Chapter #87Dane Gelded by: Seuzz   Probably neither Chelsea nor Andrea need you riding around with them, doing their jobs for them. But you decide to linger inside Andrea while she works. Gillian Kiefer will be showing up at her place, and Gillian is one of the girls that has been suggested you take as a golem. You want to see her and weigh the choice for yourself.
But Gillian isn't supposed to show up until dinnertime, and you can keep busy with other acquisitions. You take a look out in the parking lot and see that Dane's car is still there, which means he'll be somewhere on campus. Detention? He's often in trouble, and you recall something about him getting into a scrape with Walberg earlier in the semester. But the first place to check would be the portables.
Score! But he's not alone. You hear his voice, but you hear others too as you round the corners of the portables, looking for the source of merriment. There's five of them, crouching in the dirt and dead grass. Dane Matthias, Justin Roth, Perry Small, Shep Tsosie. And Will Prescott.
They all turn, their eyes lighting up at the agreeable appearance of Andrea Varnsworth. "So you're the guys making all the noise," you purr softly.
"Grab some grass and join us," Perry says with a leer. Despite the invite, Dane is the only one with an obvious joint, and he blinks up at you through a haze of smoke.
You kick him lightly in the hip. "Hey Dane, you gonna come out to my place and bother me?" He blinks stupidly and doesn't reply.
"You want bothering or a light buggering?" Perry snickers. Justin nudges him sharply.
"Dane?" you ask again.
His lips fall open, and the joint dangles dangerously over his lap. "Uh, sure," he gasps. The joint falls onto his jeans--with winter coming up hard, he's finally abandoned his typical school wear of flannel pajama bottoms and bedroom slippers for something more respectable, and he desperately pats it out.
You raise your eyes to your doppelganger. "You wanna come to, Prescott," you softly ask. "We all had fun last time."
His jaw drops, and he stammers incoherently. Justin laughs and shoves him hard in the shoulder, sending him sprawling over Dane. They disentangle each other, and hop awkwardly to their feet. "Is it a party?" Justin asks.
"Just an intimate little thing. Friends hanging out. Maybe you could hang out there some other time." Justin grins, showing the deep dimple in his left cheek. He is good-looking; you'll have to talk with the others about maybe making him an acquisition.
Matthias and Prescott stumble along behind you; Dane seems too stoned to form a coherent sentence, and Prescott seems tongue-tied. "Can you find my place?" you ask them. "Will, you better drive. I'll meet you there after I make a quick stop."
Their heads bob up and down, and you feel their eyes on your lithe back as you return to the campus, where you pick up a bag that Chelsea has left abandoned by the side of the pool. It contains half a dozen masks, each prepped for use, and jars of sealant.
* * * * *
Despite the detour, you manage to beat the two boys to the house by a few minutes. Andrea's mom waitresses--a top-flight, a quasi-managerial job at a ritzy restaurant, so money is never an issue--so you'll usually have the place to yourself until one o'clock in the morning. She did leave her daughter a grocery list and some laundry, so it won't all be fun and games.
You don't want to waste any more time entertaining Dane than is necessary, so you've already got stuff set out when there's a knock on the door. Matthias and Prescott come in without waiting for an answer. "You need some more work done in your garden?" Dane asks.
You pause with a mask in your hand, regarding him. Is he more stoned than usual? He's typically a chatterbox when he shows up at Andrea's: a goofball who gets underfoot. He seems much shyer now. Indeed, you see a gleam on his forehead: a light smear of sweat. "Are you feeling okay, Dane?" you ask, and put your hand to his brow. He trembles a little, but you feel no temperature. "Maybe you better sit down."
He tumbles, rather than sits, onto the futon. His smile is desperate, glassy.
Maybe it's because today you invited him out. That's a first for Andrea; in the past, he's only crashed her place, or tagged along with others.
Well, this is awkward. Best to get it over with. "Here's a little cold compact for your face," you say. You push him at the shoulder as you raise the blank mask to his face. His brow crinkles just before the mask goes onto and vanishes into him. He sags slowly over and falls onto his side.
"Nice ambush," Prescott says. "I kinda figured that's what was going on. Do you need my help?"
"I know what I'm doing. It's me in here, Prescott."
"Yeah, I know," he casually replies. "I met up with my original last night, and he told me all about what he did to Andrea and--"
"No, I mean it's me in here," you repeat. "Those remote control sigils we found, like we put inside your mask? I told you I put some like them inside Andrea and Chelsea and the others. I'm operating Andrea's body right now."
"Oh." His eyes widen, and his mouth forms a perfect complementary shape to the syllable. "Heh. You said something about surprising me, but--" He steps forward, and puts his hand on your elbow.
"Don't be stupid," you say, pulling away. "I'm only here temporarily, and Andrea might have an opinion about doing things with you. And I don't think I need your help. I just thought you might want to hang out."
"Oh," he says again, and now seems disappointed. "Well, shit, sure, I could hang out with you guys." He kicks at Dane's shin. "You turning him into a golem too?"
"Yes, but for Joe. He likes playing the idiot."
Lazily, you continue prepping materials to use on Dane, and when the mask comes out of him, you pass it to Will and instruct him to coat its insides with the golemizing goop while you call Hagerman. The mask goes back onto Dane before he wakes. "If you two want to make yourselves useful," you say after the new golem has blinked the confusion from his eyes, "I've got some shopping you can do for me."
* * * * *
"Oh, yeah, this is great," Dane says as he tramps out of the bedroom. He plops onto the futon, stretches his legs, and takes a joint from his jacket pocket. He jerks his chin at Hagerman--now a golem hiding the real Dane. "Hey, teach, wanna get high with us?"
"Send him home," you say brusquely. "He's got things to do, and Gillian will be here in a little while."
"Oh, Gillian," Dane gasps, and giggles. "She's cute! If fuckin' Braydon weren't in the way--" He looks up at you keenly. "She's for Prescott, right? Maybe then we could--"
"I haven't decided yet. Have you talked to Frank any about getting a face at Westside? I was thinking about Anita Nuevo."
Dane chortles. "Frank as a girl? I think he'd freak out. Stick to the lacrosse team for him."
"Mm. We should have that pow-wow you were proposing," you say. "Prescott here was talking about Justin as someone to take."
Dane lights the joint and sucks it meditatively. "Not a bad choice," he says. "He's a smart fucker. But for who?"
"Depends on who'd be a good fit for him."
"Save him for Frank," Dane says, and inhales deeply. "He could stand some loosening up, and Justin has a bow, likes to do some serious hunting. Frank had a bow too, was real good with it."
"Are you going to smoke as much of that stuff as Dane did?" you peevishly ask.
"In public, yeah," Dane drawls. "Got appearances to keep up."
"We're not in public now."
"I should keep freshly scented for Gillian." But he carefully pinches out the lit end and returns it to his pocket. "If you're not going to turn her into a golem, why is she--?"
"Mind band. For Rosalie. She's perfect. She'll go good with the others."
"Who else have you picked up to cannibalize?"
"Amanda Ferguson--"
"Ooh! She's hot!" Dane slumps and spreads his legs; a silly grin distends his face. "We should totally add her to the group!"
"Lin Pol--"
"Lin! I could bury myself in her! Screw myself down inside her-- That'd be an awesome body to walk around in!"
"Bethany Lewis--"
He howls, and slouches so hard he slides onto the floor with a bump. "She's the cutest little-- Be her, dude!"
"We can't add all of them, Joe!"
He writhes on the floor, grimacing hard. "So many choices," he mutters. He hugs himself, and his eyes spring open. "Seriously, any ones you don't pick, I will!"
"We're getting Maria Vasquez for you."
"Maria?" That's Prescott gasping; he's been quiet up until now. "Whoa! If you're going for cheerleaders--"
"I still got one slot!" Dane says. He struggles back onto the futon. "C'mon, I took one for the team with Jonathan's mother. Fuck, let Aparijita take over duties for me there. She doesn't want any of the Westside kids for herself. We'll swap out golem seals inside the other mask--"
"That's not a bad idea," you admit. You listen for Andrea/Aparijita's reaction, and get no argument. "We could give her Straussler's dad, too."
"Then if you're not going to take Gillian for yourself," Dane says hungrily, "I want her."  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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