This choice: Counter with a different plan • Go Back...Chapter #28Two Surprise Trades by: Seuzz   "That's not going to work, Chelsea," Frank says. "The point is to give us control. If my brother is going to give up his body--"
"Is his body really that valuable?" you ask.
"Not to brag, but I think it is," Joe says.
"So we just need to trade you something valuable for it," you say.
"Yeah," Frank snaps. "Chelsea. That's all you've got."
You grab at Chelsea before she can start screaming again. "Except we do have something valuable. The book. The Libra, as you call it."
"That's what it's called," Frank says, and looks at you sharply. "What are you proposing?"
"That we give you the Libra. Now. Right away. But you give us--" You catch yourself. How much will they pay? "Make us an offer for it."
Frank stares at you. "To hold the Libra? Immediately? We'll give you Joe." You raise an eyebrow. "You want me, too?"
"Are you willing to pay that high a price for it?"
Joe mutters something at Frank; the latter keeps staring at you. "But Chelsea would still have to give up her body," he says. "It would have to be a straight swap across the table. Your bodies for ours."
"Not necessarily," you say. You're thinking so fast you can hardly keep up with yourself. "We keep our bodies, but we also take yours. We put some special stuff inside the masks of you that puts them under our control."
"We're not going to let you turn us into fakes, like you did to Johansson and Mitchell!" Frank says, and his eyes blaze with anger.
"You two would go someplace else," you say. It's almost like you're improvising. "Two other people. They would disappear under your masks, which would be under our control. You'd take over their bodies, but you'd still be yourselves."
"They could still use the book, Will," Chelsea hisses.
"We'd promise not to," Joe says.
"And what good is a promise," she sneers.
"Maybe nothing, from you," Frank snorts. "With us it's different."
"You'd understand that once you got inside our heads," Joe says, and he is much more grave than he has been up to this point. "You'd understand the kind of oath we'd take, and why we wouldn't break it."
"It still won't work," Frank declares. "You're talking about making more victims, and we're not going to--"
"There are already two victims out there," you say. "Three. Cara, Caleb, and Sean. You'd use them."
Again, Joe says something to Frank in a queer language you don't understand. Frank shifts in his seat and takes a deep breath. "Our oath ought to be good enough--"
"But they won't know that unless we take the bargain," Joe insists.
"And then they can give us our bodies back! There doesn't even have to be a switch. Just let them have a peek--"
"Trust but verify, Frank," Joe says. "And as long as we've got the book, they should have a hostage too. Besides," he adds. "Our bodies wouldn't only be hostages for the book and our good faith. They would be hostages until such a time as we are able to get Gordon Black back to normal."
"I'd like to know whose side you're on," Frank says peevishly, then sighs. "Alright. You will take masks of us," he says, fixing his hard gaze on you. "We will take the places of two of your friends. In exchange, you will give us the Libra. We will work together to cure Gordon and restore all to their rightful place. When that is done, we shall all return to our original places, and Joe and I will take the book to where it can be safely destroyed." He lays his palm flat on the table. "I swear by my two ousiarchs that I shall honor this bargain if you do likewise. May they disown me if I prove faithless."
"So swear I as well," Joe says, and lays his palm upon the table too.
Of course, this elaborate ritual--and what the hell is an ousiarch?--takes you aback. "Um, are Chelsea and me supposed to say something like that too?"
"No," says Frank. "And it would sound silly if you did. You just promise to keep your end, and not to fuck things up for us. Otherwise--" And you really don't like the way he grins at you. "Otherwise, the bargain is off, and we get to fuck you up real good."
"Yeah, okay," you say, and that grin really does shatter your nerves. "I promise. Chelsea?"
"Yeah, sure," she says grumpily.
"Then it's settled," says Frank. "Let's go get the book."
"We won't be able to get it until tomorrow afternoon," Chelsea says, and seems to take malicious pleasure in adding: "I made it hard for anyone to get ahold of it."
Frank grunts. "Then let's meet tomorrow. Six o'clock, up at the school." There are nods all around, and he tosses your keys to you. "You two can take off. Me and Joe will take a cab back."
* * * * *
The silence between you and Chelsea is grim as you pull away from the coffee shop. You keep looking over at her, but she only stares ahead. You can't tell if she is lost in thought, or if she is so pissed that she doesn't want to acknowledge your presence. You wish she was looking like herself, and not Cara, for it's an attitude that you're more used to seeing on the real girl.
Finally, you can stand it no longer. "I'm sorry, Chelsea," you say. "It was the only thing I could think to do to stop them from--" You break off. It would be horribly vulgar to say "To stop them from groping your body from the inside."
She looks over at you, as though startled. Maybe she was preoccupied, for it takes her a moment to speak. "I know why you did it, Will," she says. And then she hugs you. "Thank you."
Your hand jerks in surprise, and the truck swerves a little. "I think it will all work out," you start to say.
"I still don't think we can trust them," she says, and doesn't disguise the bitterness in her tone. "But I guess it's pointless now."
"They seem pretty serious."
"Pretty serious about getting the book," she snorts.
"If they do get rid of it, I'd be happy to see the last of it," you say.
"You mean after all we did together," she says, and she sounds shocked. "After all those offers I--"
You wince. "Look, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun. It's fun being Cara." You're dying to reach over and rub her thigh, to tweak her boob, to hold that lovely form in the crook of your arm--or to have that lovely form again wrapped around yourself. But you keep your hands to yourself. "And you made some really tempting offers. I mean, I know I'm a nobody, someone beneath your notice--"
"Shut up, Will," she says quietly.
"--but it was fun being with you. I mean, you were an awful bitch sometimes, and sometimes I wanted to kill you. But you made it a real adventure. I've never had such a great time. I'll always remember it. Even after you and me, you know-- Go our separate ways when all this is over."
You look back at the road, and try not to notice that she's staring at you. Then she turns away. Soft noises come from her seat, and to your shock you realize she's crying. "Okay, I'm sorry I called you a bitch--"
"No, it's not that," she snuffles. "I am a bitch. I know it and I can't help it. But you're a-- a real son of a bitch if you're just going to go off and leave me. I mean," and her voice rises to a wail. "Even Gordon would come back after yelling at me and calling me a bitch and cunt and a-- an evil little gnome-whore!" She laughs and hiccups. "That was his favorite name for me. Evil little gnome-whore! He'd call me that and he'd stomp off. But he always came back. He wasn't like you. You're so cold, Will. Talking about our separate ways. Like none of this mattered. Like it never happened!" She hiccups again.
After a stunned moment you're able to reattach your jaw to the bottom of your face. "Chelsea, I didn't mean-- I just assumed you wouldn't want to, you know, hang out with me any more. Because you're, like, head cheerleader, and I'm--"
"You're a prick! A stuck-up prick! You think I'm stuck up, but you're the one who's stuck up! Nothing I tried giving you was good enough for you!"
"I thought I wasn't good enough for you!"
"You thought I thought you weren't good enough for me! You wanna know what I think? Then take me to my house. My real house!"
You have to make a hard turn, but you comply. You say nothing else, and neither does she, for she has to recompose herself.
* * * * *
The fake Chelsea greets you both with cheer but puzzlement; your companion just bustles past and draws you and the golem along in her wake up to her bedroom. There, she rummages through a drawer and pulls out two masks, then disappears into the bathroom with the golem, leaving you to pace nervously.
Ten minutes later the door opens, and Cara comes back out--but now she's in the company of a naked Will Prescott. He thrusts a mask at you. "Gimme your clothes. And don't tell those two assholes we switched," he says. "This is about you and me, not them."
You stare down at the mask. It's a new one, with no golem shell inside it. Chelsea's name gleams up at you.
* * * * *
Your visitors are gone when you awake. Numbly, you tiptoe into the bathroom and stare at the figure in the mirror. A very haggard Chelsea Cooper gazes accusingly back. You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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