The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

Explaining Yourself

Previously: "Follow the Bouncing Box" 

You have been trying to track down and recover that stupid mask before someone found it and did something stupid with it. But as you look at the girl with the alarmed look on her face—the girl who you ambushed with the mask and left unconscious in a school restroom—you realize you're too late.

You are conscious of three pairs of eyes turned upon you. So cornered, you decide that it's time to come clean. You grind the heel of your hand into your temple.

"Okay, so, I guess you guys found it. Right?" you say.

"Found what?" Kian asks.

"The thing. The mask." You point to the girl. "Um—"

"Kian?" she says, her eyes still locked on you.

"What makes you think we found your thing?" Kian asks. His chin tilts.

You shrug. "Well, you said that one of your friends found it. Who's the one who found it?" You look between the three: Kian, the girl, and the guy whose house it is.

It's the latter who breaks the awkward silence.

"Yeah, we found this mask thing in some stuff we picked up yesterday," he says. "You know about it? It's yours?"

"Yes," you sigh. "It's mine. Um, are you Kyler?"

"No."

"So are you Kyler?" you ask the girl.

Kian starts to ask, "What makes you think—?" but he's cut off by his friend.

"Oh, knock it off. Yeah, that's Kyler. Are you surprised?"

Sort of. But not really. "Can you tell me what happened?" you ask.

* * * * *

The story is very halting as it comes out, until they reach and relate the point of no return: They picked up the box from your house and brought it back here to add to the stuff to sort through. Kyler Zook—what a name!—unpacked it and found your mask tucked away inside the shirts. Being a goofball (it sounds like) he played with it and got it too close to his face.


And it turned him into ... her.

After you show no surprise at this frankly unbelievable plot twist, the rest comes out in a rush.

Naturally, they all freaked out. But eventually they calmed down and figured that the mask—which had vanished when it touched Kyler's face—had something to do with the transformation. But they didn't know what to do. Fortunately Kyler spends a lot of time not at home, so his family hasn't missed him yet while he hides in Jake's family's storeroom. ("Jack Davis," you learn, is the name of your host.) But they have been starting to freak out again, because they're not sure how long they can keep Kyler hidden—particularly when he is now the twin of one of their classmates.

There's a pause when they're done. Then Kian asks, accusingly, "So you know all about this? This ... stuff?"

"Well, sort of."

Jake's brow darkens. "Sort of?" he echoes.

"At the very least, I think I can get your friend back to normal." You glance over at the girl, and flinch. "I hope," you add under your breath.

An electric thrill seems to run through the air. "Jesus Christ!" Jake exclaims. "The fuck is this stuff?"

"Lemme go get something from home," you reply with a sigh, "and I'll tell you."

* * * * *

They all insist on following you back to your house in Kian's car, and Kian insists on going inside with you. You introduce him to your mother, and tell her you'll be having dinner with some friends—an announcement that startles Kian—then run upstairs fast enough to fetch the grimoire while he chats with her. "Does she know about this stuff?" he asks you in a horrified voice as you walk back outside. "Don't be stupid," you tell him. "This is just something I've been goofing off with."

Back outside, you check the book for that magic phrase, then climb into the backseat of Kian's car with the girl. She tries to scoot away, but you corner her and tell her to hold still. You have to grab her by the temples, stretching your hand across her forehead in a weird and uncomfortable grip, while chanting the magic phrase three times while pulling. Your fingers slip the first few times, and you break out in a sweat. The fourth time, though, something turns loose as you pull, and when your hand comes away you are holding a mask. When you look down, the girl has vanished, replaced by a long-haired guy who is slumped unconscious.

You would love for this to be the end of it, but by the feverish light in Kian's and Jake's eyes, you can tell that it's just getting started.

* * * * *

"Shit," Jake says when you're done with your story. "Shit shit shit shit shit." He's nursing his head between his hands.

You're back at his place, in that storeroom, slouching in the makeshift "living room" nook. It's his "private space," he off-handedly explained as you all were getting situated. All the stuff in the storeroom belongs to relatives—some departed, some just moved—and his parents have given him leave to arrange a corner of it into a makeshift apartment where he and friends can hang out. He's repurposed two lumpy sofas, an easy chair, a coffee table, and a bureau and a desk to hold a flatscreen TV, a laptop, and a stack of DVDs.

"I wouldn't freaking believe it if it didn't happen," says Kian. He is very pale.

The only one who seems relaxed, strangely enough, is Kyler Zook. Maybe he's just relieved to be out of the mask.

He's now revealed to be a big, clumsy goof with flat brown hair that hangs in bangs over his eyes and falls over his ears to the top of his shoulders. Changed back into a larger set of clothes—shorts and a button-up shirt that he doesn't bother to button up—he further reveals big but unsculpted muscles. His manner is effeminate, though, and you can't help wondering if he's gay.

He is also fascinated by the mask you got off him. He snatched it up again as soon as you were all seated in the storeroom, and has been turning it over in his hands while you talk, occasionally looking up to peep at you from under his bangs, and he listens intently as you tell about the book, and where you found it, and how you made a mask with it.

As for the girl you ambushed, you learn that her name is "Rachel Solorio," and that she is a junior like them.

When you are done, you are again sorely tempted to make some kind of bolt for freedom. Well, I guess that's the whole story, you want to say. Maybe I'll run into you guys at school or something. Bye! But you know that would never work, even though the three guys seem at a loss for how to react.

After a shocked silence when you conclude, Kian says, "So what are you going to do with this stuff?"

You glance at Kyler, who is still handling the mask. "Keep anyone else from picking it up. Keep this kind of thing from happening again."

"No, I mean the book."

"Well, I've only got through the first two spells. I was going to try to figure out some more—"

"Jesus," Jake mutters.

"Not that it's any of your business," you snap at him. He reddens.

"You fuck up," he snarls. "You could have fucking—" He points at Kyler. "He could still be— You know how lucky you are that—?"

"You know how lucky you are that I tracked you down?" you retort.

"Guys, calm down," Kian says. But he gives you a very direct look. "The point is, should you be playing around with this? Should anyone—"

"Maybe I should promise you I won't?"

The temperature in the storeroom—which is stifling—seems to drop a few degrees. Everyone knows that such a promise would be worthless.

"Maybe you should get rid of it," Jake tells you

"Okay, I'll promise to get rid of it," you retort.

Kian twists in his seat. "You shouldn't be messing around with this stuff!" he insists.

"You want me to sell it back to the bookstore," you say, "so someone else can buy it and mess around with it?"

"How about we burn it," Kian says. "Just set it on fire."

You feel like you've been slapped.

"'We'?" you demand. "It's my book, I found it and bought and—!"

Everyone starts talking at once, which breaks your patience. "Look, I helped you guys out, and I'm sorry you got fucked up!" you shout as you jump to your feet. They all jump up too. "But we're done here and you don't get to tell me what to do!"

For one terrifying moment you're convinced that Kian and Jake at least—Kyler remains seated—are going to jump you. But they just glower at you. You cross the wide, grassy side yard to your truck and drive off.

Only after you're away do you realize that, although you have the book with you, you forgot to grab the mask.

* * * * *

So when Kian texts you later and asks to meet at a McDonalds, you agree on condition that he bring the mask along.

He brings Jake and Kyler too. Their expressions are taut, but they are calm as they lay out a proposition.

"This stuff is too dangerous for one guy to play around with," Kian tells you. (He seems to have been elected as spokesman.) "It's your book, fine. But what if—" He gnaws his lower lip. "What if all four of us work on it together? We could balance things, watch each other, make sure no one does anything stupid. Decide to call it all off if things get too, you know, janky."

You're inclined to tell them to go stuff themselves. But then you remember that you need a new place to work—and that you are almost out of money.

Next: "The Junior Partners" 

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 1)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)"