

You feel put on the spot. "Uh ... Hang out someplace?"

"I don't feel like 'hanging out'," Leah retorts. "I wanna do something. The arcade up at Monte Viso?" she asks the group.

Genesis makes a face. "Too loud, and I'm not good at those."

"You can play with that claw machine," Leah says, "try to get a toy out. Oh!" she exclaims, and her eyes widen. "Scavenger hunt!" The idea startles everyone else. "Yeah! Just a short one but—"

"What do we scavenge for?" Brianna asks.

"We'll look online," Leah says as she takes out her phone, "people are always posting scavenger hunt lists. Who's on my team?" she asks as she types into her phone. After a fractional hesitation, you volunteer. She doesn't look up. "You can drive, right?" she asks, and you volunteer for that too.

Leah quickly finds a list of items to scavenge, and sends the link to Brianna. "Deadline's five-thirty," she says as she edges back toward the parking lot. "We meet at Cherry Brook. If you're late getting there, you lose. Come on!" She punches you in the shoulder and scampers away. With a squeal, the other two girls chase after. You sprint off after all of them.

* * * * *

"Hey, nice truck, man," Leah says as you buckle yourselves in. "You ever take it out in the wilderness?"

"Uh, no."

"How about the river?" She glances through the back window into the bed. "Lay some padding back there, it'd be great!"

You gulp. The river is the makeout spot for high school kids.

But then she says something that really makes your pulse race. "Okay, we managed to ditch the other guys. Whaddaya really wanna do, Will?" Her eyes glint.

Next: "More Help Than You Know What to Do With" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 2)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)"