The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Two Girls, One Mask

Previously: "How Trust Is Repaid" 

"How did you make this?" you exclaim.

"I made it like you said to," Katy says in a small voice. "Did I do it wrong?"

You did it too damn well! you want to shout back. "I told you not to do anything with it," you reply in a half-strangled voice.

"Well, I wanted to try it out. I'm sorry!" Katy says, and she reaches out to take the mask from you. "I just wanted to—"

"No, it's okay," you say, and jerk the mask back from her. "I'm just surprised is all. You really—" You swallow. "You really tried it out on, er—?"

"I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't have." Katy shrinks up. "Only I was thinking ... Well ..."

She looks up at you like a dog that's afraid of getting whipped.

"You said you couldn't try the one you made, because, like, you can't wear one if it's of yourself. So I thought, well, I could get one of someone else? And you could try— Or I could try—"

You feel the blood drain from your face. Katy must think you're pissed at her, because she starts sniffling.

"I'm sorry," she says. "Oh God, you're right, this is so fucked up, I—"

"No no no!" you assure her. "It's— I told you, I'm just surprised is all! Actually I was, uh, I was thinking of trying it with, um, someone." It's like your tongue and mouth don't want to work. "On one of my friends. Because, you know, right, we can't know if they, uh, work if— Look, I'm not mad at you or anything!" you assure Katy as starts to sniffle hard. "Really! Hey!" You hesitate, then touch her chin, pushing it up so she'll look you in the face. "It's okay, Katy! I'm— I'm really glad you, uh— I just can't believe it is all!"

Still she sniffles and snuffles.

"Stephanie's the only person I could, uh, get to today," she says.

"What happened?"

You only want to know how Stephanie reacted, but Katy thinks you're asking about the whole process. "Well, it was kind of scary," she says. "So—"

Katy relates that she went over to Stephanie's house right after lunch and hung out with her in her bedroom. She had the mask along and showed it to Stephanie, and slyly talked her friend into putting it to her face, because (Katy says) she figured that where it would have to go if it was going to copy someone. Stephanie passed out for about ten minutes, which put Katy in a total panic because she wouldn't wake up and it was like the mask had gone into her. It eventually reappeared, though, and Katy woke Stephanie up and pretended that she has fainted. Stephanie wasn't too happy, but she didn't seem to suspect anything.

So now you have a mask of Stephanie Wyatt. You'll have to seal it up before it can be tested, though.

Of course, you know that it will work.

You let Katy suggest the dispositions. She didn't want to volunteer to put on your mask, because that might be weird, and she also thinks it would be weird for you to put on Stephanie's mask. So she shyly suggests that she be the one to try on the mask to see if it will work. You decide not to argue. Katy is very nervous, naturally, but she gets onto the table and kicks off her shoes and socks. She's a little smaller than Stephanie all the way around—

Or is she? Maybe she just seems smaller because she talks smaller, and because Stephanie's personality can really fill a room.

—so at your suggestion she also unbuttons the top of her jeans and digs underneath her shirt to loosen her bra. While she does that, you seal up the mask. At first you worry that covering over the metal band with sealant will ruin the band, but Stephanie's name continues to blaze out even after you've coated the inner surface.

"Okay, I'm going to put this on you," you tell her as she lays out on the table. "And I assume it's going to disguise you. I don't know how long it will take to work or anything." (That's mostly a lie, of course.) "But the book says how to get masks off of people, so if anything goes wrong, I'll get you right out."

Katy looks very alarmed at that, and a hard shiver runs through her, but she nods. Her expression is very worried as you lower the mask onto her.

The mask seems to slip through the front of her skull, like dropping a plate into a pool of water, and there might be the faintest ripple in her image. Whatever happens, it happens almost instantly, as Katy's form and features are replaced with those of Stephanie Wyatt.

You almost swallow your tongue. It's one thing to have done it yourself and to wake to the results. It's another to see them happen to someone else.

The Stephanie who materializes on the table in front of you doesn't look quite right to your eye, which worries you somewhat. But maybe that's only because the Stephanie that inhabits your imagination is a taut-faced Amazon with hard, emerald-colored eyes and lips that are only a twitch away from turning into a sneer or a snarl. The face of this one sags, but that might only be because she is asleep.

Otherwise, the features seem to be the same. Regular features with a strong, well-shaped nose and a small but firm chin. Chestnut-brown hair that is bobbed short and which twists into in short, spitfire curls just over her eyebrows, ears, and the nape of her neck. A summertime tan. Glancing down, you see well-shaped arms, and breasts that are quite a big larger than Katy's. Of her ass and legs—two of Stephanie's best features, when you dare to look at them—you can tell nothing, for Katy is wearing long jeans.

You wait a few minutes, then gently try shaking her awake. "Katy," you murmur. Then: "Stephanie?"

You get no answer, and it's only after you start kneading her shoulders that she begins to stir. Her brow furrows and she grimaces. With a groan and a wince she blinks her eyes open. She blinks at you stupidly.

"Katy?" you say. Your heart patters rapidly against your ribs.

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel?"

"Like crap. Like— Ooh, was I asleep?"

"For a few minutes. I woke you up."

"Jeez, I feel like crap. My head." She sits up with a grunt, and paws at the side of her head.

Then she freezes, and her eyes widen. Her expression goes slack. She fingers the tips of her hair. "Oh my God," she says.

"The mask worked," you tell her. "You, uh—"

The color drains from her face, and her jaw hangs slack as she stares at you. Slowly she leverages herself upright. She looks down, pressing her chin to her breastbone. She stares down at her boobs. "Oh my God," she says again.

"There's a mirror over against that wall," you tell her, and point.

She doesn't move, but slowly raises her arms and curls her fingers. Her eyes widen even more as she studies and flexes them. She lays a palm against a forearm, and gingerly squeezes it.

You put out a hand and help her to her feet. She totters uncertainly over to where the mirror is. "Oh my God," she says a third time as she stares at her reflection. Her eyes and mouth are perfect O's.

Stephanie Wyatt stares at herself in the mirror.

"You look just like her," you say, as though the girl can't see that for herself. You touch her shoulder. "How does it feel?" you ask as she lays a light fingertip against her face.

"It feels real," Stephanie murmurs. "Just like ... skin." She presses her finger into her cheek, then pinches it. "Oh my God!"

"What about memories and stuff?" You remember what it was like to awake inside Coach Schell's head and body, and you're a little surprised that you don't have a freaked out Stephanie Wyatt to deal with.

"I don't know," she mutters. "I'm still too— How does my voice sound?" she asks in sudden alarm. "Do I sound like Stephanie?"

You don't talk to Stephanie enough to have a clear idea of what her voice is like. But just as Katy looks too frightened to be the real Stephanie, she doesn't sound a tenth as confident. Her voice sounds thin, her tone hesitant. "You need to get more of her personality into it," you tell her. "See if you can dig into her mind."

Katy flinches. "That seems like a real invasion of privacy," she squeaks.

"You've got to try it," you urge her, "if you're going to try the whole thing out."

Katy looks very unhappy, and stares hard at herself in the mirror for a few seconds. Her frown deepens. She looks down at the floor and clenches her eyes shut.

After a minute or so, though, she shakes her head. "I ... don't know," she says. "I mean, I can picture her house and her family. But I know them already, and I don't think—"

"When's her birthday?"

"July fourteenth. But I knew that already too."

"Well, when's her brother's birthday? Or her mom's or her dad's? What's the password for her email? Uh, what was the name of her first-grade teacher?"

But Katy shakes her head disconsolately at each of these. "I don't know," she says. "I guess I did it wrong?"

Or maybe you did mess up by putting that sealant on after affixing the brain band. You tell her you don't know what the problem is.

* * * * *

Nor do you have a chance to explore the problem with her. She gets a text from her dad, asking her to run an errand and then come home. With your help, you remove the mask from her, and she leaves. "I'll come out tonight to see you again," she says. "If that's okay." You tell her it will be.

Next: "The Experiments" 

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