The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

An Accident and Its Aftermath

Previously: "Old Scandals and New Discoveries" 

It's a clever idea your double has had, and the technical challenge is appealing. But it seems safest to just get rid of Lucy in an accident, so you return to your earlier plan.

You coat Yumi's mask with a layer of goop that will put it under your control, and with your twin ducking down in the foot well of your truck drive downtown where the crazy people like to hang out. You have to search in the alleys a bit, but you find quickly overpower one old coot and get Yumi's mask on him. Yumi is far from pleased to find herself materializing in a bunch of stinky rags, but you shut her up and hustle her back into the truck and back to Blackwell's, where she changes and goes home.

You and your replacement then drive out of town, taking your truck and Lucy's SUV. You wedge Blackwell's golem behind the wheel of Lucy's car and put her mask on it. Again, she appears, and starts screaming. Your doppleganger gets her hands on the wheel, puts the SUV in drive, and jumps out as the car leaps away. It doesn't even make it past the first curve.

* * * * *

Blackwell is surprised to see you still at the house the next morning when he arrives, though he is gratified to see you studying so hard. He hardly says anything except to express mystification at Lucy's disappearance. You wait with bated breath as he goes to the kitchen, where the morning paper is waiting. Lucy's accident is prominently mentioned on the front page, but after reading it you'd folded it up and returned it to its plastic bag.

"Will!" he calls, and you stroll in doing your best to feign nonchalance. Blackwell is very white in the face. "Lucy was killed in an accident yesterday." With a trembling hand he gives the paper to you.

You read the article (again) while pretending to be shocked. "Is there anything we need to do? What was she working on for you?"

Blackwell's eyes are white around the rims, and he fiddles his fingers nervously. "This is bad," he mutters. "This is very bad." He hiccups. "I must take a hot bath, to calm myself." His feet move uncertainly beneath him as he stumbles up the stairs.

Blackwell's shock in turn shocks you: Whatever she was working on must have been very important, and you eat a very nervous breakfast. When Blackwell comes down after an hour he is calmer but still deeply troubled. "We will have to exhume her," he says to your great surprise. "After she's buried."

"Why? What's so important about--?"

He waves you to be silent. "In the meantime, you need to get into her house. Into her room, specifically. She has the Libra.

"She what?"

"Don't argue, William," he says firmly. "She has it and we need to get it back. Can you get in there?"

"Why do I have to get it? Can't you just call them and tell them she has this book of yours, and that you'd like them to set it aside for you?"

He hesitates, then nods. "Yes, that would be much the least complicated way, wouldn't it?"

* * * * *

His mission is apparently successful, though he hasn't got the book with him when he returns late in the afternoon. "I put it in my office at the school," he says, and you can't help noticing a certain shiftiness in his answer to your question about its whereabouts. He peers down at you. "You've been doing a great deal of work," he observes. "Very commendable. But why don't you take a break? We won't be returning to the Libra until we've exhumed Lucy. You can go home."

"I'm living here," you remind him. "I've got a golem at home."

"So send the golem back here," he says.

"It's got a girl under it."

"So let the girl go," he says a little testily. "You don't seem to be using her. Or put her mask back on. She was quite delectable, as I recall, and--"

"Even if we're not working on the Libra," you say, "I've got other stuff to work on. I'm making really good headway on--"

"You don't want to exhaust yourself," he says with a frown. "Trust me on this. You can study Latin, if you want to keep improving yourself."

He's moved well beyond hints and suggestions, and you accede before he can order you out of the house. You call Yumi and have her meet you downtown at the spot where you found the homeless man; you'd gotten rid of his things, but you don't care about that, and in the alley you have Yumi disrobe. You take off her mask, and hightail it away before the crazy man can wake up. You find another deserted corner, and change into Yumi.

* * * * *

Lucy's death is the talk of Westside when you go in the next day, for all the seniors remember her; and of course there is her sister, Cindy, to consider. You're relieved that the latter is not around, but she's still a topic of conversation. "Did you see Chelsea's face this morning," Lin Pol asks as you relax outside at lunch with her and the Garner twins.

"Yes. Very punchable," you reply.

"I mean, you could see the gears turning behind it," Lin says.

"You can always see the gears turning," Jessica Garner says.

"What's she going to do about Cindy?" Lin says knowingly. "Lucy's accident has put her in a bad spot. She was hoping to get Cindy to quit the squad."

"That's really cold, Lin," Eva Garner says. "Cindy's sister has just died--"

"Which is why Chelsea's in a bad spot," Lin says.

"I mean you're being really cold. Thinking about what it means for the squad."

"That's what Chelsea's thinking about," Lin retorts. "I really feel for Cindy, but you know that Chelsea doesn't."

"Cindy could make it easy for Chelsea, and just quit anyway," you say. You scrape at the bottom of the yogurt cup. "I wouldn't want to put up with Chelsea, on top of losing a sister."

"Oh, you know that's exactly how she'll play it," Jessica gasps. "Why don't you take some time off, Cindy," she continues in a simpering, sing-song parody of Chelsea at her most insincere. "It's just so awful about Lucy. You need to get your head together. Are you seeing a psychiatrist?"

There are shudders all around.

Talk continues in this vein, but you mostly keep silent, for you're distracted by feelings of guilt. It's your fault. Well, it's Blackwell's fault, you try to remind yourself. He's the one that--

That what? It's true that the Lucy who was going to school and working on his projects was a fake--something in mask--but you've no idea what happened to the real Lucy. Maybe she's still out there, someplace, maybe hidden under a mask, as you've got Yumi hidden under a mask. It doesn't matter if she is still alive but hidden, because her very public accident will mean she can't come back, not without a huge mystery.

And what if Blackwell had her hidden under her own mask, like you've got Melody Weiss hidden under a mask of herself? Then you are directly responsible for her death. Death by gwarcheidwad.

Either way, you are directly responsible for Cindy's pain, since you set up that accident.

You end up distracting yourself by concentrating your ire on Chelsea. Yumi knows Chelsea well enough to know that the head cheerleader will find some way of making it worse for Cindy. You'd feel a little better if you could find some way of softening the blow. If you had Chelsea under your control--

Which would be wonderful for lots of reasons. But if she was under your control the way Melody Weiss is--

But you'd need access to the Libra for that, and it's up in Blackwell's office.

Melody Weiss could pay a visit to his office without it looking suspicious, it occurs to you as you're walking back to class.

Distracted in this way, you barely notice Will Prescott until he sidles up to you in the hallway. "Hey boss," he murmurs. "What are you doing here?"

"Ugh, trying to stay away from you," you snarl back before you realize it.

He looks wounded. "Don't be that way. I got it bad enough--"

You stop to look at him. Why is his presence so distasteful all of a sudden? Then you remember: It's that hex. Yumi has a second-hand exposure to it, and you're looking at him through her eyes. "I'm sorry," you say. "I forgot you have that thing--" You wave your hand at him, indicating the aura.

"Yeah, well, if you're really sorry, you could do something about it," he mutters back.

Except you can't, not without access to Blackwell's library.

But you need a project to distract you. After school, it occurs to you, Blackwell will either be up at the school or at his house. You have a fifty-fifty chance of catching him outside either one. Which means you have a fifty-fifty chance of scoring some books so you can work on lifting that hex from yourself, or of scoring the Libra itself.

Next: "The Sweet Life of a New Magician" 

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