This choice: Take the anima bands off them • Go Back...Chapter #32Doppelgangers and Double Crosses by: Seuzz   "I don't like it," you say.
Melody's brow crinkles.
"I don't like what I've done to them," you say. "They don't need--" You swallow, and taste the bile. "They don't need me inside their heads. I'm like garbage."
"And what'll they do to you if you get those anima band off them?"
"I don't know," you say slowly. "Frank might pound me into mush, and Joe might set the mush on fire. But that's okay. I'd deserve it."
"So you're going to double-cross them?" Her tone is measured, even.
"Yeah. Yeah," you repeat more firmly, and sit up with a sigh. "Let's figure out how to do it."
"I was afraid you'd say that, Prescott," Melody says.
You look up sharply. She raises a clenched fist. Things like invisible iron bands materialize around your torso. "Joe!" Melody calls.
Joe's grinning face appears around the door frame. "Aw, dammit, looks like I didn't leave when I said I was going to," he chortles.
You swing toward Melody. Since you're still wearing Frank's mind band, you know it must be him under--
How did he get under her mask? It's golemized to your control.
You must have muttered something aloud, for Joe answers your query. "We made a new mask of her. I snagged one of the blanks on my way out to get him, and we polished it up before coming back. That's how come we took awhile getting back. Then he got Melody alone and scored another copy of her while you and me were bullshitting in here." He picks up the sketchpad and clucks his tongue over it.
"You mean you were lying to me, about me being a Stellae?"
"Not at all," Joe says. "That's how come it's gonna suck to have to get rid of you. But we knew we'd have to test you out. I knew we'd have to test you out. I'm a fast thinker." He shakes his head. "I really wish you hadn't decided to double-cross us. We're the same person, dude. We're all Will Prescott!"
"Except the real one apparently can't be trusted," Melody says in a growl much lower than her normal voice.
"What are you going to do to me?" you ask, and your voice shakes.
Joe's face grows very grave. "What Blackwell should have done to you. Well, let's get it over with," he says, and advances on you. He raises an open palm to his chin, and blows something into your face.
* * * * *
You're not in darkness, exactly, but neither is it light. The place you find yourself in might not even be a place. It feels blank.
And then the forms appear, emerging at first indistinctly and then with great, cutting crispness from the fog of nonexistence that surrounds you. They are designs of great intricacy and complexity, bending and turning and folding in great wheels. Some of them are merely bent into wheels, but others— Ow! You can't look at them, it hurts too much to actually see something that has more than five dimensions.
They are sigils, joined together into a vast, interlocking clockwork thing rushing and turning all about you. You reach out to touch one, but it eludes you.
And then either you are getting very big or they are getting very small, because they tighten all around you. But they also seem to fade, so that soon they again disappear into nothingness.
And you feel yourself disappearing into nothingness too.
* * * * *
The world returns in a rush of color and form. Frank Durras stares at you with a faint curl to his lips. "And you're back," he says. "You know what to do," he says, and turns around.
"Huh?" you say.
He turns again, to fix a hard, bright eye on you. "Cut the idiot act, Joe. Go home and do my homework."
Right. You're supposed to go take care of his school work for him, hang loose at the house, and then meet him at school tomorrow. Because that's what he and you had decided needed to be done while--
You blink and sway on your feet.
While Joe went back to Will Prescott's house, disguised as Will Prescott.
Frank frowns. "You got a problem?" he demands, and puts his hands on his hips.
"No. Uh, what kind of grade are you wanting on the math? Perfect score, or just high enough to make you seem plausible as a brainiac?"
"Don't fuck with me, you mudpack. I got another brother out there who gives me enough lip."
You look around. There are your clothes over there. Well, Joe Durras's clothes. You pick them up, and since you don't want to get in a fight with Frank, you skedaddle.
You were in the mausoleum, and it's dark outside. You can't see yourself, but you've the feel of your body. The body of Joe Durras. Smooth and big and strong and graceful. You pull on the workout clothes quickly--scant protection against the chill night air--and jog out the gate before the guardian can start snuffling around in earnest. The boys' truck is parked nearby, keys still in the ignition. You drive back in to town.
All the way there, you use Joe's memories to try figuring out what the fuck is going on.
* * * * *
It had started after they'd knocked you out. You twitch at the memory of looking down and snickering at your lanky form as Frank had tossed you onto the couch, where he'd made a new mask of you. Joe had already quietly hustled the golems of Prescott and Melody into the secret basement, and ripped Blackwell's mask off the golemized Lucy; he'd done all that while you was preoccupied with Frank's mind band.
Then had come the weirdness: You and Frank had taken Will into the mausoleum, to turn him into a golem. You'd opened the book, and had instantly been distracted by the faint writing that glowed on one of the earlier pages. You'd set it down on the bier to study. But Frank hadn't seen it; he'd thought you'd got the Libra open to the golemization spell, and he'd set Prescott down on it.
And Prescott had vanished. It was like he'd fallen through the book.
Well, that set off a long argument that went nowhere. But since Prescott needed to go home, it was decided that Joe would put on Prescott's mask and go home as him while Frank finished up with the other replacements. That's the last you remember: Putting a new mask to your face so a golem-Joe could go home in your stead.
You've got Joe's memories, and also something of his speed at thinking, so you fill in the rest of the spots: Frank was going to golemize the hobo that had been under Prescott's mask, and hang Joe's mask on him, and then golemize Melody and hang her mask on her. Presumably he had got at least one of those tasks that done.
And as soon as he had put Joe's mask on the results, you had popped up.
But who are you?
You've got Joe's memories, but you've also got Will Prescott's memories. More than that, you're sure you've got Prescott's anima, or a facsimile of it. Because that's who you're sure you are: Will Prescott.
Either you somehow found yourself inside Joe's mask--or inside that golem--or you are a copy of Prescott's anima band that had been riding around on Joe's face.
You drum your fingers thoughtfully. No, it can't be the latter. That anima band wouldn't have any of Prescott's memories that came after he made it. And you've got those. You remember the double-cross from his point of view.
So there it is: You are Will Prescott, and somehow you are inside a golem of Joe Durras.
Well, it's better than being eaten by a gwarcheidwad. But what the fuck are you going to do? You could just pretend to be the golem, do as you're told, hide out from the very scary people you've made.
Or you could try to do something about it.
After all, that's how you came to be in this mess. You decided you wanted to put things back to the way they were before you slapped that anima band onto Joe.
You feel the side of your mouth curl up. Joe's personality comes to the fore. Fuck, yeah! That's what Stellae do. They fight. And the prospect of being Joe Durras, and fighting the evil Joe Durras--
If there's one thing Joe Durras likes, it's a challenge. The blood courses fiercely through you.
You could hide out here, playing docile, until you spotted a chance to take them down. Get some of Blackwell's knockout powder. Set another bear trap sigil. You'd have to be extremely careful, because Joe and Frank both have your own memories riding around inside you.
The alternative is to get help. You have Joe's memories, so you know exactly where to contact his associates. Call their Dad or Rick--
No, phone calls would be a bad idea, especially if you tried telling them that Joe and Frank had been victimized by a magician with the Libra. They'd be extremely cautious if you told them that. Probably too cautious, and would accidentally alert Joe and Frank. The thing to do is to go see them. Go out to Olympia, where their dad lives, and throw yourself on his mercy, pledge to help reverse things. You can see him in Joe's memories, and you know how merciful he can be.
If you do that, though, you should take the Libra back with you. Once Joe and Frank realize you're gone, they would disappear with it.
You won't be able to get it back until tomorrow, though. Either way, you're stuck in town tonight.
 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
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
More by this author