This choice: I still chose Kenandandra though, it was my original ousiarch after all • Go Back...Chapter #10A Kenandandran Puts The Kibosh on His Distant Kin by: imaj   You shudder involuntarily, the sudden strange sensation that passes over you in a wave leaving you feeling as if you’ve just had a near miss with something impossibly ponderous and dangerous. On instinct you pull down your goggles till they are over your eyes and start flipping through the lenses. One after another they shown nothing untoward until on the last lens you see something reflected in the wing mirror.
It’s yourself, but at the same time it isn’t. The other you isn’t wearing any goggles for a start and there are some other subtle differences that you barely have time to consider. The vision of the other-you fades and your reflection is you own again.
You push the goggles back up.
“What is it Will,” asks Rosalie
“Nothing,” you say. Would any of them believe you if you told them you had just glimpsed into another universe? It’s gone now in any case and you doubt it will ever come so close again.
*****
You sit on the hood of Frank’s truck, your hands shoved inside you jacket pocket and holding the enchanted packets of warmth within. You prepared them when Rosalie outlined the basics of her plan and the warmth that spreads up your arms from them protects you from the cool late afternoon air. 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 call at Frank, who is pacing in his shirtsleeves several metres distant. He is seemingly unaffected by the cold.
“Knowing my brother he got lost,” answers Frank.
“Not possible,” you shout back. “He has sat-nav.”
“That’s exactly why he is lost.”
“Doubly impossible, I programmed it for him,” you yell. Frank’s reply is lost, as the hire car Rosalie picked up in Saratoga Falls finally turns into the lay-by. You see Rosalie at the wheel – Joe is glowering in the passenger seat. She carefully parks next to Frank’s truck and the pair exit their vehicle.
“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, ambling over to parked cars. “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? You’ll be just another forgettable senior. You know, the kind I used to be. 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.
“Well yeah,” you reply with a shrug. The identity you put together for yourself hovers nearby in your minds eye. You pull it close, twirling the imago round you and turning it into your disguise. The world lurches out of focus as you sink into the tall and slender frame you’ve designed. “I’m Amanda Lane,” you say as you pull out a pair of oval glasses from one of the pouches you carry about. The blurs around you sharpen as you place them on your nose. “Mandy to my friends,” you add pointing at Rosalie. “I didn’t really want to come up here but she convinced me. I’m sure her boyfriends brother…” you point at Frank. “…wants inside my panties and I’m not happy about that.”
Frank just shakes his head. “Where the fuck do you get this from,” he says.
“Good character development saved my life in China,” you reply coolly. “If it really bugs you I’ll just play hard to get
Frank says nothing, he only stares at you with hooded eyes. Joe bursts out laughing and Frank glares at him. “Let’s see who I am,” says Joe, inspecting his mask closely, looking for the reflected image.
You walk across to Frank and lean casually in to whisper in his ear. “If it makes you feel better, he won’t be laughing in a few minutes,” you say. 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.
*****
“You’re hopeless, you know that Jon,” you say as you finish putting the tent together. Jon is the name Frank’s chose to give himself for the stay at the campsite. It is also the name of one of his teammates from his time on the Eastman High School basketball side and therefore completely lacking in imagination. You stand up and fold your arms defensively. “Do I have to do everything myself.”
“Sorry,” he says monosyllabically. This kind of play acting isn’t really his thing, but you decide that a strained and argumentative is how Mandy and Jon’s relationship is going to play out.
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 entirely fit with Mandy’s character as you see it. “Do you want me to get that for you Emily,” you ask, unable to keep all of the smugness out of your voice.
“Would you,” says Rosalie.
Joe drops the pieces of the tent to the ground angrily. He looks ready to launch into an angry tirade, but he is interrupted by the sound of a car pulling up. When you turn round, what you see makes you draw close to Frank for the first time. You do not resist when he puts his arm round your shoulder.
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.”
“We’ve got the necessary equipment,” you say stiffly.
“I’m sure you do,” says the tall man dryly. He gives you another long look. “Well, I’ll be stopping by to check you’re alright. 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 another one of your workings. 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. It makes you shudder to think about it, but it’s still better than actually doing it.
“As far as they know we’re just a bunch of horny high-schoolers,” says Joe. Well he probably is, you suppose.
“Tomorrow we’ll make a scouting run into Cuthbert,” says Rosalie. “Will, you’ll be going of course. You and…”   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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