The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Of Masks and X-Men, Part 2

Previously: "Of Masks and X-Men, Part 1" 

by Masktrix

“X-Man, Two O’Clock,” Vee reports. Davina Macklin – Vee – has been your ever-present extra set of eyes and ears since you were at middle school together. She’s the ideal sidekick: whip-smart, capable of acting on her own and so pinned to your cause her loyalty is beyond question. She’s obsessed with Marius Hall, and as much as Abigail would love to do very dirty things with him out of spite, such a fun distraction isn’t worth losing someone as valuable as Vee.

Her warning is a prime example of why. The moment she speaks, you and Todd both adopt your prefect personas.

“I was thinking about a 5k run for disaster relief,” you say cheerily. It’s amazing how Abi’s brain changes so quickly; even your muscle memory shifts to the point that you start eating your lunch differently. “Perhaps in mid-November, before it gets too cold.”

“Great idea,” Todd replies. “We could talk to the pep squad and…” the act becomes redundant as Mr Welert moves on. “… thanks, Vee.”

“What I’m here for.” She goes back to her soup. You’ve cornered Todd Baldwin for lunch, pinning him down on a bench with thin Vee on one side and dumpy Kristen Wright-Wallace on the other. Vee you’re always glad to have with you; Kristen is baggage. However, her cloying, desperate need to please means she has her uses. You lean over and push Kristen’s bowl of pudding away from her.

Kristen, have you considered taking up, I don’t know, bulimia? Abi’s mind supplies the line, but you’re still Will and can’t be that harsh.
“Kristen, have you considered maybe, I don’t know, not grabbing dessert at every opportunity?”

She mumbles an apology, so you turn back to Todd, a prefect for Washington along with Marius. Darkly handsome, mainly because he was the first senior to get stubble, he’s tall, strong and ideally built as a rower. If there were a male counterpart to Abi in this school, he’d be it… if not quite as successful. You saw him earlier trying to persuade Niamh Stirland to do his assignment on the Thirty Years’ War. Stirland, like her sister, seems somehow inoculated against the games of Xavier’s, and has never bought your good girl – or his good guy – mirage. You think today might be the first time someone other than you told Todd to go to hell all year, and it took all of Abi’s composure to not break character and laugh.

“So what’s up with the business lunch, Abi?” Todd asks. You flick your hair.

“Halloween. I want to see where you’ve picked.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“She’s not that stupid,” Vee comments.

“Actually, I think it’s probably fine. But I want to make sure there’s no way we can be seen. This isn’t the size of our usual little get-togethers. And I am not going to risk everything I’ve earned here because someone gets wasted and brings down the X-Men.”

“Hence the masks,” Todd says. Compulsory Halloween masks for all attendees. No names.

“And that,” you say, quietly sliding your heel up his thigh from under the table, “is another thing. The batch I’ve picked up to make things more fun is the real deal. I don’t want some newcomer tripping balls at all the masks and freaking out.”

Todd smirks, and widens his legs to let your heel go even higher. “Fair point. They’re great quality, though. Professional shit. I don’t want them to go to waste.”

“Where did you get them, anyway?” Vee asks. Great – now you don’t have to.

“Three wannabes on the verge of dropping out from Westside,” he sighs, turning to Vee. “Turned up at a little party I was at looking to unload them fast. Doesn’t matter. I’ve got a mask for Abi, me and Chris. You’ll have to fend for yourself.”

“Those masks aren’t the ones that worry me,” you say. “Those weird blue ones face ones, like we’re in some kind of space cult, are the issue. They won’t disguise who we are, and…”

“I already told you they’re decoration only…”

“… and I don’t want them used to decorate the space in case someone starts bugging out.”

“Fine. I won’t use them.”

“Oh no,” you say, once again shoving Kristen’s pudding out of her reach. “I remember Summer Ball. I’m not going to trust you again. I’m going to take the masks off you tonight.”

“I could take them,” Kristen chips in, trying desperately to be involved as she retrieves the rest of her lunch.

“Nobody asked you, Kristen. Go back to your feed bag. You want to help, why don’t you try one of the batch after classes and make sure they’re as-advertised.” You turn back to Todd and give him the ‘I am not asking, I’m telling you’ stare.

“Fine,” Todd says. “I’ve got them stored in the woodshed behind the Master’s Lodge. Wisner never checks his own back yard. Meet me by the Master’s Lawn after football practice and they’re your problem. Then we can go out to the party site.”

You smile, and instantly revert to Angel Abi, even as your leg retreats down his calf and back to the floor. You stand up, signalling for Vee and Kristen that it’s time to go. “Thanks, Todd. You’re the best! And I’m going to start a group chat about that 5k, all right?”

Looks like getting the masks back will be a piece of cake.

***

“You ready to head out?” you ask. Abi’s afternoon classes have been surprisingly enjoyable: a mix of easy subjects and a film studies course similar to your own. 5pm rolls around quickly and you meet Todd as arranged, on the gravel path past the Master’s Lodge, where the it skips away from the school and heads toward the Backwoods. You come direct from athletics, dressed in your running kit and the white trim of Adams house.
“Sure thing. It’s not far, but don’t worry – I’m not stupid enough to use the east glen.”

“Good. Sooner we get there, more time we have in this ‘secret’ lair. First thing’s first, though, let’s pick up those dumb masks.”

Todd looks at you for a moment in confusion. “I already gave them to you.”

You stop dead in your tracks. “I haven’t seen you since lunch, Todd. What do you mean you ‘gave them to me’.”

“I handed them to Kristen before practice. She came up and said you told her to…”

“The fuck I did!” You snap. Your Will mind is used to the strange way the masks seem to dance around you, but Abi is fuming – that you’re denied the masks, but more importantly that she has been disobeyed. “I wouldn’t trust that useless truffle-hunter with tying her own shoelaces. Wait here.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“Into the girls’ wing? Just… wait there, Todd, fuck.” You take off along the gravel. Fortunately, you’re in the perfect clothes for a sprint, and Abi’s cardio regimen means it’s a breeze to cover the ground rapidly. For some reason you stick to the school rules and run around the master’s lawn, rounding the corner rather than cutting directly across the blades of grass, and dart into the main hall. Then it’s up the stairs, through the fire doors, past C dorm, your own room, and up a tight, narrow passage to where Kristen Wright–Wallace shares a room with Vee Macklin.

I am going to rip her eyes out. Rip. Her. Eyes. Out.

You burst through the door, slamming it behind you as you rush into the room. “What did I tell you…”

The words vanish from your mouth. You, stand there, stunned. On Kristen’s bed are two of the masks, ready to be hidden away. The bag from the church basement is there, too, its contents scattered on the sheets from where they’ve been dropped suddenly.

But the real nightmare is sat up on the floor, amid a pile of books and junk ripped loose from where he collapsed. There, dressed in a plus size St Francis Xavier girl’s uniform, is an exact double of Will Prescott. He’s staring at his hands, a look of pure terror etched on his face.

“Abi,” Will says, looking up at you in desperation, “what the hell is in those pills?”

Next: "The Other Girl Who Played with Magic" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 2)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)"