This choice: But that’s exactly why you did choose Eldibria, to do better next time • Go Back...Chapter #9An Eldibrian Excursion Up The Escarpment by: imaj   You blink a couple of times, not quite believing what you are seeing. In front of Frank’s truck is another Frank’s truck, insubstantial and ghostly. It flickers and jumps, not moving naturally at all. Then you notice there is another Frank’s truck in front of it, even more ethereal. You turn round to look behind you and there’s yet another truck there. You count them – eight in all in addition to the truck you’re riding in.
Then, just as mysteriously as they appeared, the other trucks fade and vanish from sight, leaving nothing to mark their passing.
“Did you see that,” you ask Frank, but his eyes do not deviate from the road in front of him. He saw nothing. “Never mind,” you say to yourself.
“What happened to the girls then,” asks Rosalie. The question wrong foots you and Rosalie repeats herself after a few seconds. “Bea and Imogen, what happened to them?”
“They had no family left,” you explain. “They were about to get taken into a children’s home when Fyodor stepped in.”
“What happened?”
“I adopted them, Fyodor arranged it all” you answer. “Well Siobhan Connor did. That’s who I am now,” you add, gesturing at the petite form that has become your habitual one. “Siobhan Connor.”
“Who’s looking after them now then,” asks Joe.
“Fyodor,” you answer. “When I have to get away on a job either Fyodor or Hilda Gunnarson. The girls get on really well with Malaika.”
“Not Hal,” asks Rosalie.
“Never Hal,” you say darkly.
*****
You sit in the passenger seat of Frank’s truck, the window rolled down so you can talk to him. The little lay-by is just off the road, screened from the traffic by a line of young trees. Not that there are many cars taking the Saratoga Falls to Cuthbert road in early February, but you need a little secrecy for the next part of Rosalie’s plan.
“What do you think is keeping them,” you say to Frank, who is leaning at the open window in his shirtsleeves. He is seemingly unaffected by the cold.
“Knowing my brother he got lost,” answers Frank.
“How could he get lost,” you ask. “Ah, there he s now.”
The hire car Rosalie picked up in Saratoga Falls finally turns into the lay-by. You see her at the wheel – Joe is glowering in the passenger seat. She carefully parks next to Frank’s truck and the pair exit their vehicle. You climb out of Frank’s truck, hugging yourself in a vain attempt to ward off the cold.
“I still don’t see why we left my car in Olympia,” says Joe, apparently to the world at large, as he slams the door shut.
“It stands out too much Joe,” answers Rosalie wearily. “And there’s a good chance it would end up being chop shopped anyway.” She turns back to Joe and gives him a little smile. “I know how much you love it.” That seems to knock the wind out of Joe’s sails. He mumbles his thanks.
“So,” says Frank. “What’s this master plan of yours?”
Rosalie flashes a wide smile. “Will,” she says, nodding at you.
“You know,” says Frank to you, a little surprised.
“I’ve been asked to prepare some things,” you reply, hopping off the hood of Frank’s truck and walking round to the trunk. “Rosalie hasn’t told me exactly what for though.”
“Those suitcases,” asks Frank.
“Yeah,” you answer, popping open the trunk. The first thing you take out is a small wooden box. You handle it reverentially, almost ignoring Rosalie as she starts to talk.
“We’ll set up a base at the campsite in the Drury hills,” she explains. “That’s close enough to Cuthbert that we can rush in when the time comes, but far enough away that we won’t get too much attention at first.”
“I hate to bring this up,” interrupts Joe, “Because apart from this it’s an excellent idea, but what kind of idiots go camping in February?”
You pop open the wooden box revealing three polished masks. Since you have the sigils from the Libra within you, you can make masks yourself without using the book. It’s just that you’d prefer not to usually. That said, you made an exception for the request Rosalie has made of you. You examine the reflected image in the surface of the mask and hand it to Joe.
He examines the mask himself. “Ah, high school seniors,” he says with a rueful little smile. “Those kind of idiots…” You hand out the other masks to Rosalie and Frank before starting to unload the suitcases. “I know you like making up life stories for your identities Will, you come with something for these?”
“For you? Beyond the fact the body and clothes will make you a jock, and that you’ll be Rosalie’s boyfriend nothing. You could use your own name if you wanted to.”
“Not a good idea,” interrupts Rosalie. “The Shabblemans will recognise them.”
“You made something up for yourself though, didn’t you,” grins Joe.
“Of course I did,” you say with a weak smile. The identity you put together for yourself hovers nearby in your minds eye. You pull it close, funneling the imago round you and turning it into your disguise. The world suddenly seems a much larger place as you sink into the five foot nothing frame you’ve designed. “I’m Amanda Lane,” you say shyly. “My friend,” you add pointing at Rosalie. “has convinced me to come with her, her boyfriend and his friend,” you continue, pointing at Frank and Joe in turn. “On a camping weekend. I think she wants us to hook up,” you say nervously.
“You get too much into this,” says Frank, shaking his head unhappily
“Since it arguably saved my life in China, I think I’m justified,” you reply clasping your hands and smiling nervously. “You won’t need to do much acting though. I think it’s going to be all awkward silences and longing glances.”
Frank stares at you with hooded eyes. “I’ll have to live with that,” he says equivocally.
Joe bursts out laughing and Frank glares at him. “Let’s see who I am,” he says, inspecting his mask closely, looking for the reflected image.
You walk to Frank and whisper in his ear. “He won’t be laughing in a few minutes,” you whisper in his ear. He gives you a quizzical look. “A little revenge for the make out scene in China: I might have given his mask a tiny cock.”
There is a moment of silence then Frank laughs uproariously, a laugh that only continues louder when Joe asks him what’s so funny.
*****
Frank stiffens a little as you stand awkwardly beside him. After a moments hesitation, he puts his arm on your shoulder and pulls you closer. You both stand in silence for a moment, staring at the tent Frank has set up beside the truck.
“Thank you Jon,” you say hesitantly. Jon is the name he’s chose to give himself for the stay at the campsite. It’s also the name of one of his teammates from his time on the Eastman High School basketball side and therefore completely lacking in imagination.
“Yeah,” he says monosyllabically. Looks like you were right about the awkward silences.
“It looks ok I guess,” you say, doing a god job of sounding unsure about it. Amanda really is painfully shy. You look to the side where Joe and Rosalie, now going by Ian and Emily, are still trying to get their tent up. Though you really want to poke fun at Joe for his effort, it doesn’t fit with Amanda’s character as you see it. “Will we give them a hand Jon?
Joe gets a couple of syllables into an expletive ridden response before he is drowned out by the sound of a car pulling up. When you turn round, what you see makes you willingly draw close to Frank for the first time.
It’s an old car, noisy as a result of poor maintenance. Spots of rust show here and there through the drab green paint. On the door the words ‘Sheriff Dept. of Cuthbert’ are painted in fading gold lettering. The car grinds to a halt and the driver kills the engine.
A tall man unfolds himself from the driver side door. He pulls on a wide brimmed hat before resting his hand on the gun holstered at his hips. He gives each of you a long hard stare in turn before finally finding an insincere smile to favour you with.
“Evening folks,” he says with an unlikely friendliness. “Odd time of year to be out camping. Winter gets cold up this way.”
“It does,” you ask anxiously.
“It sure does,” says the tall man dryly. He gives you another long look. “Well, I’ll be stopping by to check you’re alright later. Don’t be afraid to call if you run into problems.” He smiles like a shark, leaving you in no doubt that asking for his help would be a very bad idea.
*****
“That was Nate Shabbleman,” says Rosalie, her voice sounding a little tinny. “At the very least he’ll have left a watcher.”
The tents are Nash’s work. You and Frank are in one, Rosalie and Joe in the other. One enchantment lets you talk to the occupants of the other tent as if there was a phone between them. The second hides what is happening within them from prying eyes, whether they are using mundane means or occult.
“But it can’t see us in here,” you state. In fact anyone trying to watch the tents will get quite a different picture of what’s happening inside them.
“As far as they know we’re just a bunch of horny high-schoolers. Well, Ian and Emily anyway,” says Joe.
“Tomorrow we’ll make a scouting run into Cuthbert,” says Rosalie. “Will, you’ll be going of course. You and…”
You have the following choices: 2. Frank  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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