The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

The Long Wait

Previously: "Getting Real with Charles Whitney" 

You are very wary as you walk into the McDonalds where you agreed to meet Roxanne, and she returns you a wary look of her own. Neither of you order any food, but instead huddle over a small Formica-topped table in the back near the restrooms. Roxanne asks what happened at Dylan's place after she left. Then she asks if you've heard from Charles or his friends. You shake your head, then ask her if she's skipping school.

"Of course I am," she snaps. "You think I wanna go in with—" She bites her lip.

"Are you gonna stop going to school?"

"No! What are you, my mom? Are you gonna stop going to school?"

"I don't go to Xavier's."

"Don't you go to school with his two friends?"

"I don't think so. I don't think I've seen them around."

"Well, they don't go to school with me and Charles. I guess that's lucky for you." She shivers.

You draw in a deep breath, and exhale. You ask her if she wants to get something to eat or drink. She shakes her head.

"Look," you tell her after a moment's silence. "I'm really sorry I dragged you into this." She gives you a sharp, angry look. "But, you know, we didn't think it would turn out this way. The only way we could think of to find the fake guy was to talk to someone who maybe knew him, and—"

"You shouldn't have been fucking around with that stuff!"

You can't help bridling a little.

"Yeah, well, okay," and you don't try to hide the sulky tone. "That makes sense now. But we were just trying to figure out how the stuff works."

"Would you fuck around with an H-bomb? Would you fuck around with a 747? And that stuff is ... demonic!"

"You don't summon demons with it."

"How do you know? That thing was alive, that thing that you made!" She is breathing heavily. "How can it be alive if there isn't, like, something alive inside it? And what would that be except a—"

You do see her point, so you can only hang your head. "Well, it's out of my hands now. Our hands."

But that just stirs her up more. "You mean you're just giving up?" she demands.

"We don't have the book anymore! Charles and them—"

"You're just going to let them keep it?" Her eyes bulge. "Oh, God! It was bad enough when it was you and your gay friends playing around with it! But Charles—! Oh, fuck!"

"So how am I supposed to get it back? I don't go to school with them, I don't know them! You're the one who goes to school with—"

She pales, and her lips turn very white.

"Listen, I'm sorry," you say. "I don't— It's not your business. It was never supposed to be your business. Give me—" Your voice quavers. "Give me Charles's number, and I'll try to get in touch with him. See if he'll talk to me. See if I can talk him out of, you know, doing anything ... stupid."

"I'm not scared he's going to do anything stupid," she retorts as she takes out her phone. "I'm scared he's going to do something smart and evil!"

* * * * *

You part soon after, not on the friendliest of terms, but Roxanne does (gruffly) ask you to keep her informed on what happens. You drive around town, trying to figure out what to do. It's while you're driving that you get a text from Caleb, and when you tell him you're skipping, he says he'll skip too and join you at his cousin's. You don't much feel like seeing Dylan again, but you also figure that three heads are better than two.

"I only got twenty minutes I can give you before I have to be in class," he archly informs you when you arrive. (You've beaten Caleb out to his place.) When you point out to him that you're skipping school on account of the crisis, he only sniffs. "That's because it's your problem."

"It's not yours too?" you retort.

"Why is it mine? It was your book the asshole took. I was just buying stuff off you." He glances at the golem, still standing in his living room, and gives it a dirty look. "And all I got from it was this charming conversation piece."

"Well, I'm gonna try getting the book back from that guy."

"Good. If you do, I'm gonna wanna buy a couple of blank masks off you. And I might still be in the market for—"

"Oh, fuck you! I'm not getting it back so I can go back into business with you!"

"Then why are you trying to get it back? Oh, God," he moans, "you're going to be selfish with it."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with it! Maybe burn it! You know—" You fling a finger at the golem. "There might be a demon inside that thing."

But Dylan only looks amused.

"You're not going to burn it," he informs you. "You can have too much fun with it. You and Caleb already know that!"

* * * * *

He throws you out before Caleb arrives, but you wait outside for Caleb, and the two of you wind up going to get a coffee at the student union. You crouch over a table, talking. Caleb agrees that you've got to try getting the book back from Charles—or, at the least, that you've got to keep tabs on him and his friends. "He's not gonna give it back, you know," he points out. "The best we can do is, like, agree to share it or something."

"We could steal it back from him, if we got close enough," you point out.

He gives you a look.

"Don't even think that, Will," he says, "or those guys will see you thinking it. And then they won't let us get close."

So you turn to composing the text to send to Charles. After trying out and discarding various threatening possibilities—like mentioning the dangers of "demonic possession" associated with the book; Caleb says the other guys will know you're bullshitting them—you wind up sending a very bland text: Hey this is will from other night. I really want to get together and talk abt that book and all that stuff. Just talk. Its really important.

"They're not going to go for it," you tell Caleb after sending it.

"The important part is that we keep the lines of communication open," he says. "And don't make it sound like we're threatening them."

"There's no lines of communication if they don't reply. And now," you add with sudden, horrified realization, "they've got my number and can come find me!"

"Isn't that what we want?" Caleb asks.

You stare at him, but think better of sharing the horrified thought you had: They could find me, copy me, and the next time you saw me, it wouldn't be me! Aloud, you only mumble, "Well, maybe you're right."

* * * * *

You don't hear from Charles that day or the next, and you text him again with a similar message: Me and my friends just want to talk to you. We can meet wherever. You text Roxanne to tell her that you haven't been able to get in contact with Charles; she tells you that she went back to school on Tuesday, but she's been avoiding him. You creep up to the edge of asking her to talk to him, to tell him that you want to see him, but hang back. I told her it's not her business, you remind yourself.

You send texts to Charles on Wednesday and Thursday as well, with the same lack of result.

On Friday afternoon, you get a text from Roxanne, asking if you've made any progress. When you admit that you haven't, she sends you a short note telling you to meet her at the mini-golf course.

The western sky is still awash with light when you arrive, but the outside lights are on. Friday night must be a family night, because the place is covered up with harried parents and shrieking kids. Roxanne herself seems to be doing a brisk business not only selling tickets but cleaning up the crude picnic tables inside the eating shed.

"What have you been doing?" she shouts over the din. She is carrying a couple of trays of paper plates and cups over to the trash can. You hustle alongside her, and together you have to dodge a line of five-year-olds who are playing tag.

"I've been texting Charles—"

"He's not gonna answer! Not if he hasn't been answering you yet! You're gonna have to go see him!"

"I don't know where he lives!"

"Christ. I said Cripes!" she shouts at a fat woman who has given her a dirty look. "Look, I can give you his address if you go look for him tonight. Like, now, after you leave here."

"Um, I guess I can—"

"Or you can go see his friends."

"I'll have to go get my friend Caleb."

"Right," she snorts. "Because if you can't take 'em, your friend definitely can!" After dropping off the trays at the makeshift kitchen, she wheels on you. "It's Friday night, they'll all be out partying. I maybe can get a line on where they'll be, if you want to track them down."

"I should just wait till tomorrow."

"Or—and this is really what you should do—you can go out to their places and snoop around. See if you can't get your shit back that way."

Her suggestion staggers you. "You want I should, like break in?"

She glances around. "You wanna say that a little louder?" You flush. "Yeah, you can try talking to them, see what good that'll do," Roxanne says. "But trust me, you wanna get your book back, you're better off trying the other way."

Next: "Burglars Three" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 3)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)"