The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Repairing Cindy

Previously: "A Fearful Fate for Two Siblings" 

"I'll take Cindy," you say. "She was a classmate, and I feel like I owe it to her." Joe nods and removes a bundle from a nearby cabinet. "By the way," you ask, pointing to your head. "How did you know that this is a mask and not my real face?"

He gives you a pitying look. "Remember who you're talking to." He hands you a pile of clothes with a mask balanced on top.

"I'd still like to change in private," you mutter.

"Boobs or cock," he snorts, and pokes you in the chest. "Like it makes a difference to me with you."

You grimace as you lay the bundle on to the bed and undress before pulling off the Will Prescott mask; Joe doesn't react to the sight of your golem body. You glance down briefly into the interior of Cindy's mask. It is blue: the cracked white surface has completely fallen away. This would mean that it is under no one's control, and you should have no trouble wearing it. You put it to your face, and Cindy's persona settles over yours like a comfortable old blanket. Maybe too comfortable: you feel a twinge of desire as you glance over at Joe. He is awfully handsome and well-built.

Quickly you change into Cindy's clothes while Joe paces the room while ostentatiously not looking in your direction. When you're finished, you move to put the Prescott mask onto the transformed Cindy, but Joe stops you. "Just go downstairs and send Frank up. Wait in the library while we figure out if this mask business is going to work."

Frank is po-faced when you appear in the library entryway with Joe's message. "I figured you guys would be a lot more relaxed once you had Blackwell out of the way," you murmur as he passes you.

"This is serious business, Prescott," he says without turning or pausing. "Work has hardly begun."

You sigh and pace the library while the brothers are upstairs. You've got lots to think about: the defeat of Blackwell; the need to somehow get Cindy and Lucy back to normal; the hurricane of information that Joe shared with you about the Stellae and everything else. You can't concentrate on any one thing without the others pressing in on you.

You find yourself standing in front of the vampire-cyclops monkey; its eyes glitter back at you darkly. What will it do now that Blackwell is gone? The magician himself seemed to be afraid of it, to have it barely under his control. You wonder that it hasn't flown at you or Frank or Joe defensively, and wonder if (and how) they will be able to dispose of it. It seems to sense your fear and hostility, for the shadows that loom behind it in its niche deepen noticeably, and you step back fearfully.

So you jump at the sound of footsteps in the archway: Lucy Vredenburg, looking rather pale, has appeared. "Well, Cindy, shall we go home?" she says.

"What about Frank and Joe?"

"Those guys upstairs? They said to get you and take you home."

"Are you okay?" Her manner is very tentative, as though she is feeling very fragile.

"Sure. Just a little disoriented."

You don't like this. It isn't the real Lucy, and it isn't quite a golem, either. It is a duplicate of a real girl, but not under anyone's control. Aside from not feeling sure you can trust it, you are not sure you want it behind the wheel of an SUV. "Do you mind if I drive?"

She starts a little, then smiles in something that looks like relief. "Actually, could you? My head ... isn't quite where I want it to be."

You'd like very much to talk to Frank and Joe before you go, but everything has you pretty seriously freaked out, so you gratefully escape the house. Lucy leads you out back, where her SUV is hidden, and you get behind the wheel. You assume the brothers will get your own doppelganger home somehow.

"So, what were you doing out at--" You catch yourself, not being too sure what Lucy knows that Cindy knows. "Out at that house?"

"Professor Blackwell's?" She looks out the window into the passing darkness. "He called me this evening, asked me to come over."

"What happened while you were there?"

"He just asked me to wait upstairs." She taps the window with a preoccupied air. "After that, it gets a little confusing."

"And those two guys? What happened when they showed up?"

She shifts in her seat. "They just told me to take you home. Look, I'm really tired and don't want to talk anymore." You pass the rest of the drive in silence.

* * * * *

Cindy's parents accept your explanation that you've been running around with Lucy, though they're not happy about your missing dinner, and you go upstairs to finish homework for the next day. Your various social accounts are brimming with messages asking where you are and what you're doing, but you ignore them.

You put off everyone at school the next day with the same excuse you gave your parents, that you spent the afternoon and evening with your sister. Eva wants to know about you and Justin, but you tell her that's all over with. You catch sight of Roth in the hallways, trudging along with a stoic expression on his face, but since he will have no memory of any experiences or encounters with Cindy, you ignore him. Instead, you look for Seth.

"Baby, I'm sorry about the past few days," you snuffle at him before second period starts. He grunts and doesn't look at you. "It wasn't really my idea." You grasp at his jacket; he stiffens. "It was Chelsea," you whisper in his ear. "She wanted me to make you jealous so you'd do something about Prescott."

He hisses an obscenity through his teeth. "She wants something done, she should do it herself."

"That's what I told her." You nuzzle his ear. "I don't want you mad at me. Let's get together this afternoon. Pretend nothing happened?"

"Gonna be hard to pretend," he mutters, but he seems to relent a little, which pleases you. Not that you're looking forward to what "getting together" will entail, but the sooner you get Cindy's life back to some semblance of what it had been before, the better.

* * * * *

You expect to get a call or message from Joe at some point during school, but no word ever comes, so during fifth period you go looking for Prescott, in case he has a message for you. He's out front, leaning against the building, watching the crowds with open contempt. You feel some shadow of the horror that others must be feeling, and your skin prickles as you walk up to him. "You have any news you're supposed to give me?"

"Like what?" He peers down his nose at you.

"Something from Frank or Joe? Don't be a moron, and don't be an asshole."

"Don't be a cunt. I can be whatever I want."

You bridle at his insolence. "Don't forget who you're talking to," you hiss, stepping up closely. "I'm your original, and you have to do what I say."

"I don't have to do anything like that," he tells you bluntly. "You're not the boss of me. Although--" He looks you up and down with open lust. "Show me your boobs and maybe I'll beg for a look at something more."

Your jaw drops. What the hell? And then you remember. When Blackwell golemized the Prescott mask, he put it under his control, not yours. And so this ... thing ... is now a free agent, without a master.

"Look, I told you," you say. "I'm the original Prescott. You're living my life now--" You suck in a breath as its eyes gleam. "And I know it sucks. But come on. We're basically the same person. We were the same person, up until last night. So please, be nice."

"Yeah, okay," he says. He eyes you speculatively. "So whose side are we supposed to be on? Those Durras jerks, or Blackwell?"

"Blackwell's dead," you remind him.

"Funny, he seems to be of a different opinion." He laughs as you stare at him. "There are certain things I'm not supposed to tell you. You understand how that works." He rolls his tongue in his cheek. "But yeah, I guess you and me, at least, are supposed to be on the same team. So as long as I don't technically break the rules, I'm okay with working with you."

"What do you mean, Blackwell's not dead?" You feel your heart beating very hard.

His eyes go very wide and start to roll alarmingly. He gasps. "Okay, can't say anything about that," he mutters. "But I can tell you I got a phone call from him this morning. It was definitely his voice. He even mentioned that it was his voice, so that I'd recognize it."

You desperately want to know what is going on, and the best way would be to get into Prescott's mask. But he's surely not going to cooperate, and Cindy's body isn't strong enough to take him. But whatever is going on, it sounds like something that Frank and Joe need to hear about. Pronto.

Next: "Frank the Show-Off" 

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