This choice: Let the golem continue playing the part. • Go Back...Chapter #15Let the golem continue playing the part. by: Seuzz   You feel guilty enough as it is, so you reject Caleb's suggestion. "Well, then, can I take her for a spin?" he asks.
"How are you gonna explain your disappearance?"
"It'll only be for a day. Or, um, we could make a mask of me. Because, you know, we've got two golems ... golemi ... golemuses ..."
You groan and look away. You need to start working on the new spell, to see if there's some way of reversing the last one. And this pervert wants to--
Wait a minute. "Hang on, the new spell. It requires a mask. A full copy of someone, right?" Caleb nods. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. I'll help you make a mask of yourself, and I'll let you take Eva. But we have to use that mask we make for the new spell. Deal?"
Caleb hesitates, then sticks out his hand. "Deal."
* * * * *
To keep him focused on the task, you refuse him permission to use the Eva mask. Technically, he doesn't need your permission, since he knows how to get it off the golem, but he agrees to abide by your demand. A few days later, your little gang is putting the finishing touches on the new mask: Caleb is carving the runes into the metal band, and your own clone (who you gave the thankless task of polishing) is buffing the mask to a fine shine. You're looking over the spell again.
"We have any leftover graveyard dirt?" you ask.
"How much does it call for?"
"A spoonful. I dunno. I got a bad feeling about this. It might just make another golem, and I'm sick of those. No offense," you tell your clone.
"None taken," it says, still rubbing away. "But if you really loved me you'd ask me to polish my cock instead of this shit."
"You don't suppose these things can breed, do you?" you ask Caleb.
"When Eva gets here, why don't you order us to find out," your clone says. Its tone is sarcastic, but you can hear the frustrated ardor behind it.
"Speaking of which," you say. You take the mask from your clone and examine it; your double has done a good job and you toss it over to Caleb. "You close to being done? I should call Eva if you are."
He nods, so you text her: "Cum slrp my balz." That should put her in a fun mood.
Actually, she's very sweet and interested in affection when she arrives, and coos over you, petting and pinching and tweaking you, and making girly squealing noises. You can't tell if she's being ironical or if she interpreted your text as an actual "order" from her master. Either way, it kind of creeps you out, so you tell her to stop. She sits down and starts singing softly to herself. Your clone gives her a sidelong glance and goes into a sulk when she ignores him.
You wake Caleb after he has imprinted his form onto the new mask, and he leaps up excitedly. "Sweet," he says, and points at Eva. "If you need me I'll be over there."
"Hang on, we need to try out the spell."
"So how come we can't try it out while I'm playing with my new boobs?"
"Oh, fine," you say. You turn your back and concentrate on finishing the spell up.
It doesn't take much to do: some graveyard dirt, a bit of your hair, and fuel sprinkled into the inside of the mask; then a flame. It burns lightly and without heat--a good sign, you hope--for a few minutes before winking out. The inside of the mask is now no longer blue, though, but an ashy gray, like the skin of a golem. You glance down at the book: a symbol to unlock the page has appeared.
You've been concentrating so hard on the spell that you jump when you feel a hand on your side. You look around: Eva is looking up mischievously at you. She laughs.
You look over her head, and see your clone (looking very wan) and the ashy-gray Eva golem, laying on its back, like a stone. Caleb's clothes are lying nearby. So ... "Dude, don't distract me."
She simpers. "No fun for Will and his wee widdle willy?"
You push her away. "Don't be sick."
"I know, but I couldn't resist." She cups and lifts her breasts. "God, I could kiss these puppies until they turn blue."
"Well, don't do it in front of me!"
"This doesn't turn you on," she asks, making a "sexy" face at you.
"I may vomit," you retort. "Do it at home."
"Okay," she dimples, and runs to pick up her things. "You gonna send my new clone to my house?"
"You're not gonna stay and finish up with the new spell?" you ask. She shakes her head as she pulls her panties on. "Fine. Just don't blame me if--" You don't know how to finish that sentence, and Caleb isn't paying attention anyway.
* * * * *
You discover bad news and worse news when you unlock and turn the page. The bad news (which you find out second) is that the spell you've just completed requires a new victim: you are to set the new mask onto the face of another person. "Christ," you mutter to yourself. You're beginning to know how Jack the Ripper must have felt.
The worse news, which you noticed as soon as you turned the new page, is that the book is damaged.
The page for the next spell is torn right across the middle, and the entire bottom of the page is gone. This means that you only have the list of ingredients and the first instruction for the new spell. Worse, since you have no idea how to complete that spell, you can't unlock the spell that comes afterward. Of course, you can make out some of the writing for the spell that follows (because it is not obscured by the bottom of the previous page) but the book's magic interferes even here: The letters are blurry and seem to wander around the page; though you can see the writing, whenever you focus on a spot on the page, all you can see is white space and the blur of a letter just next to it.
With a sigh, you toss the book aside and glare at the wall of the basement. Your clone says nothing. You sit like this, stewing impotently for what seems like hours.
* * * * *
After supper, you sprawl out on your bed and open the book again. After reading it through again, you decide it might not be a disaster. The instructions say it is to "disguise another as another." So it works like one of the first masks you had made--like the clone mask of yourself and of Eva. There is also an unmasking command, which suggests the silly thing is reversible, at least.
You hear some shouting from downstairs, and then running feet; your brother dashes by and the door to his room slams. You roll your eyes, and your glance falls on the mask that you and Caleb had just finished making. There's a clicking noise inside your brain.
You leap to your feet before you can change your mind.
Robert looks up at you from his bed when you open his door. "The fuck do you want?" he demands. You say nothing, and just leap on him, pressing the mask down on his face. He struggles and goes limp as the mask vanishes into him. You close his door, but the transformation is very quick. An instant later, it's Caleb is lying on the bed, but still wearing Robert's clothes.
He opens his eyes and looks up at you, and then looks around in puzzlement. "What happened?"
"What happened what?" Your tone is guarded.
"What happened what what?" This could go on forever. He stares at Robert's desk. "Dude, are we in your house?"
"Don't we know where we are?"
"No. Is this-- What the fuck?" He looks down and grabs at his too-tight t-shirt. "The hell am I wearing?"
"Who are you?" you demand.
He stares up at you. "I'm your friend, Caleb?" he replies, as though addressing a retarded person.
"Are you my slave?"
"Well, duh. Still doesn't give you the right to dress me up in these gay-ass clothes--"
"How old is my brother?"
"How old is--? The fuck should I know."
You push him back on the bed, grasp at his forehead, say the magic words, and rip the mask away. Robert, unconscious, reappears. You return to your room to await the inevitable fireworks, but twenty minutes later he hasn't busted in, so you knock on his door. He looks a little confused when he answers, but it's clear he doesn't remember anything.
Well, it's better than transforming people into golems, but you're still not sure you want Caleb knowing about this new spell.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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