The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

A Fetch Quest

Previously: "Other People's Projects" 

"What's the deal?" you ask your dad. "I thought it was just, you know, a gag book."

He gives you a hard, steady look.

"In the first place, Will, you shouldn't have just walked into my office and taken it back."

"I thought it was still mine!"

"And that's why I'm not yelling at you," he says in a tone that while technically isn't yelling is still as stern as iron. "But Arnholms was originally selling it for two hundred dollars, right?"

"A little more, actually," you mumble.

"Which suggests to me that it still might be a valuable antique. And if it is a trick book, and it's several hundred years old, it might still contain something valuable, don't you think?"

"Um ..." Your hands and feet turn to ice as all the blood rushes from them.

"Do you think you can buy it back?"

"I can try," you say. "But what if the guy wants more than fifty?"

"Get his price and come tell me." Your dad pulls two twenties and a ten from his wallet.

* * * * *

To get the book back you first have to track Sean Wilcox down, but when he shakes his head when you ask him about the book. "Nah, brah," he says. "Jack told me he found someone who gave him a better price for it."

"But I gave it to him to give to you," you protest, but Sean only shrugs. "So who'd he sell it to? Brent Pruitt?" Sean only shrugs again. Nor can he tell you where to find Jack.

"Jesus, Prescott." Carson shakes his head when you ask him at lunch if he knows where Jack hangs out. "You're just getting gayer and gayer."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" you demand.

"Relax," James tells you. "Everyone's cool with being gay these days. You might even be more popular if you came out."

"More popular with some of the guys," Carson agrees.

"More popular with you, you mean?" you sputter at him.

"No, but I'd respect you more. Oh, say!" Carson sits up. "Do you suppose maybe that's how come Pozniak likes riding you guys's asses so hard?" He jerks his chin at you and at Caleb, who is eating his sandwich with a distracted air. "Maybe he has a crush on you? You should come out to him, tell him you're gay and that it really turns you on when he—"

"Oh, fuck you!"

"Don't say anything to Pozniak," James interjects. "Leave it to me and Carson to break it to him that you're gay."

You scramble to your feet with bunched fists. "I fucking swear to God, Lamont, if you say anything to the Molester about—"

"See, it's right there in the nickname," Carson says. "Unrequited homoeroticism."

"Siddown, Will," Caleb says. "You're only embarrassing yourself."

"Then tell these two cocksuckers—! The fuck did I do to you?" you demand of the amused Carson. "All week you've been—!"

"I said, 'Sit down'," Caleb interrupts. "They're just riding you 'cos you're so easy to ride."

You'd like to storm off, and you come real close to doing so, but you know that Caleb is right—you'd just look silly and stupid—so you fall back to the grass. You can't resist one sotto voce dig at your tormentors, though: "Coupla 'phobes is what you are, it sounds like."

"Not at all," Carson airily retorts. "If I had a problem there, I wouldn't hang out with Jack as much as I do."

"What's that got to do with—? Wait. Are you saying that Jack is—?"

"I told him last night he's oblivious," Caleb tells the other two.

"Isn't that why you want to hook up with Jack?" Carson asks.

"No! I'm not trying to hook up with— I'm trying to get a fucking book back from him! The one I showed you in the parking lot the other day! The one you wanted to borrow from—"

Carson jumps to his feet.

"Why the fuck didn't you say so in the first place, Prescott?" he snaps. "Let's go find him."

* * * * *

As it happens, Jack is in the library, at a table with some of his friends. He looks up with a friendly grin as you approach. "Hey man, what's up?" he asks.

Carson punches you in the back of the shoulder, and you lurch forward a step. "That book I gave you yesterday," you tell Jack after giving Carson a black look. "The one you gave me forty dollars for."

"Oh yeah," Jack says. "Sean said he didn't want it."

Carson interrupts. "You still have it?"

"No, I found a different buyer." Jack turns back to you. "You want half of what I made off it?"

"Who'd you sell it to?"

"Drama department. They wanted it as a prop."

You ask, "How much did you sell it for?" while Carson asks, "Think they'd sell it back?"

Jack shrugs. "You'd have to ask them."

Carson punches you in the shoulder again. "We'll go see 'em after class," he tells you.

"What's your deal?" you retort. "Why are you so interested in it?"

"'Cos I still got a use for it. I wanna borrow it off you still."

"Oh, good luck with that!" you retort. "You've been a shit to me all week, and besides, it's my dad who wants me to get it back, not me.

"Oh, well, fuck you then," Carson barks, and he stomps off.

You make a face at his retreating back, then return to Jack. "Can we go talk to whoever you sold it to? See if they'll sell it back?"

Jack shrugs. "Sure. If you got nothing else to do after school."

You do have something to do after school, but in all the excitement it completely slips your mind.

* * * * *

"They want it for their next play," Jack explains as he leads you to the drama wing of the school after the last bell has sounded. Your skin prickles as you walk. Your path will take you by the gym, where the basketball squad will be gathering for its post-class practice. You can't help jumping at each loud noise or shouted word from the stream of students flowing along beside you. "They needed something that looked like it could be, like, a book of magic spells, and your book had a pentagram on the side, and it looked kind of old besides, so—"

"How much did you say you sold it to 'em for?" you ask.

"Eighty." Jack snickers. "I think Christian was pissed at Charles."

"Why do you say that?" You don't know why you ask. You're not even sure who he's talking about.

"Because why else would he pay eighty dollars for a prop? It's not even like it even really looks like, you know, a warlock's book. The audience sure won't be able to see the pentagram. Waste of money for them. Oh, don't forget to remind me that I owe you half the money I made on it." Jack pulls open the door to the theater for you.

The lights are up in the auditorium, and Jack nudges you and points at a figure slouched in the very back row with her face bent over her cell phone. "Drama groupie," he mutters in your ear. It takes you a moment to recognize the girl as Maria Vasquez, one of the cheerleaders. For some reason, it surprises you to see her here. But Jack, his hands in his pockets, is leading you on down toward the stage itself.

It's partially dressed to resemble a living room, with a flat mimicking a wall with windows, and a dumpy sofa. A crowd of students is clustered around the latter. You recognize one of them as Charles Hartlein—a character who everyone knows is gay. He is being very waspish with the others.

"Chris, love," he is telling the bluff, blonde-haired guy who is glowering at him. "It's gonna be two weeks before I need you to know your lines. Right now, I just need your biceps." He points at the sofa. "Move it."

"Where do you want me to put it?" the guy growls through gritted teeth.

"Back three feet. Then you can fit it and your ass together any way that makes you comfortable. Elle, Laura," Charles continues, turning to two girls who are listening with unhappy expressions, "which one of you is the one that's color blind?" He plucks a throw pillow from off the sofa just as the blonde guy is bending over shift it. "This doesn't match the—"

Your cell phone goes off, and Charles turns to glare daggers at you as you fumble it out. You make a face of your own when you see who it's from. Whre feh fuck r u? Caleb wants to know.

Only now do you remember your promise to help him lift that thumb drive from Mr. Walberg's desk after school.

Next: "Stuff That Comes Out of Storage" 

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