The Book of Masks (Abridged)

Banking on Your New Disguise

"BUSINESS BEFORE PLEASURE, DUDE," you reply, and push him away. He growls, and you can't resist making a flirty face at him. "Come on, let's take a look at the new spell."

You are still wearing Eva's form, but you struggle back into your clothes--you like the feel of your now too-tight shirt against her bulbous breasts--and you and Caleb (still as Jeremy) settle down to look over the spell you've just unlocked. It requires a lot of new material, and a lot of it. You wince, and not just because of the way Caleb has put an arm around your shoulders and keeps rubbing up against you.

"Look at this," you say, pointing to the browser window you opened for a search on prices. "We're going to need $200 for this amount of fuel, and that's just for the fuel."

"Uh huh," he says distractedly. "So?"

"So do you have $200 to spend?"

"No. I think I've got about $75."

"Well, I don't even have that. I blew the rest of my savings to get what we have here."

"It was worth it." His forearm brushes against the side of your breast.

"Maybe. But-- Stop it! Or I take the mask off! But we need more cash."

"So borrow some."

"I can't. I've maxed out my credit line with my dad. Can you borrow some?"

"No," he replies, and his tone turns peevish. "If you'd only talked to your dad in time about that job at his work, I'd have an income for us."

"Oh shut up and deal with the loss. You know," you say, then break off after noticing that you're chewing a thumbnail. It's not one of your habits, so it must be one of Eva's. "There is one way of getting the cash." You explain your idea to Caleb. You are a little aghast at what you've come up with, but he's entirely for it.

"But we still have to deal with this little problem," he says after you've agreed to your idea. He taps the book. "Four hundred pounds of earth. That's not going to be fun to get."

"We'll just go to a greenhouse."

He shakes his head. "Read the rest of what it says." You type the Latin words into your online translator, and gulp at the result it kicks back. "We're going to have to break in at night," you tell him, your eyes widening. "No other way we can sneak four hundreds pounds of dirt out of a graveyard."

* * * * *

Late the next afternoon you walk into a certain bank office branch, wearing a cheap pink sweatsuit and some flipflops that you picked up at a thrift store. You don't have any of Eva's plastic or checks, but she knows her checking account number. You fill out a withdrawal slip, sign her name to it, and wait until a certain clerk has finished with a customer.

Eva's Aunt Meg raises her eyebrows a little when she sees the amount you've put down, but she knows better than to say anything other than, "And if I could see some ID?"

You pat at your pockets and then turn as pink as your suit. "Oh my God, I think I left it at home!"

"You didn't drive here, did you?"

"No, I'm with friends. So, I guess I'll ..." You look up at her hopefully.

She rolls her eyes and scribbles in the corner of the withdrawal slip. You shift nervously from foot to foot as she gets your cash and counts out a stack of twenties. "Don't spend it all in one place, sweetheart," she says with a trace of acid as you take it up.

"Thanks, Aunt Meg. Are you still coming over for supper on Saturday?"

"That's the plan. You want me to bring anything special, child?"

"Just you," you dimple. "Unless maybe it's some ... frosted pecans?" You nibble on your thumbnail in that way she finds so adorable in her niece.

"You and Jessica share some with your brother this time," she says, but smiles back.

"Marc hogs them all if we let him have any," you retort. "Anyway, thanks so much." You wave bye-bye to her and leave the bank $500 richer than when you went in.

Outside, you have almost reached the car where Caleb (not in disguise) is waiting when you hear someone shout your name. Except, of course, it's Eva's name. You turn and wave. "Shit," you mutter as you lean in through the open passenger-side window of his car and hand Caleb the cash. "It's Mindy and Scott. If they see me with you--"

"So climb in."

"Too late, they've spotted me."

"Well, get rid of 'em. We've got supplies to buy."

"Wait. Hang on." You think a moment.

Scott Bickelmeir may like to hang out with Mindy McAdams, but they're not going together; and you know (or, rather, Eva knows) that he's got a thing for Eva and her sister. With a little wheedling and flirting, you might be able to borrow another fifty or so bucks off him in Eva's name.