The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

In Which Some Masks Come Off

Previously: "The Magical Transvestites, Part 2" 

"Look, I trust you guys," you tell Philip and Carlos and Mike. It's a lie, mostly, but it's the kind of thing you'll have to say. "Show me that you trust me. Let me hide out as Lucy. I promise I won't fuck up."

The three guys look at each other. It's not hard to see the skepticism in Montoya's face. Hollister, with his tomato-red face and white-blonde eyebrows, looks more freaked out than anything. Fairfax is very sober.

"Okay, we'll trust you too," Philip says. "Maria has to be back home soon. What about you guys?" he asks his co-conspirators.

"You mean us girls?" Carlos says it without a snigger. "Yeah, Eva and Jessica have places to be." He casts you another fretful look.

"Stick close to Keith," Philip tells you. "He'll tell you what you should do to keep anyone from thinking there's something funny with Lucy."

"Like, don't grab your boobs and shout 'honk honk' in public," Mike says. You smile sourly at him.

"Stay close to the house," Philip continues. "You'll probably want to talk to Keith anyway. But don't worry too much. It turns out it's surprisingly hard to get people to notice anything weird." He cocks his head. "Did you notice anything weird about Eva and Jessica and Cindy?"

You blink. "No, I guess not."

Mike stifles a laugh. "You mean you thought it was totally normal for girls like Cindy Vredenburg to take you shopping and buy you new clothes and invite you to hang out?"

A furious blush breaks out all over your face, and pours down your neck as far as your chest. "No!"

"The point is," Philips says, "at no point did you say to yourself, 'Who are these girls and what have they done with the real Eva and Jessica and Cindy?"

You'd like to say that yes, you did. But in thinking back to the very odd events of the past few days, you have to admit that you didn't.

"There, you see," Philip says. "So, answer when someone calls your name, don't make trouble, keep your nose clean until you can start pulling off the impersonation.

* * * * *

He and his friends return the masks to their faces, and because it's kind of creepy being in a bedroom with three unconscious girls, you quietly leave. The door to the room you woke in is closed—Keith must still be knocked out behind it—so you go downstairs and explore the house.

The Vredenburgs are fairly well-to-do, but not obviously better off than you and your family. Their house is about the same size as yours, with the same number of bedrooms upstairs. There is an extra living room of sorts, and behind the kitchen you find steps leading down to a large basement that has been converted into a rumpus room. But whatever Cindy's parents do for a living, they don't make enough to make you feel like a beggar exploring the king's palace.

You're standing at the foot of the stairs with your hands on your hips when there's a thump at the top of the stairs. You look up to find Cindy Vredenburg, her eyes very wide, staring down at you. She glances behind her, then hurries down. "So what's going on?" she hisses.

"I'm going to stay here," you start to say, "and, uh—"

You have to break off, for your heart has suddenly leaped into your throat and tried to strangle you. The words and become Lucy sound very raw. But it encapsulates the truth. You are going to turn yourself into a sexy, college-age girl that you lusted after hard when you were a sophomore and she was a high school senior who had no idea that you existed. You are going to have luscious legs and amazing boobs and a butt to sink your teeth into.

Or at least your fingernails. In a flash you imagine gripping Lucy's but with Lucy's hands, because it will be your butt and your hands.

"I'm supposed to put on that mask of Lucy," you stammer, and your face feels very hot. "And I'm supposed to stay here until the memories start coming."

Cindy's eyes grow even wider. "They're giving you Lucy's mask?" she squeals. She grabs your arm. "So you're on the team!"

"I guess so." And even though Cindy Vredenburg has grabbed you, you pry her hand off because it's like a claw. "They asked me, and I said yes."

A wide grin breaks out across her face. "That's great!"

"It is, isn't it?" you mutter. Anger suddenly boils up. "And if it is—!"

You catch yourself. "Come on." You grab Cindy and haul her through the dining room and out some French doors onto a patio. You wheel on her once you've slammed the door.

"What the fuck, dude?" you exclaim. "What the fucking fuck?"

"What the fucking fuck-fuck what?" she retorts.

"This!" You throw out your arms at her. "You're up to your fucking tits in this stuff and you didn't tell me?"

"I couldn't! Well, I tried! Sort of!"

"How?"

She steps back and frowns at you.

"This isn't my project," she says. "It's Carlos's book, and Philip is kind of running it. They're the ones who are in charge. I was just around when they started playing with it, so I got into it that way."

"But still, you didn't tell me?" you gasp.

"It wasn't my decision! Actually, we tried getting you interested."

"When the fuck did you tell me you had a bunch of magical masks that could turn you into—"

"Quiet, Will!" she hisses, and glances around. "It's a big yard but you got a voice that carries. No, we didn't tell you directly. But we kept trying to get you interested in Mike and Carlos's shit. You know, the videos."

"What the fuck do a bunch of retarded movie review videos have to do with this?"

Her eyes get very bright as she frowns. "See, this is why we didn't tell you about it. You don't even like Mike and Carlos!"

"I do too! Well, I don't ever talk to them, but they're okay guys."

"You're not interested in them, or else you would have hung out more when I kept trying to get you to do videos and shit with us. That was the point of all those freaking invites! To find out if you actually liked Mike and Carlos and Philip and Josiah, and wanted to hang out with them and be friends even if you didn't know about this shit!"

You fall back, staggered. Because you see now that Keith is right.

Why would these guys tell you anything about this shit if you weren't their friend? So they tested you out, to see if you wanted to be their friend.

And it turns out that you didn't.

Your face falls, and it drags your head down with it.

"Well, you're in now," Cindy says more calmly. "And try to be friends with them, okay? Don't be that guy who crashes a party and walks around swinging his dick in everyone's faces because he thinks it's his party now.

You bite your tongue and glare at the patio brickwork. "I'm not that kind of guy."

"Not usually." Keith's reply cuts you deeply. "Just let Mike and Carlos and Philip run things. Me and Josiah are just along for the lulz, mostly. You should be too."

You peer up at him, grateful for the chance to change the subject. "The lulz. You mean like you and Seth?"

You mean it as a hard jibe, but instead of blushing furiously, Cindy laughs a little snot out of her nose.

"Isn't that great?" she giggles. "I was totally going to use this thing to break him and Cindy up, but Philip and them said I couldn't do that. They told me I could dick him around though. Break up with him even, as long as I got back together again." She snorts hard with suppressed laughter. "And turns out, torturing him that way is a lot more fun than just breaking up with him would'a been!"

You roll your eyes. You can't imagine playing the Molester's girlfriend—if he had one—just for the chance to troll him from behind a mask.

"So what are we doing?" Keith asks. "Are we all going out or something from here? Or are we staying her to talk?"

"I think I'm supposed to stay here with you," you say. "The others have to leave, get back to their 'lives'. Hang on," you then add, for one thought will follow on another. "They said something about how they have those robots playing themselves so they can play these girls."

"Right. That was my beta—that's what we call them, Will," she adds with a superior tone, "back at the donut shop."

You resist the urge to reply, And it was just as dorky as you, and instead ask your original question. "So where's my beta?" Your eye narrow. "Or do I have one already?"

Cindy's eyes turn shifty. "Don't worry about anyone missing you," she says.

"How come?"

She swallows. "You don't really want to know, do you? Because everything all good now, isn't it?"

That's all for now.

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