The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

New Partners, New Digs

Previously: "Does Anybody Mind?" 

"So what would Philip say," you ask Mike, "if I told him that someone has a crush on him?"

Mike's eyes pop, and for a moment he only stares back at you.

Then he breaks out in a devilish grin. "Are you saying you have a crush on Philip?"

"What? No!"

"I think you just did!"

"I did not! I just— Fuck you!" you holler, for Mike is chortling wetly through his nose. "It's someone else!"

"Sure. You're asking for"—Mike hooks the air with a couple of air quotes—"'a friend'!"

You punch him in the chest, and he shoves you back with a laugh. "It's Josie, okay?" you shout.

That catches him off guard. In fact, he reacts like he's been slapped. His face goes very white, but an angry red spot blazes out at one of his temples.

"Yeah," you say, and glance up and down the hallway. It's crowded with students—too crowded to even really make out faces—so you push up close to Mike. "Yesterday, trying out the— You know, the thing. It's something I picked up on."

"Josie has a crush on Philip?" Mike's voice is strangled.

"Yeah. Not massive, but— Well, she likes him a lot. I think— I got the impression—"

"Yeah?"

"Look, I wasn't trying to snoop or anything. It just sort of came to me, and— And then I tried not thinking about it, because her and me talked about respecting each other's privacy—"

"Is she going to ask him out?"

"Huh? I dunno! Like I said, I tried not to think about it too much. But—"

"So why are you asking me this?"

"Because of that thing you're wearing. You can say if Philip'ld be interested."

"What do you care?"

That angry spot on his forehead has spread to engulf Mike's whole face. It is now a flaming pink, and there's an angry spark in his eye.

"Look, man, chill out," you say. "I don't care. I mean, it's not like I care—"

"Then why are you asking?" he demands.

You're not sure. Maybe it was just to be nosy. But now you have to make up an excuse.

"Well, if we're all going to be working on this stuff together," you improvise. "You know. The, uh, personal chemistry—"

Mike's eyes harden.

"Look," you gabble, "if she asks him out or something, and he says no, it could, like—"

"Maybe we should wait to worry it if it happens," Mike says. Flecks of saliva appear on his lips. "And maybe you should keep your fucking business out of other people's fucking business."

"Hey, I'm just—!"

But Mike has already wheeled and is stalking away. You make a face at his retreating back. But it's yourself you want to punch in the face.

* * * * *

It might be your imagination, but Mike seems to ostentatiously ignore you when you see him in English class later that day. And in sixth period math class, you hesitate a very long time before shuffling over to Josie to ask if she's going to be at the "study thing" after school. She looks unhappy at the question, but says she will.

God, this is fucking complicated all of a sudden, you sigh to yourself when you're back at your desk, slumped. I shouldn'a shown the book to anyone. Or I just should'a shown it to one person. Caleb, I should'a just shown it to Caleb. It wouldn't be so fucking complicated. There wouldn't be all this trouble. Because "trouble" is what it feels like you're heading toward.

* * * * *

You're not even able to get the full group together after school, for Kim has some kind of emergency student council thing. But that's okay, because Mike and Philip have brought another friend along: Carlos Montoya.

"What the fuck is going on?" you growl at Fairfax when you are finally able to get him alone. It's getting on toward suppertime, but Mike and his friend are hard at work down in the basement, polishing two new masks with the car buffers they brought along. With them so distracted, you finally managed to catch Philip's eye and gesture him to follow you upstairs and outside. "I thought we said we weren't going to bring any more people into this!"

"I understand, Will," Philip says. He looks abashed, and has a hard time meeting your furious glare. It wasn't my idea. But—" He pauses as the door opens, and Josie comes hurrying up to join you. "Mike said he felt really funny not telling Carlos about all this. They're best friends."

"Well, I got best friends too," you retort. "And I haven't told them! And neither has Josie! Right?" you ask her.

"No," she says. "I mean, I haven't."

Philip shrugs. "Fair's fair," he says. "So if you guys want to each tell one of your other friends—"

"Yeah, but then where does it stop?" you exclaim. "So I bring in my friend Caleb, and Josie brings in her friend, uh—" Don't say 'Christine', you warn yourself off in time. "One of her friends. And then you bring in someone else—"

"I'm not going to," Philip says.

"—and so does Kim. But then what happens when Carlos starts 'feeling funny'"—you make air quotes—"about not having another of his friends in the group? Or Josie's friend decides to tell another of her friends. Or Caleb—"

"I know, I know," Philip says. He begins to look harried. "And I told Mike that he could tell Carlos but no one else—"

"Why didn't you at least ask the rest of us?" Josie asks. She's got her hands on her hips, but it's like she keeps glancing at you for support. "I mean, great, you're going to give us permission to tell some of our other friends. But why do you get to be the one to decide if—"

"Yeah!" you interrupt. "Whose book is it anyway?"

Fairfax puts his hands up in total surrender. "You're right," he says. "You're totally right. I fucked up. So now I guess we, uh, say that we can't tell anyone else—"

"I thought that was something we already decided!" you explode. "We already said that! Then Mike goes and—!"

"Hey!" The shout comes from the basement door, where Mike himself is standing with a wary expression on his face. "We having some kind of conference out here?"

You and Josie both look at Philip. He's gone very white in the lips, and he kicks at the ground.

"We don't add anyone else to the group," you call back to Mike. "This is it. No more people get to know about this."

Mike nods. "I'm cool with that."

"Carlos doesn't get to tell anyone."

"He's cool with that too."

You glance between Philip and Josie. "That's what the conference was about." A trace of relief shows on Fairfax's face.

"Cool," Mike says. "I just thought I'd poke my head out, see what all the yelling was about." A swath of pink runs over his face. "To see if, like, if you were actually trying to get someone to come out and find us here!" His complexion deepens to a fiery red. Then he turns and stalks back down into the basement.

Fairfax nudges you. "That's actually the whole reason I went along with Mike," he says. "Carlos has a place where we can work on this stuff without worrying about getting caught."

* * * * *

It's a storage unit, you find out the next day (a Saturday), when you're invited out to look the place over. Carlos's uncle owns a storage complex, and Carlos has been given the use of two of the largest units inside the climate-controlled building. In one he keeps his workout equipment to make an improvised gym. In the other, he and his friends have set up a studio for watching movies and making YouTube videos. You also learn—you don't know how you didn't know this—that your friend Keith Tilley has been making videos with them. In fact, they have just uploaded a video featuring him.

There's bigger news reported, though, which Philip delivers to the group—himself, you, Mike and Carlos, Josie and Kim—late that afternoon, once everyone is squeezed into the makeshift TV studio. He thinks he's figured out what went wrong with the masks that didn't work.

"They do work," he announces. "Probably. I'd like to test them out again. With Will's and Josie's permission, of course." He pauses, as though expecting a reply, but neither you nor Josie say anything. "But last night," he continues, and he resettles his glasses, "we completed a set of new masks, for Mike and Carlos." The two boys exchange bright, secretive grins at the mention of their names. "Though I suppose they ought to be referred to as 'personas'," Philip continues with the air of an afterthought. "That's the term the book itself uses to describe the union of a mask with a mens."

"A men's what?" Mike asks. Carlos giggles, and he and Mike grab and tickle each other.

"A mens," Fairfax soberly repeats. "That's what you call the metal strip that copies memories. And other things, apparently," he mutters as Carlos and Mike wrestle, oblivious to his reply. "Anyhow," he continues, turning to you and the girls. "We tested Mike's mens separately and successfully upon Carlos, and it continued to function on him even after attaching it to a mask to make the complete persona." He glances back at the boys, who have fallen back, exhausted. "But Carlos's persona, though it effected the physical transformation, wrought no mental changes upon Mike. Until after he had gone home and slept in it."

Kim raises her hand, like a good student. "Do you mean that Mike went home and pretended to be—"

"Oh, this is boring!" Mike cries out. "Come on, we want to get to the next spell! Shopping trip!"

* * * * *

So a list of items gets made, and destinations assigned. Carlos and Mike will head off in one direction; Kim and Josie in another; Philip in a third.

And who do you go with?

Next: "When Teamwork Needs Teamwork" 

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