The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

It's a Good Compromise ...

Previously: "A Brain Block and a Brain Wave" 

During the break between third and fourth periods you send Chelsea a text, asking to meet back in the loft during fifth period. Her reply doesn't come until the next class break, which is when you'd be wanting to meet her anyway.

"Did you talk to Cindy?" she asks with steely cheerfulness when you're back in the loft again. "Did you set it up for us to—?"

Yes, you shared Chemistry with Cindy third period, but she only gave you a frosty glance when you came into the classroom.

"I'm not going to do that," you tell Chelsea, and her eyes narrow. "I'll get the Chen mask working for you, but that's all."

"I want Cindy," Chelsea growls, and her eyes flash.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I was thinking—"

"You seem to be doing a lot of thinking since I swapped you with Yumi," Chelsea says.

You return her glower with one of your own. "I would have been thinking about this anyway," you snarl back at her. "It has to do with these masks. I'm worried about fucking things up."

"We already tried it out with Gary," Chelsea says impatiently, "and with Yumi, so we know it works! Will!"

"I'm talking about something else. Will you shut up and let me explain?"

Chelsea actually takes a step back, and her jaw drops a little.

"Now look," you continue more calmly. "We made that stuff, and we put it inside that mask of Gary, right? And now he's your slave. And we put some more that stuff inside Gordon's mask, and now he's your slave. Now you want to put some more inside Cindy's mask?"

"No. I want to—" Her expression turns disgusted.

Then it turns thoughtful. "Actually, I was thinking I'd do a swap thing with her, like you and Yumi did. But now that I think about it, having her just be my—" She titters.

You shiver. "How many more people do you want to do this to?" you ask, and your voice is hoarse with horror. "Who else besides Cindy?"

"Well, no one." Chelsea frowns.

"Are you sure? You can't think of anyone else?"

"No." Her eyes narrow. "Why? I mean, I guess we could do it with the Garners, but if Cindy is—"

"What about anyone who isn't on the cheerleader squad? Kelsey Blankenship, maybe?"

Chelsea sets her jaw. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because where does it stop, Chelsea?" you ask. "How many is enough?"

Her brow darkens. "So we'll stop with Cindy," she says. "Unless—"

"Look, my point is that there's got to be a place where it stops. I mean, that book has got to be hundreds of years old. It looks like it's that old, and it's all in Latin. Now, if someone could just keep churning out masks of people, and turning them into slaves, don't you think someone would have used it by now to conquer the world? Don't you think we'd be living in a world where everyone was like Gary, just some kind of magical robot that had to obey the guy who owned the book and made the masks?"

Chelsea continues to look puzzled. "I don't get what you're trying to say."

You sigh and rub your eyes. You really hoped she's see the problem, but it looks like she doesn't.

"There's got to be something that stops people from making millions and millions of masks and using them to take over the world. Because it hasn't happened yet. So there's got to be an top limit to how far you can go. Right?

"I guess." But she sounds dubious. Maybe she doesn't even understand what you said.

"So what's that top limit? How many is too many? And what happens if we go over it?"

Chelsea puts her hands on her hips. "So we worry about it when it happens," she says. "Just make me another mask so we can do a thing with Cindy—"

"I'm not going to do that," you retort. "I'll try to get Gary working for you, but—"

"You're not going to do what I tell you?" Chelsea turns red and steps up to put her nose to yours.

"No."

Flame shows in Chelsea's eyes. "So I have to do it myself?"

"You mean you would?"

For a moment your glances blaze back and forth.

Then, to your bewilderment, she bursts into tears. "You're so ungrateful!" she sobs, and you only gape at her. "I got you—! I helped you do the thing with Yumi, to help you with that girl that you're so in love with!" She snuffles. "You wanted my help, and I gave it to you, and now you—!"

"The whole thing with Lisa is pointless!" you hear yourself blurting back at her. "It's hopeless! She was never in love with me!"

Your face is burning after saying it, but at least your exclamation shuts up Chelsea. She stares back at you with streaming eyes and a quivering lip. "Will," she says, sounding very wounded. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying she was never in love with me." You hug yourself and turn away, for you can't bear to meet Chelsea's gaze as you make this humiliating confession. "As soon as I was— As soon as I knew what Yumi knew. Soon as I had her memories."

You gulp down sudden, hot tears of shame as you open yourself to the memories that you've been tamping back. The sight of the scrawny, sophomoric, scarecrow-like Will Prescott draping himself awkwardly around Lisa Yarborough, to the embarrassment of her friends. "I was all wrong for her. She was totally not my type. Actually, I wasn't her type. Everyone knew it except me."

Puppy love. That's what you had for Lisa, and she indulged it over the summer, when it didn't matter. And when school started again, she put an end to it before you could humiliate yourself with her in front of the entire school.

"Oh, Will," says Chelsea, and goose bumps go up all over your body as she pulls you into a sisterly hug. "I'm so sorry. I can't even believe it!"

Sure you could, you think bitterly. If you'd actually paid enough attention to me and Lisa to even notice us. "So I'm ready to stop being Yumi now," you mutter.

You feel Chelsea's limbs freeze around you. "Are you sure?" she asks. Her voice is muffled because she's got her face in your hair.

"There's no point now."

There's a long silence, during which she continues to hold you. Then she says, "What about you and Yumi? Maybe the two of you could—"

You stiffen. "She doesn't like me any more than Lisa does."

"But if you stayed being Yumi. Or if we put some of that stuff in Yumi's mask, like we did in Gary's and Gordon's ..."

You get chilly all over. Turn Yumi into a kind of zombie, just so you'd have a girlfriend? It's not an appealing idea, to say the least. Beyond that: "It would look funny," you murmur. "Even funnier than if Yumi went out with—"

You break off at a sudden thought. It takes you a moment to get used to it, and then it takes you a little longer to work up the nerve to even broach it. But it has to be broached, because you've only distracted Chelsea with this confession, and you're sure she still wants you to do that thing to Cindy.

"This morning you were talking about Gary and Yumi going out," you remind her. "Why?"

Chelsea loosens her hold on you. "Well, so you and I could hang out together without it looking funny. If you were being Yumi and I swapped with Gary—"

"Why do you want me to be Yumi, Chelsea?" You pull back so that Chelsea's hands drop from you. "You wanted me to be Yumi, and it's not so I can get things right with Lisa. What's in it for you?"

Chelsea winces, and looks furtive. Then her shoulders slump.

"Alright, if you've got all of Yumi's memories and things," she says, "you can probably guess or figure it out yourself. She and Cindy and them are all plotting against me. They want to make Cindy head cheerleader. Right?"

Now it's your turn to wince. But you nod.

"So, I was hoping, Will, that if you and Yumi, you know, swapped—" She brushes your arm. "You could tell me what they were planning. Maybe ... maybe mess things up a little for them? For me?"

Yeah, that's what you figured. But now that it's all out in the open, maybe you can strike a compromise.

"If I stay as Yumi," you tell her, "and I help you out—secretly—" You shiver at the gleam that comes into Chelsea's eye. "Will you forget about Cindy? About doing the same thing to her? We stop making masks, we stop right here, with these people. If we stop here" —you take a deep breath— "then I'll help you out with the cheerleader squad stuff."

Chelsea's expression brightens. "Okay," she says in a squeak. "You have to be undercover for me, though. You have to pretend that you're still Cindy's friend and everything!"

You nod, and try not to show the glum emotions you're feeling.

"Of course," Chelsea continues thoughtfully, "that means we still wouldn't be able to hang out together."

You take a deep breath and make the final concession. "Then I'll start going out with Gary. We'll use him to get together and talk."

Chelsea catches her breath with another squeak. Then she leaps at you and sweeps you into a hug.

* * * * *

That leaves you having to figure out what if anything is wrong with his mask, though. And you'll have to make another mask, so that Chelsea can switch between her face and his.

But Chelsea is happy enough with your offer to make you a generous suggestion.

"I have masks of Gary and Gordon," she points out. "So that's two for me. You've only got Yumi. Maybe you should have an extra one, so we'll be even?"

* To continue: "Yumi Saito, Agent of Janus" 

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