The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Dane in Distress

Previously: "The New Queen" 

You make a face as you study Dane's text. What the hell is he babbling about?

You should probably just ignore it, but you send a reply because you're curious about what's going on: Wtf?

Chelsea must have taken that as encouragement, because your phone rings a moment later. A raspy-voiced Dane Matthias is on the other end of the line. It sounds like he's been crying.

"Oh my God," he sobs. "You've got to help me! You—! I don't—! Look, I don't care who—! I'll do anything you want! But God! Please, if you could just help me!"

"What's going on, Dane?" you demand in your sharpest tone.

He catches his breath, and audibly gulps a couple of times. You smile to yourself. What a shock it must be to Chelsea! To hear someone speak to her in her own voice, in her own tone, while calling her by another name!

He's got control of himself when he speaks again, but there's a deep quaver in his voice.

"This scary guy came out to m-my house this evening," he stammers. "He t-told me to get packed, because he was— He was g-going to pick me up tomorrow m-morning! He's going to t-take me to the airport, and he's s-sending me to Oregon! To a m-m-m-military school!"

Really! you think. That's interesting! Convenient even! "Did he tell you why?"

Another pause. Then: "He told me it was because I was a fuck up!"

You snicker. "Well, you are, Dane. You are a—"

He interrupts you with a howl. "I'm not Dane!" he yells. "You know I'm not! You—! I'm—! What did you do to me? What did I ever do to you?"

This is perfect, you gloat. Chelsea Cooper finally knows what it feels like to be on the pointy end of the stick!

Almost that's what you say to him. But you have another thought first.

Suppose you do rescue Chelsea, but you don't restore her. Chelsea Cooper is not very good at feeling or showing gratitude (you suspect), but if you promise to eventually restore her, she could be useful to you inside of some other identity.

But first, you shake the stick in her face again

"I think you should go to Oregon," you declare. "A military school would probably do you good, teach you to—!"

He looses another howl. "No! Please! I don't—! I—! I'll do anything you want! Just—!"

"Anything I want?"

He catches his breath, and there's another audible gulp. "What?" he asks in a shaky whisper. "Wh-what do you—?"

"What do I want? I don't know. I'll have to think about it. But I'll be out to your place in an hour, and we'll see what we can do. Go ahead and get packed while you're waiting."

"But—"

You close the line.

* * * * *

You and Caleb have one last mask, and a handful of those mind-copying thingies, out at the elementary school, and you drive out to collect them.

The basics of your plan are simple: Swap Chelsea with someone else, and let that other person get shipped off to Oregon in Dane Matthias's body.

The details, on the other hand ...

For a start, you have to decide where to put Chelsea, and you don't have a lot of time to make a decision—not if Dwayne is going to be around in the morning to collect "Dane Matthias." So for now you might have to settle for switching Chelsea into a temporary identity, and wait to put her into a more permanent home later, after you've thought about it and made a new mask.

And where to find that temporary identity? You consider the alternatives as you leave the old school and steer the car toward Dane's.

He lives in a trailer park, and that would probably be the easiest place to look for an unwary donor. But if you were lucky, you might be able to lure someone from school out to Dane's, and switch Chelsea with that person. You give some long thought to who you might be able to entice into a meeting at such an unlikely location.

So it's not until you're turning into the park itself that you think of the two most obvious places to temporarily park Chelsea: in the body of Dane's mother, and in the body of his "scary cousin."

Can't waste time, you remind yourself as you get out of the car and stride through the darkened side yard to the door of Dane's trailer. Even as you mount the steps, you choose—

That's all for now.

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