The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Real People

Previously: "The Shopping Spree" 

Joey wasn't much interested in Cindy before your trip to Home Depot, but now she wants to know all about her—and about Brownie too—so she pesters you with questions as you drive off from the store. Who is Cindy? Who is Seth? How long have they been going out together? How did they get together? Are they a "major couple" at school? Are they "the" power couple at the school? Are there any other power couples? Do Cindy and Seth fight a lot? Do you think they really love each other? Do they cheat on each other? Are they really going to break up? As for Brownie: Who is he? Who is he friends with? Does he have a girlfriend? Does he really have a reputation for hitting on girls or was he just acting that way with you? What kind of a girl do you think he likes?

For some reason, it's the last question that really sets you off, and leads you to snap at Joey. "Fuck, how would I know and why would I care?" you cry. "I told you, I don't really know him, I couldn't even remember his name at first!" Joey looks hurt after that explosion. You feel bad, but you're also relieved that you finally shut her up, so you don't apologize.

You fetch up in the parking lot of a suburban middle school somewhere on the east side of town. The grounds are deserted, so there is no one around to see as you and Joey—in muted, clipped conversation—squat in the bed of your truck and unpack the supplies you picked up. The actual magical part—the part that involves the book and the sigil—doesn't look like it takes much work, but the prep work does take awhile. You bought some sheets of copper and zinc, which you cut into small strips about five inches long and an inch wide. These you place atop each other with a drop of quicksilver in between, and sandwich them between two inward-facing pocket mirrors. Then comes the magic: You place a bundle atop the sigil and with a steel-nib pen—the most expensive item you bought—you scratch a set of runes into the back of one of the mirrors. The stack hisses malevolently as you copy the runes, but it ceases abruptly—and the runes you wrote vanish—once you've made the last stroke. You remove the topmost mirror.

You and Joey exchange an uneasy glance—will you ever get used to the magic?—as you pluck up the result. It's a silvery metal strip, no thicker than either of the original metal strips you used to make it. It is very thin and flexible, more like paper than metal, though it has more heft. It bends to fit comfortably in the palm of your cupped hand.

It's getting past supper time, and you're hungry, so you're all for cutting things off there. But Joey wants to make another one. There's more work to be done on them before they're finished, she points out. So if you make two of them, each of you can work on them at home, and then when you get together tomorrow ...

So you make a second dingus, then pack up. Neither of you says anything until you're back in the truck and driving Joey home.

You tense during the drive, because Joey is making lots of small, snuffling squeaks, and shifting in her seat like she's sitting on an ant hill. Finally, just a few blocks from her house, she breaks down.

"Look, I'm sorry if I made you mad, Will," she says. Her voice is aggrieved but ragged. "I didn't mean to, by asking you about, you know."

"It's alright. I'm not mad."

"Only, you show up today looking like this girl, and then that guy shows up, and—"

"We had to do it that way," you gruffly insist. "No way we could have afforded to buy stuff for the spell if—"

"And then you started talking about them!" she interrupts you. "You started telling me all about them! So I wanted to know more! That's all!"

"Yeah, okay," you mumble. "Only I'd already told you most of what I know. I told you, I don't really know them that well, just by reputation and—"

"But you know them better than me! All kinds of people like that! I haven't been to school," she grumbles, "to a public school, I mean, since I was eight! I don't—! It all made it seem real to me, is all! All of a sudden!"

"What do you mean, 'real'?" you ask. You have no idea what she means.

"I mean, it made it real! Like, suddenly it was like I was hanging out with actual people who go to your school, and you were talking about other people at your school, and it was, like, for real! It suddenly seemed like there really was a place where you, and Jenny, and all those other kids go! Where I don't!"

What she's saying doesn't make a lot of sense, and you give her a puzzled look.

"I mean, I know it's real," Joey says. "But it's like I can't visualize it! It's just, like—" She waves her hands in front of her face. "It's like the difference between knowing there's an ocean out there, and actually seeing it! Have you ever seen the ocean? Or just pictures of it?"

You don't answer, but you dimly start to make out what she must mean.

"Like, it made it real to me that there really are a bunch of kids out there who know each other and hang out together, but I don't know them! I remember the third grade, you know," she says. "But high school— Like, suddenly when your friend Brownie showed up—" She squirms. "It was almost like meeting a celebrity."

You're easily impressed, you think, but you say nothing out loud. Mostly, her outburst reminds you of how weird she is. If Jenny is trying to teach Joey how to be normal, she's really got her work cut out for her.

"Well, I'm sorry I yelled at you," you tell her. "I just don't like thinking about these people. Cindy and Seth. One's a cunt and the other's a bastard."

"That's what you said."

"And I'll keep saying it," you tell her as you pull into her driveway. "Because it's never going to stop being true."

Joey looks at you. "Except Cindy's so pretty."

"I know," you say, and scoop back a handful of the long, blonde hair you're sporting. "I'll let you try on the mask next time."

Joey turns pink and mutters under her breath as she busies herself with pulling out her part of the project. You don't accompany her inside, but sit and watch and wave at her as she disappears through the front door.

It was quite an afternoon, from start to finish, and it's with a groan of relief that you sink back down into the footwell of your truck when you've found a private spot behind a strip mall, and pull the mask from your face. You contemplate it for a little while after waking up. You can't help wondering: When Joey puts this on, assuming she does, will she let me kiss her? Or would that be too weird for both of us?

* * * * *

You've got texts from Jenny on your phone—they started coming in while you were still with Joey—but you ignore them until after you've collected some leftovers for dinner and hidden yourself in your room. Even then, you only glance at them while you finish up on the metal band you brought home. The last step in the process is to scratch another set of runes onto it, and this turns out to be a much longer and more frustrating bit of work, for you have to press the pen deep into the metal for each stroke in order to make an indentation. But the metal doesn't like to be indented, and you have to work each stroke hard, over and over again, before the metal yields. Even then, more than half the time, the stroke fades away after you've moved on to the next rune, so that you are constantly having to go back and scratch lines where you had scratched some already. One hour passes as you work, and then another hour. Just one more rune, you tell yourself over and over again, and then I'll get on to my homework. But all the runes are done before you take a break, and it's nearly ten, and your homework has gone untouched.

And still the messages from Jenny have piled up.

What happened w u n Cindy? she asks.

Y s Cindy so mad at u?

Did u do smthign to Cindy she's acting like u did smithing to her

Will I'm sure whatever it was it was a joke but u need to apologize to Cindy anyway she's not talking to seth these days but she's not going to be mad at him forever n when she talks to him u won't be happy u know that right?

If I give u Cindy's contact will u text her n apologize if she is too mad at u like i think she is she might tell Seth anyway abt it and u need to remember some of the things Seth's done to keith

Will, don't ignore me I'm telling u this fr ur own good I'm trying to look out for u.

Her nagging just makes you tired, so you shove your phone under your pillow and climb into bed.

* * * * *

You're woken very early the next morning by an angry buzz, which you eventually trace to your vibrating phone. The alarm still hasn't gone off—that's how early it is—but Joey is texting you. Did you finish the thing? she wants to know. She also wants to know if you can meet before you go into school.

Next: "Do You Mind?" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"