The next two days at school are really challenging. First there is the subtle harassment from Chelsea and her coterie. You thought that Lester the Molester was bad, but he is nothing compared to what girls can do to each other to get their point across. Fortunately, you are able to explain as Cassie that you are trying to break it off with Will, but he keeps after you and is so sweet the way he ... etc., etc. Eventually, Cassie's continual rambling babble and seeming sincerity keeps them mostly at bay. However, no matter how you try, they never reveal anything as to why they want Cassie away from Will.
In order to try to find anything out as well as to keep tabs on Lisa (which isn't as easy as it may seem), you enlisted Cassie's friend Beth and a few others who thought Lisa's talk to get you away from Will was not all that sincere either. It seems a lot of Westside's "lesser" girls - as considered by yourself and friends - actually have a fairly good opinion of Will Prescott even if he isn't one of the "A" listers, really good looking, or as sophisticated as their ideal man, but he is still worthy enough boyfriend material. They willingly keep you informed of Lisa's movements and anyone she may be talking to and what she may say or ask about Cassie or Will.
It is one of these spies that tell you that Lisa was making a move on Will and trying to steal him back. They had heard her talking to him in the hallway while everyone was changing classes asking if they could meet for a study date that evening. The Cassie side of you instantly thinks "bitch" but more so is hurt thinking Will was two-timing you. It's crazy how the mask's persona can be very strong and almost overpower your own. That's good in carrying out the disguise, but you have to concentrate at all times to remind yourself who you really are.
As soon as they tell you this, they add how loyal Will had been, although his story was that he couldn't because he had been grounded until Sunday. It wasn't an absolute refusal, but the Cassie in you feels very happy. You yourself think it is a brilliant ploy (of course, the golem has your brilliant mind !). It might work well into your plan to unmask Blackwell and rescue the real Lisa.
From the intelligence you and Cassie's spies have gathered, there seemed no particular reason for Chelsea's vendetta towards Will Prescott, and Lisa mostly was just being Lisa. She didn't go out of her way to watch you or say anything bad about you to anyone else. It was all a big puzzle that you hadn't located the right pieces to assemble. Maybe you were wrong about Blackwell being her.
If all this isn't enough stress, it is now three days of mid-terms, and studying cuts severely into your time at the clubhouse or planning your moves. Being Cassie, your family is fairly strict about curfews during the week and even more so during test periods. They allow Cassie to study after school until dinner which is the only time you can escape to the clubhouse. You are lucky that you and Cassie compliment each other so well that one or the other have a good grasp on all subjects and don't have to study much to keep up her marks. Also fortunate, the Will golem can study at night since golem's really don't need sleep.
(One of the interesting effects of the masks is that you can just take the mask off the golem, put it on, and have all its memories. If you hadn't gotten involved with this mess with Blackwell, you could have been a genius and never studied. Hell, you could have gotten all sorts of knowledge by using the golem to get it for you and used it to ... who knows? Add another golem or two to study and work for you, and there'd be untold possibilities. Wealth. Fame. Girls ! )
~ ~ ~
When it neared dinner, you decide to send the first golem home as Cassie so you could wear Melody and do some planning. It slows the work on the other masks since you have to do the polishing. Even though it is mindless work and lets you think, it distracts you just enough that you spend little time with it and mostly just thinking as Melody until you have a clear plan in place.
To take your mind off Blackwell that evening, you decide to concentrate on the next spell. Besides if Blackwell took Lisa, he could have turned her into a golem as you had done to Cassie. If so, you need to find the spell to turn her back. If the next spell is the one, you want to get to it as soon as you can so you have it to release her. If it isn't, you need to press on to the next. Then the next, and ... Your feelings for Lisa are very strong, and it is good that you had switched masks and now are wearing Melody to keep it in perspective or you might go off and be easily trapped by Blackwell.
The spell itself requires a sealed mask. The only ones you have are of Umeko with your mind strip, Melody and the one of you. You aren't about to mess up the Melody mask, so you need to decide whether to use Umeko or yourself. You also have yet to test whether you can tell a golem to forget or change part of the memory in a mask. Maybe you can combine doing both.
At this point either mask would work, so you just grab the Umeko one sitting on the shelf since it was easier than ripping the other off the golem. Placing it on the sigil you had carved on the table, you sprinkle the graveyard dirt on it, drop a piece of your hair you had cut earlier without a mask on, cautiously soak it with the right amount and mix of fuel, and nervously ready a match to strike and set it off.
"What ya' doin', boss?"
You damn near jump up onto the table as the match lit and fell onto the mask exploding into a brilliant white before dying back to the usual purple flame.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT FOR?" you scream falling away from the flash and now trying to see anything except a big dot in front of your eyes.
"Sorry, boss. I thought you saw me watching." the Will golem sheepishly replies.
~ ~ ~
After about fifteen minutes, the flames go out. The mask now looks more a dull gray like golem skin, but you can still see a faint reflection through the haze. Your mind immediately thinks, "It's a golem mask." It might have been Melody that concluded this, but maybe it was you. The fact is, all the sudden your mind began to spin with all the spells you had done so far realizing that they are connected and progressing in a certain way.
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