The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Yumi Saito, Agent of Janus

Previously: "It's a Good Compromise ..." 

Make another mask? Make another slave? That's totally the opposite of the promise you just got out of Chelsea.

But it's tempting enough that you don't reject it out of hand. "We'll see," you say, and wince at the mom-like expression. "For now—" You think through your schedule for the rest of the day, but it looks clear. "Can you get Gary up here after school so we can look at his mask again?"

"Sure. It'll have to be around after four-thirty," Chelsea cautions you, "on account of basketball practice." You tell her that will work.

After she gives you an excited squeeze of the hand, you return downstairs.

* * * * *

You've always done your best not to pay attention to Gary Chen, and Yumi has done her best as well. But you're very conscious of him the rest of the day. You have sixth period Statistics with him (now that you're Yumi), and all the hairs go up on your body when he brushes by your desk to drop down next to his friend and fellow thug, David Kirkham. Worse is eighth period, when you have him for Orchestra, because you and he both play the viola and sit next to each other.

But he proves less of a problem than another viola player. You jump a little when Eva Garner nudges you while you're tuning up. "So what did Chelsea want with you this morning?"

Her face is an expressionless mask, and she doesn't look at you as she asks the question.

"Nothing. She's just stirring up trouble," you mutter back. "And you're helping her."

Her jaw tightens. "How?"

"She's trying to split us apart. Trying to get us mad at each other. And it looks like it's working."

That earns you a hot glare, but there is a little bit of doubt in her eyes.

"I mean, you saw what she was doing to Cindy this morning," you continue. "God!" You shudder at the memory of the haymakers Chelsea hurled at her archrival. "And then she comes up to me and is talking like we're friends so that Cindy will get jealous. Well, it's not going to work unless you guys let it!"

You lean over to hiss some more at Eva. "I'm the one who tried stopping Chelsea, back when we could've stopped her! I told you we had to vote for Cindy! We could've deadlocked back at the start of the semester! You and Jessica were the ones who— Sorry." You catch yourself as angry tears spring into your friend's eyes. "You didn't know what Chelsea was like until it was too late. The point is, I've always been on Cindy's side, and I always will, because Chelsea's always been a—" Mrs. Heinz is nearby, so you catch yourself again before you can let loose a really bad word. "So stop treating me like I'm going over to the Dark Side or something. She's just trying to make me look bad so you guys will start treating me like—" And again you cut yourself off.

Eva looks away, and blinks back some tears. She lowers her head.

"I just know what it looks like," she mutters. "But I think you're—" She swallows. "Chelsea's really good at it, isn't she?" She looks over at you. "Getting other people to think what she wants them to think?"

She's even better at it than you know, Eva, you think as Gary Chen comes swaggering in with his viola case under his arm. She's got him dancing to her music now.

And me, too.

* * * * *

At Eva's suggestion, you and she and Jessica and Cindy and Lin gather in the library for a talk when classes are over. It gives you a bit of a funny turn when you arrive. It's like the opposite of deja vu. Just a few days ago you walked into the library, then walked out again because you didn't belong at a table with most of these girls.

Now you are one of them, and make yourself right at home between Cindy and Lin.

Still, you don't feel exactly welcome. The atmosphere is acrid, even after you insist all over again to them that Chelsea is just trying to stir up paranoia and bitterness by treating you differently than she treats the others. Lin and Eva are at least inclined to forgive you for the way Chelsea's been acting with you; Cindy and Jessica say they believe you, but their manner continues to be cool. You're going to have to tell Chelsea that she needs to start treating you real nasty if they're going to believe that you're not being "seduced" to her side.

That takes up most of the late afternoon. Lin leaves early, and then the Garner girls go off. You and Cindy take a slow, lazy walk down the breezeway to the gym, so she can meet Seth on his way out from practice. The gym doors are already open, and a few players are already trooping out. You notice that although they do look you up and down, they're careful not to ogle Cindy.

"She's not going to give up until I quit the squad," Cindy says mournfully.

You're rubbing her back sympathetically—and enjoying the feel tremendously—as Seth comes out. His eyes light up when he sees you and Cindy. "Sexy!" he exclaims, and the gleam in his eye causes you to drop your hand from his girlfriend's shoulder. "Could we make it a threesome?"

Cindy ignores the gibe. "Go get coffee or something with us?" she asks you.

"I'm going back to the library to study some more," you reply.

"I suppose we could hang out with you there," she says.

"I think you want better company than me," you tell her, and pull her into a tight, sisterly embrace. "We'll talk tomorrow."

Cindy snuffles a little, then gives you a brave smile and tucks herself under Seth's arm. He winks at you over his shoulder as he and Cindy walk slowly toward the student parking lot.

You return to the main building, but loiter near the doors by the cafeteria until you receive the all-clear signal from Chelsea.

* * * * *

"That's easy to do," she declares after you tell her she needs to start treating Yumi real rough. "But what about that?"

She's pointing at the mask of Gary Chen, which you're holding in your hands. Chen himself is once again trapped under Gordon's mask, and Chelsea's boyfriend is once again laid out on the floor of the loft in a petrified state.

And you find yourself stymied on account of that goop that you spread inside of it. You tried testing the mask on yourself, to see if you could get the memories inside it, but awoke again outside of a mask. Chelsea, looking rather white in the face, told you that you "weren't you" while inside Chen's mask. "It was just him, like when he came up here earlier," she told you.

That answers at least one question: When you put the mask on someone, they don't know what's happening to them, and they don't remember what happened to them while they were wearing it after it comes off.

It answers another question: When Chelsea put Chen's mask on, she was still herself and still in control of it.. The difference appears to be in the hair that that got used in that goop. Apparently the goop doesn't black out the person who controls the mask, only anyone else who puts it on.

But you still haven't figured out the main question: Why can't Chelsea get Chen's memories when she puts it on? Is it because there's something wrong with the mask, or is there something wrong with her?

"I don't know how to get this stuff out," you say after scratching hard at the inside of the mask with a fingernail. "It feels like it's totally bonded to the surface." You grimace. "I think I'm going to have to make a new mask of him." You brush the metal band with your fingertips. "Or I'll have to make another one of these," you add, for it occurs to you that maybe you can test one of those bands out separately.

"Can I do anything to help?"

You're grateful for the offer, but shake your head. "I just have to make up a new mask. Two of them," you add after a moment's thought. "Because if we get one of Chen that works, we'll need one of you, so you can switch back and forth between them."

"If it's two masks, can't two people work on them?"

"We have to stay away from each other," you remind her, "so Cindy and them won't get suspicious."

* * * * *

After leaving the loft, though, you do arrange to get some help for the evening's work: You call "Will Prescott" and have him meet you at the elementary school near his house, where you are still keeping the supplies.

"So you weren't at lunch with Jenny and them today," he snickers when you hand him one of the two masks you've just cast. (He'll be in charge of polishing them.) "They missed you."

"Did Jenny have something he wanted to talk to me about?" You flip through the book to the spell that makes those metal bands.

"No, but Paul did. He likes you." He laughs as you tense.

It's one of the more awkward parts of Yumi's life: the really obvious crush that Paul Davis has on her. He's always leaving little presents for her around, and trying to hang out. Paul isn't bad looking, but he's so wet about it.

"Well, he's going to have to control himself," you mutter. "Apparently, I'm getting a boyfriend."

Your doppelganger drops the mask with a clatter, and turns staring eyes on you.

But you don't amplify. Instead, you're thinking about another possibility.

Why does Gary Chen have to be your "boyfriend"? There are lots of eligible guys at school. It's only because Chelsea has a Chen mask that you're thinking of subjecting yourself to that asshole.

* To make another mask for Chelsea to use as your boyfriend: "Finding Mr. Right" 
* To make Chen your boyfriend: "The Matchmakers" 

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