This choice: Switch with one of the Durrases • Go Back...Chapter #30Another Spin on the Merry-Go-Round by: Seuzz   You look back over your shoulder at the gym. "We can decide later. Anyway, we won't be able to switch into them while they're around. Or else they'll know that we--" You point at him, and then at yourself.
Will just grunts, and looks over his shoulder at the approaching car. "And here's Cara. Any bets the blonde one is going to pick her?"
"I don't bet against sure things," you say, and your partner gives a little start. You realize your words had come out in a very bitchy tone.
* * * * *
Sure enough, Joe lays claim to Cara as soon as you're all up in the fuck room. "I guess that leaves Mitchell for you," he chortles, and slaps Frank in the chest.
"Actually, I was going to take over for Johansson."
"Whoa," Joe says. "Way to take one for the team."
"Shut up!" Will says, and glares at him.
Joe gapes at him, then glances over at you before clapping his hands and laughing again. "You're a loyal friend, Prescott. I'm sorry I said what I said."
You blink and glare at him. His reaction again gives you the impression that he knows exactly who is who. "Okay, so Will brought the book," you say to cover you discomfiture. "We'll hand it over as soon as you guys put on some masks."
"We have to make some first, don't we?" Frank asks.
"Chelsea was holding out on me," Will says, and gives you a dirty look as he dumps the contents of the bag all over the floor. "There were already five blank ones out at Salopek, along with the book and all the supplies."
"Well, excuse me for wanting to be prepared," you retort. "You may not believe it, but Gordon used to be a Boy Scout, and I picked up a few things from him."
"Gross. I can imagine," laughs Joe. Frank just steps over to the pile of supplies.
"Hang on there," you say. If Chelsea is going to act like you, you're going to act like her. "I said that you have to put masks on first."
"I'd prefer it if we made our own masks," says Frank.
"Fine," you say, and toss your hair back. "It'll be a few days, then. That's how long it takes."
Frank's face falls.
"We can get them done in a couple of hours," Will says. "Chelsea's not mentioning that she found a way to speed up the process."
"Much as I'm having a lot of fun listening to you two argue," Joe says in a loud voice, "I wanna get this party started. Lemme see one of those masks and the book. I'll check it for booby-traps."
"I'd rather cook 'em up from scratch, Joe," Frank says.
"Says the guy who only eats packaged food. Come on, lemme see."
Will ostentatiously looks at you, and you just as ostentatiously nod back. You fold your arms and glare into a corner of the room as Joe takes the book and one of the blanks. Five masks, you think to yourself. The girl is good. She has four more back at her place, and two more hidden at Gordon's. Prepared indeed! You'd gone to bed wondering what she intended to do with them, and could only decide that she'd had no firm intentions at all. Only lots of possibilities that she enjoyed fantasizing about when feeling malicious: Cindy, Yumi, Jessica, Eva, Kelsey, Seth, Steve, Jason, even Kendra and Gloria.
You pace the room while Joe studies the book. Frank also paces, and he seems to grow increasingly nervous. "Joe, we could be halfway done with new ones by this point," he says after a mere five minutes.
"So get started on Johansson and Cara," Joe retorts. Without looking up, he grabs his brother's face. "Just pull at their faces while saying the magic words." He rattles off a line of nonsense syllables that seem to spiral around themselves.
Frank slaps Joe's hand away. He advances on Caleb, but the latter rears back. "Tell him to let me get the mask off him," he says.
"Lay down, Caleb," you say.
The golem looks over at Will. "What are you looking at me for," he yells. "Do what Chelsea says!"
"Don't mind me," Caleb grumbles as he drops to floor. "I haven't been feeling like myself lately."
Joe looks up at you from under his eyebrows and flashes a quick grin. You turn away to hide your rattled emotions.
Frank squats next to the golem: Caleb doesn't seem to change, but suddenly Frank is holding a mask. He glances inside it, then tosses it aside and lays one of the new masks onto Caleb. "How long is this gonna take?" he asks Joe.
"Depends," says Joe. "A few minutes, at least."
"Am I gonna be able to remember everything that's happened to him?"
"Only what happened before that last mask got put on him."
"How do you know that?" you ask of Joe. He gives you a look. "I mean, that's right, but how do you--"
"It's right here in the book," he says. "But I guess you can't read sigils."
You swallow, and shoot Will a pretend-murderous look. You hadn't realized how adept these guys might prove at mastering the book.
Masks continue to go on and off people, and Frank puts the golemized masks back on them in order to stop them from waking up as themselves. Finally, Joe declares himself satisfied that Chelsea's prepared masks are safe. "I'll go first," he says, and picks up a blank of his own.
But Frank grabs it from him. "You'll know if something is fucked up, so I'll go first." He throws himself on the floor and jams it onto his face.
Joe curses and squats next to his prostrate brother. "Frank's exactly the kind of guy who'd push me in front of a bus, so he could have the pleasure of jumping in front of it and pushing me out of its way," he snorts. "Either of you have a brother?"
"I have a little brother," Will says after a pause. "He's a real pain in the ass."
"I have a big brother," you say. "I'm sure they're worse than little brothers."
"You and me could be real simpatico, Chelsea," Joe says, and winks at you. "I'd like that, you know."
"Bite me hard, Joe."
"Well might I. First, though, let's get some of that sealant made."
* * * * *
"I'm gonna punch you in a minute!" Caleb Johansson snarls at Cara Fuhrman.
She ignores him, and continues to blatantly fondle her boobs. "Bwuh-huh-huh!" she chortles in a hoarse, guttural voice. "Arf! Rawrf! Rawrf-rawrf-rawrf! Ah-wooooo!"
"Cara," you say through gritted teeth. "If you want to stay on the cheerleading squad, and get in the girls' locker room while we're all changing, you're going to have to behave a little more lady-like."
She looks up at you in wide-eyed wonder and terror. And then the Cara-clad Joe shakes himself all over. "Okay," he gasps. "I'll try to hold it all in--" He giggles. "Until I get home."
Frank--Caleb Johansson--zips up his pants and pulls his shirt down. "Better get those other masks finished before Caleb and Cara wake up," he says. "That spell I put on them won't last forever."
That had been another nasty shock: He'd leaned over the real guy and girl and muttered something over them, then risen to declare they'd be "asleep" for at least another hour. Their declaration that they weren't "magicians" has begun to sound seriously misleading.
"We'll wait until you're gone," Will says.
"Don't dawdle," Frank says, and tucks the book under his arm. "Okay, dude, so see you tomorrow?" Will grimaces and nods at his fake friend.
"Cara?" you ask Joe.
He looks up guiltily from his boobs. "Oh yeah, sure, Chelsea. Practice bright and early!" He returns to his boobs, but Frank yanks him almost off his feet and pulls him out of the loft.
You let out a sigh. "I think I'll take Joe," you say. "You probably don't want inside that head."
"Thanks," Chelsea says. "I was going to claim the other one anyway."
You both undress--neither feeling shy after last night's confidences--and lay back to pull masks off.
* * * * *
You are sitting naked on the fuck room floor, cross-legged, with head bowed and elbows resting on your knees. Lightly, you massage your toes. "We really had no idea what we were up against, did we?" you murmur softly to yourself. "They've been really nice to us, haven't they?"
Your companion says nothing, and you look up: Frank Durras--just as naked as you--is staring out the high window with his hands on his hips. "Chelsea?" you call to her. "Frank?" you call again when she doesn't respond.
She turns, but doesn't look at you even while looking directly at you. A fierce and distracted frown disfigures her face. Your eye falls to the fork between her legs. "Shit, are you actually turned on? Don't come any closer, or you'll put my eye out."
Her lip peels back in a snarl, and she extends a hand in a gesture that you--Joe Durras--recognize all too well. You rear back, but the expected sensation--of a mail-clad fist closing around your face--doesn't materialize. She blinks, and you let out a soft laugh. "I guess the masks don't copy everything, do they?" You stretch your arms. "Just imago."
"You already-- Joe already knew that, didn't he?" she snaps.
"Yeah," you sigh, and press the side of your temple with a knuckle. "Gave him a headache to have to digest those sigils so fast, and after a few hours of fingering himself he'll hit the book again. But we can trust them. You know that as well as I do."
She stares over your head for a few minutes, with an expression that you know well enough demands your own silence. Then: "So we don't need to wear these things any more. I'm going back to myself. Who are you going to be? Joe or Will?"   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive
story also contributed to these: |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Get MORE!
Shop Memberships
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
