# chapters

path: 112312222122111211112211121111221
author_id: wordsmitty
title: Here or There?
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Still really upset with everyone and everything being against you, you decide that maybe the <i>Libra</i> will provide some distraction, although you discard the thought of putting everyone under golem masks, but the idea of maybe just-a-few keeps nagging you. Life could be so much better.<br/>
<br/>
So instead of a dump-and-run, you swerve round the corner and park on the side street just short of the first house. A quick jog up the hill and past a maintenance shed, gets you to the padlocked door. It's pitch black, and it takes a while to feel the key into your lock after almost dropping it - twice.<br/>
<br/>
There's no lights, which you forgot about as you stumble down the stairs almost diving across the room on your face. A foreboding feeling falls over you forcing to you stop and stare into the darkness wondering if someone is there or a golem got lose. A deep breath calms you while you envision where stuff got hidden. Obviously, it's too dark to find the right stuff for golem masks, so you grope along the walls to where the book is stashed. The right place comes quicker than expected when the chair you'd left on its back to block the spot greets your shin.<br/>
<br/>
“FUCK!” you mutter as you hop and limp around the side pulling the desk away from the wall and reaching for the <i>Libra</i>. Fortunately, it's there and comes away easily; but as you turn, there's a loud clanging of heavy glass hitting the floor and bouncing which echoes in fearful shockwaves through you.<br/>
<br/>
“Double fuck. Where'd you go?” you ask at the mask that must have been on top of the <i>Libra</i>. Now crawling around sliding your free hand through the dust, you ram your finger into a table leg. “DAMN IT!” You raise upright on knees to shake it off only to whack that hand into something else. A scream catches in your throat as you grit your teeth stifling it even though it almost makes your head explode. It is possible that anything too loud might be heard by someone. It takes another couple minutes until you come up with it and lock-up without further accidents.<br/>
<br/>
In the truck you stare at the <i>Libra</i> on your lap while flexing your fingers hoping the circulation with ease the throbbing. There's just enough light through the window to highlight the book's embossed cover and the strange emblems on it. Suddenly, hair on your neck shoots up, and you jerk round to look through the back window into the bed. Nothing, but it spurs you to tuck the book and mask under the seat and head home before someone actually does sneak up on you.<br/>
<br/>
 * * * *<br/>
<br/>
Your dad's shadow appears on the front room curtains after you pull in the drive, so you hop out quickly with your backpack and the drive-through bag to trot on in.<br/>
<br/>
“I'm home.”<br/>
<br/>
“About time.”<br/>
<br/>
“Harris, give the boy a break. So what's this big secret?” your mom asks excitedly.<br/>
<br/>
With a big smile you announce, “I met a Stewart my age who introduced me to others who told me some family history.” You beam as you tap your notebook. Your mom reaches for it, but you pull it back and receive a pleading pout. “Let me make some sense of the notes first.”<br/>
<br/>
“And what's on your wrist?” you mom asks noticing the bracelet from Rosalie.<br/>
<br/>
“That's a family gift from the girl, Rosalie Stewart,” you explain proudly holding it out. “She has a necklace that's similar.” You look around for Robert sensing someone spying from somewhere.<br/>
<br/>
“Looks like some leftovers from a meal,” your dad sneers.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, Harris. It's folk art. They use real items not plastic like in the stores here. I think it's wonderful. Is she cute?” she asks coyly.<br/>
<br/>
“Mom!” you gasp as she giggles. “She's a cousin. Besides, she's engaged to a guy that could take Gordon Black. I'm not gonna get in his path. So where's Robert? I want to let him know what other monsters I found.”<br/>
<br/>
Without a beat, your dad commands, “Don't go teasing him, Will.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes, Will. Just tell him that there's nothing there to be concerned about. I don't want you to start his nightmares again.”<br/>
<br/>
“OK, Mom,” you agree reluctantly as you move to the kitchen to dump the trash. “I invited them to visit, but they said it's easier for me to come back.”<br/>
<br/>
“Remember to tell us before you go anywhere and keep us informed,” your dad directs as he heads to his study.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Get off my back! Why can't you just trust me to know what to do?</i><br/>
<br/>
Your mom follows you. “Are you thinking about that?”<br/>
<br/>
With a shrug lifting the can lid, “I've got nothing else planned, and it was kinda fun. Rosalie even had me make a clay figure to give to Grandmother. Said all the family does it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Did you meet Grandmother Shabbleman?”<br/>
<br/>
“Is that her name? They just always called her Grandmother. Yes, we talked briefly.” This conjures the visage of her old, massive form like Jabba the Hutt.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes. She's the <i>grande dame</i> of the whole town. There's always been one who pretty much controls everything that goes on, at least, that's what my gram told me when I was little.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, she's "grand" enough to be a whole town,” you chuckle. “I'm amazed that she can even move all the fat surrounding her.”<br/>
<br/>
“Will!”<br/>
<br/>
“Seriously, Mom. I've never seen anyone so heavy.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, you just behave and show respect. Never offend or disobey anyone who has that much power. OK?”<br/>
<br/>
“I promise. But now,” you quip. “I want to get these notes for you before I collapse.”<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks, Will.”<br/>
<br/>
* * * *<br/>
<br/>
There's music coming from Robert's room as you pass, so you bang his door.<br/>
<br/>
“Robert? You in there?” <br/>
<br/>
“Yeah. Go away.”<br/>
<br/>
“I already did. Now I'm back. But I'm thinking of going back tomorrow.”<br/>
<br/>
In a couple beats the door flies open. “Going back? Why?”<br/>
<br/>
“It was fun, actually. I met a couple cousins about my age and some other relatives. Snuck away from class,.” you smirk and wink. “Walked through part of town. Very cold but nothing unusual. They all made me feel very welcome and gave me some ancestry for Mom. I didn't have much time, and I want to get more and surprise her with it for Christmas.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, OK, I guess.”<br/>
<br/>
“And I'll definitely be back for Umeko's recital if I go. There's no way you're going to have her all to yourself.” You shove him into his room and turn to go to yours.<br/>
<br/>
“What's that?”<br/>
<br/>
“Huh?”<br/>
<br/>
“On your wrist.” He points and looks a bit pale.<br/>
<br/>
Raising your arm, you look at it as you speak. “Bracelet. <i>Family</i> bracelet from one of our cousins. She has a necklace like it. It's what they do.” His color comes back as you explain.<br/>
<br/>
“I wonder what Umeko will think of that?” he teases with a big grin then slams his door.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Jerk!</i><br/>
<br/>
Walking back to your room, all the jerks that you've had to deal with since you got back come to mind. It seems like only Rosalie and the others in Cuthbert have been nice to you today. Even at home Dad is still on your case and Robert is being annoyingly ... Robert.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Everyone here is just a real pain. If this is the way things are going to be, maybe I should go back to Cuthbert and spend some time with that family.</i><br/>
<br/>
As soon as you enter your room, you're sure that something is in there waiting and watching. The shade on the window is down, but you go over and check anyway. Then you wonder if Robert may have hidden a web cam somewhere hoping to record you doing or hiding something – maybe your porn stash or … The little pervert. Maybe you should threaten to take him along or tell him you'll be bringing back someone that he needs to meet. That should scare the little shit shitless.<br/>
<br/>
The next fifteen minutes is spent searching, but you find nothing. Your anger continues to fester at everyone while you look especially Caleb, Keith, and Blackwell. Leaving town and letting them stew on their own makes a lot of sense. Although you are curious to discuss things more with Blackwell especially what you saw in Cuthbert in the pictures and the organ pipes. Unfortunately, you can't check now since the <i>Libra</i> got left in your truck. Blackwell is such a pompous ass, almost as big an ass as Caleb and Keith who can't think for themselves.<br/>
<br/>
Caleb and Keith do seem to be enjoying really being someone else. You never had the chance while hiding from Blackwell or now back to the usual school and family life. It's good to be without all that stress, but your life was never so great. Perhaps that's why you think going to Cuthbert will be a good change. Or maybe you should use a mask to have fun immersed in someone else's life. Someone popular that doesn't get bullied and can have any girl he wants. Perhaps just take over Geoff Mansfield's life, and you'll have Lisa again, but do you want to be that asshole?<br/>
<br/>
And what about Lisa? She called last evening to get together about the book and things but then put you off for Geoff. Maybe you could call and try to convince her to meet tomorrow. But still, there's something about Cuthbert that is pulling you there. Not just Rosalie, even though she's engaged to “Lurch.” Getting more family tree information for your mom would be a great diversion from all the craziness of the masks here and make the perfect gift for her. They were all so friendly and consider you family. They're bound to treat you differently than what's happening here.<br/>
<br/>
Laying back on your bed, you gaze at the ceiling in the dark. Once you're rested in the morning, you'll decide.      <br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221112111122111211112212
author_id: wordsmitty
title: Returning to Cuthbert
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>It doesn't take but a couple minutes to drift off, and you don't remember any dreams when you wake. With just dim light in the room, already an urge to go back to Cuthbert pulls you out of bed. In fact you find yourself quickly stuffing extra clothes in your pack before you go take a shower. It isn't until you are dried and dressed that you realize why the house is so quiet. It's just before sunrise, not quite seven.<br/>
<br/>
* * * *<br/>
<br/>
“My, you're up early,” your mom greets as you enter the kitchen for a quick breakfast.<br/>
<br/>
“I forgot I had the alarm set from yesterday,” you joke even though you didn't. “Besides an early start means I can stay longer and get more about our family tree.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, so you decided to go back to Cuthbert? I wish I could go with you, but I have that charity meeting today; and since I'm the chair, I can't really skip,” she sighs.<br/>
<br/>
“Don't worry. We can go back in the spring when it blooming, and I can introduce you. It's pretty dreary right now. Maybe we'll get invited to Will and Rosalie's wedding,” you offer as you grab a roll and pour some orange juice.<br/>
<br/>
“That does sound nice – a spring wedding in the mountains,” she says wistfully. “I hope your dad won't have to work weekends by then.”<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe Robert could stay home with him. I don't think he wants to ever go back.”<br/>
<br/>
“Now, William, don't go teasing him again. Something really did scare him, and he was concerned about you yesterday when you didn't get home on time, but don't you ever mention I told you.”<br/>
<br/>
That made you stop and think. What could have left so much of an impression that he would actually be worried about you unless he was just playing for points with your parents. He's never shown anything like that before, even when you went to camp for a week. Plus, he should be glad that he would have Umeko all to himself after the recital tomorrow if you didn't return.<br/>
<br/>
“Well, Cuthbert does have a creepy feeling. Maybe there's skeletons in the family closet. I'll have to check today.”<br/>
<br/>
You both chuckle at that then sit quietly as she sips coffee and you finish up.<br/>
<br/>
As you start to leave, she adds, “Don't be too late. Mountain roads in the dark can be treacherous.”<br/>
<br/>
“I won't, I promise.” Then you call back joking, “Or I'll just spend the night.”<br/>
<br/>
“That might scare Robert even more,” she admonishes then adds with a smile, “Let us know if you decide to do that.”<br/>
<br/>
* * * *<br/>
<br/>
There's hardly a car on the road, so you speed along doing fifteen to twenty over the limit. That puts you at the turnoff into the Cathcarts in less than an hour with about another hour or so to Cuthbert even if driving a safer speed. Remembering you need to let them know you're coming, you pull over to stretch you legs and call. It takes a little fumbling in your pack to find the paper, and the cold shocks when you hop out of the sun warmed cab.<br/>
<br/>
“Hello. Cuthbert Exchange. How may I help you?” It's a pleasant woman's voice, but the way she answered throws you. You assumed it would go right to Rosalie or her family.<br/>
<br/>
“Ah, hello. I'm calling for Rosalie.” After a few seconds of no response, you add, “Rosalie Stewart.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh. Yes. … Who's calling, please?”<br/>
<br/>
“It's Will Prescott, I was up yesterday with …”<br/>
<br/>
“On yes. Mr. Prescott. They said you might be calling. Can you hold a little bit while I find her for you?”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure. I can hold.”<br/>
<br/>
“Just be a minute or two. Thank you.”<br/>
<br/>
<i>A minute or two? I wonder what the phones are like there.</i><br/>
<br/>
It's definitely a couple minutes before she comes back.<br/>
<br/>
“I apologize for the wait, Mr. Prescott. I'm connecting you now. Are you still there?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes, I'm here, and please just call me Will.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, I don't know,” she replies sounding confused. “But we already have a Will here, Mr. Prescott.”<br/>
<br/>
“How about William then. My dad is 'Mr. Prescott.'”<br/>
<br/>
“OK, ah, William.”<br/>
<br/>
“And who am I talking to?”<br/>
<br/>
“Me? Ah, I'm Molly, Molly Doyle.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, thank you Molly for helping.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, yes, sorry,” she rushes. “Rosalie, are you there?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes, Molly. Thank you, too,” Rosalie chirps. “Hello, Will. I'm glad you called.”<br/>
<br/>
“Hi, Rosalie. I'm on my way up.”<br/>
<br/>
There's a long pause, and you wonder if Molly disconnected you before Rosalie comes back asking calmly, “That's great, Will. How close are you?”<br/>
<br/>
“Probably an hour. Just entered the Cathcarts.”<br/>
<br/>
There's another delay making you wonder if it is a satellite link between this exchange and wherever Rosalie is.<br/>
<br/>
"So what do you plan to do while here?"<br/>
<br/>
You hadn't given any thought except to get some more family history, and that sounds a bit self-centered like you're just using them. That's the last impression you want to give.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I'd, ah, really like to get to know more of my – <i>our</i> family and learn more about our roots. There's so few relatives in Saratoga Falls, and I had so little time yesterday that I just feel I need to spend more."<br/>
<br/>
This time, there's  a bit shorter break before she asks, “So how long can you stay?” Some noise in the background follows, then she jumps back with, “I mean, when are you expected home?”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, I have my cousin's recital tomorrow, but I told my parents I'd be back tonight.”<br/>
<br/>
Another lapse before she replies, now sounding happier, “That's perfect, Will. Everyone will be waiting for you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Where should I meet you?” By now the delays seem natural, and you just go with them.<br/>
<br/>
“Just come to the Big House. Do you remember where it is?”<br/>
<br/>
“I'm sure I can find it.” You're not sure why you aren't meeting Rosalie at her house but don't have time to ask.<br/>
<br/>
“See you soon. Bye.” She disconnects with multiple clicks.<br/>
<br/>
* * * *<br/>
<br/>
As you curve into some of the hills and through barren forest, your senses twitch that someone is following you, but there's no car behind. Leaning forward you look up through the windshield, but still nothing. That's weird, but everything yesterday was a bit weird, too, except when Rosalie was showing you around. Although making that mask for Grandmother was strange.<br/>
<br/>
<i>The Libra,</i> you suddenly think and reach under the seat. That feeling of being watched sweeps over you again as your fingers tell you it's still there. <i>I hope Caleb or Keith don't need it to switch back. Shit. Well if they enjoy it so much, they can just stay in masks.</i><br/>
<br/>
* * * *	<br/>
<br/>
In just over an hour, you pass a run-down garage with an old gas pump in front and a sign indicating "Cuthbert." You must have missed it yesterday while sleeping and now slow to 35 expecting houses to start soon, but it's more than a mile before the shacks on the outskirts appear and another minute before the real houses. <br/>
<br/>
There's more people today along the street, and your truck draws everyone's attention as you pass, but not suspicious gawking. Several wave spurring you to smile and wave back. Soon you're like the honored guest in a "welcome home" parade as you happily return greetings driving past the bandstand and through downtown. There's an old model police car in front of the town hall with a tall man in uniform and Smokey hat who motions you to stop.<br/>
<br/>
"Nice truck. You must be Will Prescott. I'm Nate Shabbleman, town constable."<br/>
<br/>
"You must be Will's uncle." He looks hard at you, so you explain. "He showed us 'round yesterday, at least the jail, and mentioned you're a good marksman."<br/>
<br/>
A big smile comes across his face as he tells you, "Yeah. I like putting the holes in the donuts before I eat them. Take a right at the next street. Enjoy your stay, but behave," he cautions tapping his holster as he backs away.<br/>
<br/>
"Yes, sir."<br/>
<br/>
As you make the turn, you suddenly wonder why he told you to turn like he knew where you were going. And why has everyone been so friendly to a stranger in a strange truck driving through town? Aren't they suspicious? Maybe that's just your big city mistrust of differences. It is a small town, and word could get round quickly. You just never thought you would be so popular. It feels good.<br/>
<br/>
A few minutes more, and you roll up to the Big House. Rosalie waves at you from the front as you park in its shadow. The change from the sun puts a chill through you that accelerates when you step into the frigid air. It bites hard especially since you had taken your coat off while driving. Rosalie comes down the steps and out to the gate with her hands deep in her pockets and ears pulled down into the coat's collar against the cold.<br/>
<br/>
"So you had no problems finding us."<br/>
<br/>
"No, but did I did get a little help from the sheriff."<br/>
<br/>
"Nate stopped you?" comes out concerned.<br/>
<br/>
"Just to introduce himself," you chuckle.<br/>
<br/>
She smiles. "Well, there's a lot more I can introduce you to. We can start down the street if you'd like. Or you can come inside and warm up first."<br/>
<br/>
The shivering in her voice is obvious, and you hope she hasn't been sitting out waiting for too long. It would be great to start to get know people, and a little walking after sitting for so long would feel good. Plus moving in the sunshine might warm her up. A thought of putting your arm around her while walking gets smashed from your head remembering her fiancé. Maybe the best thing is just going inside until she's warm. There's plenty of time to become more a part of the family. <br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212211121111221112111122122
author_id: wordsmitty
title: Tea with Grandmother
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>"Is that you, Will'um?" comes Grandmother's voice from the parlor. "Come join me. Rosalie, have Holly bring us some tea to chase our winter air," she commands, and it definitely is from her tone. Rosalie quickly turns to go then stops when Grandmother adds, "Or would you prefer some coffee or hot chocolate?"<br/>
<br/>
"Tea is fine, thank you. Although hot chocolate is very tempting," you answer politely looking into the parlor. No one speaks or moves, but Grandmother's eyes slowly narrow in annoyance. Finally, you realize they're waiting on you. "Tea. Just tea, thank you," you finish looking to Grandmother then Rosalie and back.<br/>
<br/>
As if you threw a switch, animation returns as Rosalie leaves and Grandmother motions you with one of her canes to the chair you had yesterday. She's again wedged into the settee with the other cane resting beside her. While entering to her as opposed to yesterday when she came to you, you see how she looks like a queen on a throne. Her countenance thoroughly demonstrating authority and confidence and has you feeling intimidated as you scoot in like a child with head down. <br/>
<br/>
"I'm glad you chose to return. You didn't seem too sure yesterday." She taps your leg with a cane to get you to look up as its tingling runs through you. "What made you decide to come right back?"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I really want to get more of the family tree and history for my mom for Christmas. She's been collecting that, mostly from my dad's side, and really wants to add her roots, for Robert and me."<br/>
<br/>
"More likely for her grandchildren. You already planning that?" Your shocked look has her grin as she taps your leg again. "Of course not. But you didn't have to run right back out here?"<br/>
<br/>
All the problems with people last evening flood your head. You can try to explain, but decide to just simplify them with a shrug and a simple, "I just wanted to get away, and Cuthbert feels like the best place to be."<br/>
<br/>
Grandmother turns to Holly who walks in with a tray containing a white china tea pot, small bowl and pitcher – <i>sugar and cream,</i> you think - and two cup-and-saucers which she places on the table next to Grandmother. With a nod from Grandmother, she backs out and pulls the pocket doors closed.<br/>
<br/>
You stare at the door wondering why Rosalie didn't join you. There is another chair, but your thoughts are interrupted as Grandmother tells you, "Rosalie has some chores, but she'll be back in a bit. Gives us a chance to talk. I didn't have much time yesterday. Cream or sugar?"<br/>
<br/>
She's just setting the pot down, as you answer, "Just sugar, thank you."<br/>
<br/>
With a small pair of tongs, she lifts a brown and white cube from the bowl and releases it just at the surface of the tea. It floats, then ever so slowly a light foam forms then disappears as it sinks. "Two? It's our own concoction of sweetness," she explains noticing you quizzical expression on how it dissolves. "I assume a boy your age probably has a fondness for all sweet things."<br/>
<br/>
You do but usually hide it politely. However, since she suggested and actually has grasped a second cube, you reply, "Sure. Thank you."<br/>
<br/>
She adds a little from the pitcher to hers, then lifts your saucer which you quickly take uttering another, "Thank you."<br/>
<br/>
The aroma is quite pleasing filling your nostrils as you lift the cup to your lips. Although steaming, the small sip is not so hot to your tongue, so you take in a bit more. The flavor is like no other tea you've had. It tastes woody, a bit bitter which is tamed with the sweetness making it very pleasant. You take another sip immediately as the first warms you from throat to tummy.<br/>
<br/>
"You like it." You can tell it's not a question but nod automatically as she continues. "It's our own brew from mountain herbs. Been doing it for generations. A lot of what we have here is what we've found or made. Been handed down in the family. No need to spend a lot for that fancy stuff from big farms." She takes a sip, though her eyes never leave you.<br/>
<br/>
<i>This is exactly the type that those fancy coffee places would pay lots to have to hook those tea drinkers, or maybe the non-drinkers even without the sweetener, </i> you think with another sip as you feel the warmth spreading out from your tummy and relax back into the chair.<br/>
<br/>
"Lots of things come from nature that we use. Many are its secrets, and we're not about to sell out nature just for a profit. Wouldn't ever even if we needed it."<br/>
<br/>
There's a feeling she's reading your thoughts, but you dismiss that with another sip. The room now feels warmer; brighter, too. Perhaps it's the morning light rather than yesterday's afternoon when you were here that makes colors appear beyond the earth tones you remember.<br/>
<br/>
"There's others that would. Claim things in the heresy of science and subvert them for their own needs," she continues showing spite. "They're willing to destroy anything that might stop or compete with their power."<br/>
<br/>
It's familiar reasoning you've gotten from the "green" activists at school and in the news. They're usually young, so it's interesting to hear it here in Cuthbert and from someone as old and unfit physically as Grandmother since those folks always seem to be the healthy, thin, fit types.<br/>
<br/>
You finish the cup tilting your head to drain the last drop. Your concern of being in her presence has vanished as you set the cup and saucer back on the tray then try to sit straight in the chair mesmerized by the movements in each part of her face as she talks.<br/>
<br/>
"Nature has its own power that you can use if you know how, but too often it gets dismissed, or secrets get stolen," she adds with contempt. "But nature lets everything come back to its proper place, finding its way to its origins, bringing the lost back home even if they don't know they are missing."<br/>
<br/>
Her words sound like poetry, almost a melody to your ears. The room feels much bigger now as your eyes remain fixed on hers that are sparkling hypnotically through the small spectacles. In fact you don't seem to be able to move just peripherally seeing her put the cup and saucer down. You hear a door slide open but your eyes stay with hers. A book held out is placed in her lap then a shiny object top of it. The door sounds again, closing.<br/>
<br/>
"Now, Will'um," she asks tapping you again with her cane, her eyes now hard and serious as she leans forward. "What can you tell me about these?"<br/>
<br/>
* * * *	<br/>
<br/>
Without hesitation or contemplation, for the next thirty minutes or so you tell her your whole story of finding the <i>Libra Persona</i> at Arnholms, opening and trying the spells, meeting and hiding from Blackwell using the spells from the <i>Libra</i>, involving your friends as you fear Blackwell's intentions, and finally catching him and getting him to agree to work with you. The only time her eyes show any change is when you mention Keyserling, and they burn with anger.<br/>
<br/>
When you're done, you feel relieved and happy. She looks down at the <i>Libra</i>, opens the cover, then thumbs at the pages that won't open.<br/>
<br/>
"How does it work?"<br/>
<br/>
Reaching over, you turn the page to the first spell which brings surprise then suspicion, finally a smile.<br/>
<br/>
"You're quite talented; more so than expected," she beams before scanning each of the spells up to the one with half a page missing. "What happened here?"<br/>
<br/>
"I don't know. That's the way it was. I haven't figured it out."<br/>
<br/>
"I'm sure we will do that." She then holds up the mask. "And this? It's your name inside."<br/>
<br/>
"Yes. It's a copy of me. Whoever places it on their face will change into a copy of me, physically and with the memories from the last it was worn." You pause then explain, "If I put it on, it will copy my latest memories."<br/>
<br/>
Her head swivels towards the door as she shouts, "Holly! Rosalie!"<br/>
<br/>
It's like a wake-up call rousing you from a dream. For a moment you are confused before realizing what has happened. A feeling being a child having confessed a transgression makes you shift uncomfortably, and you wonder why you did it and how she knew you had the <i>Libra</i> and the mask.<br/>
<br/>
"Do not worry, boy. You done good," she offers before the door slides open and Holly races in followed by Rosalie. "Send for my Will," she commands Holly then barks at Rosalie. "Get paper and pencil." They scoot out without closing the door.<br/>
<br/>
"You're fine and safe, Will'um," she soothes settling back into the settee. "You've returned an important item." She taps the <i>Libra</i>. "And know to use it." Rosalie darts in offering a pad and pencil, but Grandmother motions at the other chair then pushes the book to you. "Tell her what each says to do, and write them down clear, girl," she ends to Rosalie before calling out, "Holly, my tea's cold."<br/>
<br/>
Since it's in Latin, you figure no one here can read it. You barely pause to consider that you only vaguely know the exact translation, but your mind is clear on what the ingredients are and how to assemble things which is what you tell them. It seems natural to do it, not being compelled. It's almost like reading a story to your sister and aunt. When you're done, you place the book in Grandmother's outstretched hand.<br/>
<br/>
"You and Holly fetch those ingredients now, and close the door."<br/>
<br/>
Rosalie moves quickly as Grandmother holds out the mask to you. It's obvious that she wants you to show her. So as you hear the door close, you raise it to your face.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122111211112211121111221221
author_id: wordsmitty
title: Welcome home
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>When you come round, the room is different. Even though your vision is blurred and you're groggy slouched in a chair, you can tell. It's cool here and smaller. Then slowly sitting up, you realize you're naked which quickly brings your eyes and mind into focus as you gaze around. Across the room is an old table or desk; a large chair at it, both light wood. Too weak to get up, you just note the papers and jars of various shapes and sizes on it and the shelves beside it. Before you can see more, the door creaks open to the thump of Grandmother's canes as she enters. You hands jump over your crotch making her grin.<br/>
<br/>
"Good. You're awake. It always makes one sleep some, but it ain't gonna hurt you none. Just a little confused for a bit. I wouldn't go hurtin' family, unless ..." A sinister smile follows. You just shiver from her tone, the cold, and still being a bit woozy.<br/>
<br/>
It's the first time you've been the one with light to your back and seen her face well illuminated. It's ancient, dry, and wrinkled but still with strong authority in it especially those eyes. They seem to be razor-sharp lasers, and the spectacles only seem to focus them more intently. They don't waver, it's hard for you to maintain clear focus. You blink shut, and the room sways until you realize it's you, so you pop them open to steady yourself.<br/>
<br/>
"It'll wear off. I'll give you a little more time to yourself."<br/>
<br/>
This whole ordeal seems incomprehensible, but you're too embarrassed, or maybe scared, to ask what's going on. Instead you mumble another question in a higher pitch than you wanted. "Ah, can I go home now?"<br/>
<br/>
Her smile is almost grandmotherly this time. “You're here now, Will'um. You are home – finally – truly – home. Just you relax and rest. I'll be back in a bit when you're ready for more family. That's why you came home after all, and I want you to know.” She ends on a smirk and immediately turns to go.<br/>
<br/>
It's a twist of your words and thoughts about Cuthbert; and even from what's happened, there's a feeling of belonging here, although it could be the drugs still in you. <br/>
<br/>
<i>It must be the tea, but she drank from the pot, too. The sugar. The strange foaming. Oh, well,</i> you mind drifts between subjects.<br/>
<br/>
After she waddles out, you hear a click. Gradually you rise holding yourself steady with the chair for a few moments when your vision blurs and your head spins. Then you shuffle over to check. Sure enough, you're locked in. However, there is a window, actually two as this is a corner room. The first doesn't budge though you still feel weak trying, but the second slides up easily sending a blast of icy air stinging your exposed skin where it's most sensitive. You almost slam it down.<br/>
<br/>
Panic doesn't come. There's something about this that doesn't frighten you, although there are plenty of things that do, and that's what asserts the flight instinct. At least a calm head's better to analyze the situation, and rapid movements aren't good right now anyway as you hold yourself steady with the frame.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Why am I naked?</i><br/>
<br/>
Turning round, you try the other door, but it's just a closet with boxes, not even a scrap of anything to cover yourself from the cold. The rest of the house is comfortably warm, but little heat is here, and opening the window has made it worse. Scanning the room more thoroughly, a pile of material on a low shelf by the desk draws you over. Lifting it reveals an old dress and socks. Anything is enough to ward off some of the chill, so you drop it on even though it's tight and comes up short. The socks are knee length that make up most of the difference and are a real blessing of warmth. <br/>
<br/>
This dress and socks might be enough to protect you in an escape to your truck which you see out the window. It's not where you left it in front, but that makes it closer. There's a hidden key under the hood that you can use unless they've accessed the mask's memories and taken it, but why would they. With all this talk about being “family,” are they really out to do you harm? So they drugged you, took your clothes, and locked you up. They could have done worse, and maybe they will. Here's an opportunity. All you have to do is get going back out of town past everyone and out run the dead-eye shooting sheriff in his old junker. That shouldn't be hard, but why they are doing this?<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221112111122111211112212212
author_id: wordsmitty
title: Another Homecoming
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Still shivering, you realize that it's not worth bearing the outside dressed in as little as this. The bitter air before almost freeze-dried your manhood, and it's hanging open still in this dress. Besides, your curiosity is stronger than any desire to get away. That has you wondering about the clothes you've found. Obviously, they're too small for Grandmother, so why would they be stashed in here?<br/>
<br/>
Back to the pile, you lift a pair of panties of very rough material, not like the cotton or synthetics you know. While debating their origin and whether the air chilling your junk could be lessened by slipping into these, you notice something under the cup of the bra still sitting there. Taking that in your other hand revels a shiny blue bowl-shaped object – a mask!<br/>
<br/>
Tossing the undies on the desk, you pull out the mask and turn it over. A name floats on the inside like usual, and a face and figure of a young woman, perhaps no more than yourself reflects back within the cerulean surface as if a trick mirror. "Margaret Ann Shabbleman."<br/>
<br/>
<i>Perhaps I can learn more by putting it on,</i> is your first thought, but you hesitate. Your moral compass of invading someone's privacy that you don't even know pushes guilt forward, plus it's a woman. Changing gender you've always avoided. You and Caleb had that discussion back when you first made masks and thought of getting the Garner sisters for the pleasure of using them, but decided it was disgusting to be under one while a guy used you. But this is different.<br/>
<br/>
Again you wonder why they took your clothes unless they replaced you. They have your mask, and you just uploaded all your latest memories. It would be easy for them to send someone else home as you now that you have "returned here as home." If the person copied in this mask could give you some insight, maybe you should check her out. Maybe you'll find that you better bail in your truck. It would just be to get a little information, and you'd take it right off.<br/>
<br/>
* * * *<br/>
<br/>
Excruciating pain comes from inside you – everywhere. Feeling you're being ripped apart has you convulsing uncontrollably with your eyes rolled back and closed. There's a stabbing pain from something in the back of your neck, but that immediately vanishes as with the internal pain. Terrified beyond comprehension, you pull your legs up on the chair. They feel so weak as you wrap your arms around them pressing your head onto your knees forming a ball. But how can you now? You were just strapped in the chair unable to move. You're too scared to look around, and tears have soaked your face so much that you can't muster any more. <br/>
<br/>
<i>Why was I dragged away into this place. They said I lost the touch, been corrupted, defamed our family. I never did. I don't know what happened that I couldn't do things like I used to. They just didn't work for me since the invasion, but it isn't my fault. Why can't they understand instead of accusing me and saying they have to take me apart to fix me.</i><br/>
<br/>
Softly sobbing and trembling with these thoughts, you aren't aware someone is in the room until you hear a gasp almost as confused as you feel.<br/>
<br/>
"Grettie?"<br/>
<br/>
You freeze and hold your breath. It's familiar, yet not. It's scratchy, deeper, not like the voice of who used to call you that. Slowly you raise your eyes into the auburn strands that curtain them from viewing until, very cautiously, they're drawn aside by your left index finger. Then you scream.<br/>
<br/>
"Wh-who ...?" your stutter retreating further into the chair away from the monstrous apparition before you. It's face gnarled, weathered and pale with its mouth agape. Eyes bug out from glass circles. All atop a gigantic mound. "Wh-what do you want? P-p-please don't hurt me. <i>Please ...</i>" Sobs roll out as you look down squeezing as tight and small as you can hide.<br/>
<br/>
"Will'um? " the voice asks then distinctly commands, "William Prescott!"<br/>
<br/>
Immediately, your mind shifts and grabs back control from the mask's memories. Your eyes shoot open and slowly you relax, head rising and legs slipping back to the floor, but you continue to quiver from the intense emotions of the girl in the mask.<br/>
<br/>
"I, I'm sorry, Grandmother," you barely manage before your tongue pushes saliva against the roof of your mouth and it's flushed down your throat. "I was cold and saw these, and under - this mask. I just wondered who and ... put it on. It's strong memories and emotions took me..." You close your eyes and try to push them further away while using your fingers to comb your stringy hair back behind your ears then straightening out the dress before you look into her eyes.<br/>
<br/>
She immediately turns away with a snarl that staccatos. "Don't scare me like that, girl, ... boy."<br/>
<br/>
"I-I'm sorry," comes out again, more from this girl's personality than yours. "I should take this off."<br/>
<br/>
"That you better," Grandmother snaps. But as you start to say the release phrase, she turns to you and commands, "No. ... Wait. You have the memories?"<br/>
<br/>
The girl's identity flashes over your mind. You're just eighteen years old now. Lived in Cuthbert all your life. Your best friend is your cousin, Florence. Flo is her nickname, and she hates it, but you love to tease her with it. She is a year younger and a bit bossy, except with you. You two hold some special bond ever since you were little playing at your grandparents house, the biggest one in town. At least, you felt that connection until the time during the war when some people came to Cuthbert. It was so scary – gun shots and explosions, the fire. You cowered in the basement that night with Flo but crept upstairs when you heard footsteps hoping its was family returning.<br/>
<br/>
You both woke up the next day in the yard unable to remember what happened. That was almost ten years ago. Since then, you've had problems with your abilities no matter how hard you tried. You married two years ago. An arranged one, but you love him, yet you never conceived a child, though not for lack of trying, almost unrelenting the past two months. Then last night they came, put a bag over your head and brought you to that place with that chair, strapped you down and ... You can still hear Flo crying out the nickname she had for you as they hustled you off: <i>Grettie</i>.<br/>
<br/>
Margaret's emotions sweep forward and engulf your mind as she realizes who the old mammoth before you is. You gasp and rear back wide-eyed but have just enough control to keep silent not exclaiming your thoughts, <i>Oh, Flo. They done even worse to you. At least I'm still young.</i><br/>
<br/>
Grandmother, Flo, stares at you in harsh confusion that would paralyze you if you weren't already stiff from Margaret in shock. Your own fear of what Grandmother may do for donning a mask that must have laid unused for decades anchors you even firmer. You want to know more of what terrible thing happened to Margaret, but you push her memories away banishing them and hoping you'll forget.<br/>
<br/>
As you nod acknowledging memories, Grandmother grumbles, "Take it off."<br/>
<br/>
* * * * <br/>
<br/>
This time upon awakening, your back pack is in your lap, open, showing the extra clothes that you brought. The mask is gone as is Grandmother, but it's obvious that your clothes are here for you to change into, and you do folding the dress and stockings up neatly and placing them and the other garments back where you found them.<br/>
<br/>
Light is fading into gnarly long shadows outside the window when you finish, and a foreboding feeling comes over you. Grandmother already implied that this is your home now, and you wonder if your parents will be concerned enough to look for you, or will ever find you. Even if Grandmother didn't have someone replace you since your truck is still there, she has the mask of you and could call to say you're staying overnight - the first night of forever.<br/>
<br/>
Turning around, you notice that there's new items on the desk - ingredients for the first few spells. There's also a bowl and some wooden spoons plus a convex mirror. The only thing missing is the <i>Libra</i> that's necessary to activate things.<br/>
<br/>
"You gonna need these," Grandmother booms as the door swings wide, her broad frame nudging it against the wall. She pushes Rosalie ahead holding a mask on top of the book. Rosalie looks concerned and frightened. Grandmother thumps over to the chair and wedges herself in. "Show me how you make it work. She's yours to demonstrate."<br/>
<br/>
That just makes Rosalie tremble as she holds out the <i>Libra</i>. You don't like Grandmother's tone nor Rosalie being scared, but what are you going to do? With your clothes on, you can handle the cold and easily dash out the door with no one in your way. With sun setting, fear is growing more in you that you may never see your birth family again. However, Grandmother doesn't really need you since they have the book and your description of the spells, and your memories in the mask to execute them.<br/>
<br/>
Maybe it's just her bossy nature. Maybe you're just training Rosalie not using her. Maybe it's best to just do as she directs because if you don't, much worse may happen. Or perhaps she does need you, and you have some leverage. Perhaps this is the time to start bargaining and find out what she really has in store for you. If you're really family, she should be able to tell you. Perhaps you should be more assertive. Isn't that why you failed with Lisa?<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212211121112
author_id: seuzz
title: Taking Stock
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Caleb would kill you if he found out you made another mask, so you resist the temptation. Besides, you'd like to always have one in reserve, and you need to get some more supplies so the Keith golem can start working on more.<br/>
<br/>
You don't have a chance to hook up with Richards or Eva until lunchtime, when you rendezvous with them on the way over to the cafeteria. "You guys staying out of trouble?" you tease.<br/>
<br/>
"Shut up," Richards mutters. It's good for them that the infatuation between him and Eva isn't public knowledge, so they don't touch each other as you walk.<br/>
<br/>
"Gordon told me Cindy's off the squad," you say. "I haven't told her yet."<br/>
<br/>
"She knows," says Eva. "Chelsea made it official this morning at practice."<br/>
<br/>
"So what's her deal?"<br/>
<br/>
"Everyone thinks it's just 'cos she never liked Cindy. And Lucy was squad captain two years ago, and Chelsea's always been paranoid that Cindy would try to take over."<br/>
<br/>
"Fucking cunt."<br/>
<br/>
Jeremy gives you a sidelong glance. "Are you actually falling for her?"<br/>
<br/>
You stifle a snarl, because you have a sudden vision of Cindy, looking very vulnerable, gazing up sweetly into your face. "She just doesn't deserve this shit," you lamely reply.<br/>
<br/>
Your vision suddenly seems to materialize as you round a corner to see Cindy walking your way. She smiles at you.<br/>
<br/>
She looks quite good for having just been cruelly cut from the squad. She is all made up and shows no sign of having been crying. She slips her arm around your waist, and you put your arm around her shoulder. "I just heard about this morning. I'm sorry."<br/>
<br/>
She shrugs. "It was going to happen. I feel better now that it's over."<br/>
<br/>
"Let's eat out here," you suggest. "We don't gotta go in and see Chelsea gloat."<br/>
<br/>
"I don't want to run away," Cindy says firmly. "I can face her."<br/>
<br/>
"You guys go ahead," Jeremy says. "Eva and me'll crash out here." He catches your eye, and you notice your three duplicates—Caleb and Keith and Will—goofing off at another part of the quad. It's startling to see them this way, and to see them through Javits' eyes, and to see how stupid they look.<br/>
<br/>
"Jeremy and Eva sure make a cute couple," Cindy says softly as you wander toward the cafeteria.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You and Cindy are subdued at lunch, and you're bothered by the way that most of her ex-squadmates give her the cold shoulder; only Yumi Saito and Lin Pol talk to her. By contrast, Black and Patterson and the other jocks seem to go out of their way to goof around with you. The surprise comes when Lynch falls in beside you on the way out. "Sucks about Cindy, man," he says. "But, uh, you know, you gotta think about yourself, too."<br/>
<br/>
"You saying I should dump her too," you ask him coldly.<br/>
<br/>
"Fuck, no. She's a sweet piece of ass. But you don't wanna cause problems for Gordon." He shakes his head. "The fucker is so pussy whipped, and no one can hold a grudge like Chelsea can. Look," he says, stopping to turn his electric-blue eyes up at you. "You just give Gordon a hundred and ten percent on the court, be a good soldier off it, and you'll be okay."<br/>
<br/>
It's a weird piece of advice, and you wish you could understand what the fuck it was about.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"What do you think is going on?" you ask Richards after school. You're sitting your backyard, at the wrought-iron table that sits on the stone patio, with him and Eva.<br/>
<br/>
"What the fuck does it matter," Richards says. "In a couple of days if we're lucky, a week at the most, we'll be back to being ourselves and none of this stuff will be worth a shit."<br/>
<br/>
"I guess," you say, but you and Eva briefly lock eyes. You nod at her. "What have you found out about Lisa?"<br/>
<br/>
"She and Geoff aren't together any more. She says she misses you. I asked if she wanted to be your girlfriend and she said no, she just doesn't like the way she disrupted your friendship."<br/>
<br/>
"Fuck," Richards sighs. "I can't stand girls who just want to be your friend and won't go all the way." There's a slapping sound from under the table, and he winces. <br/>
<br/>
"It's normal behavior," Eva tells you primly. "You cut her off kind of coldly after she dumped you—"<br/>
<br/>
"She never dumped him, they were never going together," Richards interrupts.<br/>
<br/>
"—and she doesn't like it. She wants you to want her," Eva says with a sigh. "She just doesn't want you to <i>have</i> her."<br/>
<br/>
You slouch and shake your head with a laugh. "So she was being weird she came back to me, but that was perfectly normal because she's got these fucked up ideas about what she wants. Chelsea is being weird, but that's perfectly normal because she's a cunt and does weird cunt-like things. Cindy's being totally normal, at least, except for being fucked up over her sister's death and cut from the squad. I've run out of suspects."<br/>
<br/>
"Where is Cindy?"<br/>
<br/>
"She said she was going to hang out with some girlfriends, make some new connections. I think she's decided she doesn't like the cheerleaders any more. No offense, Eva."<br/>
<br/>
"I'll try to be nice to her. Although," she crinkles her nose. "We never really got along."<br/>
<br/>
"Has anybody else shown a creepy interest in Prescott?"<br/>
<br/>
"No one except the Molester, I think," says Richards.<br/>
<br/>
You grunt. "We should kick his ass while we have the chance."<br/>
<br/>
"There's something I don't understand about these masks and these golems," Eva says. "You said, right, that Blackwell was going to try getting close to you so he could copy you. That way he'd find out where the book is."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, the thing is, you're not yourself. What happens if he puts a mask on the fake Prescott?"<br/>
<br/>
"I dunno." You think. "We've got a spare. We could find out right now." You slap Richards on the arm and rise from your chair.<br/>
<br/>
Fifteen minutes later you're back, looking thoughtful. "Nothing happened," you tell Eva. "The mask just sort of glowed really bright, but it didn't copy anything."<br/>
<br/>
"So as long as you're not yourself ... I mean, as long as it's a fake you out there, he can't find out anything?"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, he could always get the mask off the golem," Richards interrupts. "He could put it on and then know what it knows. He'd know you're pretending to be Javits, and that'd tell him where the book is."<br/>
<br/>
"Unless you give it to someone else to hide," Eva says after a silence.</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122111212
author_id: imaj
title: Keith's Other New Body
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>This time Keith doesn't even say anything as you open the trunk. "Take your clothes off, dude," you order.<br/>
<br/>
"I don't care who you look like—"<br/>
<br/>
"—I'm going to kick your ass so hard," you finish with him in unison. "I've heard it before.  You want this face or not?”<br/>
<br/>
“This face,”  he repeats, looking at you warily.  “You mean I get to be Seth?  What are you up to?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m pretty sure Cindy’s in the clear,” you explain irritably, wondering just what it is about Keith that so annoys Seth.  “So I want to check out some other suspects.  Being Seth isn’t much good for that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Couldn’t you just put the Seth mask on a golem or something” asks Keith, clambering out of the trunk.  He tries to massage some feeling back into his legs before standing unsteadily.<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” you admit.  You stare to the side thoughtfully before continuing.  “But at the same time, I’m not completely sure that Cindy isn’t Blackwell.  I can’t trust her, him, whatever, with a golem in that case.”<br/>
<br/>
“Great,” mumbles Keith.  “So I get to be in the firing line instead?”<br/>
<br/>
“Relax Tilley,” you say, walking back inside the abandoned school building.  “All you need to do is keep an eye on her.  I doubt even you could fuck that up.”<br/>
<br/>
“Look, can you stop, you know, being him.  It’s really freaking me out.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ok, ok” you smile goofily, pushing Seth back into the corners of your mind.  “I’ll take the mask off now.  Wait here a sec.”<br/>
<br/>
You lean on Keith’s shoulder before pulling the mask away from your face.  Blood pounds in your ears for what seems like an age, your eyelids seem heavy and it takes all your willpower to resist the urge to sink to the floor.  The feeling passes, leaving you standing next to your friend, yourself again, in Seth’s outsized clothes.<br/>
<br/>
“There you go,” you say, handing Keith the mask.  He turns it over in his hands, deep in thought.  “Don’t put it on just yet, you’ll rip your clothes.”<br/>
<br/>
“Hey,” he says, brightening up considerably.  “If I put this on does that mean I get to fuck Cindy?”<br/>
<br/>
“The fuck dude?  This is serious.”<br/>
<br/>
“You telling me you didn’t tap that?  <i>Honestly</i>?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah well,” you grumble.  “Don’t come crying to me when she turns out to be an overweight creepy evil sorcerer.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s not gay if he’s using a magical mask that makes him look like the girlfriend of the magical mask that you’re wearing,”  Keith says a little too quickly.<br/>
<br/>
“Whatever,” you reply dismissively, opening the door to the basement.  “I don’t want to know whatever twisted thought process brought you to that conclusion.”<br/>
<br/>
“Two layers of magic, you see,” he replies, oblivious to your tone. “Two layers of magic between you and the <i>what the fuck is tha</i>t?”<br/>
<br/>
Keith stands stunned, his eyes wide.  He’s just spotted his golem double.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, obviously you can't disappear," you say impatiently. "So this guy's going to take your place. That's Eva Garner under that mask, but for all anyone will know or care, that's you."<br/>
<br/>
"No shit?" the naked Keith-golem exclaims. "I've got Eva inside me?" He starts rubbing his hands all over his scrawny body. <br/>
<br/>
"And you wonder why people think you’re a pervert," you say, addressing both Keiths.   "Oh, yeah, that's another thing, I knew you'd be freaked out, so I arranged it so that he's your slave, not mine. He has to do what you say. Just tell him we're all on the same team."<br/>
<br/>
Keith chokes a little, then grins. "So if I told him to suck me off—?"<br/>
<br/>
"I don't wanna know!" you cry.<br/>
<br/>
“Wait a sec,” says Keith realising something.  “If that’s Eva under the mask does that mean you’re going to get to wear an Eva mask?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” you say.  You think you know where this is going.<br/>
<br/>
“That sucks.  How come I get stuck as Seth while you get to run around being Eva?  The things I could do if I was Eva,” he sighs wistfully.<br/>
<br/>
“That answers your question better than I could,” you snark.  “Look, we’ve wasted enough time already.  Take your clothes off, give ‘em to the golem.”<br/>
<br/>
“<i>What</i>, here,” says Keith incredulously.  “Can’t I go somewhere more private?”<br/>
<br/>
“Keith, you’ve got nothing under those clothes that isn’t standing naked right there,” you reply, gesturing at he golem.  “And, and…  What the <i>fuck</i> is it doing?”<br/>
<br/>
“I think we should get it my clothes quickly,” says Keith suddenly finding the floor the most interesting part of the room.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You wake with a start, groggily lifting yourself from the floor by leaning on your arms.  Your breasts flop about freely as you do so.  Wait.  <i>Breasts</i>?<br/>
<br/>
Well, of course breasts, silly.  More worrying is the fact you seem to be naked.  You remember coming down here, to this old abandoned school basement to meet Seth Javits.  Bit of a creep, not as bad as Jason Lynch, but you wonder why Cindy puts up with him sometimes.  That’s the last thing you remember:  Seth did something to you.<br/>
<br/>
You practically leap to your feet and look around you.  Half naked, the lower half you note, is someone else entirely.  You struggle for a moment before you recognise that weirdo, Keith Tilley.<br/>
<br/>
“What are you staring at, perv,” you screech.  Your hands ball into fists as the anger builds up.<br/>
<br/>
Keith just stares, so you walk right up and punch him right in the face.  He goes down like a log.<br/>
<br/>
“Jesus Will,” comes a shocked voice from behind you.  <br/>
<br/>
Eva’s emotions evaporate as you realise who you really are.  She’s strong willed, and it’s so easy to slip into her thoughts and feeling.  Comfortable, like a worn old chair.  Ultimately though, she’s nothing more than a paper thin mask you use or put aside as you desire.<br/>
<br/>
“Sorry,” you say, grinning sheepishly as you turn around.  “I got lost in the moment.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s my face Will,” says the real Keith, although he now appears, and is dressed as, Seth.  “How am I, is it, going to explain the bruise.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, people saw you getting hauled off at the end of school by, well, you.  They’d be more surprised if you showed up tomorrow without any bruises.”<br/>
<br/>
“And my Mom and Dad?”<br/>
<br/>
“It fell,” you say shrugging.  “They’ll know it’s lying but they wont pry too closely.”<br/>
<br/>
“Looking good Eva,” says the Keith golem, rising uncertainly to its feet.<br/>
<br/>
You whirl round and deck it again, just to be on the safe side.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You sent the Keith golem home an hour or so ago.  To be honest it was disgusting you, and judging from the expression on Keith’s new face, it was disgusting him too.  You’re now holding an impromptu planning session while the Melody golem starts polishing the first of the two new masks you’ve just made.<br/>
<br/>
“You’re paranoid,” rumbles Keith in his new voice.  “Chelsea being a bitch is just Chelsea being Chelsea.”<br/>
<br/>
“She’s being more of a bitch than usual,” you reply irritably.  “You have to admit, if Blackwell was Chelsea, he’d been a good position to hunt me down without lifting a finger himself.”<br/>
<br/>
“He’d just get Gordon to do it,” agrees Keith.  “And Gordon would get the rest of the team to do it.”<br/>
<br/>
“So I can keep an eye on Chelsea.  Eva’s not one of her inner circle but she’s close enough.  You can keep an eye on Gordon too.”<br/>
<br/>
“And Cindy,” says Keith with a gleam in his eye.<br/>
<br/>
“And Cindy,” you sigh.  “But what worries me is Lisa.  Normally, I’d be happy.  Suddenly taking interest in me again though?  Now it makes me worried.”<br/>
<br/>
“Lisa and Eva are friendly, so you can keep an eye on her.  I’m worried about Caleb though.”<br/>
<br/>
“What?  Why?”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, whoever Blackwell is, he’s still gunning for you.  I mean the real you, Will.  He could try and use Caleb to get to you.  We should find him somewhere, someone, to hide out as.”<br/>
<br/>
“Would he want to,” you ask.  “Besides,  Blackwell could just as easily go for the golems and…  Fuck…”<br/>
<br/>
“What,” asks Keith anxiously.<br/>
<br/>
“The memory strips on the golems would lead Blackwell right here.  We need to move our stuff.”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212
author_id: imaj
title: Kim Walsh
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Have you decided,” Caleb asks bitterly.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” you reply.  “Kim Walsh”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
The plan is a simple one, with each of you playing specific roles.  You’ve ditched school today to finalise the arrangements of the new spell.  The golem did a good job overnight but there were a few final touches required.  A small lock of your hair placed in the little mound of graveyard earth.  New fuel had to be bought, thankfully not as much as for the first golem.  There was plenty of spare change from the hundred dollars Melody received for cataloguing Blackwell’s library, so you bought the materials to make several new masks and memory strips.<br/>
<br/>
You kept the Melody mask on the golem, largely because you were getting fed up with the attitude you were getting from it.  Its quiet guidance on the preparation of the new spell was invaluable.  It also seemed to work more efficiently like that too, completing the second blank mask that you need early in the morning.  That second mask you used on yourself and sealed.  You’ll place it on the golem later so it can act as a decoy.<br/>
<br/>
It’s working on polishing a new mask when Caleb walks in.<br/>
<br/>
“Well,” you ask impatiently.<br/>
<br/>
He holds out his right hand and opens it.  A couple of metal components fall to the floor.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s done,” Caleb states flatly.  “She wont be going anywhere.”<br/>
<br/>
“Stay by the door,  we’ll call when we need you.”<br/>
<br/>
Which just leaves Keith, who’s job was to delay Kim at the end of school and offer her a lift once she realised her car wasn’t starting.  Taking the blank, unsealed mask, you walk out to the gates of the school.<br/>
<br/>
Five minutes later Keith’s compact European car comes put-put-puttering up the road and draws to a stop beside you.<br/>
<br/>
“’Sup,” you say ambling over to the passenger side door.  “Oh, hi Kim. I didn’t expect to see you here.”<br/>
<br/>
“The dark and mysterious Will Prescott,” she replies, her green eyes twinkling behind her thick rimmed oval glasses.  “Don’t think I haven’t spotted you skipping classes for the last couple of weeks.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, well,” you frown.  “It’s complicated, but you didn’t say why you were here.”<br/>
<br/>
Keith rolls his eyes.<br/>
<br/>
“You know that’s not how it works,” Kim says smiling.  “The position of student council president affords its incumbent the right to nosy into the lives of all other students whilst at the same time being immune to such nosying herself.”<br/>
<br/>
You stare blankly trying to understand what was just said.  The girl is heading straight for law school by all accounts.<br/>
<br/>
“I had to speak to Kim about some debate team stuff after school,” says Keith, as if he’s reading lines from a script.  “When her car wouldn’t start and everybody else had already left because it’s a Friday, I thought I should offer her a lift.”<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t you live on the over side of town though,” you ask carefully.<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” says Kim  “but we were already moving when Keith remembered he was picking you up.  Besides when I heard the name I couldn’t resist coming along – Remember: Nosy”<br/>
<br/>
You all pause briefly.<br/>
<br/>
“Anyway,” says Kim filling the gap in the conversation.  “What have you been up to?”<br/>
<br/>
“Rummaging around some of the weirder stores in town.  Look what I found,” you say, bringing up the mask to the car window.  “It feels pretty weird when you try it on.  Give it a go.”<br/>
<br/>
She looks at you strangely for a few seconds, before removing her glasses and hat, sending her flame red hair spilling across her shoulders.<br/>
<br/>
“Sure, hold these for me will you.”<br/>
<br/>
You exchange a glance with Keith, this is more than you’d hoped for.  Kim carefully lifts the mask to her face, spasming  briefly before slumping unconscious in her seat as the mask vanishes inside her.<br/>
<br/>
“Sound the horn and lets get moving,” you say to Keith.  “We’ve only got a few minutes.”<br/>
<br/>
Caleb comes running out from the school as you open the passenger door.  Between the three of you, it’s easy enough to manhandle Kim’s unresisting body down the stairs to the basement.  As you enter, the mask hits the floor with a metallic clang.<br/>
<br/>
“Hurry up,”  you hiss.  “She’ll wake up in a minute.  Take her coat off and lay her on the table.  Golem, pick up the mask and apply the sealant.”<br/>
<br/>
You grab the fuel and liberally douse Kim as Caleb and Keith lay her on top of the graveyard earth.  You fumble a packet of matches from your pocket and light one.<br/>
<br/>
“Urrrrgh,” moans Kim as she stirs from her slumber.<br/>
<br/>
You toss the match on her and suddenly everything goes white.<br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121
author_id: imaj
title: The Fate of Kim Walsh
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Ughk,” goes Keith as he empties the contents of his stomach on the floor again.<br/>
<br/>
It’s been five minutes since the bright purple flare that erupted when you lit the fuel died down.<br/>
<br/>
“You killed her,” states Caleb flatly.<br/>
<br/>
“It didn’t kill her,” you reply.  “Look, she’s still breathing.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t think you could you could describe her as alive in any conventional sense Will.”<br/>
<br/>
“Nnnrrugh,” concurs Keith, he’s dry retching now.<br/>
<br/>
Kim’s skin has turned the same granite grey as the golems.  She feels cold and damp to the touch.  While she is still breathing, her eyes are closed and she shows no other sign of life.<br/>
<br/>
“Is… Is she a golem now,” whispers Keith, his stomach empty, nothing left to vomit up.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know,” you reply.  “Help me get the rest of her clothes of and we’ll try the mask of me on her.”<br/>
<br/>
“On <i>it</i> Will,” says Caleb.  “On <i>it</i>.”<br/>
<br/>
“Look,” you say as you remove a brown leather knee boot from Kim’s left foot.  “We agreed.  This was the only course of action.”<br/>
<br/>
“Was this what we signed up for Will,” says Caleb near hysterically.  “Shit like this means we’re just as bad as Blackwell.”<br/>
<br/>
“We’ll reverse it,” you say as you and Keith work to remove Kim’s dark green sweater dress.  “We’ll work our way through the book and find out how to make it better.”<br/>
<br/>
“I just hope to god you’re right Will.”<br/>
<br/>
As Keith removes the last of Kim’s underwear, you place the mask of yourself on her face.  Colour returns to her skin as it reshapes itself to match your bulkier build.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi guys,” says the new golem as it opens it’s eyes.<br/>
<br/>
“Kim,” asks Caleb<br/>
<br/>
“Hmm…” says the golem thinking.  “Nah, I only have Will’s memories.  Right up till this morning when he made this mask.  What’s Kim got to do with it?”<br/>
<br/>
The golem sits up and looks round the room.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t see her here or anything,” it says.  “Wait.  If I’m a golem why is Melody still walking around over there?”<br/>
<br/>
Caleb looks at you accusingly.<br/>
<br/>
“It doesn’t remember anything except what’s on the mask,” says the original golem.  “Golem’s don’t.”<br/>
<br/>
“So Kim is completely gone,” asks Keith weakly.<br/>
<br/>
“We still have her mask, right,” you interrupt.  “It must be possible to use that to restore her.”<br/>
<br/>
“Restore who,” asks the second golem.  “And why are we taking about Kim?”<br/>
<br/>
“The new fucking spell turned her into a golem,” spits Caleb.  “You are Kim, all that’s left of her.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t remember being Kim,” says the second Golem.<br/>
<br/>
“We’ll sort it,” you hiss at Caleb.  “Look, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  We use the new golem as the decoy and the old one can stay down here and make more masks.”<br/>
<br/>
“You want to make more masks,” shouts Caleb.  “Are you fucking mad?”<br/>
<br/>
“You wanted Garner masks,” you shout back.<br/>
<br/>
“Eva Garner,” smiles Keith.  “That would be nice.”<br/>
<br/>
“I want there to be a real Eva and Jessica Garner too,” rages Caleb as he storms out the room.<br/>
<br/>
“Let him go, he’ll come round,” you say as Keith gets up to follow.<br/>
<br/>
“What if he doesn’t though.”<br/>
<br/>
“Then we’ll worry about that later,” you say, eyeing the new golem.<br/>
<br/>
You pick up the spell book and press it against the new golem.  It glows briefly, as a new spell unlocks.<br/>
<br/>
“Golem,” you begin, realising your mistake as both of them look at you attentively.  “Er, Melody.  Translate the new spell.  Once you complete it go back to polishing the new mask.”<br/>
<br/>
You turn to the new golem.<br/>
<br/>
“You,” you say to it, pulling your t-shirt off.  “Put these on.  You get to be me for a while.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“Here,” says Keith as he hands you Kim’s glasses.  The world swims back into Focus as you put the on.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s amazing,” he continues.  “You look just like her.”<br/>
<br/>
“I am her,” you say as you tuck your new hair into your new hat.  “From now until we reverse the spell.  I owe her that much.  The whole school needs a Kim Walsh to look out for it.”<br/>
<br/>
“You sound just like her too,” he mumbles.<br/>
<br/>
You can’t help but smile, the smile Kim used when greeting other students around the school.  Kim’s natural confidence is flowing through you like a drug.<br/>
<br/>
“No one is going to miss me,” you almost sing with joy.<br/>
<br/>
“And Caleb,” asks Keith.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211
author_id: imaj
title: Sort the "Caleb problem"
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“We have to do something about him,” you say.  “If he starts mouthing off about what happened…”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know Will,” says Keith.  “He wouldn’t tell that Blackwell guy.”<br/>
<br/>
“He might not mean to,” you say.  Kim is the leader of the school debating team and it’s almost disgustingly easy to sway Keith.  “Blackwell could be anyone.  The wrong word here, a slip of the tongue there and suddenly He’ll know everything.  We can’t take that chance.”<br/>
<br/>
“I know,” says Keith quietly, looking miserable.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll give a chance to cool off, we owe him that much,” you lie.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It’s been a long day.  You were surprised to discover that Kim worked at weekends at a supermarket stacking shelves.  An out of town supermarket.  Not a problem if you have a car, more of a problem is someone sabotaged it the previous day.  The job itself was worse.  Menial, exhausting and with only Jill Taylor, possibly Westside’s most boring student, to keep you company.  And you had to be nice to her, because Kim Walsh is everybody’s friend.<br/>
<br/>
Being Kim Walsh isn’t everything you’d hoped it would be.<br/>
<br/>
“I have the new spell,” says the Melody golem when you arrive at the clubhouse on Sunday evening.  “I think you might find it interesting.”<br/>
<br/>
You read the piece of paper over carefully a few times then laugh.  Yes, perfect.  And no need to tell Keith about it either.<br/>
<br/>
The Will golem arrives shortly after you phone it.  The clubhouse is only a few blocks from your home.<br/>
<br/>
“What’s so important that I have to drop everything boss?”<br/>
<br/>
“I thought I was the centre of your universe,” you say a little too sweetly.<br/>
<br/>
“Well, yeah you are boss, but our mom wasn’t too happy at me running out on dinner like that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Just come over here for a second,” you say picking up a pair of scissors then turning to address the Melody golem “It should still work taking it from the golem, yes?”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t see why not,” it replies.<br/>
<br/>
You cut off a snippet of hair from the Will golem and lay it down on one of the desks.<br/>
<br/>
“Hey, what was that for,” it complains.<br/>
<br/>
“Never you mind,” you tell it blunty.  “Now get out your phone and tell Caleb we’ve found a way to cure Kim.  Pretend you’re actually Will and not a golem.  Sound enthusiastic about it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ok boss,” it says unsurely.<br/>
<br/>
“Enthusiastic I said.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure thing boss!”<br/>
<br/>
You watch the golem conducting the phone call carefully.  It’s as enthusiastic as you asked, possibly a little much too so.  It turns to you as it ends the call.<br/>
<br/>
“Is he coming,” you ask impatiently<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” replies the golem unhappily.  “He’ll be over in ten minutes.  What are you going to do?”<br/>
<br/>
You lean forward to whisper in its ear.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ll find out,” you say as you rip the mask off the golem.<br/>
<br/>
You place the mask upturned on the table.  Scratch on the sigil, sprinkle a little graveyard earth, pour on a little fuel. Add the…<br/>
<br/>
“Where the fuck has the hair gone,” you exclaim.  “It was right here.”<br/>
<br/>
“I didn’t move it,” says the Melody golem.  “Cut a new lock.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well I can’t take it off the golem anymore,” you complain.  “Shit, I’ll have to take my mask off.  Get that new blank mask ready!”<br/>
<br/>
Quickly, you take off your clothes.  No sense ruining them when you change.  You stumble momentarily as you remove the mask but keep moving through sheer force of will.  A moment is all it takes to snip off a lock of hair and toss it onto the mask.  You grab a matchbook, light a match and toss it onto the mask.  No time to watch it burn with that eerie purple flame.  Kim Mask goes back on.  Fight through the nausea.  Clothes back on, doesn’t matter that they are a bit dishevelled.<br/>
<br/>
“How long do we have,” you ask the Melody golem.<br/>
<br/>
“He’ll be here any second now,” it says.  “Here’s the new mask.”<br/>
<br/>
You grab the mask from the golem and suddenly stop.  For a moment the mask feels impossibly heavy.  You sink to your knees, unable to bear the weight.<br/>
<br/>
Then just as quickly, the feeling passes.  Standing back up, you wipe a thin film of sweat from your brow.  You watch as the last purple flickers die out from the other mask – the one you just cast the spell on.  Its inner surface is now the same dull grey as a golem’s.  Not a moment too soon.<br/>
<br/>
“Will, are you down here,” you hear Caleb’s voice from the top of the stairs.<br/>
<br/>
“Down here,” you say, momentarily forgetting yourself.<br/>
<br/>
“Kim is that you?”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck,” you swear under your breath.  “It’s me. Will worked out how to reverse the spell.  Come on down.”<br/>
<br/>
Caleb nervously opens the door and looks round.<br/>
<br/>
“Wait a minute,” he says spotting the statue like golem that used to be Kim<br/>
<br/>
“Sorry Caleb,” you say, thrusting the newly polished mask onto his face.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Three golems.  Three not quite people that will do whatever you tell them.  It’s a giddy feeling of power you experience as you look at each one in turn.  Perhaps now you understand why Blackwell wants the book so badly.<br/>
<br/>
“’sup boss,” says the Will-masked golem.  Caleb is under there somewhere, unable to spoil your plans anymore.<br/>
<br/>
“What the…” says the Caleb-masked golem.  The stone skinned body of the real Kim Walsh lies under that mask.  “I’m a golem aren’t I?  You absolute fucking bastard, you’ve killed me the same way you did Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
“No he hasn’t,” interrupts the Melody-masked golem.  No flesh and blood was involved in its creation.  “The real Caleb is under that mask there.  When the mask is taken off everything will be back to normal for him.”<br/>
<br/>
“I am? It will,” asks the Will-masked golem. “I don’t remember being Caleb at all.”<br/>
<br/>
“Interesting,” replies the Melody-masked golem.  “Perhaps that means that Caleb wont remember his time under that mask either.”<br/>
<br/>
“What about me then,” asks the Caleb-masked golem.  “What am I?”<br/>
<br/>
“An echo perhaps,” suggests the Melody-masked golem.  “You’ll do as our master asks, be a loyal Caleb for him but the memories of what you’ll do will never be known by the real you.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll resist him,” states the Caleb-masked golem defiantly.<br/>
<br/>
“No way,” says the Will-masked golem.  “he’s the boss round here and when he gives an order you follow it.  Fuck he can even make you <i>like</i> it.  Here’s the thing I want to know though.  I’m happy to do what the boss wants because he’s me.  I don’t understand why Melody would be so helpful.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve no grievance with Will,” says the Melody-masked golem.  “And I hate Blackwell.  This is ultimately an intellectual problem for me.  I <i>like</i> solving problems.  Here’s an unintended consequence that the master hasn’t realised yet for example:  He now has two identities he can switch between easily – Caleb and Kim. As Caleb he can watch his duplicate very closely.  As Kim he can hunt search for Blackwell.”<br/>
<br/>
“Quiet,” you say softly.  “All of you.”<br/>
<br/>
The room falls silent.   You can’t stop yourself from smiling.<br/>
<br/>
“I hadn’t realised that,” you say to the Melody-masked golem.  “I think that tomorrow I shall attend school as…”</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112
author_id: imaj
title: Wear The Caleb Mask
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You struggle futilely against Hank Pozniak’s iron grip.  Unable to break free, Lester “The Molester” Brown slams his slab of a fist into your stomach again.<br/>
<br/>
“Huh Johansson, how’s about now,” the Molester shouts in your face gleefully.  <br/>
<br/>
Another fist to the stomach.<br/>
<br/>
“Tell us.”<br/>
<br/>
“He ain’t going to stop till you tell us,” says Pozniak from behind you.  “Where’s Prescott?”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck,” you splutter.  “You.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ooooh,” coos the Molester sarcastically.  “Johansson’s got a death wish.”<br/>
<br/>
“What the hell’s going on here,” you hear a voice shouting.<br/>
<br/>
“Nothing,” replies the Molester.  “Just having a word with my good friend Johansson here.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not stupid Lester.  Clear off before I call one of the teachers over.”<br/>
<br/>
“This isn’t over Johansson,” Pozniak whispers in your ear as he lets you go.  “Tell your friend Prescott we’ll be looking for him too.”<br/>
<br/>
“Here, let me look at you,” your rescuer says.  It’s Kim Walsh, or rather the golem wearing her mask.<br/>
<br/>
“Looks like I made the wrong call last night,” you say sullenly.<br/>
<br/>
“Possibly.  Hmmm, you’re bleeding.”  The golem produces a handkerchief from its pocket and dabs at your lip.  “Let me help with that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe we’ll change back tonight,” you say taking the bloodied handkerchief and putting it in your pocket.  “More importantly did you speak to Cindy?”<br/>
<br/>
“I did,” replies the golem, looking round the corridor to make sure no one is listening.  “Either Blackwell is a fantastic actor or it’s the genuine Cindy.”<br/>
<br/>
“With a mind band he could impersonate her perfectly.”<br/>
<br/>
“Even so,” replies the golem.  “All Cindy is doing is sitting by herself and crying.  He’s never going to find you by doing that.”<br/>
<br/>
The classroom door opposite you creaks open.<br/>
<br/>
“Remember,” you whisper in the golem’s ear.  “As far as Keith’s concerned you’re Will and I’m really Caleb.”<br/>
<br/>
Keith sticks his head out the open door, looks up and down the corridor and walks out quietly.  The Will golem follows him out moments later.<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks a lot guys,” you say capturing the bitterly sarcastic tone of Caleb’s voice perfectly.<br/>
<br/>
“Um… sorry,” says Keith sheepishly.  “I… Well…  Then it would be two of us bruised and bleeding.”<br/>
<br/>
“I have a note from my Mom,” says the Will golem.  “It excuses me from being bullied.”<br/>
<br/>
“You could at least get the golem to help me,” you say, addressing the Kim golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Wouldn’t be in character,” it replies sniffily.  “And you should be very careful using that word.  Anybody could be listening.  Now if you’ll excuse me.”<br/>
<br/>
You feel Caleb’s temper rise as the Kim golem strides away.<br/>
<br/>
“This is so much shit,” you say, thumping your arm against the wall.  If this is how Caleb felt, you’re glad you dealt with him.<br/>
<br/>
“He’s our friend,” says Keith, glancing nervously at the Will golem.  At least he’s still loyal.  “He needs our help.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It’s a little odd, taking books out from Caleb’s half of the locker you share.  You nearly slip up a couple of times before letting the mask of his personality take the driving seat.  It knows which shelves to use, but its seething undercurrent of rage unsettles you.<br/>
<br/>
After today’s incident with the Molester and his crony you’re already nervous.  A reprisal is almost inevitable now.  When a shadow falls across the locker, you practically jump out your skin, hitting your head off the open locker door.<br/>
<br/>
“Watch you don’t hurt yourself loser.”  It’s not the Molester.  Chelsea Cooper leans against the locker next to yours, her arms folded.  “Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself before the main event.”<br/>
<br/>
“What do you know about anything,” you growl angrily at her.<br/>
<br/>
“I know Lester Brown is looking to hurt someone badly,” she says, smiling a little too broadly.  “You should think about who that might be.  You know, you could tell me where to find who he’s looking for.  I’d put in a good word on your behalf.”<br/>
<br/>
Caleb has never believed the rumours that Chelsea has a hand in deciding who gets bullied in the school.  He still doesn’t, but judging from the feelings you’re experiencing from the mask, he’s almost ready to sell you out.<br/>
<br/>
“I got nothing to say to you,” you reply, slamming the locker door shut.<br/>
<br/>
You skip school for the afternoon, just to be on the safe side.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“About time you got here,” you say as the Kim golem saunters into the Clubhouse after school.  “Take your clothes off.”<br/>
<br/>
“I love it when you talk dirty,” the golem replies archly.<br/>
<br/>
“Master, golem.  It’s a simple relationship,” you say angrily.  “Take them off, I’m not wearing this mask a minute more than I have to.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem starts removing its clothes, placing them in a neat pile.<br/>
<br/>
“You still have my handkerchief,” it says sourly.<br/>
<br/>
“Right, right,” you say fumbling in your pockets.  “Well that’s odd…”<br/>
<br/>
“What,” says the Kim golem, pausing.  It’s down to its underwear.<br/>
<br/>
“There was blood on this earlier,” you say, showing the golem the handkerchief.  “Wasn’t there?”<br/>
<br/>
“I remember dabbing your lip with it, yes.  Why isn’t it there now?”<br/>
<br/>
“Why isn’t what there now,” asks the Melody golem from the other side of the room, looking up from the book.<br/>
<br/>
“There was blood on this handkerchief earlier, but it’s vanished now.”<br/>
<br/>
“To whom did the blood belong,” asks the Melody golem, walking over to take a closer look.<br/>
<br/>
“Me, well Caleb.  I took a beating from the Molester today.”<br/>
<br/>
“Who’s the Molester,” begins the Melody golem.  “No never mind.  So it was blood from your disguise.  That’s interesting.  Let me try something.”<br/>
<br/>
“Go ahead,” you say.<br/>
<br/>
The Melody golem retrieves a pair of scissors from a desk and snips away a tiny lock of its hair.  It beckons you over, placing the hair down on the desk.<br/>
<br/>
“Watch,” it says.<br/>
<br/>
“What am I looking for,” you say after a minute.  “Wait, what the fuck?  Where did it go?”<br/>
<br/>
“Vanished,” replies the Melody golem.  “Like the blood, like the hair you cut from the Will masked golem last night.  If I were to make a guess, I’d say it’s been separated from whatever powers the mask disguise.  It simply stops existing.  You realise what this means, don’t you?”<br/>
<br/>
“No big cleaning bills for the Molester and his cronies,” you say sourly.<br/>
<br/>
“There’s a way to identify someone who’s wearing a mask,” interrupts the Kim golem.  “I could get close to Cindy tomorrow and cut off a little of her hair.  Then we’ll see if she’s an impostor or not.”<br/>
<br/>
“One:  <i>‘You’</i> won’t be doing anything, I’ll be wearing that mask tomorrow.  Two:  I’m not sure Blackwell is Cindy.  Chelsea spoke to me earlier today and pretty much admitted she set the Molester and Polzniak on me today.  And she seemed more than a little interested in where ‘Will’ was.”<br/>
<br/>
“So?”<br/>
<br/>
“So, that’s pretty odd behaviour, even by her standards.  Chelsea and Cindy are friends.  Maybe Blackwell switched with Chelsea instead.  Hell, with the amount of influence she has he could probably run the school as her if he wanted.  Now stop questioning me and finish getting undressed.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“That’s better,” you sigh as you don the Kim mask, giving one of your new breasts an experimental squeeze.  “Much better.  Kim has a much more relaxed mind than you Caleb, you know that?  And there are… fringe benefits.”<br/>
<br/>
“You make me sick, you know that.”  The newly Caleb masked golem is already clothed and regarding you with evident distaste.<br/>
<br/>
“Even so,” you reply, running a finger down Caleb’s shirt in a very un-Kim-like way.  “I have ways of making you change your mind.”<br/>
<br/>
“You…  You wouldn’t dare.”<br/>
<br/>
“Watch me, or rather, listen to me.  You’ve changed your mind about me Caleb.  You think that I did what needed to be done.  You won’t complain about what I decide to do in the future, and you won’t tell anyone about what I did to you.”<br/>
<br/>
You watch as the Caleb golem’s expression changes subtly.  It looks confused for a brief second before relaxing.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not sure you can play about with his mind like that,” says the Melody golem.  “Not without consequences later on.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’ll buy me some time to work out a more permanent resolution, but first:  Caleb, tell me what you think about me wearing this mask.  Tell the truth now.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s a shame what happened to the real Kim,” says the Caleb golem hollowly.  “But Blackwell has to be stopped.”<br/>
<br/>
“Perfect,” you say, clapping your hands together.  “Now tomorrow, your job is to keep an eye on the Will golem for me while I hunt for Blackwell.”<br/>
<br/>
“Have you decided who you’re going to try the hair test out on yet,” asks the Melody Golem.</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121
author_id: imaj
title: A Hair of the Cheerleader
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Let’s make sure he’s not Cindy,” you say.  “It’s going to be difficult to get close enough to Chelsea as Kim anyway.  Besides, if we can prove that Cindy isn’t Blackwell, she may be able to help us.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t think telling any more people about the book is wise,” says the Melody golem.  “You’ve already had to enslave one of your friends.”<br/>
<br/>
“Who said anything about telling anybody else.  No, if we can prove that Cindy is Cindy, then perhaps her memories will hold some clues.  Do we have enough materials left to create a mind band?”<br/>
<br/>
“Barely.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’ll have to get out tomorrow whilst I’m at school and buy some more.  Let’s get this band made up first though.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You grip the mind band tightly in the pocket of your slacks as you scan the main hallway for Cindy.  The cool metal feels reassuring in your hand.<br/>
<br/>
Cindy is at her locker, taking out some books.  Despite what the golem told you yesterday, despite being the memories in the mask you wear, you can’t help but be a little shocked at the state Cindy is in.  As one of the cheerleaders, Cindy is usually immaculately made up, hair perfectly styled and stylishly well dressed.  Usually.  The Cindy in front of you hasn’t put any effort into her appearance.  Her eyes are red and puffy and what little make up she has put on has been stained by tears.  Shapeless clothes hang limply from her body.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi Cindy,” you say softly, slipping comfortably into Kim’s personality.  “How are you feeling today?”<br/>
<br/>
“Not any better,” she replies faintly.  “Sometimes I feel like I’m better, then something happens that reminds me.  Chelsea spoke to me this morning.  Went on an on about how she was the captain of the cheerleading team, how she had to think about what was best for everyone.  Then she told me I was dropped.”<br/>
<br/>
Tears well up in Cindy’s eyes again.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s ok,” you say fingering the razor blade in your pocket.  It’s ideal for what you want to do – small, unobtrusive and easily concealed.  “I’m sure it’s just a temporary thing and Chelsea will let you back on the team soon.”<br/>
<br/>
“You think,” she sniffles.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m sure,” you say giving her a comforting hug.  The distraction lets you get close enough to cut away a lock of hair with the razor blade.  With the state Cindy’s hair is in, no one will notice anyway.<br/>
<br/>
“Thank you,” she replies, breaking off.  “You’re a real friend Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
“You know,” you say.  “You should have lunch with me today.  Somewhere nice and quiet where we can talk.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’d be great,” Cindy gushes.  “Like, how about the theater or something?”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure, I’ll see you there.”<br/>
<br/>
You stalk away with your prize.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Keith and the Will golem are lurking beside one of the Maths classrooms when you finally find them.  Amazingly, your ex girlfriend Lisa is talking to the Will golem.  It’s blushing slightly, while Keith is doing his best to split his time between staring at the floor and ceiling.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi there guys,” you say walking up to the trio.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, hiya Kim,” begins Lisa.  “I didn’t expect to see you here.”<br/>
<br/>
“I just need to talk to Keith for a bit, debating club stuff.  Come to think of it, it’s funny seeing you here too.  Any juicy little secrets to spill?”<br/>
<br/>
“I just thought it was time to talk to Will again, you know?”<br/>
<br/>
“We’re going to the library tonight,” blurts the Will golem excitedly.  “To do some studying.”<br/>
<br/>
Lisa giggles lightly.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll see you then,” she says waving goodbye.  “So long Will.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well that figures,” you say bitterly once she’s out of earshot. “Lisa finally comes round and wants to see me again, only it’s not me she’s seeing…”<br/>
<br/>
“Typical, isn’t it,” shrugs Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah.  Listen, hold onto this for a minute for me will you,” you say handing the lock of hair you cut from Cindy.<br/>
<br/>
“Um… sure, but what do you want me to do with it?”<br/>
<br/>
“Just hold on to it and watch it.  Make sure it doesn’t vanish.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ok, that’s pretty cryptic,” Keith replies.<br/>
<br/>
“Something I worked out last night,” you explain.  “When you remove something from a golem or disguised person, like blood or a hair clipping, it just vanishes after a while.  Like it’s not part of the spell anymore or something.”<br/>
<br/>
“OhhKaaay,” says Keith slowly.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s Cindy’s hair,” you explain.  “If it vanishes we know that she’s really Blackwell.  If it doesn’t vanish we know she’s not.”<br/>
<br/>
The three of you stair at the hair for a minute.  One minute becomes two, two minutes become five.  It’s clear that nothing is happening.<br/>
<br/>
“You sure about this,” interrupts the Will golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes.  So it’s not Cindy.”<br/>
<br/>
“Then who,” asks Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m meeting Cindy for lunch,” you say holding out the memory band for them to see.  “Perhaps I might find a clue inside her head.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
The school theater doubles as an auditorium for Principal Sagansky to address the school.  It’s a large hall with seats that slope up towards the back.  It’s open during lunch largely so Charles Hartlein and his drama club can rehearse whatever pet project they are working on.  Students often sit in at lunchtime just for a quiet seat out of the way of the rest of the school.<br/>
<br/>
Cindy is sitting right up the back, with a small salad in a plastic tub.  Perfect.  Even though there are ten odd members of the drama club practicing on the stage, they won’t see what you are about to do.<br/>
<br/>
“Hey Kim,” says Cindy.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi yourself,” you reply, dropping your bag and taking a seat beside her.  The memory band in your pocket digging into your thigh as you do so.  “So tell me about what Chelsea said.  It sounds unlike her.”<br/>
<br/>
“Nuh-uh,” replies Cindy.  “She’s always like pretending she’s your friend but she’ll stick a knife in your back if she thinks she can get away with it.  Anyway…”<br/>
<br/>
You’re content to let Cindy drone on for a while.  It’s clear that she was very close to her sister, and that cheerleading is very important to her.  She’s devastated at losing both of them and she’s keen on letting you know that.  In fact, she’s testing even Kim’s patience.<br/>
<br/>
So you slap the memory band on her.<br/>
<br/>
She drops out like a light.  Her salad, which she has barely touched, spills over the floor.  A quick glance towards the stage confirms the drama club is too self absorbed to have noticed what’s happened.  You snatch the mind band off her head when it reappears and quickly hide it in a pocket.<br/>
<br/>
“Ohmygod,” groans Cindy.  “What just happened?”<br/>
<br/>
“You just sort of drifted off,” you reply, feigning concern.  “Are you ok?  Maybe I should take you to he nurse.<br/>
<br/>
“No, no,” she insists.  “I’m just not sleeping very well right now.”<br/>
<br/>
“I can understand why.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” she smiles sadly.  “Maybe I should just get going.  Thanks for coming Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m glad I was able to help,” you say smiling, but your thoughts have already turned to your plans for tonight:  Pick through Cindy’s memories or spy on Will and Lisa’s date?<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211
author_id: imaj
title: Cindy's Revelation
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>With great reluctance you remove the Kim mask from your face.  A moment of dizziness slows you down for a second, the adverse effect of the masks are hurting you less and less.  You place the mask on top of the neatly stacked pile of Kim’s clothes and don the bathrobe you brought with you.<br/>
<br/>
The Melody masked golem looks up at you.  It’s been out during the day purchasing more supplies.  A little less than you would have liked but apparently the real Melody caught wise to the theft of her credit card last week and cancelled it.  Right now it’s examining the book, but the expression on its face is less than encouraging.<br/>
<br/>
“We have a slight problem,” it announces quietly.  “With the book.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well,” you, say, looking at it sceptically.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s damaged, well actually its missing a bit of a page.  Ripped out or something.  I can read some of the materials needed for the next spell, but how to combine them, how to cast the spell.  All gone.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem offers you the book as you stride over.  It’s correct, the book looks as if someone has ripped out half a page.  The strangest part is that the words of the page beneath are illegible.  Oh, they are there, and they look similar to the rest of the book, but every time you try to read one its squirms and writhes.  Even trying gives you a thumping headache.<br/>
<br/>
“This isn’t something you can accidently miss,” you say angrily.  “When did you spot this?  Why didn’t you tell me already”<br/>
<br/>
“Last night,” it says shrinking back a little.  It looks a little shocked at what it’s just said.  “I didn’t want to say, because you are starting to scare me a bit when you wear that mask.”<br/>
<br/>
“No more secrets, you understand.”  The golem nods glumly.  “Now tell me what this means.”<br/>
<br/>
“You can’t cast the spell.  Not without the instructions.  And you can’t progress any further through the book because you’d need to have cast the incomplete spell to read the next.  I suppose that means the real Kim is stuck as a golem too.  Unless you find another way to undo the spell.”<br/>
<br/>
“I see.  Kim’s not a problem.  I’ll make sure she isn’t missed.”<br/>
<br/>
“I was afraid you’d say something like that,” the golem says before covering its mouth with its hand, unable to break your compulsion to keep no secrets from you.<br/>
<br/>
“Melody is supposed to be working at Blackwell’s again tomorrow,” you continue.  “There might be some information is his library that could prove useful.  In the meantime, I’d like you to prepare a new mask for me.  Keith’s loyalty needs to be rewarded.”<br/>
<br/>
“You have to cast the spell yourself.  Golems can prepare spells, but they cannot cast them.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh really,” you comment.  “And when did you learn this?”<br/>
<br/>
“After you turned the real Kim into a golem, I tried to cast the mind band spell that evening after you left that evening but it failed.”<br/>
<br/>
“We’ll have a word about this later, maybe some specific instructions about how you should behave.  First I have to look at this,” you say peering at the mind band you copied Cindy’s memories onto earlier in the day.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Keeping Cindy’s feelings in check is a struggle.  A persistent gloom has settled across her mood and it’s hard to resist.  It doesn’t help that you are looking closely at her memories of her sister either.  Now and then you have to stop what you are doing to cast aside her persona for a moment and clear the tears from your eyes.<br/>
<br/>
Most prominent are the memories of Lucy giving Cindy lifts in her SUV.  It’s not that the Vredenburgs can’t afford to buy Cindy her own car, it’s that she’s proven herself to be unable to learn to drive safely yet.  So Lucy drove Cindy lots of places.  And Lucy drove Cindy’s friends to lots of places too.  Most of the cheerleading squad, for example has been in Lucy’s SUV at some point in the last month.  Chelsea Cooper, Yumi Saito and Kendra Saunders are the only exceptions it seems.<br/>
<br/>
Seth Javits is a frequent passenger too. Cindy’s memories reveal tense encounters where Lucy’s distaste for the basketball player has hung in the air poisonously.  Even if Cindy herself was never quite one hundred percent aware of it and Seth was too polite to comment.<br/>
<br/>
And then there was that time a couple of weeks ago when she gave Cindy a lift back from the library with…  With…<br/>
<br/>
That is strange.  You can’t quite remember who the third person in the car was.  Every time you feel you’re getting close to a clear view of who it is they just slip back into the shadows like a wraith.  Every other detail is completely clear, from the weather to the English Lit homework you worked together on at the library.<br/>
<br/>
It’s almost like someone didn’t want Cindy to remember who was in that car.  Blackwell?  That’s the obvious answer.  He may even have the power to pull off some kind of memory wipe.<br/>
<br/>
You set aside Cindy’s personality for a moment.  It’s crazy that she can’t remember who she was working with that night, because you yourself know for a fact that Cindy’s partner in Engish Lit is…<br/>
<br/>
Oh shit…<br/>
<br/>
You rip the memory band from your forehead and jump to where Kim’s clothes are piled.  Frantically searching for her mobile phone, you send clothes scattering across the basement.  Pulling it out her purse you hit the speed dial for your own number.<br/>
<br/>
“Come on,” you practically scream at the phone.  “Pick up. Pick up!”<br/>
<br/>
You hurl the phone across the room in anger when the call goes to voicemail, then freeze as you hear the click of the basement door opening behind you.  Turning around slowly, you see Lisa standing in front of you.<br/>
<br/>
Lisa, your ex girlfriend.<br/>
<br/>
Lisa, Cindy Vredenburg’s partner in English Lit class.<br/>
<br/>
Lisa, the disguise worn by Aubrey Blackwell for the last week.<br/>
<br/>
He raises his Lisa hand to his Lisa mouth and opens it.  Sitting on the palm of his hand is a small pile of sparkling blue dust.  Staring at you coldly, he blows the dust into your face.<br/>
<br/>
Then the lights go out.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“He’s coming round,” you hear a woman’s voice say as you open your bleary eyes.  Blue stars pop and crackle at the edge of your vision<br/>
<br/>
“Back with us Mr Prescott,” the voice is Lisa’s but the words clearly aren’t.<br/>
<br/>
You try to move your hands but they won’t budge. They’re pinned behind you back and, it seems, tied together. Your legs fair no better, as far as you can see you’ve been tied to a chair, and a chair for five year olds at that. The position leaves you both very uncomfortable and embarrassed, as well as immobile.<br/>
<br/>
A woman looms over you. She’s wearing the thrift store clothes you bought last week in order to get Melody the job as Blackwell’s assistant. They do not fit well at all. The jumper is stretched to breaking point over an ample bosom. It’s Lucy Vredenburg, or at least a copy of her. Blackwell, still wearing his Lisa mask, stands at her side.<br/>
<br/>
“What did you do with my golem Blackwell,” you spit.<br/>
<br/>
“It had a little change of face,” says Blackwell in Lisa’s soft voice. You can see he’s spinning a mask in his hands, Melody’s reflection visible in it. “One much more to my liking. Although I must admit Will, I was surprised to find the young Ms Weiss down here.  She has a most sharp mind, even if her body is… lacking.  It’s really a shame that I’m going to have to kill you Will.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh yeah,” you say with more bravery than you actually feel.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve actually shown quite the affinity for magic. The spells of the Liber Personas are not easy to work and have defeated even the most experienced practitioners. Yet here you are, a mere boy and you’ve mastered many of them.”<br/>
<br/>
Blackwell pauses for a second to pick up another one of your masks. He shows it to you, the reflection of Kim clear in the half light of the basement.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve even shown some promising signs of base cunning. Infiltrating my home in the guise of one of my students was impressive. Perhaps you may even have stolen some of my secrets, given time. Pretending to be this Kim girl was a clever move as well. I have to admit that I was barely aware she even existed, right up till I removed the mask from your friend Caleb at the library this evening and stole his memories.  He will be quite upset when he comes to and realises he’s been trapped in your form for the last few days.  No matter, of course, by the time he reaches here you will be dead and I will be long gone.  Such a waste.  Perhaps if you’d made different choices you could have served as my apprentice.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s not too late to change your mind, you know,” you interrupt. “Let me live and everything.”<br/>
<br/>
“Hah,” exclaims Blackwell. “A sense of humour too. A fine student you would have made. But no, not now. Now I have other plans for you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Care to enlighten me,” you ask hopefully.<br/>
<br/>
“This isn’t some bad movie Will, I’m not about to explain the details of all my plans in front of you while there’s even the most remote chance you might still escape.”<br/>
<br/>
“I guess you read the evil overlord list after all,” you say bitterly.<br/>
<br/>
“Not sure I follow young man,” says Blackwell, looking puzzled. “No matter, time for you to die.”</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112
author_id: imaj
title: The Missing Page
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“I know,” you say.  “I’m just glad you’re not going to get every last secret out of the book.”<br/>
<br/>
The words hang in the air unanswered for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“Excuse me,” says Blackwell imperiously. His eyes meeting your gaze.<br/>
<br/>
“Take a look at the book,” you say.  “Last open page.”<br/>
<br/>
You wait for a moment as Blackwell examines the book.  The damaged page that the Melody golem showed you earlier.  He shrieks incoherently with rage.<br/>
<br/>
“What have you done,” he howls.<br/>
<br/>
“Ripped the page out.  I knew you were getting close, so I took out some insurance.  You’ll never find it.  You’ve already said you’re going to kill me so the secret goes to my grave.”<br/>
<br/>
“You little vandal,” he snarls.  “I’ll just take the location from your memories.”<br/>
<br/>
“You could do that,” you sigh, looking away fro Blackwell.  “If you had a blank mask ready, but I think you used your last one on Caleb.  I reckon that the water will get into the bag I put the page in about an hour or so.  No time to make a new mask.”<br/>
<br/>
“Lucky for me,” says Blackwell, his eyes narrowing.  “That I brought the mask your friend was wearing.”<br/>
<br/>
“Not going to do you any good,” you interrupt.  “Made it days ago, it doesn’t have the memories you need.”<br/>
<br/>
“Happily that won’t be a problem,” he says walking across to you, mask in hand.<br/>
<br/>
He places the mask on your face and the lights go out.  Again.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“He’s coming around again,” says the Lucy golem.<br/>
<br/>
It’s obvious you’ve been out for a few minutes.  Strange, given the way your resistance to wearing and removing masks has increased over the last couple of days.  Maybe you’re still suffering the after effects of the blue powder Blackwell used to knock you out earlier.<br/>
<br/>
Blackwell’s used the time to remove his Lisa guise.  The Lisa mask and clothes are placed neatly to one side on a desk.  Blackwell himself stands naked, his portly belly drooping grotesquely.<br/>
<br/>
“I have to admit, I waited for you to wake up young Will,” he begins.  “Just to let you see how meaningless your pathetically childish attempts to derail me were.  Once I put this mask on I’ll retrieve the missing page.  I’m afraid I’ll have to be a little more inventively cruel in killing you.  Just as a little reward for this distraction.”<br/>
<br/>
With a theatrical flourish Blackwell dons the mask.  His gut firms up and his hair thickens as he turns into a copy of you.<br/>
<br/>
“You’re looking a little tied up there boss,” says the new golem.<br/>
<br/>
“<i>Another</i> golem,” asks the Lucy golem surprised.<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, have to do whatever the boss tells me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Wha’” you say groggily, still not quite completely awake.<br/>
<br/>
“Hmmph.  You’re not quite as much of an idiot as you look Will,” says the Lucy golem.  “Getting him angry enough to not think about what he’s doing, very clever.”<br/>
<br/>
“I what?”<br/>
<br/>
“How did you know he had that mask with him?”<br/>
<br/>
“I didn’t, I was just playing for time.”<br/>
<br/>
“You mean,” it sneers.  “You didn’t mean to trick him into putting on that mask?  I bet you forgot that you’re my master too?  You could have asked me to attack him at any point.  You are such a loser.”<br/>
<br/>
“A little sympathy,” you say in a hurt tone.  “Would be nice.  I did just win didn’t I?  No one needs to know this wasn’t all completely planned from the start.  I won’t tell if you don’t.”<br/>
<br/>
“You could certainly order me not to tell anybody,” says the Lucy golem sniffily.<br/>
<br/>
“So I can:  Don’t tell anybody, and cut the attitude.  Also, I’m ordering you to untie me.”<br/>
<br/>
The Lucy golem rolls its eyes as it walks over to the chair.<br/>
<br/>
“Cant keep the fucker under that mask forever,” you state as the golem unties you.<br/>
<br/>
“Deaths too good for him,” it replies. “I’ve seen some of the things he’s done. Lived them. And he… he…”<br/>
<br/>
“He killed you,” you say, rubbing your wrists where the ropes had bitten into them. “Untie the legs as well.  What is good enough for him though?  What does he deserve?” <br/>
<br/>
“He was going to cast a spell on you. He had the sigil and graveyard earth ready for it. All it needed was for him to add his hair.”<br/>
<br/>
“Turn about would be fair play,” you say smirking.  You turn to the Will masked golem that Blackwell has become. “Climb up onto the pile of graveyard earth the professor so thoughtfully provided for us.”<br/>
<br/>
“Right you are boss.”<br/>
<br/>
“Now let me just remove that mask…”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
The Lucy golem regards what’s left of Blackwell coolly. His skin has turned granite grey, his eyes closed and his breathing laboured.<br/>
<br/>
“I think I like that,” it says.<br/>
<br/>
You don’t hear it.  You’re on the floor on your hands and knees, barely able to move.  Your arms and legs feel as if they are made of lead and your heart is beating impossibly fast.<br/>
<br/>
“Help me up,” say weakly.  As the Lucy golem helps you to your feet the feeling passes but you still feel lethargic.<br/>
<br/>
“What happened,” it asks.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m fine,” you snap back.  “The spell just… tired me.”<br/>
<br/>
“What are you going to do with him?”<br/>
<br/>
“This,” you say hobbling over to where Blackwell left the mask of Lisa, picking it up.  You drop the mask onto the new golem.  “I want answers.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh,” moans the newly Lisa masked golem as it stands up.  “Where am I?”<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t you remember,” you ask.<br/>
<br/>
“I…  I remember everything,” it says quietly.  “Everything he did while he wore me.  Oh god…  Poor Caleb…”<br/>
<br/>
The Lisa golem’s face pales.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” you ask.  “What is it?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m trapped in his basement, the real Lisa is. He came down to gloat a couple of times. We have to get her out.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m more interested in Blackwell’s library,” you muse, ignoring the dark stares from the Lucy golem.  “But Lisa, the real Lisa might be appreciative if I rescue her.”<br/>
<br/>
“And your friend Caleb,” asks the Lucy golem, her tone bitter.  “Blackwell left him unmasked in library, at least he said he did.”<br/>
<br/>
“Caleb might be a problem.  Especially if he makes his way home and finds the golem that’s disguised as him.”<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121
author_id: imaj
title: Sorting the Caleb Problem. Again.
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Caleb first,” you decide.  “Lisa’s not going anywhere, and I don’t think whatever else Blackwell has left at his house will be much of a threat.  Caleb’s a more immediate problem.”<br/>
<br/>
“I suppose you need to rescue your friend,” concedes the Lisa masked golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Rescue,” you snort.  “I’m worried he’s going to fuck things up here.  Now that Blackwell’s out of the way, there’s a lot of fun I could have with these masks.  I’m not going to let Caleb stop that.”<br/>
<br/>
Despite the way Lisa masked golem’s face was pale before, it manages to drain of what little colour it has left.  The disgust is evident on its face, animated by the copy of your ex girlfriends personality stored on the mask.  The Lucy masked golem’s expression is grimmer.  Maybe its experience with Blackwell’s depredations have inured it.<br/>
<br/>
The thought that you might now be behaving worse than your defeated rival doesn’t concern you at all.<br/>
<br/>
“What happened to you Will,” whines the Lisa masked golem.  “You never used to be like this.”<br/>
<br/>
“I grew up,” you reply flatly.  “Now bring me the mask of Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’re putting it back on,” asks the Lisa Golem.  It’s moves unevenly and jerkily, compelled by your command.  “You don’t need to hide anymore.”<br/>
<br/>
“Do you see any clothes around here that would fit me?  Besides, after tonight I think it’s time for Will Prescott to disappear.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Caleb’s house, like much of Acheson, was built sometimes in the fifties when the village expanded in size to effectively become Saratoga Falls suburb.  It’s a spacious two floor detached house set in a large garden.  Almost identical to your own home, it retains the original pastel pink colour scheme and white picket fence.  Both have been lovingly maintained by generations of Johanssons.<br/>
<br/>
The drive is empty as you pull up in Kim’s car.  Good:  That means his parents are out.  The front door is open.  Light from the hall spills out onto the porch.  That’s not a good sign at all.  Quickly shutting down the engine, you turn to the Lucy golem which is sitting in the back seat.<br/>
<br/>
“Stay here.  I don’t want any awkward questions about why a dead girl is walking about.  You,” you say turning to the Lisa masked golem.  “You’re with me.”<br/>
<br/>
You run to the open door, the golem close behind you.  The hall is empty.  You can see the television in the lounge blaring away unwatched on some kids channel.<br/>
<br/>
“Caleb,” you shout, looking around.<br/>
<br/>
There’s no answer.  The sound of an argument from upstairs, although you can not make out what is being said.<br/>
<br/>
“Caleb,” you shout again.<br/>
<br/>
Again, there is no response.  Then after a few seconds, Caleb bursts from one of the bedrooms onto the landing at the top of the stairs.  He is followed almost immediately by <i>another</i> Caleb.  The two Calebs start fighting on the landing, grappling at each other.<br/>
<br/>
“Not good,” you say under your breath before turning to the Lisa masked golem.  “Great, how I’m I supposed to tell them apart?”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know,” the golem shrugs disinterestedly.  “I guess they are wearing different clothes or something?”<br/>
<br/>
“So which one is which,” you ask, keeping one eye on the fight at the top of the stairs.  One Caleb appears to be wrestling the other Caleb to the ground.  “Wait, which one is wearing the clothes from library?”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh right,” it says reluctant to help you.  “That one there.  Oh…  Too late.”<br/>
<br/>
One of the Calebs briefly gains the upper hand and pushes its doppelganger down the stairwell.  The Caleb rolls down the stairs with a sickening series of thuds before coming to a rest at your feet with a muffled crash.  His neck is lying at an awkward angle and he is completely motionless.<br/>
<br/>
He’s dead, but which one is he?</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211211
author_id: imaj
title: Death of a Friend
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>The dead Caleb’s shirt is the giveaway.  It’s your favourite one and that means that the corpse in front of you must be the real Caleb:  He was wearing the golemized mask of you at the library for the study date with ‘Lisa’.  After Blackwell knocked him out and removed the mask he must have come straight here and somehow gotten in a fight with the golem wearing the Caleb mask.<br/>
<br/>
The Caleb masked golem is standing at the top of the stairs.  Underneath the mask is what remains of the original Kim Walsh (you’re the real Kim Walsh now as far as you are concerned).  It looks aghast at what has happened.<br/>
<br/>
“I never meant…” it stutters.  “He just attacked me shouting all kinds of crazy thing about what you had done to him.  This is a fucking disaster.  I’m… He’s…  I’m dead!”<br/>
<br/>
“Be quiet,” you snap.  The golem reels as if slapped and stares silently at you, its mouth gaping open.  “Let’s focus on getting this mess sorted out.  Caleb’s parents are out, aren’t they?  How soon will they be back?”<br/>
<br/>
The golem stares at you without saying a word.<br/>
<br/>
“Shit, right.  You can talk to answer my questions.  Nothing else.”<br/>
<br/>
“They’re out,” it confirms neutrally.  “Maybe for another hour or so.”<br/>
<br/>
“What about upstairs?  Is it obvious there’s been a fight?”<br/>
<br/>
In the corner of your eye you spot the Lisa masked golem examining one of the ornaments on the sideboard.<br/>
<br/>
“Touch <i>nothing</i>,” you scream at it.  Its left hand freezes a few centimetres away from a statuette of a cat.<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe a little,” concedes the Caleb masked golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Here’s what we’re going to do:  I’m going to go back to the clubhouse with ‘Lisa’ and load up all the materials and the book into my car.  It’s dark outside already so with a little luck no one will see us leave.  You’re going to spend fifteen minutes tidying upstairs to hide any traces of the fight you had with corpse boy here.  Once you’ve finished you’ll lock the door behind you and come meet us at the clubhouse.  Stay out of sight.  When Caleb’s parents arrive it’ll look like a tragic accident.”<br/>
<br/>
“I can’t believe this is happening,” interrupts the Lisa golem, almost hysterical.  “You’re as bad as he was.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh go and sit quietly in the car,” you say to the Lisa golem.  It stares at you with hate filled eyes but complies with your order.  “Let’s get moving.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
The Caleb masked golem arrives at the old elementary school as you are loading the last of the masks into the trunk of Kim’s car.  It looks at you meaningfully for a few seconds as you close the trunk.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes, you can talk now.  Remember this though:  You are never to talk about what happened to the real Caleb.  Act like you are untroubled by what’s happened tonight.”<br/>
<br/>
“You got it Will, I mean Kim,” says the golem cheerfully.  “Now what?”<br/>
<br/>
“Now we go to Blackwell’s house.”<br/>
<br/>
“You know I back everything you do one hundred percent but I still have to ask this:  Are you <i>fucking</i> crazy?”<br/>
<br/>
“Not at all:  Blackwell came after me at the clubhouse tonight but with a little luck and a lot of skill,” you begin explaining, ignoring the indignant snort coming from inside the car.  “I managed to defeat him.  Cast the same spell as I cast on Kim.  That’s him in the passenger seat.  Turned out he had a mask of Lisa all along.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ouch.  Hard to feel sorry for him though, he had it coming killing Lucy Vredenburg like that.  She may have been a bitch, but she was one hot bitch”<br/>
<br/>
“I heard that,” says the Lucy masked golem from inside the car.<br/>
<br/>
The Caleb golem peers inside the window to see who was speaking, doing a double take as he spots the Lucy golem.<br/>
<br/>
“He did kill her, right?  I mean I’m asking because it kinda looks like she’s sitting in the backseat of your car.”<br/>
<br/>
“Blackwell’s mask, my golem,” you reply.<br/>
<br/>
“You mean you have a Lucy Vredenburg golem now?  Fucking A” exclaims the Caleb golem.  “Hey, you don’t think I could…”<br/>
<br/>
“I heard that too,” interrupts the Lucy golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Get in the car,” you tell the Caleb golem.  “And try to keep your hands off her.  It.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s a small mercy at least,” snarks the Lucy golem.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It’s dark as you pull Kim’s car off the road and onto the driveway of Blackwell’s house.  The house itself, a large stone villa built about a hundred years ago is set a little off road.  Thick clouds have blown in over Saratoga Falls since you left Caleb’s home, leaving the house as little more than a black looming shape.  A single light burns brightly on the second floor.<br/>
<br/>
“Looks like someone is at home,” you say to yourself as you kill the motor.  “If you know anything you must tell me ‘Lisa’.”<br/>
<br/>
“Another golem,” states the Lisa masked golem reluctantly.  “Blackwell left one wearing a mask of himself as a stand in.  I remember giving it instructions.”<br/>
<br/>
“Instructions? Such as?”<br/>
<br/>
“How it was to fill in for Blackwell at his job.  Some kind of university professor it seemed.  And a warning not to touch the guardian.”<br/>
<br/>
You sit silently for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“The guardian?”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know.  I don’t understand what he said while he as wearing me, I just remember saying it.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll be careful then, now get out all of you.”<br/>
<br/>
The door to the house is a heavy oaken affair.  A stone awning juts out from the wall above it.  While a single light hangs down from it, it’s off and the deep shadows make for an excellent hiding spot.  You push yourself against the wall.<br/>
<br/>
“Get over here with me,” you hiss at the Caleb masked golem which is standing by the Lucy golem with a gormless expression on its face.<br/>
<br/>
It bumbles over beside you as the Lisa golem thumps the door violently. For a couple of minutes nothing happens.  The Lisa golem hits the door again.  The muffled sound of someone coming down stairs can be heard.  A light goes on behind the door, and finally it opens, casting illumination onto the golems.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” comes Blackwell’s voice from inside the door.  “Wait.  Something’s strange here.”<br/>
<br/>
Can Blackwell’s golem sense that the Lisa golem isn’t really his master.  In one sense it is:  Under the mask is the golemized remains of the real Aubrey Blackwell.  Maybe whatever powered the spell that you used on him cut the link to his golem.  You now know that golems themselves can’t cast magic, but there’s no sense in waiting for it to trigger some trap left by the original.  You slip away from the wall.<br/>
<br/>
“Well spotted, but it’s far too late now,” you whisper its ear.<br/>
<br/>
It has just enough time to register a shocked expression on its face before you rip off the mask.  The golem instantly reverts to a featureless grey humanoid, Blackwell’s cheap clothing hanging off it loosely.<br/>
<br/>
“Inside, quick,” you motion to the three golems, shutting the door as they enter.<br/>
<br/>
“Well that’s Blackwell’s golem sorted,” you say.  “Now all I need to worry about is this guardian.  Whatever the hell it is.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sound’s pretty ominous,” agrees the Caleb golem.  “You know, if that mask has all of Blackwell’s memories inside it, it might have something about the guardian too”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s… actually a good idea.”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112111
author_id: imaj
title: Inside Blackwell's Head
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“I don’t know why you’re so surprised,” huffs the Caleb masked golem.  “I get much better grades in school than you do anyway.”<br/>
<br/>
“Caleb did get much better grades than Will.  Note the past tense.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem takes on a glazed expression for a few seconds.  You curse yourself for forgetting that you’d told it to forget about what happened at Caleb’s house.<br/>
<br/>
“Never mind,” you say, changing the subject.  You pass the golem the mask of Blackwell and start to undo the blouse you’re wearing.  “Hold this for me for a second would you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Not that I’m not appreciative or anything, but if I had to choose it would be Lucy here.”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck you asshole,” you say, flipping a finger at the Caleb golem.  “I can hardly put that mask on in these clothes can I?”<br/>
<br/>
“If you say so,” replies the golem.  “I’ll just be enjoying the view.”<br/>
<br/>
“I remember kicking you ass when you were a sophomore,” interrupts the Lucy masked golem acidly.  “You were a sleazeball then and you’re still a sleazeball now.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m just the way the mask makes me,” replies the Caleb golem sourly.<br/>
<br/>
“Never mind that,” you interrupt them as you remove the last piece of Kim’s clothing.  “Just give me back the mask”<br/>
<br/>
Whispering the Latinate words required, you remove the mask experiencing a moments dizziness.  You lean on the Lucy golem for a minute to recover, which doesn’t attempt to disguise its disgust at you, before lifting the mask you took from Blackwell’s golem to your face.<br/>
<br/>
A conspiracy falls into your memories.<br/>
<br/>
The Liber Personas, as the book is apparently known, has a long and confusing history that has placed it in many different places around the globe, often at the same time.  The theft from a Templar treasury in the 13th century, 16th century ninjas in Japan and witch trials in the same century in Germany.  These are just some of the incidents that Blackwell researched in his investigation into the book.<br/>
<br/>
The first concrete incident Blackwell managed to find was in a record of ‘Magick Devices’ from Hanoverian Britain.  The book, and some of its uses, was listed in a compilation written by a French sorcerer.  It was also listed as having being burned by the German inquisitor Heinrich Kramer some two centuries previously.  Despite this the Liber, or a book with the same name, was listed in the catalogue of the Duke of Devonshire’s library fifty years later only to be stolen.<br/>
<br/>
All traces of the book vanished until, almost out of the blue, it turned up in the estate of an upstate New York recluse.  Blackwell had rushed to Albany only to find that a lawyer had withdrawn the book from auction, ostensibly to forward it to her next of kin ‘Mark Shabbleman’.  The Shabbleman name seems familiar to you from somewhere, and not just from Blackwell’s memories, but you can’t quite recall where.  The lawyers office had been to busy for Blackwell to steal the book there and then but he had succeeded in redirecting where it was sent to.<br/>
<br/>
Amazingly, Blackwell forwarded it to Harris Prescott of Salopek Engineering of all people.  Blackwell apparently managed to sneak into the delivery room of the Saratoga Falls Post Office and lift the book before your father uplifted it, only to lose it a few days later when his ex-assistant (Blackwell’s memories tell you that he literally fired the poor boy, burning him to a cinder with magical flame) accidently sold it Arnholm’s Used Books.<br/>
<br/>
In other words, it almost seems like the book was trying to make its way to you.  A sobering thought, but not half as sobering as Blackwell’s reaction to losing the book.<br/>
<br/>
Having already experimented with book to create a mask of Lucy Vredenburg when she visited Blackwell’s house for a ‘private study session’ (This apparently is how Lucy solves many of her problems although you think it would be wise not to say so directly to the golem’s face), Blackwell hit upon the idea of kidnapping the college student.  Having already failed to locate the Liber Personas when he burglarized your house he thought he could use Lucy’s sister as a way to trick you out of the book.  It was random chance that lead him to Lisa after he gave Lisa and Cindy a lift whilst disguised as Lucy.  Overhearing Lisa describe how she was ‘practically being stalked’ by Will Prescott caused Blackwell to rapidly change his plans. <br/>
<br/>
Blackwell arranged for Lucy to escape from captivity, using a hex placed on her SUV to kill her in an apparent accident.  With his golem now free to impersonate himself, Blackwell kidnapped Lisa.  The last memory from the real Blackwell is of imprisoning her in a basement cell, accessible through the library.<br/>
<br/>
“Are you just going to stand there,” says the Caleb masked golem, interrupting your chain of thought.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s bringing back some unpleasant memories,” agrees the Lucy masked golem.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t think I’m enjoying it anymore from the inside than when I saw the fucker naked earlier tonight,” you concede, taking the clothes off the immobile golem.  “I’ll put these on then we’ll move up to the library.  Get everything in from the car.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
The library is, in some ways, the centre of the house.  A large room with a high ceiling, three of the four walls are covered with tall bookshelves.  Ladders run on rails in front of them to allow people to reach the upper shelves.  The fourth wall is, in fact, a large window that looks out over he back garden of the house.  The light from the library dramatically illuminates the small mausoleum that lurks in one corner of the garden.<br/>
<br/>
Here and there along the shelves, at mystically significant intervals Blackwell’s memories assure you the odd painting or stuffed animal breaks the line of books.  It hurts the eye to linger too long on some of them, a consequence of the enchantment that Blackwell has woven into the room to bind the Guardian, the Gwarcheidwad, in place.  A thoroughly dark piece of ancient Celtic sacrificial magic that makes you shudder involuntarily just thinking about it.<br/>
<br/>
The Gwarcheidwad itself sits on a wooden pedestal, a malevolent Cyhyraeth trapped within a stitched together chimera.  It looks like a hairless orangutan. Long loping arms tipped with razor sharp looking claws almost reach the floor. Its mouth is fixed in an unsettling grin, revealing rows of vicious looking serrated teeth. A single baleful eye is set in the middle of its forehead.  It could rip you to shreds, but from Blackwell’s memories you know that would be the least of your troubles if it got hold of you.<br/>
<br/>
Luckily, you actually tricked Blackwell into making the Guardian ignore you when you arrived at his house in your guise as Melody Weiss.  From Blackwell’s memories, you realise that even this protection won’t stop the guardian after midnight.  However, it is possible to send it into a long term sleep, which seems wise.  At least until you fully understand the thing.<br/>
<br/>
Surprisingly, the ornate desks at the centre of the room that your golems are lounging at are the key to this.  Made of rowan wood, which Blackwell’s memories inform you holds some power over the spirit that animates the guardian, they form a barrier that lets you control the guardian.  In theory anyway.<br/>
<br/>
Stepping inside the area cordoned off by the desks, you notice a small wooden plinth slightly raised from the floor.  Worn looking sigils are carved into the edges.  Standing on the plinth you speak a few words of archaic Welsh, the incantation to send the Gwarcheidwad to sleep.<br/>
<br/>
For a moment, the dissonant ticking of the two grandfather clocks stop as the room goes deathly quiet and still.  An inhuman scream of rage rips through the inside of your head, followed by a brief flash of an image of rows and rows of vicious teeth.<br/>
<br/>
“Did you feel something there,” asks the Caleb masked golem.  “Like a change in the air or something?”<br/>
<br/>
“This better not be another bad pick up line,” grimaces the Lucy masked golem.<br/>
<br/>
“No he’s right,” interrupts the Lisa masked golem.  “It’s like someone turned a light on or something.  And listen to those clocks.  They’re ticking in time now.”<br/>
<br/>
The three golems pause for a second to listen.  They’re right of course, the Gwarcheidwad distorted space around the library with its very presence.  The effect is drastically reduced now it’s sleeping.<br/>
<br/>
“You did something didn’t you,” accuses the Lisa golem.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve sent Blackwell’s guardian to sleep young lady,” you reply.  “A simple precaution he built into it to prevent unfortunate accidents in the event he ever had to abandon his house.  Somewhat prescient one might say.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’re talking like him, you know that?”<br/>
<br/>
Summoning your willpower you put Blackwell’s persona to one side.<br/>
<br/>
“That’s better,” continues the Lisa golem.  “I can’t imagine him ever having such a goofy looking grin on his face.”<br/>
<br/>
“Hey,” you reply angrily.  “Who’s goofy looking?”<br/>
<br/>
“So now that’s sorted, what are you going to do about me?  I mean the real me”<br/>
<br/>
Your eyes linger on the Will mask you brought from the old elementary school. By luck or coincidence its sitting on top of the pile of masks and materials the golems brought in from the car.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112
author_id: imaj
title: Will & Lisa, or is that Lisa & Will
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Well why don’t we go down and see,” you smile at the Lisa masked golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Um,” it hesitates.  “Sure.  I remember the door being over here by these bookcases.  It was like a secret door:  The bookcase would swing open if…”<br/>
<br/>
“If you twist the left head on the statue of Cerebus,” you finish off for it, raiding Blackwell’s memories.  While the golem isn’t looking you snatch the golemized Will mask and hide it up the large jumper you are wearing.  “Why don’t you open it for me while I fetch the totem we need.”<br/>
<br/>
The Lucy masked golem looks at you strangely.  It must have seen you snatch the mask.  You wink at it and motion it to be quite by holding a single finger up to your lips.<br/>
<br/>
You fumble through the drawers of the rowan wood desks, Blackwell’s thoughts being uncharacteristically absent minded in this regard.  Perhaps he wasn’t expecting to go back down there in a hurry, or perhaps he moved it again after recording the memories in the mask you now wear.  A few minutes of rooting around results in the totem.  It’s a little sliver of bone and feather.<br/>
<br/>
The Lisa golem is standing by the secret door.  A section of bookcase has simply swung away to reveal a small stone alcove harshly lit by a single, unshaded bulb.  That’s how it appears to you at least.  Blackwell set a second guardian in the alcove, a Watcher.  Without the correct totem, a Watcher makes the passage it guards appear foreboding and impossible to pass.  You’re not sure exactly what the Lisa masked golem is seeing in the alcove, but it’s visibly shaking with fear.<br/>
<br/>
“Here,” you say, walking towards it.  “Hold onto me.  It’ll help.”<br/>
<br/>
“But, but, but…” says the golem as it reaches its hand out.  “Where did the shadows go?”<br/>
<br/>
“You must remember from when Blackwell was wearing the mask?  The watcher on the stairs? The bone totem?”<br/>
<br/>
“I do but…” the golem hesitates for a moment.  “It’s hard to explain.  It just looked so ominous one minute and the next it seemed perfectly fine.”<br/>
<br/>
“Then you had better stay close, come on.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
As you and the golem work your way silently down the staircase, you begin to make out the sound faint sobbing at the bottom. Beyond the last step a solid wooden door turns out to be unlocked. Blackwell must have thought that the watcher on the stairs would have prevented any escape.<br/>
<br/>
It takes a few moments to adjust to the gloom of the basement. The only light comes from a row of narrow windows high on the wall on one side of the room. The basement is mostly bare except for some rickety looking shelves and metal pipes that run low along wall.<br/>
<br/>
And in one corner, crying gently and naked except for a dirty oversized shirt is Lisa.<br/>
<br/>
“You bastard,” she wails. “What do you want with me now?”<br/>
<br/>
“Wait,” you say, holding up a hand.  “Let me show you something.”<br/>
<br/>
You reach up to your brow and, muttering the magical words rip away the Blackwell mask.  Instantaneously, you turn back into yourself, Blackwell’s large clothes hanging loosely on you.  With nothing to hold it in place underneath the jumper you are wearing, the golemized Will mask falls to the floor.  The drama of the moment is ruined by his pants falling to your ankles, leaving you to comically grasp at them.  The Blackwell mask falls out of your hands, dropping to the floor right beside the Will mask. <br/>
<br/>
“Will,” asks the real Lisa in disbelief.  “<i>Will Prescott</i>?  What are you doing down here?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve defeated Blackwell,” you reply carefully picking up the golemized mask off the floor.  The golem doesn’t seem to have noticed the switch.  “The man who kidnapped you.  He won’t hurt you again.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t understand.  How Will?  When he brought me here there was nothing I could do.  Like being in a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from.”<br/>
<br/>
Lisa pauses to stifle a sob<br/>
<br/>
“It still is,” she finishes quietly.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s ok,” you say, moving close to hug her reassuringly.  “Let me put this mask I was wearing on you…”<br/>
<br/>
Lisa flinches.<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t worry.  The mask has all the person’s memories.  That’s why he was able to impersonate you so easily.  When you put this on you’ll find out about everything he’s done.”<br/>
<br/>
Lisa thinks for a second then nods.<br/>
<br/>
“Do it,” she says, gritting her teeth.<br/>
<br/>
She passes out as you bring the mask up to her face.  You watch as it merges into her, slowly stretching her delicate features into your own.  The rest of her form stretches and bulks up rapidly.  Within a few seconds the new golem flicks open it’s eyes.<br/>
<br/>
“’Sup boss,” it says, grinning widely.<br/>
<br/>
The Lisa masked golem stares at you and the new Will masked golem in shock.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh dear,” you deadpan.  “I must have used the wrong mask.  What a terrible accident.”<br/>
<br/>
“What have you done,” wails the Lisa golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Nothing less than she deserved,” you reply.  “She made up her mind that she wanted nothing to do with me weeks ago.  I was just returning the favour.  Besides, I needed a new Will Prescott anyway.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ready and willing boss,” interrupts the Will golem.  “Get it? ‘Willing’.”<br/>
<br/>
“But you said she wasn’t going to be hurt anymore.”<br/>
<br/>
“No, I said <i>Blackwell</i> wouldn’t hurt her anymore.  I never said anything about me.  You should look on the bright side though golem, you get to continue to exist.”<br/>
<br/>
“What,” she asks, stunned.<br/>
<br/>
“Congratulations,” you say smirking.  “You get to be the new Lisa.  So I have a Lisa, and a Will, all I need now is a Kim Walsh.”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211211121
author_id: imaj
title: Whatever Happened to Caleb Johansson
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“You make such a cute couple,” you gush, letting Kim’s personality to the fore.<br/>
<br/>
It wasn’t much of a choice really:  Fat old man or vivacious class president?  With the main decision made, it was just a matter of deciding where to put the golems.  At Blackwell’s house you left a Blackwell golem a Melody golem (the attitude of the golem while it was wearing the Lucy mask was tiring and besides, Melody is much more useful as an assistant).  Right now they are polishing up two new masks.  There was plenty of materials in Blackwell’s attic workshop and it’s not like the golems need sleep.  They should be ready tomorrow after school.<br/>
<br/>
The other two golems are in Kim’s car with you.  A Will golem and a Lisa golem.  The real Lisa and Blackwell respectively.  It’s not like you plan to return to your life as Will Prescott again but you couldn’t resist one last little dig at Lisa.  A little mental reprogramming has convinced the golem Lisa that the golem Will is its soul mate.  They’ve been casting each other meaningful glance for the past ten minutes and have now graduated to holding hands.<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks,” blushes the Lisa golem.  “I don’t know what I was thinking with Geoff.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s all over now,” replies the Will golem, reassuringly patting the other golem’s hand.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m just glad you guys finally realised you were meant for each other,” you continue, unable to resist giving the pot another twist.  “It’ll be funny seeing the expressions on certain people’s faces when you walk into school tomorrow hand in hand.”<br/>
<br/>
The golems sit in silence for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, that <i>was</i> an instruction,” you continue.  “And here we are at Will’s house.  I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, won’t I?”<br/>
<br/>
Both golem’s nod sheepishly.<br/>
<div align="center"><br/>
*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You gasp in astonishment as you are shoved against Kim’s locker by an unseen assailant.  Too busy touching up your make up in the little mirror she kept on the top shelf to notice someone creeping up behind you.<br/>
<br/>
“What the fuck happened,” a voice behind you demands angrily.<br/>
<br/>
Surprisingly, it’s Keith.  This is very out of character for him.  He’s never been very strong so it’s easy enough, even with Kim’s physique, to slip his grasp and turn round to face him.<br/>
<br/>
He’s visibly shaking with anger.<br/>
<br/>
“What is it,” you say putting on a solemn expression.  Kim’s good at that sort of thing.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” repeats Keith.  “The. Fuck. Happened?”<br/>
<br/>
“You mean Caleb,” you ask, your face going ashen.  <br/>
<br/>
Kim really has a talent for striking the right tone of voice with people, as Keith visibly deflates when you say this.  She never really misused this, you realise from her memories, but you have no such qualms.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh god Keith, you continue, looking nervously from side to side.  “I want to tell you but…  Not here…”<br/>
<br/>
“Ok,” says Keith, backing off.  “An empty classroom or something?”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It is the performance of a lifetime.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh Keith,” you begin, lip trembling as you sit on an empty desk.  “I’m so sorry, I just don’t know where to begin.   I never meant for it to happen.”<br/>
<br/>
Keith is standing watching you impassively with his arms folded across his chest.  <br/>
<br/>
“Caleb was pretending to be me, to be Will.  I was suspicious about Lisa’s sudden interest again so I asked him to go on the study date in my place.  I thought a real person would do better than a golem in the situation.”<br/>
<br/>
You’ve never been good at lying yourself, but Kim is the captain of the debating team.  It’s easy to play to her strengths.<br/>
<br/>
“I was right to be suspicious.  Lisa was Blackwell all along.  He took the mask from Caleb and used it to find out where I was hiding with the book at our clubhouse.  I…  I was lucky to beat him Keith.”<br/>
<br/>
You stare directly into Keith’s eyes.<br/>
<br/>
“I went to find Caleb Keith, I honestly did.  But Blackwell had hexed him so that when he met the golem that was standing in for him, it went berserk.  That’s when it happened.”<br/>
<br/>
You look at the floor for a few seconds.<br/>
<br/>
“The accident…” you finish.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m sorry I doubted you,” replies Keith sheepishly.  He hugs you awkwardly.  “I didn’t know what to think at all.”<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks,” you sniffle, trying to look vulnerable.  “Keith.  Last week, before this all got out of hand.  You said you wanted Garner masks.  If you come out to Blackwell’s house with me we can maybe do something about that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Um…” hesitates Keith.</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112111211
author_id: imaj
title: Keith hesitates
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Are you serious,” asks Keith, his voice is uneven.  He seems unsure of himself.  “You are serious aren’t you?  Don’t you think all those things are serious bad news?”<br/>
<br/>
“Keep your voice down,” you hiss.<br/>
<br/>
“I mean, you’ve, you’ve…  Well you’ve practically <i>killed</i> two people with that book.”  You reel in shock as Keith says this, but he ignores you and continues.  “I mean, ok, Kim was an accident, and maybe Blackwell did deserve it if he was going to do the same to you if you didn’t stop him first, but you want to do it again?”<br/>
<br/>
The question hangs in the air for a few seconds as you avoid his gaze.  Then, slowly you lift your head and stare right back at Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t you think there are other people in the school who deserve it?”<br/>
<br/>
It’s no secret that Keith gets bullied.  His scrawny frame and geekish nature have made him one of the favoured targets of some of the alpha students.  Seth Javits, in particular, has some kind of thing for Keith.  You’ve seen Keith bruised enough times to think that this pitch might sway him in the right direction.<br/>
<br/>
For a moment it looks like Keith is wavering, but only a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“No,” he almost shouts.  “No, you can count me out of this.”<br/>
<br/>
“Come find me if you change your mind,” you call after him as he walks out the room.  “Will Prescott can tell you how to get there.”<br/>
<br/>
Well, that was a bust.  You decide to skip classes for the rest of the day and visit Blackwell’s house<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
With the guardian at rest, Blackwell’s library is airily sunny when you arrive about lunchtime.  Your golems, one of Blackwell himself, the other of Melody, are both busily polishing masks.  They don’t react as you enter, or as you fetch the <i>Liber Personas</i> and open it to the torn page.  <br/>
<br/>
If there was some way to infer what the spell was, it might be possible to move further into the book.  You could learn more spells.  You could get better at this whole magic thing.  You could even restore Kim and maybe make up with Keith.  Feeling a little guilty that putting things right was the third thing you thought of, you grab some a pen and some paper and try to solve the puzzle.<br/>
<br/>
A few fruitless hours later, after the pile of scrunched up paper balls is quite high, the Blackwell golem sighs deeply and comes over.  You lift your head out your hands and look at it wearily.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ll wear yourself out my boy, or girl,” he says, not unkindly.  “Perhaps we simply are not meant to know what is in the later pages.  And best not to let it consume you lest you end up like myself.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve just got this feeling I’m so close,” you explain, doodling on yet another piece of paper to show what you mean.  “I mean it’s almost like a mind band.  Close enough the same ingredients anyway.  And if the first weird symbol I have to carve on the thing is changed like that, then the others must be changed like that and that.  No, wait, like that.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s dangerous to alter magical sigils without understanding their meaning,” explains Blackwell, almost as if he’s delivering a lecture from memory.  “In the best case, the simply will not work at all.  In the worst case you risk drawing us all to the attention of forces that, to be quite honest, I’d rather not think too much about.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why should you care, it’s not like you’re real anyway” interrupts the Melody golem.  It leans over your shoulder and looks closely at your scribbles.   “What you’ve written makes sense.  As much as anything else here.  You may as well try it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Neither of you possess my extensive understanding of these matters,” protests the Blackwell golem.  “I say you’d be a fool to try.”<br/>
<br/>
But Blackwell’s words fall on deaf ears.  The lure of the <i>Liber</i> is too great.  You push the golems to one side and take both your notes and the book with you to Blackwell’s laboratory up the stairs.  It does not take long to make the modified mind strip.  Then you close your eyes and speak the modified incantation<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111
author_id: imaj
title: Keith comes round
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Nothing happens.<br/>
<br/>
After a minute, nothing continues to happen, so you open an eye and take a look.  The modified mind strips sits on the laboratory workbench, inert.  It looks complete, and it looks like it worked.  Nervously, you pick the band up between a thumb and finger.<br/>
<br/>
Again, nothing happens.<br/>
<br/>
So you try dropping it onto the torn page in the Liber and, finally, something does happen.  The band vanishes into the page, absorbed within just the same way a mask vanishes when you drop it onto someone’s.  A bit of a letdown, you feel.  Then something far more interesting occurs.  The page starts to knit itself together again.<br/>
<br/>
It’s blank, of course.  You realise that everything you needed to work out with the spell was on the top half of the page.  Perhaps the whole thing was a test of sorts – To make sure that the deeper mysteries of the book remain hidden from the unready.  Blackwell would never have gotten this far, he was far to staid and cautious, no real flair or understanding.  You, well, you’re anxious to find out more.  You greedily flip over the page and begin translating the next spell.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“One of your friends is in the library,” interrupts the Melody golem, sticking its head round the laboratory door.  “The one called Keith.”<br/>
<br/>
You put the translation of the new spell to one side.  It’s not complete yet, but what you have is promising.  It’s easiest to think of it as a backwards mind band, you’ve decided.  One that puts the mind band’s persona in charge of the body, rather than at the disposal of the wearer.  It can wait though, as you are curious to see what Keith wants.<br/>
<br/>
Keith greets you with a moan as you enter the library.  He’s not in good shape at all.  There’s dried blood staining his shirt and his face is bruised and swollen.<br/>
<br/>
“Javits,” you ask sympathetically.<br/>
<br/>
“Gordon,” he groans, clutching his side.  “Fucker beat me up for talking to his girl.”<br/>
<br/>
“<i>What?</i>  Why were you even talking to Chelsea?  You usually avoid her crowd.”<br/>
<br/>
“She was talking to <i>me</i>,” exclaims Keith, gesturing wildly.  “Yumi and her.  They came over at lunch.  Yumi tells me how sorry she was to hear about Caleb.  Then Chelsea says the same thing, except it’s clear she didn’t mean it, the bitch.  I didn’t think much of it then, but the next thing I know, Gordon Black and that psycho Jason Lynch are beating the crap out of me for talking to Chelsea.”<br/>
<br/>
You both sit in silence for a moment, thinking.<br/>
<br/>
“Chelsea set the whole thing up, didn’t she,” you ask softly.  “It’s her style.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why would she do that?  Why even bother with me,” asks Keith bitterly.<br/>
<br/>
“Why does she do anything,” you shrug.  “Because she can.  Because she you upset the balance of her world in some immeasurable way.  Because she enjoys it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Look,” interrupts Keith.  He’s staring at the floor, the ceiling, anything to avoid looking at you directly.  “I was thinking, maybe I was wrong earlier.  Maybe there are people in the school who deserve what the book can do to them.”<br/>
<br/>
“We can do something about that,” you say, keeping your voice carefully neutral.  Secretly you’re delighted Keith’s come round to your way of thinking.  “The question is, what do you want?”  “The question is, <i>what do you want?</i>”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211211121111
author_id: imaj
title: A conspiracy is hatched
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“I want them to know what it’s like,” grimaces Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“You want revenge,” you ask carefully, your eyes narrowing.<br/>
<br/>
“I want justice,” replies Keith.  “I’ll settle for revenge.”<br/>
<br/>
“I think we can manage both,” you smile tightly.<br/>
<br/>
“We can?”<br/>
<br/>
“Look at what I did with one book,” you say, gesturing to the room around you.  “Now I’ve got a whole library.”<br/>
<br/>
“But how,” asks Keith<br/>
<br/>
“I have a few ideas,” you reply, and with Kim’s ferocious intelligence you already have the beginnings of a plan.  “Can you come back in an hour or two?”<br/>
<br/>
“Um, if you’re sure,” says Keith, sounding unconvinced.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“Ta-dah,” you say brandishing the results of the latest spell with a flourish.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s a bit of metal,” says Keith flatly.  “That’s your big idea, huh?”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s an anima band,” you begin.<br/>
<br/>
“Like the cartoons,” asks Keith impishly.<br/>
<br/>
 “No, not like the cartoons,” you reply irritably.  “And they’re not really cartoons either.  Now do you want my help or not?”<br/>
<br/>
Keith nods guiltily.<br/>
<br/>
“Thought so.  It’s an anima band, as in ‘soul’.  It copies a little bit of your anima…”<br/>
<br/>
“Or soul,” interrupts Keith again.<br/>
<br/>
“Or soul,” you continue through gritted teeth.  “Then when he put the band on someone else, it’s the little bit of soul in the band that gets to run the show.”<br/>
<br/>
“So we could put one of these on Chelsea and Gordon and all of their flunkies, then they’d be all sympathetic for a change?”<br/>
<br/>
“We could, but that would hardly be justice.  And besides, I doubt your soul would stretch that far anyway,” you snark.  “No, we can use this to lure someone out here so we can make a mask for you.  Once we’ve made a switch you can start bringing down Chelsea’s clique from the inside.”<br/>
<br/>
“I get to be Chelsea then,” asks Keith hopefully.<br/>
<br/>
“We want Chelsea to suffer too Keith, so no.  The same applies to her inner circle.  Gloria, Kendra and Maria are out too.  For what I have in mind, it has to be someone else on the cheerleading team, but I’ll let you decide who.”<br/>
<br/>
You turn the anima strip over in your hands and smile brightly.<br/>
<br/>
“First we have to copy your anima.  This won’t hurt a bit.  At least I think it won’t hurt.  Much anyway…”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It’s a simple plan really.  So simple even Keith couldn’t mess it up.  Not unless he tried really hard to screw up.  You gave him the filled anima band last night with instructions to slip it onto his cheerleader of choice.  It could be done in a second, just by stumbling into one of them at the right moment.<br/>
<br/>
None of this makes you fell any less nervous about the whole thing.<br/>
<br/>
You’re taking a study period in the school’s small library, working on Kim’s history homework.  Not a subject you were ever good at as Will, but it’s much easier with access to Kim’s memories.  Engrossed in your work, you are dimly aware of someone sitting opposite you in the otherwise empty library.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know how you get through the day without playing with these puppies,” they whisper at you, rather loudly.  “I guess whoever called them fun bags had it right on the money.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s hardly a normal conversation opener,” you sigh without looking up.  “I’d expect that kind of thing from a pervert like Keith Tilley…”<br/>
<br/>
“What can I say,” says your companion breezily.  “A little Keith goes a long way.  Just letting you know everything went off without a hitch.”<br/>
<br/>
You look up to see who Keith has chosen.</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112111211111
author_id: gigantorzzz
title: It's Eva Garner, no suprise there
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Eva Garner sits opposite you, although the stupid grin on her face is one hundred percent Keith. One-third of the Garner triplets, with Jessica and Marc making up the rest, you can remember Eva as a rather bitchy girl, Kim's memories of course, offers better understanding of this girl. Being prominent figures in the high school hierarchy, Jessica and Eva are often around, out and about poking their noses everywhere. Whilst Marc tends to keep to himself and his small circle of friends, after all, three years of fake friends and jocks wannabe approaching him just to get info on how to bed one or both of his sisters is perhaps, more than enough for the poor guy. <br/>
<br/>
''Eva? That's something.'', you let out a low whistle at the alluring figure and face sitting across you, pausing long enough to let the Keith anima pick up the double meaning. Jessica and Eva are exact mirror image of each others, although everyone can discern them straight away. Eva keeps her hair short just about her shoulders, while Jessica prefers hers long, occasionally tying it to a ponytail. <br/>
<br/>
''I'm not an idiot.'', Eva says smugly. ''Saw her in Shaffer's den, nice and asleep.'', Eva says, the school's infirmary is know for it's drab interior, folding beds and the glum presence of Nurse Shaffer thus, the nickname the students give to the place. ''so I put the anima band on her.'' and flashes you a knowing grin, ''aand...''<br/>
<br/>
''Oh God, you don't...'', you groan. Eva's hands traces along her opulent breasts, hidden away underneath the clothes. ''Mmm... Boobies.''<br/>
<br/>
''Stop that.'', you slap her hands away, brushing against her supple bosom as you do so. ''Meet me in Blackwell's after school and we'll move on to the next phase of the plan.''<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
The preparation for your VIP guests requires you to skip school two afternoons in a row, and you're actually quite glad to be able to take a breather from all the activities and studies Kim Walsh has to do. A letter from Aubrey Blackwell to Principal Sagansky, detailing his interest to offer you some sort of apprenticeship as an archaeologist is effectively your free pass to get out, and besides, skipping a class or two won't be likely to affect the performance of your distinguished persona.<br/>
<br/>
The golems are hard at work when you reach the library in Blackwell's manor, buffering and polishing sets of blank masks. Inspecting the masks in your hand whilst the golems look expectantly at you, you do feel a bit like of a tyrant in some third world country, but that's what golems are for, they're not people, reminding yourself. You set the Blackwell golem to search the library for some nastier hexes, which you doubt it will have trouble finding and stopping it from complaining about missing work and the fact that you have been drawing from his bank accounts, a relatively moderate sum of money. You found out earlier that Blackwell doesn't have much savings in hands, most of his sizeable earnings as a professor has been earmarked for the manor's mortgage and upkeep as well as his outstanding debts from going around the world, looking for artefacts. You need a new financial backer, luckily, Kim just knew the right person for it.<br/>
<br/>
Meanwhile, the Melody golem and you get busy working on unlocking the next spell. <br/>
<br/>
The new spells, and over the course of the afternoon you realise that you are dealing with three interlocking spells, prove to be fascinating. The first is a varnish that seemingly erases the contents of a mask. Melody is initially dismissive of your insistence that the spell’s sigil has a deeper meaning until your investigation of the second spell confirms your theory: It’s possible to make masks hold many images. In fact, you practically work out the third of the spells before even seeing it in the book – a simple incantation that lets you switch between images on a mask.<br/>
<br/>
For all its grumbling, the Blackwell golem has done an excellent job as well. It shows you a selection of hexes. Some are a little permanent for your plans, so it finds some less deadly ones instead. It does, however, seem a little upset when you copy the selected hex’s sigil on to a clear plastic sticker with a marker pen.<br/>
<br/>
All in all, it’s a very productive afternoon. When Keith and Eva finally arrive, they are surprised to find you as yourself, without the mask of Kim on.<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t I know you from somewhere,” asks Keith, smirking.<br/>
<br/>
“Laugh it up, asshole,” you reply irritably.<br/>
<br/>
“I intend to,” he sniggers. “But seriously, why the change of face?”<br/>
<br/>
“Slight change of plans. I’ll explain in a minute. First this,” you say, unceremoniously slamming a blank mask onto Keith’s face. You let him topple to the floor.<br/>
<br/>
Eva stares at you, open mouthed.<br/>
<br/>
“I took no pleasure in that,” you explain. “Ok, maybe a little.”<br/>
<br/>
You’re busily applying a seal to the mask of Keith when he finally drifts back into consciousness. He hauls himself groggily off the floor.<br/>
<br/>
“If you want to do something useful,” you say, before he can open his mouth. “Take a pair of scissors and cut a lock of your hair.”<br/>
<br/>
“What,” he stutters. “Why?”<br/>
<br/>
“Mask golem. When I put the mask on, they have to follow orders, when I take it off they’re themselves again. Since I don’t have any fucking use for a Keith Tilley golem, you get to be its master. Now cut off a bit of your hair.”<br/>
<br/>
Reluctantly, Keith snips of a bit of his hair. You place it inside the bowl of the mask, along with a little graveyard earth and a couple of other components. Lighting it, the fire burns briefly before leaving the inside of the mask a dull grey.<br/>
<br/>
“And now we make our copies of her,” you say, indicating Eva. “Clothes off.”<br/>
<br/>
“What did you say,” asks Eva indignantly.<br/>
<br/>
“Wait, did you say copies,” says Keith almost simultaneously.<br/>
<br/>
“Clothes off,” you say to Eva. “I don’t want anything damaged when we place the golem mask on you.”<br/>
<br/>
“And what happens to me,” asks Eva. “I mean, the bit of Keith inside me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t worry, I’ll need you again later,” you say soothingly. “And besides, we'll put you back later or maybe inside Cindy”<br/>
<br/>
''We're going to take Cindy?'', Keith says hoarsely, not believing his ears, but his eyes lits up at what he thinks he heard you say. Similarly, Eva perks up as well. <br/>
<br/>
''Just... strip.'', you realise that now you have both of their attention.<br/>
<br/>
Eva, with some reluctance, disrobes. Ignoring Keith’s low, appreciative, whistle you reach towards her forehead and pull away at the anima band. It surfaces from inside her and comes away easily. She staggers for a moment, freed from Keith’s controlling anima which gives you just enough time to place your own mask on her face. You catch her as she falls, lowering her to the floor gently.<br/>
<br/>
“What’s with the second mask,” asks Keith, noticing it sitting on a desk. “And what were you saying about copies.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’ll see,” you say, trying to be enigmatic but coming off smug instead. Talking to people was lot easier when you were Kim.<br/>
<br/>
After a few minutes your mask emerges from Eva. You scoop it up and place the blank mask on her face. Instructing Keith to place the golem mask on her once the second mask is done copying, you attend to varnishing your own mask. That doesn’t take long at all and you have it back on your face quickly.<br/>
<br/>
“Shouldn’t you have turned into Eva,” asks Keith, puzzled.<br/>
<br/>
You pass your hand across your face, mumbling a word of power. Luckily you’re only wearing a bathrobe so you don’t have to worry about ripping clothes.<br/>
<br/>
“Wax on,” you say as Eva, before repeating the process and turning back into Will. “Wax off.”<br/>
<br/>
You repeat the process one last time.<br/>
<br/>
“And wax on,” you say as Kim.<br/>
<br/>
“Why can’t I have a mask that does that,” cries Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“Mostly,” you reply, gesturing towards the mask that has now emerged from Eva and rolled across the floor. “Because you are an idiot. Get the golem mask on her, then get the mask of her and bring it over so I can seal it.”<br/>
<br/>
Things progress quickly after that. You leave the library, partially to get changed back into Kim’s clothes but mostly to avoid seeing Keith naked. Twice. When you return, both the Keith golem and new Eva are thankfully fully clothed.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know how you get through the day without playing with these puppies,” she says, casually squeezing one of her breast. “I guess whoever called them fun bags had it right on the money.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why do I get the feeling I’ve had this conversation before,” you sigh. “Knock it off and listen.”<br/>
<br/>
You explain your plan to the new Eva. It’s another simple one, so again she should be able to manage without fucking it up. <br/>
<br/>
“Remember,” you explain as you hand her the sticker with the hex sigil on it. “All you need to do is stick it on the sole of Chelsea’s sneaker before cheerleading practice tomorrow. Don’t fuck it up.”<br/>
<br/>
''How can I fuck it up?'', Eva pats strands of hair to their proper place, ''I'm Eva.''</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111112
author_id: gigantorzzz
title: Keith Succeeds
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Kim isn’t usually in the habit of attending the Friday lunchtime cheerleading practice session, but you decide to make an exception today. It’s an open session, so the gym bleachers have a mix of staring losers (just because you used to be one of them doesn’t make the any less losers now that you aren’t one of them anymore) and sophomore wannabes. As council president, you’re expected to be friends with everyone so you sit yourself next to Paul Davis. He falls into the former category, although if Kim’s memories are a guide, he only has eyes for Yumi Saito.<br/>
<br/>
You bide your time with polite small talk about the History class you share, so you aren’t watching the cheerleaders when you hear the sickening crack, followed by the piercing cry of a girl in deep, deep distress. You look up, and what you see fills you with genuine horror.<br/>
<br/>
Lying on the floor, her leg twisted at a sickening angle is Chelsea Cooper. Though you have known what will happen to her, seeing the leg bent at an unnatural angle makes you feel rather nauseous.The team stand in stunned silence, before Eva seems to regain her senses and volunteers to get coach Tesla, giving you a meaningful glance before slipping out from the gym. <br/>
<br/>
You make your excuses and sneak out after her, although you don't really need to. Everyone's attention is still focused on the ill-fortuned head cheerleader screaming in pain.<br/>
<br/>
*****<br/>
<br/>
''That feels oddly satisfying.'', the look on Eva's face is a balanced mixture of guilt and pleasure as soon as she sees off the panicked Coach Tesla turned a corner, running to the gym.<br/>
<br/>
''Not here.'', you hush her, gripping her wrist a bit tighter.<br/>
<br/>
You are about to steer Eva away to an empty class when Cindy rounds the corner in front of you. She looks visibly shaken from what's just happened, but despite that, you sense a concealed joy just begging to be let out. <br/>
<br/>
''Hey Kim.'', Cindy greets you, to which you reply with a concerned smile.<br/>
<br/>
''Coach wants everyone in the gym.'', she beckons to Eva and looks at you as though asking for permission.<br/>
<br/>
''Is this one of those exclusive meetings?'', you tease, ''It's alright, I was just asking Eva if we should get a get well card signed by all the seniors for Chelsea.'', you're curious though on what's going to be discussed, but realises that you could just get Keith to tell you all about it later, or to don the Eva mask yourself.<br/>
<br/>
''Hmm-mm, that's a great idea.'', Cindy latches on to the idea, but doesn't sound too enthusiastic about it. <br/>
<br/>
They bounds off and you too leave, humming along the way as you go.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
Keith's not exactly known for doing a job well done. So you had a strong motive to see Chelsea that night immediately and the cards and some flowers you picked up earlier that afternoon is the perfect cover for the job. Just before you get going though, Eva makes her way to Blackwell's study with Keith behind her, where you and Melody are looking through different hexes.<br/>
<br/>
''Hey Kim.'', she says in a cutesy voice. ''I figured you'd like to know what happened in the meeting. We're going to take Chelsea down.'', she can barely contain her excitement. <br/>
<br/>
''Wait, what?'', you reply. <br/>
<br/>
''Well, yeah. Cindy was sort of arranging this impromptu meet in two hour in Eva's ... I mean <i>my</i> place.'', Eva beams.<br/>
<br/>
You perk up. This could be very interesting indeed. <br/>
<br/>
''So, she is back on the team.'', you inflect your tone upwards.<br/>
<br/>
''Uh yeah. She said to everyone she wants to come back, I mean, Coach Tesla's got to take her back in.'', there was a hint of smugness, ''So that'll be Cindy, me, Jess, Yumi and Lin against Chelsea, Maria , Kendra, Gloria...''<br/>
<br/>
''And Michelle,'' you interrupt. <br/>
<br/>
''Oh, yeah, Michelle.'', Eva smiles apologetically. Michelle is the cheerleader everyone forgets.<br/>
<br/>
''That's five all then.''<br/>
<br/>
Kim has built a deep understanding on how Chelsea's brain works. So you sigh deeply, ''That's not good, you know how Chelsea is.''<br/>
<br/>
Eva goes quiet for a bit and her face is scrunched in concentration, not a sight people often see, ''Yeah... you're right, but Cindy seems to have everything figured out, I'd know after the meeting anyway.''<br/>
<br/>
You cock an eye at her, you were planning to visit Chelsea earlier on but now you could probably copy her as well and get an insight into what she's planning and foil her plans before she can even execute them, sending her further into despair, but on the other hand, you are quite curious on what Cindy's planning. You could just visit Chelsea tomorrow, she's not going to go anywhere soon anyway</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211211121111122
author_id: gigantorzzz
title: Go to Chelsea
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span><br/>
Chelsea already has a visitor when you arrive and apparently a bodyguard too. Gordon, the captain of Westside basketball team sit near her with a grim expression, only briefly glancing at you before returning his gaze at the sleeping form of Chelsea Cooper. Meanwhile on the other side of the bed, a woman sits with a concerned expression across her face. Her large, wide-set eyes are moist and red - she has been crying.<br/>
<br/>
''Hi Mrs. Cooper'', you say. Kim's memory recognize the woman as Kelly Cooper, Chelsea's mother. Looking at her, anyone can guess where Chelsea inherited her basic body and pretty features from, ''How's she?''<br/>
<br/>
''Oh, hi Kim'', Mrs Cooper attempt a smile, before dabbing her eyes with some tissues, ''The doctors are keeping her sedated, but they say it'll be a long time before she can take the cast off.''<br/>
<br/>
''I'm so sorry,'' you say, ''We want Chelsea, to know that the everyone in the school is thinking of her.'', you hand the card and some flowers. <br/>
<br/>
''Thank you, dear.'' Mrs. Cooper smiles again.<br/>
<br/>
You spend a bit of time talking to Mrs. Cooper about other things, hopeful that she or Gordon would go and you'd be left alone with your target, while Gordon would occasionally grunt or speak when he is addressed, but he maintains his overall distance from the conversation, remaining devoted to Chelsea.<br/>
<br/>
''I'm sorry, visiting hours are over in five minutes.'', a female nurse makes her entrance.<br/>
<br/>
''Well, we're just about to go anyway. Thank you.'', Mrs. Cooper replies. She gets up, but before she goes gives a tender look at Chelsea.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Fuck</i>, you curse inwardly when you see a doctor enters the room with a clipboard, conversing with the nurse on Chelsea's state. Looks like you aren't going to get inside Chelsea's mind tonight.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div> <br/>
<br/>
You only realize how late it is when you step outside the hospital building and instantly wished that you had wrapped up in something warmer. Kelly Cooper had left earlier before, leaving you with Gordon.<br/>
<br/>
''I'm sure they'll take good care of her.'', you glance at Gordon. His behaviour throughout the evening was rather unusual, seemingly trying to remain alert of something. Could he be suspecting anything?<br/>
<br/>
Gordon looks at you stony faced. He and Kim has never talked a lot before, but then again, neither you nor Kim has ever seen him talking for a prolonged time with another girl, even when Chelsea's not around. A stark contrast to his best friend, Patterson. <br/>
<br/>
Gordon hesitates for a second, you don't see any uncertainties across his face, but Kim's experience tells you something is off. ''We think someone's trying to put a curse on her.'', he says this slowly, seemingly trying to convince himself more than to convince you.<br/>
<br/>
''Why'd you say that?, you perk at this suggestion '' and who's 'we'?''<br/>
<br/>
''Me and Kendra'', he pauses, as if trying to convince himself to go through with what he want to say, ''and they found this, stuck on Chelsea's shoes.'', he whips out his rather battered looking smartphone, and hands it over to you. ''If I find which fucker did this, they're dead.'' He says gruffly. ''Kendra took it with her. Says she's going to check it tomorrow with some psychic.'', he pauses ''Madam Andrassy or some shit like that.''<br/>
<br/>
You swallow when you look at the image. It's slightly twisted out of shape, but is unmistakenly the hex that you've given Keith to use in his guise as Eva. <i>Fuck</i> Now that the sigil's been found out, was Keith seen when he stuck it there?<br/>
<br/>
''There's no such thing as curse or magic, don't be ridiculous.'', regaining your composure, you hand Gordon back his phone. He just grunts something uncommital. <br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
Kim’s father is waiting by the door as you enter, anxiety written across his face.<br/>
<br/>
“Where have you been Kim,” he asks with a mix of anger and relief. “I was worried.”<br/>
<br/>
“I was busy,” you snap. “I’m going to bed.”<br/>
<br/>
He stares at you, his mouth hanging open. You realise you’ve let Kim’s persona slip aside. You sink back into her thoughts and memories.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m sorry Dad,” you say, sounding much more like the girl who’s face you’re wearing. “A girl was badly hurt at school today, broke her leg in the gym. Everyone’s a little on edge.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ok,” he says, relaxing. He gives you a hug. His hands are still oily from his work and you realise he must have been worried out of his mind to not clean up as he usually does.<br/>
<br/>
“I took a card and some flowers to her in hospital Dad,” you explain. “It was the right thing to do. I should have phoned you to let you know where I was.”<br/>
<br/>
“You should have Kim,” he says, releasing you. “Remember that next time.”<br/>
<br/>
“I will,” you reply yawning. “I’m really tired though Dad. I need to get some sleep.”<br/>
<br/>
“Night then Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
“Night Dad,” you say, walking up the stairs to Kim’s room.<br/>
<br/>
But you don't exactly go straight to bed, instead you go online and search for this Madam Andrassy. Sure enough, you find her website and much to your satisfaction, apparently her practice is not far away from Westside. <br/>
<br/>
Just as you note down her address, you have another brainwave. Instead of taking Madam Andrassy, you could take over Kendra and pretend that you've bring that hex to the psychic. A mental image of Kendra appears in your mind. Her exotic looks is contrast to Chelsea's All-American beauty, you are sure that you'd enjoy being her, to use her as a weapon to bring Chelsea down if it comes down to votes. You feel yourself flush and realize you've slip out of Kim's persona, but you suppress it by sinking back into her thoughts. <br/>
<br/>
Business before pleasures.</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112111211112
author_id: imaj
title: Michelle who?
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Michelle Estrich sits opposite you, although the stupid grin on her face is one hundred percent Keith.  For a moment you think he’s messed up until you remember that Michelle is the cheerleader that everyone forgets.  Oh, she’s a good enough athlete, but she has a larger frame than the other girls.  And despite her earlier fun bag comment, she’s not exactly voluptuous either.  Tellingly, she has a somewhat plain face too.<br/>
<br/>
Most people think she’s on the team because someone needs to be the base of the pyramid.  The cleverer ones think it’s because Chelsea likes to have a ready made scapegoat for when she needs one.<br/>
<br/>
“Michelle, really,” you say, pausing long enough for the controlling anima of Keith to pick up the double meaning.  The stupid expression vanishes to be replaced with Michelle’s habitual downcast one.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m the only one he was brave enough to go near,” she replies.  “Or should that be she was the only one I was brave enough to go near.  I don’t think it makes sense say it either way, but you get my meaning.”<br/>
<br/>
“Quite,” you say primly.  “We’ll just have to work with what with we’ve got.  No offense meant, of course.  You’ll make your way to Blackwell’s house after school and we’ll move onto the next phase of the plan.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It’s probably not a good idea to skip school two afternoons in a row, but you’ll need to prepare carefully for Keith and Michelle’s visit this evening.  You bound up into the library as the golems are putting finishing touches on another set of blank masks.  Ignoring its complaints about missing work, you set the Blackwell golem to searching through the library for some of the nastier hexes that it knows of.  The Melody golem fetches the <i>Liber</i> and the pair of you work on unlocking the next spell.  Luckily, it’s not so tricky as he torn page puzzle.<br/>
<br/>
The new spells, and over the course of the afternoon you realise that you are dealing with three interlocking spells, prove to be fascinating.  The first is a varnish that seemingly erases the contents of a mask.  Melody is initially dismissive of your insistence that the spell’s sigil has a deeper meaning until your investigation of the second spell confirms your theory:  It’s possible to make masks hold many images.  In fact, you practically work out the third of the spells before even seeing it in the book – a simple incantation that lets you switch between images on a mask.<br/>
<br/>
For all its grumbling, the Blackwell golem has done an excellent job as well.  It shows you a selection of hexes.  Some are a little <i>permanent</i> for your plans, so it finds some less deadly ones instead.  It does, however, seem a little upset when you copy the selected hex’s sigil on to a clear plastic sticker with a marker pen.<br/>
<br/>
All in all, it’s a very productive afternoon.  When Keith and Michelle finally arrive, they are surprised to find you as yourself, without the mask of Kim on.<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t I know you from somewhere,” asks Keith, smirking.<br/>
<br/>
“Laugh it up, asshole,” you reply irritably.<br/>
<br/>
“I intend to,” he sniggers.  “But seriously, why the change of face?”<br/>
<br/>
“Slight change of plans.  I’ll explain in a minute.  First this,” you say, unceremoniously slamming a blank mask onto Keith’s face.  You let him topple to the floor.<br/>
<br/>
Michelle stares at you, open mouthed.<br/>
<br/>
“I took no pleasure in that,” you explain.  “Ok, maybe a little.”<br/>
<br/>
You’re busily applying a seal to the mask of Keith when he finally drifts back into consciousness.  He hauls himself groggily off the floor.<br/>
<br/>
“If you want to do something useful,” you say, before he can open his mouth.  “Take a pair of scissors and cut a lock of your hair.”<br/>
<br/>
“What,” he stutters.  “Why?”<br/>
<br/>
“Mask golem.  When I put the mask on, they have to follow orders, when I take it off they’re themselves again.  Since I don’t have any fucking use for a Keith Tilley golem, you get to be its master.  Now cut off a bit of your hair.”<br/>
<br/>
Reluctantly, Keith snips of a bit of his hair.  You place it inside the bowl of the mask, along with a little graveyard earth and a couple of other components.  Lighting it, the fire burns briefly before leaving the inside of the mask a dull grey.<br/>
<br/>
“And now we make our copies of her,” you say, indicating Michelle.  “Clothes off.”<br/>
<br/>
“What did you say,” asks Michelle indignantly.<br/>
<br/>
“Wait, did you say copies,” says Keith almost simultaneously.<br/>
<br/>
“Clothes off,” you say to Michelle.  “I don’t want anything damaged when we place the golem mask on you.”<br/>
<br/>
“And what happens to me,” asks Michelle.  “I mean, the bit of Keith inside me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t worry, I’ll need you again later,” you say soothingly.  “And besides, you didn’t really want to be Michelle anyway, did you?”<br/>
<br/>
“What?  Hey, why am I getting stuck as Michelle then,” interrupts Keith, but you ignore him.<br/>
<br/>
Michelle, with some reluctance, disrobes.  Ignoring Keith’s low, appreciative, whistle you reach towards her forehead and pull away at the anima band.  It surfaces from inside her and comes away easily.  She staggers for a moment, freed from Keith’s controlling anima which gives you just enough time to place your own mask on her face.  You catch her as she falls, lowering her to the floor gently.<br/>
<br/>
“What’s with the second mask,” asks Keith, noticing it sitting on a desk.  “And what were you saying about copies.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’ll see,” you say, trying to be enigmatic but coming off smug instead.  Talking to people was lot easier when you were Kim.<br/>
<br/>
After a few minutes your mask emerges from Michelle.  You scoop it up and place the blank mask on her face.  Instructing Keith to place the golem mask on her once the second mask is done copying, you attend to varnishing your own mask.  That doesn’t take long at all and you have it back on your face quickly.<br/>
<br/>
“Shouldn’t you have turned into Michelle,” asks Keith, puzzled.<br/>
<br/>
You pass your hand across your face, mumbling a word of power.  Luckily you’re only wearing a bathrobe so you don’t have to worry about ripping clothes.<br/>
<br/>
“Wax on,” you say as Michelle, before repeating the process and turning back into Will.  “Wax off.”<br/>
<br/>
You repeat the process one last time.<br/>
<br/>
“And wax on,” you say as Kim.<br/>
<br/>
“Why can’t I have a mask that does that,” cries Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“Mostly,” you reply, gesturing towards the mask that has now emerged from Michelle and rolled across the floor.  “Because you are an idiot.  Get the golem mask on her, then get the mask of her and bring it over so I can seal it.”<br/>
<br/>
Things progress quickly after that.  You leave the library, partially to get changed back into Kim’s clothes but mostly to avoid seeing Keith naked.  Twice.  When you return, both the Keith golem and new Michelle are thankfully fully clothed.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know how you get through the day without playing with these puppies,” she says, casually squeezing one of her breast. “I guess whoever called them fun bags had it right on the money.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why do I get the feeling I’ve had this conversation before,” you sigh.  “Knock it off and listen.”<br/>
<br/>
You explain your plan to the new Michelle.  It’s another simple one, so again she should be able to manage without fucking it up.<br/>
<br/>
“Remember,” you explain as you hand her the sticker with the hex sigil on it.  “All you need to do is stick it on the sole of Chelsea’s sneaker before cheerleading practice tomorrow.  Don’t fuck it up.”<br/>
<br/>
“I get it,” she says.  “I get it.  Don’t fuck it up.”<br/>
<br/>
“And stop thinking like you’re still Keith.  Just let yourself slip into being Michelle.”<br/>
<br/>
“Be Michelle, be Michelle” she repeats, almost as if it’s a mantra until Keith’s expression fades from her face.  “And don’t fuck it up…”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111121
author_id: imaj
title: Keith Fucks It Up
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Kim isn’t usually in the habit of attending the Friday lunchtime cheerleading practice session, but you decide to make an exception today.  It’s an open session, so the gym bleachers have a mix of staring losers (just because you used to be one of them doesn’t make the any less losers now that you aren’t one of them anymore) and sophomore wannabes.  As council president, you’re expected to be friends with everyone so you sit yourself next to Paul Davis.  He falls into the former category, although if Kim’s memories are a guide, he only has eyes for Yumi Saito.<br/>
<br/>
You bide your time with polite small talk about the History class you share, so you aren’t watching the cheerleaders when you hear the sickening crack, followed by the piercing cry of a girl in deep, deep distress.  You look up, and what you see fills you with genuine horror.<br/>
<br/>
Lying on the floor, her leg twisted at a sickening angle is Eva Garner.  Her sister, Jessica, is already at her side, holding her hand.  Eva screams in pain, Jessica struggles to hold back tears of her own.  The rest of the team stand in stunned silence.<br/>
<br/>
Almost all of them, everybody else’s attention is firmly fixed on Eva, but you spot Michelle staring straight at you.  She shrugs her shoulders, then slips out the gym unnoticed as the rest of the squad try to find Coach Tesla.<br/>
<br/>
You make your excuses and sneak out after her.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“I fucked up,” says Michelle quietly as you walk along.  The words are Keith’s but the voice and tone are Michelle’s.  You can hardly blame Keith for hiding in her personality given his mistake.  “I must have put it on the wrong sneaker.”<br/>
<br/>
“That was meant to be Chelsea,” you say coolly, struggling to keep your anger in check.  “We can hardly pull the same trick off again on her now.”<br/>
<br/>
“Poor Eva,” says Michelle, not really listening to you.  “That looked like the kind of break she’d never get over.  She didn’t deserve that.”<br/>
<br/>
You are about to tell Michelle to pull herself together when Chelsea rounds the corner in front of you.  She looks visibly shaken from what’s just happened, but you can also practically see her thinking over how to turn the situation to her advantage.<br/>
<br/>
“I didn’t know you two were friends,” she says guardedly, her eyes narrowing.<br/>
<br/>
“Kim was just telling me how she was thinking of getting a get well card for Eva signed by all of the seniors,” says Michelle on the spur of the moment.<br/>
<br/>
“That’s a great idea,” smiles Chelsea, sheathing her claws as she latches on to the opportunity.  “We should take it out to the hospital, like tonight.  Let Eva know that we’re all thinking of her.”<br/>
<br/>
It actually is a good idea, and you’re surprised that Keith has come up with it.  Chelsea wants to show her compassionate side, no doubt after you do most of the work getting signatures.  There would be no harm in it, especially since she’s just rid herself of a potential rival in the team, probably for good.  And it means you could get Chelsea alone long enough to copy her to your mask.<br/>
<br/>
“I could give you a lift over tonight Kim,” beams Chelsea, laying it on thick.  “When can I pick you up?”<br/>
<br/>
“Actually,” you reply, the beginnings of a new plan already forming in your mind.  “I have a couple of errands to run first.  I can come round your house at seven and we can go then.”<br/>
<br/>
“Super,” says Chelsea insincerely.  “I’ll see you then.”<br/>
<br/>
She bounds off, not realising how much she has played into your hands.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Kim has built up an understanding of the way Chelsea’s mind works.  That’s why when you arrive at her house at twenty to seven, things play out exactly as you expect them.<br/>
<br/>
“You must be Kim,” says Chelsea’s mother as she opens the door.  “Gosh, darn it if Chelsea isn’t ready yet.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m sorry Mrs Cooper,” you apologise.  “I finished my errands earlier than I thought.”<br/>
<br/>
“Aw, don’t you worry hon,” smiles the older woman.  “Why don’t you go wait in Chelsea’s room while she’s finishing up in the little girls room.”<br/>
<br/>
A small part of your mind that remains resolutely Will Prescott is amazed that Chelsea will spend an hour getting ready to visit a friend in hospital.  The Kim part of your mind is merely pleased that things are going to plan.<br/>
<br/>
Spending time alone in Chelsea’s room is, of course, exactly what you want.  You place your new hex sigil (your first ‘errand’) under the mattress of her bed.  You’re particularly pleased with this one.  It’s tethered to another sigil back in Blackwell’s house and can be used to make Chelsea feel ill for a day.  So ill, in fact, that she wouldn’t be able to go to school.<br/>
<br/>
You also take the time to carefully remove some of Chelsea’s older clothes from the back of her wardrobe.  Just a couple of outfits that she will not miss.  If one Chelsea can’t go to school because she’s sick, well that leaves for space for another Chelsea to attend instead.  You place the outfits in your bag, taking care not to disturb the small pouch of knockout powder ( your second ‘errand’) with minutes to spare.<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea finally surfaces.  She’s annoyed at your earliness of course but she sticks to being icily polite as she drives the pair of you to the hospital.  That’s something you are quite willing to suffer to pull this off.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Eva already has a visitor when you arrive.  Her sister Jessica has clearly been there for some time, she’s still in her cheerleader uniform.  It’s also clear that she’s been crying – her eyes are red and puffy, her make up smeared where she’s wiped away the tears.  You give her a sisterly hug as you and Chelsea enter the private room Eva’s been allocated.<br/>
<br/>
“How is she doing,” you ask nodding towards the slumbering Eva.<br/>
<br/>
“They’re keeping her sedated,” replies Jessica, her voice cracking.  “The doctors say she’ll not be able to do cheerleading again.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh god,” says Chelsea.  She even sounds sincere.  “I’m so sorry.”<br/>
<br/>
“We want Eva,” you begin, handing her a card and some flowers.  “We want you and Eva to know everyone in the school is thinking of you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks,” sniffles Jessica.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m totally here for you,” says Chelsea.  “I feel so guilty.  I keep wondering if I hadn’t loaned Eva my old sneakers, she wouldn’t have slipped.”<br/>
<br/>
“It wasn’t your fault Chelsea,” you say, struggling to keep the shock off your face.<br/>
<br/>
“I know,” she replies as Jessica stifles a sob.  “Hey, I need to use the toilet.  Is there like one around here?”<br/>
<br/>
Jessica indicates outside the room.  You and her sit in silence for a moment as Chelsea leaves the room.<br/>
<br/>
“Bitch,” says Jessica, quietly but clearly.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” you ask, not quite sure of what you heard.<br/>
<br/>
“Look at her,” continues Jessica.  “All sad and oh-how-terrible-it-all-is.  She doesn’t mean a word of it.  I bet the flowers were your idea Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
You nod in confirmation.<br/>
<br/>
“Eva was one of the best on the squad, better than her.  All Chelsea cares about is that another rival’s not a threat anymore.”<br/>
<br/>
Well, that is interesting.  Your original plan was to knock out Chelsea on the journey home and copy her face to your mask.  If Jessica really feels this way, perhaps a better plan would be to bring her into your confidence.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211211121111212
author_id: imaj
title: Some plausible deniability
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“I’m really sorry Jess,” says Chelsea as she returns to the room.  “But I have to get home.  Are you coming Kim?”<br/>
<br/>
“I think I’ll wait here a bit,” you reply.<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea shoots a dirty look at you then flounces off.<br/>
<br/>
“Did I say she was a bitch,” asks Jessica, once Chelsea is out of hearing range.<br/>
<br/>
You nod once.<br/>
<br/>
“Just checking,” says Jessica bitterly.  “She probably spent more time getting ready than she spent here.  I’d better take Eva’s clothes back home.”<br/>
<br/>
You sit silently, unable to think of anything to say, as Jessica methodically empties a small bedside cabinet.  The nurses must have put Eva’s clothes in it when she was brought it.<br/>
<br/>
“Well that’s odd,” says Jessica.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” you ask, looking over her shoulder.  Jessica is holding one of Chelsea’s borrowed sneakers, looking at the underside.<br/>
<br/>
“Someone’s stuck something on the sneaker,” Jessica says, bewildered.  It’s slightly twisted out of shape, but you recognise the hex sigil that you gave Keith, in his guise as Michelle.<br/>
<br/>
“You don’t think Chelsea put that there,” you ask, trying to nudge Jessica in the right direction.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know,” she shrugs.  “I’m sure I’ve seen something like that before somewhere.”<br/>
<br/>
“You have,” you exclaim nervously.  “I mean, you have?”<br/>
<br/>
“<i>Oh.  My.  God</i>,” says Jessica slowly.  “I know where I saw this.  That freak Morgana Hollis was drawing shapes like that on her English Lit books.  I was right, she’s a <i>fucking witch</i>.”<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t be ridiculous,” you say patiently.  “There’s no such thing as magic.”<br/>
<br/>
“Morgana cursed Eva!”<br/>
<br/>
“Even if Morgana is a witch, and I still think it’s ridiculous, those are Chelsea’s sneakers.”<br/>
<br/>
“So Morgana cursed Chelsea then.  It’s still evil.”<br/>
<br/>
“Or,” you say darkly, your voice low.  “Chelsea put it there herself.  Why did Eva need to borrow sneakers anyway?”<br/>
<br/>
“She forgot to pack them I think,” replies Jessica, unsure of herself.<br/>
<br/>
“Does she often forget to pack them?  It seems a bit convenient,” you add.  You spread your hands before continuing.  “Look, we’ll have a word with Morgana on Monday and see if she recognises anything.  It’s probably just a misunderstanding.”<br/>
<br/>
“If it isn’t,” hisses Jessica, her hands balling into fists.  She lets the sentence tail off, trembling with barely checked anger.<br/>
<br/>
“Um…  Jessica,” you ask carefully.  “Now that Chelsea’s gone, I don’t have any way to get home.”<br/>
<br/>
Jessica breathes deeply.<br/>
<br/>
“I can give you a lift,” she answers, calming down.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“Jessica,” you say, giving the dozing girl a shake.  “Jessica, you just drifted off there.”<br/>
<br/>
Jessica opens here eyes and looks about lazily.  You’re in her car, parked just outside Kim’s home.<br/>
<br/>
“Wha’,” she says, rubbing her eyes.  “Oh, I just…  I’m sorry…”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s ok,” you say reassuringly.  “You’ve had a long day.  Just be careful driving home, ok?”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure Kim,” she says, looking somewhat embarrassed.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll see you on Monday.  We’ll talk to Morgana then.”<br/>
<br/>
You step out of Jessica’s car smartly and sling your bag over your shoulder.  The passenger side window rolls down and Jessica leans over.<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks Kim,” she says.  “You’ve been a real help.”<br/>
<br/>
She doesn’t close the window before driving off.  You watch as her car disappears into the night, smirking.  Yeah, a real help.<br/>
<br/>
Kim’s father is waiting by the door as you enter, anxiety written across his face.<br/>
<br/>
“Where have you been Kim,” he asks with a mix of anger and relief.  “I was worried.”<br/>
<br/>
“I was busy,” you snap.  “I’m going to bed.”<br/>
<br/>
He stares at you, his mouth hanging open.  You realise you’ve let Kim’s persona slip aside.  You sink back into her thoughts and memories.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m sorry Dad,” you say, sounding much more like the girl who’s face you’re wearing.  “A girl was badly hurt at school today, broke her leg in the gym.  Everyone’s a little on edge.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ok,” he says, relaxing.  He gives you a hug.  His hands are still oily from his work and you realise he must have been worried out of his mind to not clean up as he usually does.<br/>
<br/>
“I took a card and some flowers to her in hospital Dad,” you explain.  “It was the right thing to do.  I should have phoned you to let you know where I was.”<br/>
<br/>
“You should have Kim,” he says, releasing you.  “Remember that next time.”<br/>
<br/>
“I will,” you reply yawning.  “I’m really tired though Dad.  I need to get some sleep.”<br/>
<br/>
“Night then Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
“Night Dad,” you say, walking up the stairs to Kim’s room.<br/>
<br/>
You quietly lock the door to Kim’s room behind you and draw the curtains closed.  Standing in front of the wardrobe mirror, lit only by the faint blue light of the screensaver on Kim’s laptop, you slowly disrobe.  As each item of clothes comes off, you take the time to admire your borrowed form.  Kim has a fine body – slim, if a little flat chested.  The waves of glorious red hair and her milky complexion have a certain, offbeat, attraction to them.  Good, if not perfect.  Attractive, if not beautiful.<br/>
<br/>
You wave your hand across your face and regard your newest acquisition.<br/>
<br/>
Red hair becomes gold, your perspective changes as you drop a couple of inches in height.  Your breasts swell to opulent proportions, and Jessica Garner stares back at you from the mirror.  This is much more like it.<br/>
<br/>
You’re sure you’ll find an excuse to be her from time to time, even as you use the real Jessica like a weapon to bring down Chelsea.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112111211112121
author_id: imaj
title: Michelle go round
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You are woken up by a hammering at the door.<br/>
<br/>
“Kim,” shouts Kim’s dad.  “Are you remembering about your job?”<br/>
<br/>
You mumble a half thought out response.<br/>
<br/>
“Are you OK Kim, you sound a little odd.  Open the door and let me in.”<br/>
<br/>
Your eyes snap open and you sit bolt upright in bed.  Your heavy breasts swing freely, unconstrained by any clothes.  Wait, heavy breasts?  Well of course, you think, me and Eva have a couple of he nicest pairs in school.<br/>
<br/>
Now that’s definitely not one of your thoughts.  It’s not a Kim thought either.  Why would it be, you think, you’r eJessica Garner after all.  And  finally your realise your mistake.<br/>
<br/>
You switch back to Kim , passing your hand across your face.  Hopping out of bed, you stumble across to the door.  You manage to haphazardly pull on a large baggy tee, the kind Kim sleeps in, and unlock the door.<br/>
<br/>
“Good morning Dad,” you say sticking your head round the door.  “I forgot to tell you that I got a new job working for a college professor.  I don’t need to get up as early now.”<br/>
<br/>
“All right,” he says, in that special tone that fathers use to mean that it is, in fact, not all right at all.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s going to really help with my college admission,” you beam.  “I can get him to phone you and let you know the details.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure Kim,” says Kim’s father.  “I have to go to work now though.  Maybe he can phone this evening.  Can you make yourself breakfast?”<br/>
<br/>
“Of course I can silly,” you admonish him.  “I’m not a little girl anymore.”<br/>
<br/>
Not that you ever were anyway.  Breakfast is the least of your concerns for the day.  As soon as he leaves, you call up Keith on Michelle’s mobile.<br/>
<br/>
“Hello Keith,” you say playfully.<br/>
<br/>
“Will  is that you? Or Kim? Or whatever you call yourself these days,” he says angrily.  Not that his anger mounts to much.  He breathes deeply before continuing in Michelle’s voice.  “Where the <i>hell </i>have you been?  I’ve been left hanging here.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve been sorting out the mess you made,” you reply.  No sense telling Keith it’s not his fault.  “Jessica found the sigil on her sisters shoe.”<br/>
<br/>
“Shit,” replies Keith.  His voice is barely recognisable as a girl’s now, let alone that of Michelle.  “Double shit.”<br/>
<br/>
“We’ll have to cut Michelle loose now.  Her amnesia over the last couple of days will muddy the waters a little,”<br/>
<br/>
“How the fuck do we do that,” he says, panicking.<br/>
<br/>
“Can you meet me at the mall in, oh say, two hours?  And call the other Keith Tilley and tell him to come too.”<br/>
<br/>
You end the call before Keith can reply and walk over to Kim’s laptop.  Two hours should leave you enough time to give Morgana Hollis’ Facebook a once over before you leave.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Michelle, or rather Keith, is lurking in one of the more expensive clothing shops at the mall.  In a vain attempt to be discreet, he’s chose to dress his Michelle body in a hooded top.  With the hood up and wearing the huge pair of sunglasses, he might as well be carrying a sign around saying ‘look at me’.<br/>
<br/>
“Take those off,” you snap.  “It’s the middle of Fall.  Where’s the other Keith.”<br/>
<br/>
Michelle fumbles the sunglasses off before nodding vaguely in one direction.  The golem is keeping its head down and doing a much better job of looking incognito than the real thing.<br/>
<br/>
“Get him over,” you say, grabbing one of Michelle’s hands and drawing a complicated looking sigil on it with a felt tip pen.  You repeat the process with the golem after it ambles over.  “Into the changing rooms, now”<br/>
<br/>
“What, the ladies ones,” asks the Keith golem, terror stricken and showing that he actually does possess some common sense despite all evidence to the contrary.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes, don’t worry about being seen.  It’s taken care of.”<br/>
<br/>
The three of you traipse to the changing rooms.  The Keith golem looks amazed as a shop worker starts to walk over, gets within a couple of metres and then thinks better of it and walks off in another direction.<br/>
<br/>
“Simple fear spell,” you explain, pointing to the sticker attached to the door frame.  “They don’t want to go near, they don’t want to think about going near.  And they’ll blank out about anyone else going near.  What I drew on your hand makes you immune.”<br/>
<br/>
The changing rooms are unsurprisingly empty.  You instruct the Keith golem to go in a booth and undress.  It looks at its master pleadingly for a moment, but Michelle mere nods in agreement.  She then enters the next booth and does the same herself.  When the golem passes out its clothes, you pass them on.  Within a few moments the real Keith exits his booth with a mask in one hand and a Michelle’s clothes in the other.<br/>
<br/>
“Now what,” he asks.<br/>
<br/>
“Watch,” you say enigmatically, drawing back the curtain to the golem’s booth.<br/>
<br/>
You rip of the golem’s mask to reveal the real Michelle, lowering her onto the small bench set in one wall of the booth.  Before she has a chance to come round, you take a pinch of knockout powder out of your bag and blow it into her face.  Carefully, you take hold of her by the hair and sharply knock her head against the wall.<br/>
<br/>
“Was that necessary,” asks Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“A bump on the head makes her amnesia more believable,” you explain.  “Now help me get he clothes on and we can get out of here.”<br/>
<br/>
“And then,” asks Keith, struggling to put Michelle’s bra on her recumbent form.<br/>
<br/>
“And then you go home,” you explain.  “Enjoy the afternoon, whatever.  You get yourself to Blackwell’s in the evening.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why,” he asks, finally clipping the bra on properly.<br/>
<br/>
You pull the anima band with Keith’s anima stored on it out you bag and wave it at him.<br/>
<br/>
“To pick up your new face.  And no complaining this time.”<br/>
<br/>
“I wasn’t going to complain,” complains Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes you were,” you reply exasperatedly.<br/>
<br/>
“How can you tell?”<br/>
<br/>
“You opened your mouth.”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck you,” he exclaims.<br/>
<br/>
“You wish,” you reply sarcastically.  “At least you don’t have to spend the day running about the town looking for it.”<br/>
<br/>
It is going to be difficult.  Your web search earlier has given you a few leads to chase, but you might not be lucky enough to find Morgana before the evening.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111121211
author_id: imaj
title: Where on Earth is Morgana Hollis
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“<i>Another</i> coffee,” asks the bored looking waitress.  She puts just enough stress on the ‘another’ to make her meaning clear.<br/>
<br/>
“Why thank you,” you smile back, returning her sarcasm with interest.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve been here, what, three hours now,” she continues.  “You gonna keep ordering coffees all day?”<br/>
<br/>
“Until my friend gets here,” you explain.<br/>
<br/>
You’ve chosen this coffee house not for the quality of its coffee, and certainly not for the quality of the service, but for its location.  Across the road, tucked into a corner, is a fortune teller’s shop.  It sells a wide range of new age and semi mystical knick knacks and nonsense too, but it’s the fortune teller that interests you and you’ve chosen a seat with a good view.<br/>
<br/>
It’s probably the most unlikely stakeout you could imagine, but Morgana’s Facebook page has led you here.  She mentioned the shop by name, she mentioned how interested she was in it and she mentioned how she was looking forward to having the time to visit again at the weekend.  For a brief moment you wonder how the previous owners of the book were able to ever replace people without the help of the Internet.<br/>
<br/>
You’re just deciding on how to be rude to the waitress again, when you spot a figure in black entering the shop.<br/>
<br/>
“You know,” you say sweetly.  “You’re probably right, all that coffee isn’t good for me.  I’ll just be on my way.”<br/>
<br/>
You throw a couple of notes onto the tabletop and leave quickly, before the waitress has a chance to reply.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
A set of wind chimes jingles as you enter Madam Andrassy’s, the name is painted in careful gold lettering on the windows.  The front of the shop is given over to displays for various odds and ends.  Most of them, you know from your time studying in Blackwell’s library, are actually mystically inert.  A small proportion are genuinely useful for magic.  Interestingly, they tend to be hidden below or beside the more colourful displays.  A group of lit scented candles give the shop a distinct, but not unpleasant, odour.<br/>
<br/>
“Morgana,” you say, leaning round one of the displays.  “Morgana?”<br/>
<br/>
The black clad girl freezes for a moment.  She turns round, looking shocked to see you<br/>
<br/>
“I thought that was you,” you say before smiling widely.  “So this is what you get up to at the weekends.  Looks kinda cool.”<br/>
<br/>
“Kim,” she says cautiously.  Morgana’s demeanour seems uncertain, as if she can’t decide whether to slink away embarrassed or come out fighting.<br/>
<br/>
“I mean it,” you add in Kim’s sincere voice.  “I didn’t know this place existed.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, right.  Yeah, it’s pretty neat,” says Morgana, opening up a little.  “Madam Andrassy knows some cool stuff.”<br/>
<br/>
“Magic is not, how you say, ‘cool’,” says a voice from behind the counter in a thick eastern European accent.  “It is a matter most serious and grave.  As I’ve told you many times Sandra”<br/>
<br/>
Morgana flinches at the use of her given name.  Madam Andrassy, you presume, emerges from behind a curtain to stand at the counter.  She looks to be in her mid thirties and is still, in a way, quite pretty.  Her clothes are colourful and covered in intricately embroidered patterns.  Lustrous black curls spill out from under a headscarf.<br/>
<br/>
“Sorry Madam,” says Morgana quietly.<br/>
<br/>
“Is this a friend,” asks Madam Andrassy.<br/>
<br/>
“No, yes, sort of,” replies Morgana quickly and nervously.  “Madam, this is Kim Walsh.  She’s sort of friends with everyone in the school.”<br/>
<br/>
“Good to meet you, young lady,” says Madam Andrassy, turning her attention on you.  You meet her gaze steadily.<br/>
<br/>
“Hey,” interrupts Morgana.  “Maybe you could read Kim’s fortune too.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh I’m not so sure…” you begin to say, but Madam Andrassy interrupts you.<br/>
<br/>
“An excellent idea,” she says, her clothes swirling as she turns to draw back the curtain she entered by.  “Come this way girls.  <i>Come</i>.”<br/>
<br/>
You both follow her through the curtain to a small, poorly lit room.  Candles flicker on the richly varnished round table at the rooms centre.  Heavy drapes have been drawn across the window to prevent light entering from outside.  The walls are bare except for a tall, narrow bookcase.  You run your eyes over the titles as Madam Andrassy sits herself at the far side of the table.<br/>
<br/>
“Over here,” whispers Morgana as she tugs you away from the books.  “She doesn’t like people looking at the books.”<br/>
<br/>
You let Morgana pull you over to a pair of seats at the table, making a mental note of the book titles so you can ask the Blackwell golem about them later.<br/>
<br/>
“Let me see your hands girl,” says Madam Andrassy patiently.<br/>
<br/>
Morgana places her hands, palms facing up, on the table.  Madam Andrassy leans over and looks at them closely, she then straightens up and sits very still for a moment.  When she speaks, it seems as if she is looking straight through you, at something in the distance.<br/>
<br/>
“I see a mirror,” she says hollowly.  “A perfect mirror, but it cracks and falls apart.  It’s not the reflection that cracks, it is the original.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s a bit of a riddle,” you whisper in Morgana’s ear.  She shushes you and continues to listen, rapt.<br/>
<br/>
“Beware of the man without a face,” finishes Madam Andrassy.  She relaxes, and for a moment looks very tired.  She smiles wearily as she turns to face you.  “And <i>you</i>, put <i>your</i> hands on the table.”<br/>
<br/>
Reluctantly, you place your hands on the table so Madam Andrassy can inspect them.  Again, she leans over, again she stiffens straight and again she stares into space.  As you look into her eyes, you realise that whatever she’s seeing right now, it terrifies her.<br/>
<br/>
“Ah, you’ll meet someone new honey,” she says hurriedly.  Her eastern European accent has vanished entirely, replaced by a mid-western twang.  “And have a long happy life.”<br/>
<br/>
After that, she cannot usher the pair of you out of her shop quickly enough.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“That was odd,” says Morgana on the sidewalk outside.<br/>
<br/>
“Understatement of the year,” you reply sarcastically.  In reality, what just happened in the shop has worried you.<br/>
<br/>
“No, I mean, that was different,” explains Morgana patiently.  “What Madam Andrassy sees is cryptic, but…”<br/>
<br/>
“But?”<br/>
<br/>
“What she told you wasn’t.  I don’t think she wanted to tell us what she saw,” says Morganna.  She looks at you, and you can almost sense her trying to spot something wrong or out of place.<br/>
<br/>
“Look,” you begin, holding up your hands.  “Why don’t we go and get a coffee or something?  We can talk all about it then.  There’s a great place just over the road.”<br/>
<br/>
“OK,” replies Morgana unsurely.<br/>
<br/>
“Great,” you smile.  “And I’ve got something I need to show you…”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“I need your help,” you say boldly as you enter the library.<br/>
<br/>
“Such a charming master,” says the Blackwell golem as it puts down the mask it was polishing.  “So thoughtful and considerate and polite.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’ll do it for me though,” you reply, batting your eyelashes.<br/>
<br/>
“As though I have a choice in the matter.  What is it you need this time?  More masks to polish?  Your homework done?”<br/>
<br/>
“No,” you explain.  “Something magical.  Fortune telling, tell me what you know.”<br/>
<br/>
“Utter bunk,” splutters the golem.  “Certainly any of the usual clichés are.  Palm reading, tea leaves, crystal balls:  All complete nonsense.”<br/>
<br/>
You breathe a sigh of relief.<br/>
<br/>
“The very notion of being able to see into the future is ridiculous.  There are any number of paradoxes and problems with the idea.  At best a skilled practitioner might come away with a jumble of confusing images and metaphors.  But that would be as a result of meditation, not any of the phoney methods I just mentioned.  The whole concept was thoroughly explored and debunked in a 19th century treatise entitled <i>The Trials of</i>…”<br/>
<br/>
“<i>A Modern Cassandra</i>,” you say finishing off the golem’s sentence for it.  It stares at you in surprise.<br/>
<br/>
“You know of it?”<br/>
<br/>
“I saw it in a bookcase at the apparently phoney fortune teller I visited today,” you say glumly.<br/>
<br/>
“Fascinating,” says the golem, rubbing at its chin.  “And did this fortune teller give you any predictions?”<br/>
<br/>
“A bit of a riddle for one,” you explain.  “Confusing images and metaphors, I guess.  She tried to read me too but got spooked.”<br/>
<br/>
“This is quite the find,” says the golem excitedly.  “I wonder what else she has in that book case.  Perhaps you could, shall we say, <i>‘acquire’</i> it for me.  For us.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem makes an interesting case.  You had intended to swap Keith into Morgana this evening, and had already place an anima band on Morgana to help with this.  However, if you can manage to get Keith behind Madam Andrassy’s face, then you could have him make up whatever nonsense you wanted.  That is, if you can persuade Morgana to take Jessica to Madam Andrassy.</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211211121111212111
author_id: imaj
title: Back In Black
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“You’re fucking joking,” asks Keith.  “Right?”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s exactly what I said,” confirms Morgana.  A Morgana with a Keith anima band, at least.<br/>
<br/>
“I thought the point was to become people that were more popular,” continues an indignant Keith.  “Not even bigger outcasts.”<br/>
<br/>
“Is this an argument you really want,” you say waspishly.  “Do you really want to find out just exactly how popular you actually are?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m more popular than her,” says Keith huffily.<br/>
<br/>
“No you’re not,” both you and Morgana say at the same time.  Morgana starts cackling with laughter in that way that makes Keith so annoying.<br/>
<br/>
“Aww…” sighs Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“Look,” you explain patiently.  “It’s not about becoming someone popular.  We need to sort out the mess you caused with that hex.  You need to become Morgana.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t see how that will help,” says Keth dubiously.<br/>
<br/>
“Because on Monday, Jessica’s going to charge straight at her and demand to know what happened.  I need a Morgana I can rely on to say the right thing,” you say, ignoring all evidence about Keith’s competency levels shown so far.  You pause for a moment to evaluate what you just said.  “Unfortunately I’m stuck with you…”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck you,” interrupts Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“…so I’ll just have to hope you don’t fuck it up.  <i>Again</i>,” you finish.  “It’s just for a few days then I’ll find someone else for you.”<br/>
<br/>
“If you say so,” replies Keith.  “So I’m supposed to tell Jessica it was all Chelsea’s fault or something then?”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh it’s much cleverer than that,” you smile.  “Let’s get these masks done and I’ll explain.”<br/>
<br/>
Arranging the masks is a methodical process.  First the anima band is removed from Morgana.  Being Keith itself, it complains and insists you find it a better host next time.  Naturally, you ignore it.  A small pinch of Blackwell’s knockout powder is used to prevent Morgana regaining consciousness before finish.  You then make two copies of Morgana using masks.  The first goes on a blank mask which you give to Keith to wear.  Morgana is smaller than he is so he puts the mask straight on and starts to remove his now too large clothing.  The second copy goes on another layer of your Chameleon mask.<br/>
<br/>
“Look at me,” moans Keith, waving at his new body.  He’s removed the last of his clothes and is examining his new Morgana form closely.  She’s dumpy, with most of the weight sitting on her thighs.  Smallish breasts and a round, plain, face contribute to an overall forgettable picture.  The birds nest dyed black hairstyle is a mess – you know it’s dyed because the rest of her hair is a sandy brown colour.  “I’m a freak.  And it’s going to take forever to get her gear on.”<br/>
<br/>
Keith isn’t wrong either.  Morgana’s approach to her looks was to hide them behind layers of pale makeup, numerous piercings and black, gothic looking clothing.  You see about five silver earrings in each ear plus a nose stud.  That full length black silk dress with the built in corset will be take a long time to get off as well.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll get some more knock out powder,” you sigh.<br/>
<br/>
In the end, it takes another half hour to get Keith dressed in his new clothes.  Another fifteen minutes on top of that to explain the new plan.  You take your time, of course, until he starts complaining about your words-of-one-syllable approach.  It is a very sour Keith, no, Morgana that walks out the door when you are finished.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m still not happy about this Will,” she moans, ignoring that you are now back in your guise as Kim.  “You owe me.  You owe me <i>big time</i>.”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112111211112121111
author_id: imaj
title: Keith Finds New Ways to Fuck Up
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Monday is a disaster.<br/>
<br/>
It isn’t Keith’s fault surprisingly.  Jessica has been quietly reaching boiling point over the weekend and she, quite genuinely, explodes in front of you.  It all happens before first period.  You’re walking down the main hall, scanning for Jessica when you spot the fake Morgana emptying her book bag into her locker.  Jessica then practically runs across your field of view to grab Morgana.<br/>
<br/>
“What the fuck did you do witch,” she screams, spinning the fake round and pinning her to the locker with one hand.<br/>
<br/>
As conversation openers go, it’s not exactly great.<br/>
<br/>
You can see Keith switch desperately between Morgana’s persona and his own, trying to find some way out.  As neither has the ability to deal with this situation, the apparent Morgana simply looks like a deer caught in headlights.  She only escapes being punched full in the face by Jessica because you grab hold of the angry cheerleader’s arm as she pulls it back.<br/>
<br/>
“Jessica,” you whisper quietly in the surprised girl’s ear.  “Everyone is watching.”<br/>
<br/>
Everyone is, too.  Jessica drops here arm and stands dumbfounded for a few moments.<br/>
<br/>
“Why don’t we go somewhere we can all talk quietly,” you suggest.  Morgana nods her head rapidly.<br/>
<br/>
“Make her take her books,” says Jessica, after a moment to regain her composure.  “I want to see the evidence.”<br/>
<br/>
Somewhere quiet proves to be the school library.  The three of you sit round a table at the back of the otherwise deserted room.<br/>
<br/>
“Ok Morgana,” you say evenly, effortlessly slipping into the role of mediator.  “Jessica’s going to show you something.  Can you tell us if you recognise it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Here,” says Jessica, producing the hex sigil.  Even inert, as it now is, the sigil radiates a certain malice.  Morgana takes one look and shudders.  “Well?”<br/>
<br/>
The fake Morgana sits silently for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“Tell her to take her English Lit book out, it’s right on there.” spits Jessica.  Morgana looks at you but you nod in assent.  Morgana reluctantly pulls a book out her back.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s not exactly the same,” you say after inspecting the two.  The thing on Morgana’s book is just a silly doodle, but it does include some sigil elements.  You are pleased to see that Keith managed to copy it exactly from the sketch you gave him on Saturday evening.<br/>
<br/>
“I knew it,” says Jessica triumphantly, starting to rise out of her chair.<br/>
<br/>
“Wait, let’s give Morgana a chance to explain how she came up with this,” you say placatingly.<br/>
<br/>
“P… Promise not to laugh,” stutters a clearly scared Morgana.<br/>
<br/>
Jessica narrows her eyes.  You nod at Jessica who, in turn, nods at Morgana.<br/>
<br/>
“I…  I sometimes visit a fortune teller in the town centre,” explains Morgana, calming down a little.  “Madam Andrassy.  I saw the design there.  I just copied it because it looked pretty.  I swear that’s the truth Jessica.”<br/>
<br/>
“I think she’s telling the truth Jessica,” you say.  “She’s clearly scared out her mind.”<br/>
<br/>
“She could be acting,” replies Jessica, her eyes still narrow.<br/>
<br/>
“Well, we could speak with this Madam Andrassy after school and see what she says.  She can either confirm Morgana’s story or not.  Either way we’ll know the truth.<br/>
<br/>
“Her shop is closed on a Monday,” interrupts Morgana.<br/>
<br/>
“Tomorrow then,” you continue smoothly.<br/>
<br/>
“OK,” says Jessica grudgingly.  “But I don’t want her near me or any of my friends till then.  One step out of place and I’ll put you down.”<br/>
<br/>
“Is she really always that violent,” asks the fake Morgana after Jessica has stormed off.<br/>
<br/>
“I think so.  Eva too.”<br/>
<br/>
“Wow,” says Morgana.  She sits quietly for a moment before continuing.  “How’d I do?”<br/>
<br/>
“OK,” you admit grudgingly.  “Enough to make up for your earlier mistake.  You’ll have to knock of that goofy smile and sink back into her persona though.  The real Morgana never smiles like that.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m being her right now,” she says guilelessly.<br/>
<br/>
You watch your friend carefully to see if he’s lying.  Apart from the smile her body language seems to be perfectly Morganaesque.<br/>
<br/>
“What did you do,” you say, your eyes narrowing.  The fake blushes, and now you know something is up.  “Go on, spill.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, I went with her friend Raven to watch some old horror flicks at arthouse theater yesterday,”  she explains very carefully.<br/>
<br/>
“Wait,” you interrupt.  “<i>Raven?</i>”<br/>
<br/>
“His real name’s Blake,” explains Morgana, looking a little embaressed.  “Blake Miller.  He’s a senior at Eastman.  And as we’re watching this film I started to realise he was totally into me, I mean her, and I, er I mean she didn’t realise it.”<br/>
<br/>
“And you, Keith Tilley, master of social etiquette managed to spot this,” you ask, your disbelief obvious.<br/>
<br/>
“Give me some credit,” explains Morgana, who’s face is approaching fire engine red by this point.  “I know what a guy staring at someone tits looks like.  Usually I’m the guy.”<br/>
<br/>
“Point taken,” you concede.  “Although  doubt Morgana would use a word like ‘tits’.”<br/>
<br/>
“Staring at my bosom then,” says Morgana, slipping back into character.  “So I might have given her a nudge in the right direction.”<br/>
<br/>
“A nudge,” you ask, picking up on what isn’t being said.<br/>
<br/>
“Well, we might have kissed,” admits Morgana.  “And had a quick feel in the theater.”<br/>
<br/>
“That was all though, wasn’t it,” you ask, feeling as if a gaping chasm is opening beneath your feet.  “That wasn’t all was it?”<br/>
<br/>
Morgana’s silence tells you all you need to know.<br/>
<br/>
“You <i>fucked</i> him?  Dude,” you say slipping out of Kim’s personality.  “That is so gay.”<br/>
<br/>
“Was it? I mean I’m girl right now,” says Morgana. “All I’m going to say is don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”<br/>
<br/>
You sit in stunned silence for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“Haven’t you noticed the kind of attention you’ve been attracting recently,” whispers Morgana. “Don’t stare but look at who is looking at you from across the room.”<br/>
<br/>
You turn round to look. Standing by the desk, staring at you a little too intently with reptilian eyes is Steve Patterson.<br/>
<br/>
“He could just be getting a book,” you say, turning back to Morgana. “No wait, I’m not sure he can even read. He’s looking at me isn’t he?”<br/>
<br/>
“Well why don’t you slip back into being Kim and find out,” says the fake Morgana, your friend Keith, as she stands up. You watch thoughtfully as she walks away.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111121211111
author_id: imaj
title: Shapeshifters Do It for a Change
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Steve Patterson has a, well, a reputation in the school:  A bit of a womaniser, a love-them-and-leave-them type.  He’s never seen with the same girl for long.  Despite this, despite all the warnings and the fact that everyone knows exactly what he’s like, he seems to have no problems leaving a trail of abandoned girls behind him.  Some of them even come round for seconds and thirds, somehow thinking that this time, it will all be different.<br/>
<br/>
It never is.<br/>
<br/>
Steve is, unsurprisingly, not exactly Kim’s type.  Letting yourself sink into Kim’s personality makes what you are about to do feel unpleasant, rather than abhorrent.  What Steve is, is here and apparently interested.  He makes no attempt to disguise his staring as you inexpertly sway your way across the library.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi Steve,” you say, brushing some hair behind your ear with your hand and staring deep into his hooded eyes.  “I didn’t expect to see you here.”<br/>
<br/>
“I was just checking something out,” he grunts monosyllabically.<br/>
<br/>
You titter dutifully at the pun, but when Steve stares at you blankly, you realise it was unintentional.  Oops.<br/>
<br/>
“Did you find what you were looking for,” you ask, winding a strand of your hair round one of your fingers.  A little stray Kim thought tells you that playing with your hair is such a cliché.  It is followed moments later by another one that says maybe that’s all Steve understands.<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe,” he replies, making great play of looking you up and down.<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe you should have come looking for it sooner,” you say playfully.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m here now,” he rumbles.<br/>
<br/>
“Mmm, so you are,” you say, moaning slightly.  You pull his head down so you can whisper in his ear.  “The question is, where will you be later?”<br/>
<br/>
“The gym loft,” he blurts prematurely.  “The gym loft at lunchtime.  Maybe I’ll help you find what you’re looking for too.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yesss, the gym loft,” you say softly as you pull back from him.  That’s what you say anyway, what you think is: <i>Aha, the Fuck Room</i>.<br/>
<br/>
The Fuck Room, and it merits those capital letters, is the loft space above the school gym.  Given over to the stars of he sports teams by one of the coaches.  In some ways it’s like your old den back at the abandoned elementary school.  Except with more sex.  A lot more sex, in fact.  If you’ve been invited there, well it’s clear what Steve wants.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll see you there,” you say, planting a small peck on his cheek.  You walk off to your first class, putting an exaggerated swing in your hips as you go.<br/>
<br/>
You are genuinely surprised that worked…<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“So,” says Steve as he leans over you in the door frame.  “What do you think?”<br/>
<br/>
The Fuck Room is laid out before you.  It's piled high with boxes and crates and gym detritus.  A couple of old gym mats are spread on the floor, they are rumpled and stained. The room stinks of stale sweat and beer and...  You wrinkle your nose in disgust.<br/>
<br/>
Of course, you mention none of this to Steve.<br/>
<br/>
“Nice,” is your response.  “Very cosy.  In fact I think I could get very comfortable in here.  Very comfortable.”<br/>
<br/>
You walk into the centre of the room and turn back to face him.  Placing one hand on your hip you give him Kim’s best come hither smile.<br/>
<br/>
“You said you were going to help me find what I was looking for,” you say innocently.<br/>
<br/>
“Baby,” he says walking over to you.  You stifle a laugh, at the sheer corniness of his words.  “I got it right here.”<br/>
<br/>
He holds you by the arms as he lowers you to the floor.  He disrobes you with a gentleness you had not expected, even as your own attempts to remove his clothes are more fumbling and clumsy.  Then he pins you he old gym mat as he slowly, rhythmically, starts to grind against you.  He is thorough, attentive and brings matters to a mutually satisfactory conclusion several minutes later.<br/>
<br/>
As you bask in the afterglow, understanding now why some girls keep going back to Steve two things occur to you.  Firstly, that you probably owe Keith an apology and secondly that it would be good to keep Steve in your pocket.  Good for your plans, of course.  Anything else would just be a fringe benefit.  <br/>
<br/>
Using Kim’s intelligence you start to form a plan.  You roll over and straddle Steve at the hips.  You came across the spell you are about to use whilst researching hexes.  The sigil should really be drawn in the targets own blood.  Of course, with your understanding of magic you could substitute any bodily fluid…<br/>
<br/>
“Ready to go again,” you say, smiling as you reach down and give his cock a squeeze.  A last little bit of liquid dribbles out and onto your hand.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ll wear me out,” he protests.  “In a minute.”<br/>
<br/>
“For you,” you dimple.  “I can wait.”<br/>
<br/>
You start to trace out the intricate patterns of the sigil onto Steve’s chest.  The fluid is warm and sticky, so you distract him by talking.<br/>
<br/>
“You know,  I never thought you’d be interested in me of all people,”  you say.  That much is true as Kim’s slim figure is very different from those of the girls he’s normally seen with.  “I’m glad you were though.”<br/>
<br/>
“I have hidden depths,” he says.  You try not to snicker as you continue drawing.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll bet you do,” you say instead.  “Maybe we could explore them together.”<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe,” he says, shifting uncomfortably beneath you.<br/>
<br/>
“I know what your thinking,” you interrupt, starting to draw faster.  “But I think can show you something.  Something that will change your mind.  Something wonderful.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve already shown me something wonderful,” he says, grey eyes narrowing.<br/>
<br/>
“This is much better,” you explain.  “But before I tell you, you have to promise me something.  Promise you’ll never tell another person about what goes on between us in private.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure,” he mumbles, almost convincingly.<br/>
<br/>
“Swear it,” you say, placing your right hand over his heart.<br/>
<br/>
“I swear,” he says.<br/>
<br/>
“Say the whole thing,” you plead.  “Swear you’ll tell another person about what goes on between us in private.”<br/>
<br/>
“I swear,” he says slowly and deliberately.  “That I will never tell another person about what goes on between us in private.”<br/>
<br/>
The sigil glows white for a moment as the geas settles around him.  It is often unreliable to control someone using magic, so the Blackwell golem said, but the geas gets around that.  It simply makes an oath binding and inescapable.  Usually it requires a willing subject, but as you’ve just shown, there are ways round that.  <br/>
<br/>
Steve will now simply be unable to tell anyone else about what you do with him.  A normal geas, with a blood sigil, apparently makes its subject’s blood boil if they even try.  It should be fun watching what happens if he tries given the source material of the sigil you used.<br/>
<br/>
“What was that,” he says, trying to get up.<br/>
<br/>
“Easy now,” you say, pinning him in place between your legs.  “Let me tell you my first secret:  I’m a witch.”<br/>
<br/>
“No, no” says Steve confusedly.  “Everyone says how nice you are Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
“No silly,” you laugh.  He looks angry for a moment.  “I mean witch, like with a pointy hat and magic.”<br/>
<br/>
“Now you’re just laughing at me,” he says unhappily, starting to push you off.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not,” you say.  “And I’ll show you.  You see Steve, I know what you like.  We all know what you like.  You move from one girl to the next, discarding each one like a used tissue.  I can offer you something better.”<br/>
<br/>
You place both your hands in front of your face.  The you draw them back and around your head, activating the chameleon spell as you do.<br/>
<br/>
“I can be the next girl,” you say as Morgana.<br/>
<br/>
Steve falls back to the floor, stunned.  You repeat the process.<br/>
<br/>
“And the girl after that,” you say as Michelle.<br/>
<br/>
“What are you,” he says accusingly, but you feel his member stirring beneath you.<br/>
<br/>
You wave your hands across your face one more time.<br/>
<br/>
“I told you silly,” you say as Jessica.  “I’m a witch, and I can be any girl you want.  Any girl that’s unattainable.  Any girl that won’t do it raw and unprotected the way you like it.  Just let me know and your fantasies will come alive.”<br/>
<br/>
“This is too fucking weird,” he practically shouts.<br/>
<br/>
“Your mouth says one thing,” you coo.  “But I can feel a different answer down here.  Who do you want Steve?”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck.  Give me the first girl, the freak,” says Steve.  He is rock hard now, harder than he was the first time.<br/>
<br/>
You place your hands to your face again, resuming Morgana’s face and sinking into her personality.  If the first time was good, the second time is spectacular.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You leave the Fuck Room a discreet five minutes after Steve, feeling optimistic that he’s now in your pocket.  For a while at least, and you can always use a golem later if you need too.  You’ll hold off on that though, as this way has some interesting possibilities for screwing Steve over (in the other sense) later on.<br/>
<br/>
Smiling to yourself inanely, you are suddenly brought back to the ground with a bump when Chelsea pulls herself away from a wall and confronts you.  She dismisses a flunkey with a wave of her hand.<br/>
<br/>
“Did you enjoy yourself Kim,” she leers.  “We need to talk about a few things.”</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211211121111212111111
author_id: imaj
title: The Enemy of My Enemy is Also My Enemy
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“I’ll bite,” you say warily.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve made the <i>right</i> decision,” Chelsea says firmly, leaving an unspoken threat hanging in the air.  “Follow me.  We need to talk in private.”<br/>
<br/>
Surprisingly, she leads you back the way you just came.  Back towards the Fuck Room.  Even more Surprisingly, she has a key.  She deftly unlocks the door and ushers you in.<br/>
<br/>
“There,” says Chelsea as she locks the door behind you both.  “Now no one can interrupt us.”<br/>
<br/>
She pauses a moment to make it very obvious that she’s looking around the room.  She sniffs the air theatrically a couple of times before continuing.<br/>
<br/>
“Ugh, <i>disgusting</i>,” she squeals.  “The boys leave this place in <i>such</i> a mess.  I really should have a word with them about the things they get up to in here.”<br/>
<br/>
This is vintage Chelsea:  The seemingly unintentional insult designed to put you ill at ease.  As Kim though, you see it as a transparent ruse.  You simply stare at her blankly.<br/>
<br/>
“Uh, Okay,” says Chelsea, a little unsettled by the deviation from her planned script.  “I wanted to thank you for helping me get all that stuff for visiting Eva in hospital.  I told Gordon and he was like totally impressed.  He told Steve and he was totally impressed too.”<br/>
<br/>
Ah, you realise.  She’s about to claim credit for setting you up with Patterson.<br/>
<br/>
“Steve really appreciates it when people contribute to the team spirit in the school.  I hope you don’t mind me telling him what a help you were,”  Chelsea pauses for a moment and puts on her thoughtful face.  “You know, you two would make a cute couple.”<br/>
<br/>
And that’s the bait, you think.  You doubt that Chelsea has any real ability to affect Patterson’s love life but she’s going to such an effort you decide to play along with her.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m glad I could help,” you say in your sincere voice.  “If there’s anything else I can help you with, just tell me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Really,” asks Chelsea, surprised at the apparent swing in your responses.  “I mean, thanks Kim.  Now that you say that, there is something.”<br/>
<br/>
“Of course there is,” you say cheerfully, pitching it just right to make it unclear if you’re being sarcastic or not.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m worried about the team,” she continues.  “Something’s totally messing things up.  First we lost Cindy because of her sister’s accident and then we lost Eva too.  It’s almost as if someone is trying to set me, us, up for a fall.”<br/>
<br/>
Never mind that Chelsea was probably rubbing her hands with glee at the loss of such obvious rivals, you think.  Better not say anything.<br/>
<br/>
“Then I heard that Jessica had been talking to that <i>freak</i> Morgana,” says Chelsea venomously.  Well, Chelsea could only be nice for so long, you think.  “She’s involved, I know it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe you could talk to her, I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding,” you say, trying not to snigger.  You know the reason of course:  Chelsea detests the more unpopular fringes of the school.<br/>
<br/>
Actually she detests Kim too, but that hasn’t stopped her asking you to do her dirty work.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m scared Kim,” she replies.  A clever comeback, you think.  It might have worked on her boyfriend, Gordon Black, you don’t care so much.  “If she knows I’m onto her… I’m scared that she’ll do something.  I need someone who isn’t one of my friends to find out.”<br/>
<br/>
It would have been a lot quicker if she’d just came up and said she needed you to spy on people for her.  Now the real Kim would reject such an offer out of hand, but then, you’re not the real Kim.  Pitting both sides against the other seems like a great idea to you.  Of course, you can’t just accept straight away without making Chelsea suspicious.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not sure Chelsea,” you say reluctantly.  “It sounds a lot like you want me to break people’s confidences.  I’m not sure I could do that good conscience, given my position as student council president.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s for the team,” says Chelsea, drawing herself up haughtily.  It looks like she’s getting ready for a fight.  “What’s good for the team is good for the school.”<br/>
<br/>
“I wish there was some way I could help, I do,” you say trying to placate her.  “I know how important the team is to you.  I just… I just need a really good reason to do this sort of thing.”<br/>
<br/>
Which is a roundabout way of saying that you need a bribe.  Hopefully you’ve made it obvious enough for Chelsea to understand without it being too obvious and out of character.  Luckily she picks up the hint.<br/>
<br/>
“You know,” she says with an expression on her face that you take to mean that she thinks she is being clever.  “We’re holding try outs for replacements for Cindy and Eva tomorrow.  You should come along.”<br/>
<br/>
“Do you really think so,” you say enthusiastically.  “I mean, if I was on the team I’m sure I’d care about it just as much as you do.”<br/>
<br/>
“Totally,” she nods.  “And we can talk about Morgana afterwards, can’t we?”<br/>
<br/>
“Of course.”<br/>
<br/>
This is an unexpected bonus. Not only will you be able to play both sides against each other, you’ll be ideally placed to pick up the pieces afterwards.  And to top it off, Chelsea will be congratulating herself because she will think she’s just gotten another person on the team totally beholden to her.<br/>
<br/>
There’s only one thing that could have made this meeting go better:  If you’d made a copy of Chelsea on your mask.  So that’s exactly what you do.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“She was a little suspicious when she came round from the powder,” you whisper to Morgana, who is really Keith wearing a Morgana mask.  “But I managed to convince her she’d fainted because she was so worried about you.”<br/>
<br/>
“So you have her now too,” whispers the fake Morgana after looking around.  It’s the end of the day and the library is close to empty, but you can understand her caution.<br/>
<br/>
“Her face <i>and</i> her trust,” you reply.  “As far she’ll be able to tell, I’m doing exactly what she asked me to right now.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t like this.  If either Chelsea or Jessica works out you are double crossing them they’ll be unhappy,” explains Morgana.  “You saw how close Jessica was to violence this morning.”<br/>
<br/>
“I can handle it,” you say confidently.  “And even if they do find out, I can start again as someone else within a day.  Maybe even as one of them.”<br/>
<br/>
“Where does that leave me,” asks Morgana.  “I can’t change with a wave of my hand.  You should think about backing out of this cheerleader try out thing.”<br/>
<br/>
“I can handle it,” you repeat.<br/>
<br/>
“The only way I can think of is to skip school for a day,” continues Morgana, ignoring you.  “Pretend you were sick or something.”<br/>
<br/>
“I can handle it,” you repeat again.  “Wait, what did you say?”<br/>
<br/>
“Back out of this try out thing?”<br/>
<br/>
“No,” you say, shaking your head.  “After that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Pretend you were sick?”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s brilliant Keith,” you exclaim, a new plan starting to form in your mind.<br/>
<br/>
“Uh, I don’t like the look on your face, <i>Kim</i>.”<br/>
<br/>
“Did I mention I could handle it?  I think I did,” you pout.  “You just worry about getting Jessica to Madam Andrassy’s after school tomorrow.”<br/>
<br/>
You’d forgotten about the hex you’d placed on Chelsea’s bed before the weekend.  You could use it to make her too ill to go to school tomorrow.  Then you could attend in her place and run the try outs yourself.  You almost start laughing thinking of the mischief you could cause by picking the ‘wrong’ people for the team.<br/>
<br/>
Or you could attend the try outs as Kim and take your place as Chelsea’s newest spy.</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112111211112121111112
author_id: imaj
title: This Chelsea Goes Up To Eleven
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Kim’s car is parked in a quiet lane five minutes walk from the school as you regard yourself coolly in the rear view mirror.  It would not be good for Chelsea Cooper to be seen in Kim Walsh’s car.  The thin veneer of her personality that you’ve wrapped yourself in isn’t enthralled by what your about to do, so you let it slip and become Will Prescott in mind again, if not in body.  And now you do feel enthusiastic, your borrowed body reacting in ways that original wouldn’t.  With a wave of your hand, the soft green eyes, framed in the mirror by loose red hair, become harder and piercing.  The hair becomes golden.<br/>
<br/>
You let out an involuntary moan as you slip into Chelsea’s body.<br/>
<br/>
You feel her mind lying inside your own, a boiling cauldron of rage and petty malice.  It is at once a terrifying and beautiful thing.  Terrifying because of the small minded vindictiveness with which she regards everyone, and beautiful because it is ultimately a reflection of the real thing and at your command.  You sink into it, and it feels like slipping into a pile of comfy cushions.  <br/>
<br/>
You moan again, this time louder, because if there is one thing that excites Chelsea, it’s plotting someone’s humiliation and downfall, even if it is her own.  The real Chelsea is at home in bed right now, too ill to even move.  That leaves a Chelsea shaped gap for you to fill at school.  The sheer twisted wickedness of it all leaves your new Chelsea persona feeling very, <i>very</i>, aroused.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“That’s an old outfit,” Kendra Saunders sneers as she leans against the changing room locker next to Chelsea’s.  Of course, it’s all you were able to steal from the real Chelsea last week.<br/>
<br/>
“Well,” you reply, sneering.  Gloria Rea is watching the pair of you intently from the locker opposite.  “<i>Some</i> of us are pretty enough to wear last season’s clothes.”<br/>
<br/>
You pause for a second to pull off your top, revealing Chelsea’s ample breasts.<br/>
<br/>
“Those are <i>new</i> clothes aren’t they Kendra,” you ask.  Her face goes stony as she catches the implied insult.  “It’s really brave of you to choose that shade, I mean especially with <i>your</i> coloring.”<br/>
<br/>
Kendra’s eyes briefly flash with a murderous rage.  She walks across to the other side of the room to finish changing silently.  Gloria, who by this point has finished changing into her cheerleader outfit, stares at you, her mouth hanging open in shock.<br/>
<br/>
“Close your mouth before something flies into it Gloria,” you say with an insincere smile.  “because then you’d have to, like, bring it back up like <i>everything else</i> that goes in there.”<br/>
<br/>
Gloria’s mouth snaps shut and she storms out towards the gym.  The rest of the room, mostly the girls trying out for the squad, suddenly becomes a lot more interested in the contents of their bags and lockers.  Only Chelsea’s best friend, Maria Vasquez, doesn’t turn away.  Instead, she stares at you thoughtfully for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“Uh, Earth to Maria, Earth to Maria,” you say mockingly.  Maria has a reputation as an airhead.  “We’ve got try outs to do, we need cheerleaders, not space cadet’s.  You are such a ditz girl.”<br/>
<br/>
Everyone is suddenly <i>even more</i> interested in something else.  You suppress a smile, because this whole being a bitch thing is much more fun than you imagined it to be.  You finish off changing into Chelsea’s cheerleader outfit slowly, taking the time to surreptitiously glance at the remaining girls in the room.  It’s almost like a dream come true.<br/>
<br/>
By the time you slip on Chelsea’s sneakers you are alone.  Almost alone, a harried looking Michelle Estrich practically tip toes over to you.  She keeps on looking round, as if she expects someone to jump out the shadows at any minute.<br/>
<br/>
“Chelsea,” she says quietly.  “I need your help.”<br/>
<br/>
“What is it now,” you snap.  The real Chelsea keeps Michelle in line using fear, but you think pushing her a little too hard might cause some problems.  Fun problems.<br/>
<br/>
“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” she says defensively.  “<i>Please</i>.  Please just listen for a minute.”<br/>
<br/>
“I hope you aren’t going to waste my time,” you say.  “I don’t want to be looking for three new cheerleaders instead of two.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not,” she says, her face going pale.  “Oh god, I’m not.”<br/>
<br/>
You listen as she relates her story, full of gaps and misunderstandings as it is:  A strange encounter with some unpopular guy who’s name she can’t remember.  A conversation that didn’t make sense, even if she could recall who she’d had it with.  The odd book lined room in a house that she doesn’t know how to find again, and then nothing, nothing at all, till she woke up in the changing room of a trendy clothes store.<br/>
<br/>
In other words, everything that happened whilst she was under the influence of Keith’s anima.<br/>
<br/>
An unpleasant discovery.  You’d assumed that Michelle wouldn’t remember anything that happened while Keith was running he show.  Instead she has a shadowy recollection and it’s nothing more than luck that you’ve found this out.  You’ll need to fix this later, but with the anima band lying in Blackwell’s library there’s nothing you can do right now.<br/>
<br/>
Or is there, you think.  An unpleasant smile spreads across your Chelsea-face.<br/>
<br/>
“Michelle,” you say, leaning into her ear to whisper to her.  “I know.”<br/>
<br/>
She leans back from you for a second, her eyes wide with terror as she realises your meaning.  Michelle gives a frightened yelp and runs off.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You end up watching the try outs from a high up seat at the side of the gym.  The team members had to be ordered to run things down on the floor so you could get ‘a totally better look from up here’.  They were reluctant, especially Kendra, Gloria, Maria and Michelle, but having to bitch at them again hardly hurt your plans.<br/>
<br/>
The try outs can be split into three groups.  Firstly, there are the girls that Chelsea had already planned to bring into the team:  Megan Farris and Kelsey Blankenship.  Of course, with access to Chelsea’s memories you know that she had already planned on ditching Kelsey for Kim.  Neither girl is trying particularly hard, since you also know that Chelsea told them yesterday that they would get in.<br/>
<br/>
The second group is a random collection of those genuinely trying to get in.  You can see Cassie Harper and Beth Tanner on the floor giggling where they’ve tried and failed some complicated feat of gymnastics.  Victoria Rodriguez is coolly looking down her nose at the other try outs.  You also spot Jenny Ashton chatting to a couple of other girls you don’t recognise.  There’s definitely some opportunity for mischief there.<br/>
<br/>
The last group consists of one girl and one girl only:  Cindy Vredenburg.  The real Chelsea would be raging at Cindy trying to work her way back onto the team.  You are more enthusiastic, mainly because you texted Jessica to tell Cindy to come to the try outs last night.  That accounts for one of the two places.<br/>
<br/>
The question is, who to put in the other?<br/>
<br/>
“Any thoughts Chelsea,” says Coach Tesla, sitting beside you.<br/>
<br/>
“A few Coach,” you say, trying to ignore the stink of alcohol on the wizened old crone’s breath.  “Isn’t it great to see how well Cindy is coming back?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” she replies.  Even in her befuddled state, the coach is able to recognise the uncharacteristic about face in Chelsea’s opinion.  “Yes, it is.  You think she should be back on the team then?”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, absolutely.  I mean, if you think that’s a good idea,” you say demurely.<br/>
<br/>
“Ok…”  Tesla says after a pause.  “And the other spot?”<br/>
<br/>
Now that is a puzzle, because there are so many opportunities to unsettle the team.  Victoria is, not to put to fine a point on it, an utter bitch – her inclusion in the team would upset everyone.  Jenny is one of Yumi Saito’s best friends and picking her would alter the balance between Chelsea and her enemies on the team.  As for Cassie, well you think Cassie could test the patience of a saint with her incessant chatter.  Chelsea, the real Chelsea, would probably explode within days.<br/>
<br/>
So, time for a quick decision, because act two of today’s little masquerade still has to be played out.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111121211111122
author_id: imaj
title: It's not really cheating, is it?
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You smile as you close the locker room door behind you.  The mood had been sombre after you had announced your choices.  The team and the trialists had just wanted to get changed and get out afterwards.<br/>
<br/>
Except for Cassie.  She’d practically been bouncing off the walls in excitement.  That hadn’t gone down well with everyone else.<br/>
<br/>
No one had noticed as they’d slumped unconscious one by one.  Blackwell’s knockout powder had done its work quietly and effectively.  The girls will start waking up in a few minutes time, missing half an hour of their life.  They may even notice that you, or at least ‘Chelsea’, aren’t amongst their number.  That should fan the flames of discontent even more.<br/>
<br/>
You idly wonder which new face Steve will like the best.<br/>
<br/>
In fact, you almost walk into him as you turn a corner, lurking in a doorway with Seth Javits.  Javits greets you with a non committal grunt.<br/>
<br/>
“Chelsea,” says Patterson tersely.  He’s clearly not pleased to see you.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi guys,” you say, smiling Chelsea’s most insincere smile.  “You know Seth, you should go speak to Cindy.  I think she has some good news for you.”<br/>
<br/>
You fold your arms across your chest, still smiling.  Seth isn’t the sharpest tool in the box and it takes him a moment to take the hint.<br/>
<br/>
“I, uh…  I’ll just do that,” he says after a moments thought and lumbers off.<br/>
<br/>
“What was that about,” asks Patterson, staring right at you.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, I let Cindy back on the team,” you explain, still radiating insincerity before adding darkly.  “I think she’s learned her lesson.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’re fucking sick in the head, you know that,” he says very quietly.  “Why are you here?  I don’t have time for your games.”<br/>
<br/>
“Just to let you know that Gordon wants to speak with you,” you say, carefully controlling Chelsea’s anger.  “You know where.”<br/>
<br/>
His eyes flick in the direction of the gym loft and you nod a confirmation.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll be seeing you,” say quietly to yourself as he stalks off.  “Very soon I think.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Patterson is, as you expected, alone in the Fuck Room when you slink in the door and lock it quietly behind you.  He turns round as you enter, a look of anger clouding his face.<br/>
<br/>
“What the fuck is this Chelsea,” he asks unhappily.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve been thinking about you Steve,” you say slowly, moving in close, swinging your hips as you go.  “I can’t stop thinking about you.”<br/>
<br/>
He stares at you coldly and silently.<br/>
<br/>
“I need you Steve,” continue, spinning away from him.  After a moments silence you look back over your shoulder and straight into his eyes.  “Gordon just isn’t man enough for me.”<br/>
<br/>
“I told you,” interrupts Patterson, pushing you to the floor and taking a step back.  “That I didn’t have time for any of your fucking games.  Why the fuck are you laughing.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh god,” you giggle, letting Chelsea’s personality slip away.  “The look on your face right now.  Wow, just wow.”<br/>
<br/>
You haul yourself back to your feet and pass your hand across your face.  Mumbling the magic words, you shift back into being Kim.  Chelsea’s clothes hang loosely on your now slimmer frame.<br/>
<br/>
“Kim,” he stutters in shock, his mouth hanging open.  “Are you crazy?  What if someone sees you?  Especially Chelsea.”<br/>
<br/>
“She’s not even here today,” you grin.  “I’ve been her all day and no one’s spotted anything wrong.  I even ran the tryouts for her today.  I hope she likes her new teammates.”<br/>
<br/>
“That was you,” he says grinning unpleasantly.  “Oh man she’s gonna be pissed.”<br/>
<br/>
“It sounds like you think that’s funny,” you say, passing your hand across your face and turning back into Chelsea.  You pout and continue in a more serious tone.  “I don’t think that’s funny at all.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh man, oh man,” he laughs.  “I can’t wait to see what happens when she finds out.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s very hurtful Steve.  Don’t you like me,” you ask, folding your arms and stamping your foot on the floor.  You shift back to Kim before continuing.  A flash of Kim’s insight strikes you.  “It’s about Gordon isn’t it?  You don’t like the way Chelsea has her claws in him.”<br/>
<br/>
Patterson’s laughter comes to a halt.  He looks shiftily from side to side before speaking.  “Chelsea is Gordon’s girl.  If he likes her then I do to.”<br/>
<br/>
“And if they broke up,” you ask carefully.  “If you got your friend back?”<br/>
<br/>
“Not going to happen,” he says firmly, if a little sourly.<br/>
<br/>
“Forget I asked,” you respond.  You shift back to Chelsea one last time.  You put your hands on your hips and thrust your now ample breasts out at Patterson.  “I have one last question:  If there was no best friend boyfriend, no comeback, no psycho-bitch causing problems, would you fuck me?”<br/>
<br/>
The rising tent in Patterson’s pants tells you everything you need to know.<br/>
<br/>
“I didn’t think so,” you smile, pulling him down to the floor.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You are singing quietly to yourself as you make your way back to Kim’s car at the end of the school day.  It’s gone very well, very well indeed.  There should be some fireworks when the real Chelsea returns to school tomorrow.  You’re trying to shake the nagging feeling you’ve forgotten something when your mobile phone chirps.<br/>
<br/>
It’s a message from Morgana, Keith really.  ‘Will I take Jessica to Andrassy’s’, it reads.<br/>
<br/>
So that’s what you’d forgotten.  There’s still time for one last twist of the knife before you hand Chelsea’s life back to her.  On the other hand, it’s been a long day and you are feeling tired.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211211121111212111111221
author_id: imaj
title: Pork and Portents
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You call Morgana back to give her instructions.<br/>
<br/>
“I need you to delay her,” you start, skipping the pleasantries. <br/>
<br/>
“Uh, hello,” comes the reply.  Typical Keith, a bit slow on the uptake.<br/>
<br/>
“I.  Need.  You.  To.  Delay.  Jessica,” you spell it out, slowly and carefully.<br/>
<br/>
“No, I need to go somewhere first,” replies Morgana.  Even by Keith’s low, low standards this seems particularly dense.  Something occurs to you:  Stupid as Keith can be sometimes, this is exactly the sort of cliché that swims around in what passes for his brain.<br/>
<br/>
“She’s with you now isn’t she,” you ask.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” she replies quickly.  Well that explains it – she’s trying to conceal what the call is about from Jessica in case she’s listening in:  So very Keith.  She’s probably doing a bad job of it too, but you have to work with what you’re got.<br/>
<br/>
“Right,” you say slowly.  “So delay her, I need to do something first.  I’ll see you in a bit – don’t tell her that though.  I’m sure you’ll work it out when you see me.”<br/>
<br/>
Not fucking likely, you think, but you keep that to yourself.<br/>
<br/>
“Sure, sure, catch you later,” she finishes before hanging up.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Madam Andrassy’s shop is much as you remember it.  Full of flashy but useless junk, the occasional magically useful item and smelling strongly of scented candles.  It’s a fresh pineish scent today.  There’s no sign of Morgana or Jessica either, so it looks like Keith’s actually managed to do what you asked him to without fucking up.  Unless they’ve been and gone already.<br/>
<br/>
Madam Andrassy emerges from the back room to regard you with a cool disdain.  Chelsea, for you are still using her face, is probably not like Andrassy’s usual customers.<br/>
<br/>
“Can I help you,” she asks, still using that fake eastern European accent.<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, I was wondering about these dried seeds” you smile, slipping into the voice Chelsea uses when she is being particularly insincere.  The seeds are hidden away at the back of one of the display and are one of the rare items in the shop that are genuine magical reagents.  They’re actually a component in making Blackwell’s knock out powder, so this probably counts as ironic too.  “How much are they?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not sure that they would be appropriate for a young lady like yourself,” she replies, watching you closely.  She comes out from behind the counter and walks over to another display, a shelf of tacky jewellery.  “Perhaps I can show you something else.”<br/>
<br/>
“Nah, I’m pretty much sure that’s what I need,” you counter, reaching into your purse for the powder.  You move over, pretending to look at one of the pendants Andrassy is showing you before blowing a little of it into her face.  “I’ve used so much today, I’ll just need to mix up some more.”<br/>
<br/>
You catch Andrassy as her legs give out, lowering her gently to the floor.  Her hand slackens and the pendant she was holding drops from it.  It’s a pretty enough design, you think to yourself, but only a complete novice would think it magical.  No time for dawdling now, you put it back on the shelf and drag the fortune teller’s prone body into the back room.<br/>
<br/>
The back room turns out to be a poky little affair, quite plain in appearance.  There’s a desk, some books and a kettle.  A big pile of cardboard boxes fills one corner, stock presumably.  The books might be worth a look later, on the off chance one of them might be useful.<br/>
<br/>
No time to do that just now, you don’t know how long it will be before Morgana and Jessica arrive so you have to move quickly.  You disrobe, first the unconscious Madam Andrassy, then yourself.  Tempting as it is to play with Chelsea’s body, or Andrassy’s for that matter – she’s in good shape for a woman her age, for a while, you don’t have the time, so you remove your mask.  Fishing through Chelsea’s  purse, you extract the jar of Chameleon sealant and use it to copy Andrassy’s face to your mask.  It must be getting pretty crowded in there.<br/>
<br/>
You place the mask back on your face and, after a moment to steady yourself, switch to Andrassy’s form.  Those voluminous embroidered robes she was wearing hid a pretty voluptuous body.  Running to fat in places, and starting to droop a little but not bad for, a quick interrogation of her memories reveals, a thirty four year old.  Still, no time to play with her body either.  You start putting her clothes back on, starting by tidying your new thick black curls under her headscarf.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
By the time Morgana arrives with Jessica, you’ve gotten dressed, sunken into Madam Andrassy’s persona (her real name is Sarah Andrews, originally from Kansas it seems) and come up with a plan.<br/>
<br/>
“Sandra,” you say, affecting the fake vaguely generic eastern European accent Andrassy uses, as Morgana enters.  You’re standing right behind the door, so it frightens the life out of her.  Jessica is suitably startled too.  “Another friend you bring to me.  Who is this young lady and how can I help you both.”<br/>
<br/>
“This is Jessica Madam,” Morgana says eventually after recovering her composure.<br/>
<br/>
“I think my sister was cursed,” says Jessica directly, shoving Morgana to the side.  “I need your help.”<br/>
<br/>
“This is quite a serious thing to say, no,” you respond in measured tones.  “You have some kind of proof, evidence?”<br/>
<br/>
“I can show you her sneaker,” says Jessica, speaking loudly over Morgana.  “There’s some kind of symbol on it.  Morgana, Sandra, says she something like that here.”<br/>
<br/>
“Then let us look at this sneaker,” you say, moving towards the door at the side of the shop.  There’s a room beyond it where Madam Andrassy does her fortune telling.  You open the door and gesture for the two girls to move inside.  “Come.  Come this way.”<br/>
<br/>
“I have it in my bag, says Jessica once you are all settled round the velvet draped table.  She starts searching for it while she explains what happened.  “It’s not actually Eva’s.  She forgot her own pair and Chelsea…”<br/>
<br/>
“One moment,” you interrupt, holding up a hand.  “Eva? Chelsea?  You must explain to me, who are these people?”<br/>
<br/>
“Eva, Eva’s my sister,” continues Jessica.  “Chelsea is the head cheerleader at school.  Me and Eva are both cheerleaders, were both cheerleaders.”<br/>
<br/>
Jessica pauses for a moment, her expression miserable.<br/>
<br/>
“Chelsea loaned Eva these sneakers, they’re about the same size.  Then at practice, Eva’s leg…  Her…”<br/>
<br/>
Jessica seems unable to continue.  She sniffles a couple of times.<br/>
<br/>
“Take your time dear,” you say, not unkindly.<br/>
<br/>
“Her leg just snapped,” Jessica explains eventually.  “Badly.  The doctors say she’ll probably have a limp for the rest of her life.  When I was looking at her clothes in the hospital I saw this.”<br/>
<br/>
She passes you the sneaker, holding back the tears as she does so.  Jessica’s emotional state makes what you are about to do all the more brutal.<br/>
<br/>
“Aieee,” you screech, as you look at the sole of the sneaker.  You slam it down on the table with some force, which shudders.  Jessica, tipped over the edge, starts weeping freely.  “Jessica, this sigil, is bad.  Very bad.  When I finish here, I want you to take it far out of this town and burn the shoe.  Do not look back.”<br/>
<br/>
“What… What do you mean,” she stammers.<br/>
<br/>
“I am serious.  This girl Chelsea, she has not only endangered your sister’s life, she has endangered her own.  She is danger to everyone around her.  Burn the shoe.  Avoid her before she destroys herself and everyone around her.  Bad magic,” you finish quietly.  “Very bad.  A shadow walks behind her.” <br/>
<br/>
“But I can’t avoid her,” explains Jessica after a minute.  “She’s the team captain.”<br/>
<br/>
“Then you too will suffer her fate at the end,” you thunder.  “Unless…”<br/>
<br/>
“Unless,” repeats Jessica, a note of hope in her voice.  “Unless what?”<br/>
<br/>
“Is not, how you say, ‘guarantee’,” you explain.  “I can give you charm to protect you.  Keep the darkest energies away.”<br/>
<br/>
“It will protect me?” she asks hopefully.  “And Eva?  What about my friends?”<br/>
<br/>
“You need more than one? I have maybe half a dozen, but it will be expensive.  You wait here while I get.”<br/>
<br/>
You leave Morgana and Jessica to return to the shop proper.  With a smirk, you grab six of the worthless pendants that the real Madam Andrassy was trying to sell you.  Returning to the reading room, you scatter the pendants on the table and sit back down.<br/>
<br/>
“These will protect you,” you say darkly.  “But I must ask, twenty dollars each.  No, I give you all six for one hundred.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll take them,” says Jessica anxiously, searching through her purse for her credit card.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You finally reach Kim’s home about an hour later, the end of a long, and fun, day.  You’re considering turning in early when you notice two messages waiting for you on your mobile.  The first is from Morgana:  ‘Where the fuck were you?’.  It might be fun to fill him in, maybe tell him off for slipping out of character too.  The second is from Jessica: ‘Need to see you tonight’.  You could check out how she’s reacted to Madam Andrassy’s doom mongering, give her another nudge in the right direction.</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112111211112121111112212
author_id: imaj
title: The Gang of Four
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Jessica’s mother ushers you into Jessica’s room when you arrive at her house.  It’s a small cramped room with barely enough room for the furniture.  The presence of two other guests makes everything feel a little too close.  Jessica is there, of course, still dressed as she was when you met her earlier in the day in the guise of Madam Andrassy.  The only difference, you note with a little amusement, is that she is wearing one of the pendants you sold her.  Yumi Saito is the first of the guests.  She too is wearing a pendant.  The third guest, Lin Pol, is absently mindedly tossing a third pendant from hand to hand.  The remaining three are piled on the dressing table.<br/>
<br/>
Jessica bids you to sit on the corner of her bed.  She slowly, calmly, explains the events of the day.  The other girls have obviously heard the story already.  Lin seems disinterested,  Yumi politely nods in the right places.  In a way, you’ve heard the story before too, having lived through it but Jessica doesn’t know that.  So you act as if it’s all new to you, ask questions at times and generally look suitably grave.  It all comes very easily with Kim’s persona.<br/>
<br/>
“What do you believe,” you ask Yumi and Lin after Jessica has finished spinning her tale.<br/>
<br/>
“I believe that Jessica believes,” says Yumi, carefully and evenly.  That was your line damn it.<br/>
<br/>
“I think it’s rubbish,” says Lin flatly.<br/>
<br/>
“How do you explain Eva then,” asks Jessica, her cheeks heating up.<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe she put something slippery on the sneaker,” shoots back Lin.<br/>
<br/>
“Even if you’re right,” you interrupt smoothly with the skill of an experienced mediator.  “That means the she’s responsible for what happened to Eva.  Maybe it was magic, maybe it wasn’t, but I think Jessica would be happier if you put the pendant on.”<br/>
<br/>
Lin glowers for a moment before pulling the pendant over her head.  You then take one of the spares from the dresser and do the same yourself.  Lin’s expression softens and she turns to Jessica.  “Sorry”<br/>
<br/>
“We still have a problem though,” you continue.<br/>
<br/>
“Chelsea,” growls Jessica<br/>
<br/>
“But what can we do,” ask Yumi plaintively.  “We can’t just go to the cops and say that she magiked Eva’s leg broken.  We can’t even go to Coach Tesla and say that either and she’s kind of a drunk.”  <br/>
<br/>
“What if Chelsea wasn’t on the cheerleading team,” you ask innocently.  “It would be harder for her to get at you then, and she would lose a lot of her support.”<br/>
<br/>
“She could still curse us,” replies Jessica gloomily, ignoring Lin’s snort of disbelief.<br/>
<br/>
“But these pendants would protect us, right,” asks Yumi.<br/>
<br/>
“It would break her,” interrupts Lin with surprising vehemence.<br/>
<br/>
“And we couldn’t get her off the team anyway,” continues Jessica, just as gloomily.  “It would be three of us against her and the rest of the team.  We’d be the ones asked to leave.  And curse or no curse, she would break us instead.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’re sure about that,” you ask.  “I mean, the rest of the team being with her.”<br/>
<br/>
“It sounds right,” says Yumi.  She counts the team of on her fingers.  “There’s Chelsea herself, that’s one.  Her BFF Maria makes two.   Kendra and Gloria might dream of the day they get to take over the team themselves but they won’t break cover for us, so four.  Michelle’s so scared of her own shadow she’ll jump when told or be off the team.  Same deal for that Cassie girl, must be.  That makes six.”<br/>
<br/>
“And the only way Cindy could ever have got back in would have been by cutting a deal,” interrupts Lin.  “Seven.  Three against seven.”<br/>
<br/>
“Have you spoken to Cindy,” you ask Jessica.  “I mean, I thought it might be a good idea for her to try out again, just to help he move on.  I never thought Chelsea would take her back into the team.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why else would she take her back,” replies Jessica.<br/>
<br/>
“Everyone else at the trials was really bad,” explains Yumi.  “Even Chelsea wouldn’t want a bad team.  Cassie would give Chelsea six, so maybe she didn’t care if Cindy got back on.  She’d already been put in her place anyway.”<br/>
<br/>
“So talk to Cindy then,” you repeat.<br/>
<br/>
“Still only four,” says Jessica.  “But I’ll talk to her.”<br/>
<br/>
Which leaves you with a dilemma, since four is not enough.  You know for a fact that Michelle is ready to abandon Chelsea.  The stunts you pulled in the locker room this morning have her primed to betray Chelsea.  The question is how to let these three know whilst making them think it was their own idea.<br/>
<br/>
“What about Cassie,” you begin.  “She doesn’t seem like the kind of person that Chelsea would pick.”<br/>
<br/>
“You didn’t see how bad she was,” explains Lin.  “If she’s on the team, it’s so Chelsea can have someone she can threaten to throw off the team.”<br/>
<br/>
“Like Michelle,” adds Jessica<br/>
<br/>
“Michelle’s pretty good actually,” disagrees Yumi.  “It’s just that, well…  She doesn’t look like Chelsea’s idea of what a cheerleader should look like.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t understand,” you ask, feigning puzzlement.  “Why does Chelsea need two people she can threaten to kick of the team.”<br/>
<br/>
The girls sit quietly or a moment<br/>
<br/>
“Because she can,” offers Lin.<br/>
<br/>
“I suppose if Michelle realised just how good she was Chelsea wouldn’t have a hold on her,” suggests Yumi.<br/>
<br/>
“We could talk to her too,” says Jessica, not sounding very sure.<br/>
<br/>
“Too risky,” you state.  “What if she went back to Chelsea.”<br/>
<br/>
“No,” disagrees Yumi.  “If we’re careful she won’t.”<br/>
<br/>
“You talk to her then,” replies Lin.<br/>
<br/>
“I will,” states Yumi firmly.<br/>
<br/>
“That would be five then, wouldn’t it,” you ask, satisfied at the outcome.  “A deadlock.”<br/>
<br/>
“But then maybe some of Chelsea’s other supporters will change sides.  If they realise she can be beaten,” says Jessica slowly, thinking things through.<br/>
<br/>
“Five pendants, five cheerleaders,” you say.  “It could work.”<br/>
<br/>
“We’ll make it work,” growls Jessica.  She stretches her arm out to the middle of your group, palm facing downwards.  “Won’t we?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” agrees Yumi, placing her hand on top off Jessica’s.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll help you too,” you say, leaning forward to add your own hand.<br/>
<br/>
“This is stupid,” says Lin.  She hesitates, looking from side to side.  Reluctantly, she adds her hand.  “We’re going to regret this, I know it.”<br/>
<br/>
And with the conspiracy hatched, the group drifts apart for the evening.  Setting five of the cheerleaders against Chelsea should definitely set the stage for a betrayal from one of supporters.  Even if they remain loyal, the resulting arguments and conflicts should tear apart the team and, consequently, Chelsea’s world.<br/>
<br/>
Why take that chance though, you muse on your way back to Kim’s house.  You can make sure that one of Chelsea’s supporters betrays her at the crucial point by swapping in Keith.  He’d be more than happy for the trade up from Morgana.</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111121211111122121
author_id: gigantorzzz
title: Damage Control
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Yumi Saito, Lin Pol, Jessica Garner. You allow these names turning inside your head as you continue stirring the tomato sauce. Kim Walsh usually looks forward to fix dinner for her father. It puts a bit of variety, not to mention nutrients into his diet. The old man would be eating ready meals or tin baked beans if not for her daughter's intervention. For you though, it's something of a chore, especially when you think you can make use of your time better. You mutter the phrase and wave your hand across your face, maybe he will appreciate dinner much more if a cheerleader makes it for him. <br/>
<br/>
You taste the tomato sauce, and feeling satisfied with the flavour, begin to pan fry some meatballs. Yumi, Lin and Jessica are too naive. Three against seven is not good odds, ever. Sure Kendra, Gloria, and Cindy despise every inch of Chelsea Cooper. But doesn't mean they would just agree to the coup without some serious incentive. Approaching one means alienating the others, it is something that the rebellion obviously has overlooked. <br/>
<br/>
<i>10.05</i>. Right on schedule every night. You quickly revert back to Kim Walsh's form. Knowing Jon Walsh, the sight of a cheerleader in her daughter's clothes cooking dinner in his house would likely be more alarming than something he ever fantasized about. <br/>
<br/>
The next few minutes was a something well spent, at least for Kim's mind. Jon insisted that her daughter should use her time better instead of making him dinner. But you brush the suggestion aside, just like Kim would. After all, she knows that secretly, her father looks forward for her meals. The meal was mostly filled with small talk, more of Kim being genuinely interested in her father's job. The divorce meant that he lost half of his assets, not that he has much to begin with, and debts up to his eyeballs. Kim was left with a bitter memory of her mother, which is ironic, considering she inherited her mother's red hair. You don't stop him though, when he puts the dishes to the sink. With a quick peck on the cheek, you wish him a good night.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
''Hello.'', you gushes as you see Cindy opening the door. You pull her into a hug, perhaps more lingering than you should have as she stares rather uncomfortably as soon as she plies herself away from you. Calling on Kim's experience as school council president though, you realise this is not the case.<br/>
<br/>
''What's wrong?'', you give her your most sincerely concerned look. The girl seems distressed, her platinum blonde hair dishevelled.<br/>
<br/>
Cindy doesn't say anything as she leads you to her room. You pass by golem Lucy, if you need to, you can call on her help. <br/>
<br/>
''That bitch.'', Cindy's eyes start to water. You realise she must've meant Chelsea. ''She called me this morning, and I - I'm off the squad again.'', she blurts out between sobs.<br/>
<br/>
Someone must've ratted out to the real Chelsea about the try out. How else it could be? Several names came to your mind. But for now, you have a sobbing cheerleader that needs your attention. You reach into Kim's purse, and carefully fish out a pack of tissues. <br/>
<br/>
It doesn't take long for Cindy to recompose, she dab some tissues on her face, but her face is now of anger. ''There's another trial tomorrow. The <i>real</i> trial she says.'' She then shows you an e-mail by Coach Tesla, sent en masse, congratulating everyone who attended the trial, but also pointing out of another trial after school tomorrow.<br/>
<br/>
It's barely midday, and Chelsea has fixed the damage you deal to her. You begin to think that pulling Chelsea down is not as easy a task you might have assume. A small voice inside your mind quips about taking Chelsea as your own. However, the combination of yours and Kim's loathing of the snake of a head cheerleader quickly kill the plan. <br/>
<br/>
''So, if you are here cause Jess told you to.'', Cindy states, ''I'm sorry but I can't help.'' <br/>
<br/>
So, Jessica must've told Cindy about the plan then. ''It's alright Cindy.'', you reassure the crestfallen cheerleader. ''It's alright.''<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
You leave the Vredenburg household with high regards of Chelsea's deviousness, and also her extent of control and information. But you also take something, a copy of Cindy Vredenburg now exist within your chameleon mask. <br/>
<br/>
''Hey Jess.'', you pick up your phone.<br/>
<br/>
''I got news.'', Jessica Garner's voice is aghast.<br/>
<br/>
''I know. I just left Cindy's house.''<br/>
<br/>
''That snake, she even got Coach Tesla on her side.'', there is a seething anger in her voice, but also that of powerlessness. <br/>
<br/>
<i>Seven - Three</i> the odds burns itself into your mind. Megan Farris and Kelsey Blakenship will definitely make the team. You need to consult with Chelsea's mind, but with Jessica Garner on the other side of the line, you really couldn't. <br/>
<br/>
As soon as the line goes dead, you dial Morgana and ask her to meet up in her house.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
''What's going on Will?'', Morgana ignores your guise as Kim.''Where were you yesterday?!'' You notice the Keith golem stands behind her. <br/>
<br/>
''Firstly.'', you wave your hand across your face.''I was there, Keith.'', Kim Walsh's clothes now feel considerably tighter as you take on Madam Andrassy's form. Especially the bra, the cups are literally digging into your much more generous bosom. But it shuts Keith up.<br/>
<br/>
''Secondly.'', you reverts back. ''It's time for you to get an upgrade.'', initially, you decided not to involve Keith at this, but the stakes are high, plus, it'll make him a lot more happier. ''Unless you want to stay in her of course.''<br/>
<br/>
Morgana looks surprised, ''No, of course not, <i>Kim</i>.'', she mumbles. ''But why?'', she says weakly. <br/>
<br/>
''Let me take that mask off.'', you say impatiently, sounding definitely unlike the girl whose face you're wearing. You mutter the incantation and rip the mask off her face.<br/>
<br/>
''Kinky.'', golem Keith sniggers at you as he saw his original in black dress, passed out. <br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
During the ride back, you fill in Keith about what you have been doing.<br/>
<br/>
''Unreal.'', he finally manages to quip after you told him about Chelsea thwarting your plan. His idle hands brushes over the golemized mask of himself. While your Kim's mind is able to appreciate Chelsea's move, Keith just look in awe.<br/>
<br/>
''But we can route her.'', you confidently speak. ''I can put you on Megan or Kelsey.'' <i>Six - Four</i>, you continue, ''Golemize that Michelle mask.'' <i>Five all</i>. ''Then move to Maria.''<br/>
<br/>
Keith just look at you in puzzlement. The initial thoughts of why including Keith in this is a bad idea resurface like that time when you vomited a chilli burger. <br/>
<br/>
''Kim Walsh doesn't have a say in cheerleader matters, but Maria does.'', you smirk.<br/>
<br/>
''Uh-oh, I don't like that smirk.''<br/>
<br/>
''And Chelsea's mind tell me that Maria is more than just her BFF.''<br/>
<br/>
Keith looks at you even more quizzically. ''All this is hard work.'', he finally say slowly. ''Why don't I just take over Chelsea and you stay as Kim.'' <br/>
<br/>
''But I thought you want justice.''<br/>
<br/>
''Well...'', he pauses, ''As Kim and Chelsea, we can sort of clear up the school.'' <br/>
<br/>
Keith's claim is not unjustifieable you thought. It's also a waste to let the strategic position of Chelsea Cooper go. Maybe you can enact revenge in another way. You look at Keith sharply. But would he double cross you .<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111121211111122122
author_id: gigantorzzz
title: Keith's Trade Up
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Kim's mind let you comfortably plot the chart of Chelsea's downfall even before you reach her house. You don't feel any satisfaction from the thoughts though, it's just something abnormal and you could feel the Kim persona inside of you squirm rather uncomfortably. She's a genuinely nice person, of course she detests Chelsea Cooper, but she'd never drum up something like this, even if she can. A fleeting smile cross your face as you entered Kim's room and lock it behind you. You take out a large baggy tee and a comfy cotton pants, Kim's staple night attire.<br/>
<br/>
The business of getting changed is something mundane, but you decide to give yourself a treat for a job well done and pushed Kim's persona away for a little bit, and the reaction is instantaneous. You see Kim's complexion in the mirror flushed, mirroring your arousal at the sight of pear shaped breasts attached to your chest. You run your hands over them, inciting pleasant feeling as your fingers brush over the perk nipples. They travel further down, Kim's belly isn't the best, compared to Andrea's, hers is taut and tanned, unlike yours, milky white with a slight layer of fat. You freeze. It isn't your thoughts, clearly you just accessed Kim's memory during a shared PE swimming session. But it is okay, you indulge in that thought and lay on the bed, the fingers go further south as you encapsulate yourself again with Kim's persona, drawing on her memories. The next fifteen minutes or so is pure bliss. Just as well you've locked the door. You make a mental note to maybe, in the future, include a golem.<br/>
<br/>
You wave your hand across your face. <br/>
<br/>
You do feel yourself change physically, but the greatest change happens in your mental faculty. You sit upright and take off Kim's glasses to see a very different reflection staring back at you. But there is a feeling of power, different kind of confidence and you should be confident! After all, you are Chelsea Cooper. Not the real thing, but close, close enough. You smirk in delight as you work out which cheerleader you can put Keith in. But before that draping the baggy tee over yourself, covering up the opulent round globes and the curved strong stomach. <br/>
<br/>
You basically narrow down your target to two individuals, both in the position where they can take down and destroy the world of Chelsea Cooper. Arousal rocks your body, not unlike when you were in Kim's car, sinking deep into Chelsea's psyche, you feel her excitement, her ecstacy at plotting someone's humiliation. Your confidence in your plan only make your mind ascend further into euphoria. <br/>
<br/>
The first one is Kendra. The Chelsea part of your mind tell you that she is very tricky to deal with, but of course, no one is better than <i>you</i>. If she's in the group, Gloria is definitely switching side. At any luck, she could even be the next head cheerleader. Putting Keith inside her may secure his loyalty to you further and he have to be trying really, really, really hard to screw it up. The second one is Maria, the girl of Puerto Rico descent who always hangs out with the real Chelsea. For some reason, the Chelsea persona within you thinks that losing Maria will definitely give a massive blow to Chelsea. You decide to prod deeper and deeper into her psyche before you stop. The right person has been found. <br/>
<br/>
You almost couldn't contain yourself when you dial Morgana's number on Kim's phone. You wave your hand over your face again. Slipping back into Kim's body seems to be so natural, slipping into her persona, a comfort. </span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121121112111121212
author_id: gigantorzzz
title: Missing Morgana
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Milagro Beanfield Warehouse is mostly empty when you saunter to the till and order your coffee, a double espresso and a panini. The person behind the till, a forty-something man of Italian descent nods his approval of your choice and punches some numbers to the register. Money changes hands and as usual, you make your way to Kim's usual spot, a rather secluded corner she often uses to read her books. <br/>
<br/>
You delve into Kim's memories about the place as you wait for your order. Milagro isn't as popular as The Koffee Kauldron, a much abuzz and youthful looking place, complete with more contemporary coffee drinks nor Crystal Cave with its individual booths and fancy concoctions, but then again, people don't go to Crystal Cave for the coffee. Milagro is never empty though, the warm and inviting earthy brown colour of its interior has carved a niche for itself in Saratoga Falls. White collar workers are often spotted taking refuge inside, for some peace and quiet before venturing to the corporate jungle just outside the door. There's an air of understatement about the place.<br/>
<br/>
Your order finally comes, delivered by a waitress that Kim knows too well. ''There you are.'', she says with a smile and a thin layer of accent. The business is family owned and staffed by family members and friends, a rather good looking barista told Kim sometime ago. You finish the drink quickly but take more time with the panini, not that you have to make it last to keep your seat - when you get a seat in Milagro, you get the seat for a whole day - but because you're back staring at your phone, browsing through Foursquare and Facebook in a desperate last attempt to track down the elusive goth. <br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
''Where the hell are you?'', Keith's voice rings on your ear.<br/>
<br/>
''Milagro.'', you half-mumble a reply. Tired and exhausted from a whole day of stalking and driving about, you don't have the energy to snap at Keith. Your mind is also too engaged on the eventuality that will take place on Monday of bringing Jessica to confront Morgana.<br/>
<br/>
''Is my new face there?'', Keith's voice perks up a little bit.<br/>
<br/>
''No'', you pause, ''She's <i>gone</i>, I can't find her anywhere.''<br/>
<br/>
There is silence on the line, ''Who's gone?''<br/>
<br/>
You aren't too keen on disclosing Keith's intended place and more importantly, it doesn't matter anymore. ''Just someone.'', you mumble again, you're not keen to cause much commotion for something that's not even going to happen or maybe it's Kim talking. ''Look I'm sorry for the screw up, why don't you enjoy yourself?'', you pause for a moment. ''I'll tell Lucy or Melody to put out for you.'', the gear in your brilliant mind is moving.<br/>
<br/>
''Really?'', Keith's voice is filled with excitement now.<br/>
<br/>
''Or...'', you snicker.<br/>
<br/>
''Or?'', Keith interjects.<br/>
<br/>
''Put Michelle's mask on and Keith's mask on a golem.'', you say in hushed tone. ''Ask Blackwell to get them for you.''<br/>
<br/>
''Fuck off!'', Keith swears as the implication sinks into his mind, much to your amusement and you can't help but to stifle a giggle. There's a bit of muffled voices in the background while you stab your panini rather absent-mindedly.<br/>
<br/>
''Keith says you wanted me on?'', you hear Lucy's voice from the other end, sounding rather reluctant, no doubt she has been listening in the conversation. <br/>
<br/>
<i>Typical Keith</i> you thought.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">***</div><br/>
<br/>
That night when you are just about to park your car in the driveway, you have half a mind to give Jessica a ring, part of it, to know what Eva is up to and another is to keep a check on Jessica. You just hope she hasn't somehow meet Morgana through some divine intervention and beat the crap out of the girl. <br/>
<br/>
''Hey Jess, are you okay?'', you say when someone has picked up the line.<br/>
<br/>
''Kim...'', a rather different voice answers you, but not an unfamiliar one.<br/>
<br/>
''Eva?!'', you say in disbelief.<br/>
<br/>
''Yeah,'' she says softly,''The doctors discharged me this afternoon, put my leg in cast and said that it <i>might</i> get better with time.'', there's a steadily mounting frustration in her tone. Her voice cracks and you can hear muffled sobs from the other side.<br/>
<br/>
''Eva, I'm so sorry.'', you spend a few more minutes trying to console the crestfallen cheerleader, with Kim's persona, it comes smoothly and naturally. You yourself feels sorry for the girl whose cheerleading career just got ruined because of a mixed up. You spend a bit more time giving her encouragement and pep talk which is Kim's standard procedure.<br/>
<br/>
''What did you want Jess for?'', Eva finally steels herself enough to speak again. <br/>
<br/>
''I just wanted to check on her and you, making sure everything is fine.'', you say. <br/>
<br/>
''She's... oh wait....''<br/>
<br/>
''Hey Kim.'', a different voice speaks through.'' Yeah, I'm just about to go to Yumi's.'', there's a slight hesitation to her voice.''Why don't you come? Lin's going to be there.''<br/>
<br/>
''Geez, I don't know.'', you tease. ''Sounds exclusive to me.''<br/>
<br/>
''Don't be silly Kim.'', Jessica sighs.''I could give you a ride or you can head straight there.''<br/>
<br/>
You don't really have a lot of time to think, but you figure that this is a too good of a chance to pass. You can take Jessica or Yumi or Lin and get another shot to bring Chelsea down, with Keith's help. Taking Jessica is definitely a big opportunity, capitalising on Eva's predicament, she can generate loads of support from the school, it wouldn't hurt to get her as well, if you decide to take either Lin or Yumi. Saves you a lot of hassle of having to confront Morgana as well on Monday. Those are just some of the good reason to become Jessica Garner. You can think of at least two other perfectly good reason on top of that as your mind wanders back to last night.<br/>
<br/>
But you realise you might be moving too quick, maybe you should just go to the meeting and keep an open mind, nudging the three in the direction that you want them to go to, but not directly getting your hands dirty. Chelsea's bound to hold another tryout to replace the two members. It must've been all her Christmases coming together all at once, exchanging two potential rivals for two goons she can push around. Too bad, you might be gate-crashing that party of hers.<br/>
<br/>
''Hello?? Kim?'', comes Jessica's voice from the other end.<br/>
<br/>
''Hey, yeah, I'm sorry. Been a long day.'', you mutter an excuse. Your free hand reaching inside your purse, fishing out Keith's anima band, the letters gleam bright red, begging to be placed on someone. You make a mental note to call Kim's father before you go.</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122121121122
author_id: imaj
title: Blackwell's Echo
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“We’re going to Blackwell’s house,” you decide.<br/>
<br/>
“You’re going to rescue me, I mean Lisa?”<br/>
<br/>
“I did just say we were going to Blackwell’s house didn’t I?  And when I say we, I mean everything.  Gather up all the masks, all the materials and the book.  I don’t want anything left here.  Anything.  Take the keys to Kim’s car and load it all in there while I get changed.”<br/>
<br/>
“Get changed,” asks the Lisa golem with a puzzled expression on its face.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m wearing a bathrobe.  I can hardly go out like this,” you explain, picking up the Kim mask from where you left it earlier.  “And there’s only one other set of clothes here.  They don’t quite fit yet.”<br/>
<br/>
“You actually like it don’t you?  Being her.  That’s sick Will Prescott.”<br/>
<br/>
“After what happened tonight,” you say sweetly as the dizziness from donning the mask fades.  “I think it’s time for Will Prescott to disappear.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It’s dark as you pull Kim’s car off the road and onto the driveway of Blackwell’s house.  The house itself, a large stone villa built about a hundred years ago is set a little off road.  The sky is dark and cloudy sky, leaving the house as little more than a black looming shape.  A single light burns brightly on the second floor.<br/>
<br/>
“Looks like someone is at home,” you say to yourself as you kill the motor.<br/>
<br/>
“Another golem,” states the Lisa masked golem.  “Blackwell left one wearing a mask of himself as a stand in.  I remember giving it instuctions.”<br/>
<br/>
“Instructions? Such as?”<br/>
<br/>
“How it was to fill in for Blackwell at his job.  Some kind of university professor it seemed.  And a warning not to touch the guardian.”<br/>
<br/>
You sit silently for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“The guardian?”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know.  I don’t understand what he said while he as wearing me, I just remember saying it.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll be careful then, now both of you get out.”<br/>
<br/>
The door to the house is a heavy oaken affair.  A stone awning juts out from the wall above it.  While a single light hangs down from it, it’s off and the deep shadows make for an excellent hiding spot.  You push yourself against the wall and wait as the Lisa golem thumps the door violently.<br/>
<br/>
For a couple of minutes nothing happens.  The Lisa golem hits the door again.  The muffled sound of someone coming down stairs can be heard.  A light goes on behind the door, and finally it opens, casting illumination onto the golems.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” comes Blackwell’s voice from inside the door.  “Wait.  Something’s strange here.”<br/>
<br/>
Can Blackwell’s golem sense that the Lisa golem isn’t really his master.  In one sense it is:  Under the mask is the golemized remains of the real Aubrey Blackwell.  Maybe whatever powered the spell that you used on him cut the link to his golem.  You now know that golems themselves can’t cast magic, but there’s no sense in waiting for it to trigger some trap left by the original.  You slip away from the wall.<br/>
<br/>
“Well spotted, but it’s far too late now,” you whisper its ear.<br/>
<br/>
It has just enough time to register a shocked expression on its face before you rip off the mask.  The golem instantly reverts to a featureless grey humanoid, Blackwell’s cheap clothing hanging off it loosely.<br/>
<br/>
“Inside, quick,” you motion to the Lisa and Lucy golems, shutting the door as they enter.<br/>
<br/>
“Now what,” the Lucy golem has just enough time to begin before you remove its mask as well.<br/>
<br/>
You place the mask of Blackwell onto your golem.  This is too much for the thrift store clothes that it had been wearing.  Already distressed accommodating Lucy’s generous breasts, they rip and tear as the golem settles into Blackwell’s stout frame.<br/>
<br/>
“What the blazes,” it begins.  “Ah, I see.  <i>Very</i> clever Will.  The girls face is quite attractive too, in an offbeat sort of way.  I am to assume that the real me is, shall we say, indisposed?”<br/>
<br/>
“Over there,” you say, indicating the Lisa masked golem.  “Not quite alive and not quite dead.  Before we go any further though…”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes?”<br/>
<br/>
“Put on some clothes.  This is the second time I’ve seen you naked tonight and I’m really not enjoying it any better than the first time.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You’ve moved up to Blackwell’s library which is, in its way, the centre of the house.  A large room with a high ceiling, three of the walls are covered almost entirely with tall book shelves.  Here and there the odd statue, painting or stuffed animal breaks the line of shelves.  For some reason your eyes feel uncomfortable lingering on them and your gaze moves quickly on.  <br/>
<br/>
The only sound is the dissonant ticking of two grandfather clocks, thoroughly out of phase with one and other.<br/>
<br/>
“The guardian,” you say, breaking the silence to address the now clothed Blackwell masked golem.  “Tell me what you know.”<br/>
<br/>
“Which guardian do you speak of,” says the golem archly.  “There are many.”<br/>
<br/>
“Cut the crap,” you sneer.  “Don’t try to waste my time and don’t try to trick me.  You want to help me.  You will help me because you are a loyal little golem aren’t you?  Now tell me about the guardians here.”<br/>
<br/>
“There are two,” the golem continues, sweating.  “Two in the library.  One is a minor thing, a barrier that blocks the stairs down to the cellar.  It is passed easily enough if you hold the correct totem.  The other is more… complex.”<br/>
<br/>
“Show me”<br/>
<br/>
“The first is invisible, and lies behind the secret door in the eastern wall in any case.  The second is here.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem points to something you had missed before.  Not exactly missed, simply chosen to ignore, to avoid thinking about.  The thing looks like a hairless orangutan perched on a wooden pedestal.  Long loping arms tipped with razor sharp looking claws almost reach the floor.  Its mouth is fixed in an unsettling grin, revealing rows of vicious looking serrated teeth.  A single baleful eye is set in the middle of its forehead.<br/>
<br/>
“It looks like it could rip me to shreds,” you comment.<br/>
<br/>
“If that’s all that it does to you, you would be very, very lucky indeed.”<br/>
<br/>
“There’s worse?”<br/>
<br/>
“There is,” the golem replies, taking a small pleasure at your discomfort.<br/>
<br/>
“What does it guard? Remember, I want to know all the details”<br/>
<br/>
“The house.  It patrols the house for intruders.  That it hasn’t noticed you is strange.  Either you’re protected by some powerful wards or you somehow tricked me into letting you enter.”<br/>
<br/>
“Tricked you,” you interrupt smugly.  “I came here as Melody Weiss to work in the library last week.”<br/>
<br/>
“I… see.  It would appear I underestimated you.”<br/>
<br/>
“The real Blackwell said so too,” you dimple.  “Said I had an affinity for magic.  <i>Right before I turned him into a golem</i>.  You were telling me about the guardian.”<br/>
<br/>
“Its power waxes and wanes with the progress of the day.  When the sun is high in the sky it is weak and oft times can do little more than unnerve an intruder.  When the clock strikes midnight its power is at its peak and even I must seek sanctuary within one of the warded rooms of the house.”<br/>
<br/>
“So in a couple of hours I have to leave or go to one of the safe rooms.  Got it.  There’s a lot more to magic than this book of masks, isn’t there?<br/>
<br/>
“Young man,” the golem begins, drawing itself up haughtily.<br/>
<br/>
“Technically, woman right now,” you interrupt, fluttering your eyelid for the sheer hell of it.<br/>
<br/>
“Young woman then, if that’s how you see yourself,” it sneers.  “I…  That is to say Aubrey Blackwell studied the ways of magic for years.  He uncovered long forgotten secrets and relearned lost masteries.  It is both shaming and appalling that… that…”<br/>
<br/>
“He was outwitted by a high school student who doesn’t know anything?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes, curse it.”<br/>
<br/>
“You know, that needn’t be a problem anymore.  I can simply take that mask off you and wear it myself.  Instantly combine your knowledge with my power.  That would be pretty squick though, being you.  I can simply keep you as you are, an unwilling teacher and claim your library as my own.”</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211221
author_id: imaj
title: The Girl In The Basement
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“But I’d rather rescue my ex,” you say.  “You see <i>Aubrey</i>, I think I’ve got you worked out.  Your defeated, humiliated and utterly crushed, but do you know what I think would make it worse?  If I rejected all this, destroyed it.   Your life’s work in ruins.”<br/>
<br/>
The Blackwell masked golem has a haggard expression, its shoulders slumped. It knows it’s defeated. It knows that there is nothing it can do to stop you.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m right aren’t I?  Tell me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” it admits quietly.<br/>
<br/>
“So tell me how I rescue Lisa.”<br/>
<br/>
“The secret door to the cellar where I’m, she’s held is in here,” interrupts the Lisa masked golem.  It’s been sitting quietly at one of the elaborate desks  in the centre of the library, staring at the floor mostly.<br/>
<br/>
“The mask remembers from when it was worn by my original,” explains the Blackwell masked golem miserably.  “There are two defences that prevent you from reaching her.  I’ve told you about them already.  The door is hidden behind the bookcase by the brass statue of a hound.”<br/>
<br/>
“You open it by turning the head of the statue next to it,” says the Lisa golem.  “The um… head on the left.  It has three…”<br/>
<br/>
“A small joke,” grimaces the Blackwell golem.<br/>
<br/>
You move across to the brass statue.  It’s of a three headed dog sitting attentively.  The left rotates clockwise when you try it, causing the bookcase to swing open on well oiled hinges.  An archway leads out of the library towards a spiral staircase.<br/>
<br/>
You don’t want to go through it.  Shadows flicker and move in the gloom beyond the arch and a palpable sense of dread hangs in the air.<br/>
<br/>
“The guardian I mentioned.  Anyone who approaches is overcome by fear and is unable to pass through the archway.”<br/>
<br/>
“Unless they are carrying the right thing,” interrupts the Lisa golem.  It searches through the desk drawers.  “When Blackwell went down to the cellar as me he opened this drawer here and made sure he carried this before going down the stairs.”<br/>
<br/>
The Lisa masked golem holds up the totem, a little sliver of bone and feather.  It walks across the room to you.  As you take the totem in your hand, the shadows beyond the doorway simply melt away, revealing a solitary lightbulb with no shade.  A rusting iron spiral staircase leads down into darkness.<br/>
<br/>
“Can I…  Can I come down with you,” asks the Lisa golem.  “I know it sounds strange but I feel like I need to.  I…  I can’t get past the guardian unless I hold onto you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure” you reply, extending your hand.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
As you and the golem work your way silently down the staircase, you begin to make out the sound faint sobbing at the bottom.  Beyond the last step a solid wooden door turns out to be unlocked.  Blackwell must have thought that the guardian on the stairs would have prevented any escape.<br/>
<br/>
It takes a few moments to adjust to the gloom of the basement.  The only light comes from a row of narrow windows high on the wall on one side of the room.  The basement is mostly bare except for some rickety looking shelves and metal pipes that run low along wall.<br/>
<br/>
And in one corner, crying gently and naked except for a dirty oversized shirt is Lisa.<br/>
<br/>
“You bastard,” she wails.  “What do you want with me now?”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s ok Lisa,” you say, trying to reassure her.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh god,” she whimpers.  “Kim?  Kim Walsh?  He got you too?”<br/>
<br/>
“No, it’s ok Lisa.  Trust me, it’s ok,” you reply.  “I got <i>him</i>.”<br/>
<br/>
“But… but… He’s standing right there.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s not him, not anymore.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m so sorry Lisa,” the golem says.  “But it’s over now.”<br/>
<br/>
You instruct the golem to take of its clothes and move over to untie the real Lisa.  The smell from the small potty that Blackwell left her mixes with the unwashed stench of her body to create a foul cocktail.  Despite this, you can not help but hug her tight to comfort her.<br/>
<br/>
As you untie the last of her bonds, you gently help Lisa up and lead her over to the now naked golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Do it,” the golem states flatly.  You reach up and pull the Lisa mask off the golem, causing it to revert instantly to the stony flesh of the remains of Blackwell.<br/>
<br/>
“See,” you whisper in Lisa’s ear.  “He’s gone.  Trapped in stone.  He won’t be hurting either of us again.  Put on the clothes and lets get out of here”<br/>
<br/>
“Thank you,” says Lisa, hugging you.  “Thank you, thank you, thank you”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“Another mask,” you explain to Lisa as you lead her into the library.  “I placed it on a stone creature called a golem.  It looks like Blackwell, it thinks like Blackwell but it has to do everything I say.  It was very helpful in getting you out of the basement”<br/>
<br/>
“Not that I had much choice,” The Blackwell golem replies dejectedly.<br/>
<br/>
“Not that you did, no.  You won’t have any choice here either:  Blackwell must have had some of the fuel used to create the golem spell?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” concedes the golem.  It looks from side to side, not liking how the conversation is developing.<br/>
<br/>
“Bring it here then,” you instruct it.  “Its time we ended this.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
As you stand outside the house by Kim’s car, the flames from the library are just starting to spread.  The flickering orange light casts a glow over the grounds, illuminating you all.  The Blackwell golem is tearing up at the sight of his life’s work destroyed, something you’d never have expected from the man.  Lisa is crying too, but her tears are tears of joy.  As for you, well there’s a grim satisfaction to be taken from the resolution you’ve brought about here.  You, your friends and your family were all threatened by Blackwell.  There may be some loose ends to tie up, such as Caleb, but that threat is averted now.<br/>
<br/>
“We should leave, before the neighbours call 911,” says Lisa.<br/>
<br/>
“Agreed,” you say, unlocking the door to Kim’s car.<br/>
<br/>
“There’s just one more question I need answered before I go,” says Lisa.  “I mean, I’ve seen things I can’t believe.  Watched that monster hide perfectly behind the faces of people knew.  And along you come and save me, you seem to know all about the masks too.  How do I know you’re really Kim, not someone wearing a Kim mask?”<br/>
<br/>
The Blackwell golem sneers.</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221211211222
author_id: imaj
title: Mine, All Mine
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>The Blackwell masked golem has a haggard expression, its shoulders slumped.  It knows it’s defeated.  It knows that there is nothing it can do to stop you.  Worst of all, it knows that it has no choice but to help you.  You permit yourself a wry smile at this realisation.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m in your power Will,” it acknowledges bitterly.  “Just the last echo of a defeated man.”<br/>
<br/>
“I know,” you reply smiling.  “I’m just enjoying the feeling.”<br/>
<br/>
“Enjoying?”  The Lisa masked golem sounds aghast.<br/>
<br/>
“Why not,” you reply.  “All the way through my school life I’ve been picked on.  Remember Lester the Molester? I wasn’t even important enough to be the victim of the top bullies in the school.  I never got anywhere with you, with Lisa.  Look at me now.  I’m one of the cool people, and the one that gets to go places and not get stuck in this town.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’re not seriously going to stay like that Will are you?”<br/>
<br/>
“Why not, the real Kim isn’t going to be coming back any time soon.”<br/>
<br/>
“And the real me, the real Lisa.”<br/>
<br/>
“She can rot for all I care, she made her choice months ago.”<br/>
<br/>
“But… But… You said you’d rescue her.”<br/>
<br/>
“No I didn’t.  Hell, why am I even arguing with you when I can tell you to shut up.  Go to the car and bring all the book and materials in.  Quietly.”<br/>
<br/>
A murderous expression passes across the face of the Lisa golem, but it remains quiet and marches out the library like you asked.  The Blackwell masked golem has a more thoughtful look on its face.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” you snap.<br/>
<br/>
“You aren’t going to rescue your friend?”<br/>
<br/>
“She’s not my friend, not anymore.  I’ve come so far in a few weeks with just one book.  Imagine what I can do with this whole library.”<br/>
<br/>
“Young man,” the Blackwell golem smiles.  “That is to say, ‘Young lady’.  You may have some promise after all.  With the right tuition.”<br/>
<br/>
“With the right tuition,” you smile faintly.  “The kind of tuition that doesn’t try to trick or betray it students because it’s been ordered not to.”<br/>
<br/>
“The thought hadn’t crossed my mind, I assure you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Then this could be the beginning of a beautiful apprenticeship.”</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212112112221
author_id: imaj
title: Epilogue: 25 Years Later
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>The blonde hits the hood of the hot pink SUV in frustration.  Like her two friends she’s dressed up for a night out.  The sleeveless  powder pink blouse and denim miniskirt complement her curves nicely while her subtle make up accentuates her eyes.  It clear, though, that she’s much younger than she’s trying to look.  A high school student trying to sneak into a college party, perhaps.<br/>
<br/>
“Great idea Mina,” says the blonde’s African American friend. “Let’s have some fun. Let’s go to a party at Keyserling.  Let’s use a car that doesn’t break down.”<br/>
<br/>
“Like, puhlease Meredith,” replies the girl identified as Mina.  “The car was totally fine this morning.  If you’d managed to bring your phone then we could have called for help.  Oh that’s right, you’ve got nowhere to put it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Shut up,” says Meredith, adjusting her barely there dress.  “This is a totally hot designer outfit.  It’s not my fault the purse is so small.”<br/>
<br/>
“Whatever,” interrupts the third girl.  She’s not quite as pretty as the other two and her clothes are little more demure.  “You’d have lots of room in your purse if you weren’t such a slut.”<br/>
<br/>
“What did you just say Lucy,” shrieks Meredith.<br/>
<br/>
“You heard me,” Lucy replies, pausing shortly before continuing.  “Slut.”<br/>
<br/>
“Luce, Luce,” interrupts Mina.  “Totally not the time for this.  I mean we’re like stuck in a creepy part of town with a broken down car and no phones.  We need to stick together, because we’re like a team.  What are we?”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s not really creepy Mina,” argues Meredith.  “These houses are like, huge.  The people living here must be super-rich.”<br/>
<br/>
“The correct answer was ‘team’ Meredith,” snarks Lucy.  “And that house is totally creepy.”<br/>
<br/>
Lucy is indicating a large stone villa that stands off from the road in its own grounds.  A tall stone wall runs round the grounds, broken only by an elaborate wrought iron gate.  The house is a mix of various styles, which somehow lends it an aura of faint malice.<br/>
<br/>
“Well, maybe we could go in there and ask if they have a phone or something,” suggests Mina<br/>
<br/>
“Nuh-uh,” reply both Lucy and Meredith in unison, possibly the first time in their lives they have agreed about anything.<br/>
<br/>
“Is something wrong,” comes an unfamiliar voice from behind the girls.<br/>
<br/>
Their heads snap round.  A fashionable silver Japanese convertible has parked behind them, it driver has stepped out to talk to them.  The three girls immediately fall silent recognising within the woman an aura of elegant style they themselves lack.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh wow,” murmurs Meredith, clearly the most impressionable of the three.<br/>
<br/>
She looks to be in her mid thirties, but she has a certain timelessness about her and could easily be a well preserved forty something.  Her flame red hair is swept up into a loose bun with a bangs hanging down.  It’s hard to judge her expression as her face is hidden behind a pair of dark Jackie-O sunglasses.<br/>
<br/>
“You look like you’re in trouble there,” she says, her calf boots click click clicking as she walks towards the girls.  “Perhaps I can help.”<br/>
<br/>
“Our car broke down, and we don’t have a phone,” says Meredith in a monotone.  She has the look of a deer caught in headlights.<br/>
<br/>
“Sssh,” hisses Lucy under her breath, elbowing Meredith in the ribs.  “She could be like a psychopath or something.”<br/>
<br/>
“But she’s so pretty,” replies the dazed girl.<br/>
<br/>
The woman laughs deeply and resonantly.<br/>
<br/>
“Charming.  Do you always greet people this way or just the ones that try to help you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Um, sorry,” apologises Lucy, her face red with embarrassment.  “Do you have a phone we could use though?”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure,” she says smiling broadly.  She pulls a tiny flip top phone out of her designer handbag.  “Oh shoot, out of charge.  But that’s not a problem girls.  This is my house just here.  Perhaps you could come in and use the phone there?”<br/>
<br/>
“What the creepy one,” asks Lucy.<br/>
<br/>
“Shut up, shut up, shut up” whispers Mina through clenched teeth.  “That would be like totally great.”<br/>
<br/>
“Where are my manners,” the woman says clapping her hands together.  “We haven’t been properly introduced yet.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh sure,” says Meredith opening her mouth without thinking.  “I’m Meredith Brown and these are my friends on the Westside cheerleading squad,  Wilhemina Prescott and Lucy Vredenburg.”<br/>
<br/>
“Way to go Meredith,” interrupts Lucy, “Why not tell her we were trying to sneak into a college party underage while you’re at it.”<br/>
<br/>
“She doesn’t need to anymore Lucy,” says Mina, rolling her eyes<br/>
<br/>
“That’s an unusual name you have there Wilhemina,” says the woman.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s just Mina, but yeah.  My Dad named me after his brother who went missing like 25 years ago.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m named after my dead aunt,” says Lucy quietly to no one in particular.<br/>
<br/>
“You mean Will Prescott,” the woman says, her eyes lighting up.  “Gosh,  I knew him when I went to Westside.  You might say we were very close.  In some ways we still are.”<br/>
<br/>
“Whatever,” replies Mina.  “You never told us your name.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, how forgetful of me.  I’m Professor Walsh.  I teach archaeology at Keyserling.<br/>
<br/>
“Boring,” interrupts Lucy<br/>
<br/>
“But you can call me Kim.”</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221221212
author_id: imaj
title: Caleb Cools Off
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Let Caleb cool off,” you say smoothly.  “He’ll come round when he sees this is the only option we have.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure Kim, I mean Will,” stammers Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“Call me Kim from now on Keith,” you smile confidently.  “That’s who I am.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You spend the weekend familiarising yourself with Kim’s life.  While Kim appears to be confident and successful in school, her home life is a different story.  She lives alone with her father, a car mechanic, in one of the poorer parts of town.  Her mother apparently left them when Kim was a baby.  For all that, her father is just as determined for Kim to succeed as she is.<br/>
<br/>
“I sorted out the car Kim,” he says as you sit around the kitchen table on Sunday morning.  “Some bastard had taken a couple of wires out the engine.  No wonder it wouldn’t start.  Who does something like that?”<br/>
<br/>
You feel a little twinge of guilt at that.  You didn’t realise how important the car was to Jon Walsh until you took up Kim’s life.  He knows how important something like a car is for high school students.  Your new memories told you that he repaired an old and barely working car just so his daughter wouldn’t be shown up at Westside.<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks Dad,” you say, smiling one of Kim’s winning smiles.  You get up and give him a light peck on the cheek – it’s what the real Kim would do.<br/>
<br/>
“Easy now,” he blushes.  “Now you can get to your work.”<br/>
<br/>
Work.  It was another shock to discover that Kim has a weekend job stacking shelves at the Saratoga Falls branch of Wal Mart.  It’s a fifteen minute drive out to the store on the edge of town, five minutes to change into the God-awful uniform then you’re ready to start her shift.<br/>
<br/>
“Careful there Kim,” says Jill Taylor about 3 hours into the day.<br/>
<br/>
Jill’s another student from Westside.  As it turns out there are another two or three that work similar jobs to Kim’s for some extra pocket cash.  It would be charitable to describe her as plain.  There’s no individual feature that stands out as particularly ugly, it’s just the way they are put together is unsettling.  Despite this, Kim is friends with Jill at the job because Kim Walsh is friends with everyone.<br/>
<br/>
“I know,” you say a touch too testily, as you haul a box of cans into place.<br/>
<br/>
Mistake, not a Kim response.  You calm you mind and summon her thoughts to the front of your mind.<br/>
<br/>
“Sorry Jill,” you say.  Better.  “I’ve been feeling a little tired with this car business… Ow!”<br/>
<br/>
Distracted, you’ve let the box slip and it’s torn a nasty gash in your hand.  Blood has dripped out onto the floor.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh shoot,” you exclaim.  Kim doesn’t like to swear.  “Now I have to clean this up.”<br/>
<br/>
“It ok Kim,” says Jill.  “You go get the cut patched up, I’ll get this cleaned up.”<br/>
<br/>
“Aw, thanks,” you say smiling widely.<br/>
<br/>
It takes ten minutes to find the first aid station and get a plaster applied.  The dumpy, middle aged woman who puts it on for you sourly reminds you to make sure that the blood spill is cleaned up properly and to fill out an accident form.  When you get back, you find Jill standing by the box of cans with a damp cloth in her hands.<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks for cleaning up for me,” you say sweetly, observing the floor is now spotless.<br/>
<br/>
“It was clean when I got back,” she says with a puzzled look on her face.<br/>
<br/>
“Maybe someone else did it?”<br/>
<br/>
“Why was the floor dry then?”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know,” you shrug.  “Let’s get back to work before someone complains.”<br/>
<br/>
The rest of the day is mercifully without incident, even if Jill’s chatter is grating at times.  You finish up, pick up Kim’s father from his work and drive back to her home.  As you sink into her bed exhausted, your last thoughts are that maybe being Kim Walsh isn’t going to be as much fun as you’d hoped.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It’s Monday morning at school.  Time to check in with the golem.  You find it, Caleb and Keith standing at your locker chatting.<br/>
<br/>
“Good morning boys,” you say airily as you walk over.  “My, if it isn’t Will Prescott.  The prodigal student returned.”<br/>
<br/>
Keith goggles for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“You’re just like her,” he says in a low, conspiratorial tone.<br/>
<br/>
“Frightening almost,” says Caleb dryly.  “I should apologise for Friday.  Things got a bit heated.  We have to ride this thing out and worry about the consequences then.”<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t worry about it,” you say.  “Now, you two keep an eye on the golem for me today.  Try to make sure at least one of you is with it at all times.  I’m going to try to speak to ‘Cindy’ today.  Gloria Rea mentioned to me that she was back in school, naturally as the concerned and thoughtful student council president, it’s my job to speak to her and offer condolences.”<br/>
<br/>
“Shit Will, her sister died,” says Caleb.  “It’s not something you can be offhanded about.”<br/>
<br/>
“Firstly it’s Kim,” you hiss.  “Walls have ears.  Secondly it wasn’t her sister.  For all we know the real Cindy is already dead too.”<br/>
<br/>
And with that you walk away imperiously, waving and nodding at groups you pass in the corridor<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212212121
author_id: imaj
title: A Day In The Life of Kim
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You catch Cindy at break time.  She’s sitting on the steps by the main entrance by herself.  You’re used to Cindy being immaculately made up, so it’s a surprise to see her blond hair in disarray.  Her make up is stained and it’s clear she’s been crying.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi,” you say gently, sitting down beside her.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, hi Kim,” she says unevenly.<br/>
<br/>
“How are you holding up,” you ask<br/>
<br/>
“Not good.” She say, hesitating before continuing.  “I just… I miss her so much…  I feel so lost, but Seth doesn’t want to talk to me and Chelsea is talking about bringing in a standby for a few weeks.”<br/>
<br/>
You hug her, silently for a minute.  It seems the right thing to do.<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks,” she sniffs.<br/>
<br/>
“If there’s anything we can do for you at all,” you offer.<br/>
<br/>
“No… No, it’s ok,” she replies.  “Just… something seems strange.  The police told us Lucy was driving recklessly and had been drinking.  But she loved her car, she was always so careful in it.  I just don’t understand.”<br/>
<br/>
Cindy bursts into a fresh flood of tears.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s ok,” you say gently, hugging her again.  “It’s ok.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You’re taking your lunch in splendid isolation in the dinner hall, sandwich in one hand, social studies notes in the other.  Someone sits down opposite you and coughs discretely.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, it’s you,” you say looking up.<br/>
<br/>
Kim Walsh is friends with everyone.  Almost everyone, you realise now as you feel her distaste for the person sitting opposite.  The words ‘don’t call her a bitch to her face’ start looping over continuously inside your head.<br/>
<br/>
“Chelsea,” you say, icily politely.<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea Cooper, head cheerleader, queen bee and, as far is Kim is concerned, your greatest rival.  Kim is persistently working for the benefit of everyone in the school, at least in her own mind.  Chelsea works to perpetuate her own ascendency.  You’ve known, first hand, how the bullies operate in Westside, rumours persist that Chelsea encourages them.<br/>
<br/>
“Kim,” she replies smiling fakely.  <br/>
<br/>
She must know how insincere she looks.  She’s taunting you.  Bitch.<br/>
<br/>
“To what do I owe the <i>pleasure</i>,” you say, stressing the word pleasure to make it clear you are being sarcastic.<br/>
<br/>
“I saw you talking to that freak Prescott this morning,” she says, narrowing her eyes.  “Why?”<br/>
<br/>
“I talk to everyone Chelsea.  Almost everyone,” you add darkly.  “As student council president I feel its my job to look out for the wellbeing of the school and its students.  Will been off a few days recently, I wanted to make sure everything was ok.”<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea sneers at you as you pause to take a bite from your sandwich.<br/>
<br/>
“Speaking of which, I spoke to Cindy Vredenburg today.  She needs her friends supporting her right now, but apparently some idiot told her she was in danger of being dropped from the cheerleading squad.”<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea’s face turns bright red.  For a moment you think she’s going to hit you, then she stands up.<br/>
<br/>
“Stay out of my business Walsh,” she hisses at you before walking away.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You meet up with Caleb, Keith and the golem after school at the clubhouse.<br/>
<br/>
“So you say Chelsea was talking about you at lunch,” begins Keith before he realises his mistake and corrects it.  “Er, I mean about Will.”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” you reply.  “I thought we were way below her radar.  Still you know those rumours about her deciding who gets bullied in the school.”<br/>
<br/>
Caleb waves his hands dismissively<br/>
<br/>
“There’s also the ones about Ms Rogers being a spy for an alien invasion force,” he says sarcastically.  “But they too are bullshit.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m more worried about my conversation with Cindy.  It was a little too convincing.”<br/>
<br/>
“Will, I mean Kim,” interrupts Keith.  “You probably don’t realise it, but if I didn’t know, I’d think you were the real Kim.  There’s no difference.”<br/>
<br/>
“Hmm,” you mumble thoughtfully.  “I suppose, but why would she tell me about the suspicions she has about Lucy’s accident. Unless she suspects I’m not really Kim.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’re being paranoid again,” says Caleb.<br/>
<br/>
“I have a bit of good news,” interrupts the golem.  “Lisa asked me on a study date to the library tonight. In just over an hour”<br/>
<br/>
“Well that figures,” you say bitterly.  “Lisa finally comes round and wants to see me again, only it’s not me she’s seeing…”<br/>
<br/>
“You could always swap back, just for the duration,” says Keith.<br/>
<br/>
“True.  Either way, we should keep an eye on what happens there.  Just in case.”<br/>
<br/>
“See,” says Caleb to no one in particular.  “Paranoid!”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not paranoid.  Someone is out to get me.  Keith, it’s your lucky day. You have a study date with Kim Walsh at the library in an hour.”<br/>
<br/>
“Great,” he smiles wanly.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221222
author_id: imaj
title: Keep Your Secrets
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>The golem looks up as you slam the basement door behind you.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi boss,” it says cheerily.  “Everything ok?”<br/>
<br/>
Everything is definitely not ok.  Eating lunch just highlighted how much your life has changed since you found the book.  You desperately wanted to tell Caleb and Keith about it.  You wanted friends that you could share your discovery with.  Friends that would share your burden.<br/>
<br/>
But that’s just it, you can’t be sure that they are friends anymore.  Either one of them could be Blackwell.  You simply couldn’t tell them the truth.<br/>
<br/>
It was the right decision.<br/>
<br/>
You keep telling yourself that but your mood is blacker than ever.  So dark that even the golem has noticed.<br/>
<br/>
“The silent treatment, huh,” it continues.  “Look Will, basically I’m you.  You with boobs and, lets be honest, a much prettier face, but basically you.  So when you come in here looking like that, I can tell something’s up.”<br/>
<br/>
“Talked to Keith and Caleb today,” you mumble.<br/>
<br/>
“Had a falling out then?”<br/>
<br/>
“No, no not at all,” you reply.  “The opposite, had a great time.  Talked about all the things we used to talk about.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ok, am I being dense here,” asks the golem.  “I don’t see the problem at all.”<br/>
<br/>
“The problem,” you spit.  “Is either one of them could be Blackwell.”<br/>
<br/>
“Am I always this paranoid,” asks the golem.  “I thought you pinned him down to Cindy Vredenburg.”<br/>
<br/>
“I pinned him down to Lucy Vredenburg.  Making a copy of Cindy would be easy from there, but he could be anyone.  Fuck.  Caleb had a crush on Lucy for years.  If she just showed up and asked him to follow her he would.”<br/>
<br/>
“Right,” says the golem slowly.  “So basically you’re scared of your own shadow and lonely because you don’t have anyone to talk to.”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Which I take to mean that I’m right.  Look, the solution is pretty obvious.  You make a friend that you can trust.  Look at me, I’ll do everything you say.  You make a mask, get me into school in it, suddenly you have an instant, reliable friend to talk to.”<br/>
<br/>
“The plan was to get you into school as me.  I’d make a mask of someone else and pretend to be them.  That way I’d be able to keep an eye on you for when Blackwell makes his move.”<br/>
<br/>
“That could still work,” says the golem.  “You could make a mask of someone who is your friend, or someone who could become your friend.  You still get someone reliable to talk to.  Plus you get to be friends with Will Prescott, which is great for you because I’m one of the coolest people in school.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not sure I like the idea of replacing Caleb or Keith,” you say.  “I’m not even sure how to keep the person I’m replacing out of the way.  Blackwell might be a murderer but I’m not.”<br/>
<br/>
“There is another option,” says the golem, throwing the mask of Melody over to you.  “Put this on and translate the next spell.  It might help.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You find being Melody, who has been lonely for years, very calming.  It puts your on troubles into perspective.  Not having anyone to talk to is something Melody has grown used to, so you find that you don’t mind so much anymore either.<br/>
<br/>
The new spell is, in fact, very similar to the last one.  Luckily it doesn’t require as much graveyard earth or fuel.  There might be just enough of both left to cast it without a trip to the graveyard or the shops.  There is one component that worries you, however.<br/>
<br/>
“A living body,” repeats the golem.<br/>
<br/>
“That’s what I said,” you reply.  “Sounds bad, doesn’t it.  From what I can tell, the spell will ‘make them unable to move, like the rock’.  I think the intention is keep people out of the picture and allow the caster to use the masks they’ve made.”<br/>
<br/>
“But you don’t know for sure that it’s harmless,” asks the golem.<br/>
<br/>
“This is the best translation I could make.  Melody is very clever, so am I wearing this mask.  I’m inclined to think the translation is correct and the spell is broadly harmless.”<br/>
<br/>
“If you say so,” says the golem, clearly indicating that it doesn’t agree with you.  “So who do you use this completely safe, non-dangerous tried and tested spell on?”<br/>
<br/>
You stare at the golem meaningfully.<br/>
<br/>
“Well, there is Caleb or Keith,” you begin.  “Either would come down here if I asked.  I have to agree with you though, we can’t be exactly sure what the spell will do and I don’t want to hurt my friends.  The fact it requires a lock of my hair worries me a little.  The question is: What’s the alternative?”<br/>
<br/>
“Make a new friend,” replies the golem.  “Someone that you don’t talk to at the moment but it would be believable if they became your friend.  That’s a tricky one though: who?  I mean, if you were still talking to Lisa it’d wouldn’t be completely unlikely that one of her friends might mellow towards you.”<br/>
<br/>
“I ran into her today, she said hi.”<br/>
<br/>
“At least she’s noticing you now,” says the golem.  “Actually, you know what would really make her notice you.  A new girlfriend, remind her what she’s missing.  Hell, you can solve both your problems in one go:  Become your own girlfriend.  You get close enough to me to watch out for Blackwell.  It explains any sudden ‘why did she start talking to him’ questions.  You make so Lisa jealous that when this is all over she’ll beg for you to take her back.”<br/>
<br/>
“That is completely gross,” you say.<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t deny you’re thinking about it,” the golem says accusingly.  “I have your ego too, so you’re just as in love with yourself as I am, with as I am with myself I mean.  Fuck.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll admit that last sentiment is partially Melody’s,” you reply.  “Your plan doesn’t sound so clever from this viewpoint either.  Girls don’t really think that way.  She’d probably just be happy I’d moved on.”<br/>
<br/>
“You said she came over and said hi to you today,” says the golem.  “I think she’s interested.  Fuck, even if she isn’t its still a good plan for the watching me problem.  You wouldn’t have to risk the spell on your friends at all.  Now lets see, who would I want to date… Maria Vasquez maybe?”<br/>
<br/>
“It still has to be believable, so no cheerleaders.  And no sex.”<br/>
<br/>
“You aren’t the least bit curious.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sometimes I find it hard to believe you have my memories and personality at all,” you state flatly.  “I haven’t even made a decision yet.  It’s just another option we have.”<br/>
<br/>
“So,” replies the golem.  “What’s it going to be?”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212221
author_id: imaj
title: Keith or Caleb
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>It makes you feel wretched, but there really is no other option.<br/>
<br/>
“Keith,” you say.  “I just hope he can forgive me once all this is over.”<br/>
<br/>
“I hope so too boss,” replies the golem.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Luring Keith into the school basement will be trivial – a simple text message is all that you need.  You decide to skip school to make sure everything is set up perfectly.  If you’re going to test a spell on one of your friends, you want to make sure absolutely nothing goes wrong.<br/>
<br/>
You arrive in the morning to find the golem studiously polishing at the remaining mask.  Since you’re not in the mood for its peculiar brand wisecracking, you instruct it to continue quietly until the mask is finished.  The next step is to don the mask of Melody.  It seems you are becoming accustomed to the magic of the masks because you only fell lightly dizzy as you put it on.  The sudden feeling of everything feeling sharper is like slipping into a comfortable bath robe.  You wonder what it’s like for people like Melody or Caleb or even the student council president Kim Walsh who feel this clever all the time.<br/>
<br/>
Regardless, you think, wearing this mask is the best way to make sure you don’t make a mistake preparing the spell.  A quick check of the book confirms that the new spell require the same sigil as the previous one.  Luckily the sigil is still carved on the desk from when you created the golem.  A thorough examination confirms that it hasn’t been marred or defaced in any way by the fires that burnt atop it.<br/>
<br/>
Preparing the graveyard earth and fuel isn’t all that difficult.  You’re pretty sure there just needs to be enough, and a little bit more doesn’t hurt.  There’s plenty of both and you make sure the fuel container is easily in reach of the desk and with the lid screwed on tight to prevent any of it evaporating.<br/>
<br/>
The last step of the preparation is a lock of your own hair.  Absentmindedly, you cut a small bit of hair off, only realising your mistake when you look at it and see Melody’s drab shade rather than your own.  You put the hair down on top of the scissors and sit down in a padded chair to remove the mask.<br/>
<br/>
Surprisingly, you only feel dizzy for a few seconds rather than pass out.  You retrieve the scissors, shaking a bit of dust off them before clipping a small section of hair.  It’s easy to place it the graveyard earth, along with the few other materials needed.  Perfect.<br/>
<br/>
All before lunchtime too.<br/>
<br/>
You replace the Melody mask and go out for something to eat.  You’ve still got most of the hundred dollars on Wednesday so it’s probably a good idea to pick up more supplies too.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You phoned Keith about an hour ago so he should be here soon.  You’ve changed back out of Melody mask in order to greet him when he arrives.  The mask of yourself is already prepared and is sitting on a chair waiting to be used.  In fact with the extra supplies you brought in after lunch, you made three new masks.  The golem is polishing the first of them already.<br/>
<br/>
“Hello, are you there Will,” comes a muffled voice from the stair.<br/>
<br/>
“Down here,” you shout, picking up the remaining polished mask and motioning to the golem to hide.<br/>
<br/>
“Christ Will,” he says as he sticks his head round the door.  “It stinks down here.  What are you doing?”<br/>
<br/>
“Good to see you too bud,” you reply sarcastically.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh right, yeah” he replies meekly.  “Hi.  I still have to ask what you’re up to down here though.  You’ve been ditching school.  Yesterday was the first time I saw you in ages.  Now you’re down here up to God knows what.”<br/>
<br/>
“I found out how to make these things,” you say holding up the mask.  “Pretty cool huh?  I thought I might make a bit of cash making them.”<br/>
<br/>
“Not if it’s going to keep you off school Will,” he replies.  “Your folks are going to go through the roof when they find out.  Through the roof.  What is it anyway?  Some kind of mask?”<br/>
<br/>
“Something like that,” you say, passing it across to him.  “It actually feels kinda weird when you put it on.  Very relaxing though, which is why I think people will pay for it.  Try it.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why are you telling me this,” he ask suspiciously, his eyes narrowing.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve always been better at maths and shit than me.  You could help me work out the numbers.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t know,” he says slowly.  “There’s something very funny about this.”<br/>
<br/>
“Would I lie to you,” you say flatly.<br/>
<br/>
“No, you wouldn’t.  But then you’ve never said ‘would I lie to you’ before.  If comics have taught me one thing, it’s that when people say ‘would I lie to you’ they are, in fact, lying through their teeth.  Hmm, there are no eyeholes,” he says, holding up the mask close to his face.<br/>
<br/>
Fuck, he’s not going for it.  With a whispered ‘sorry’ you lean forward and push the mask the last couple of inches onto Keith’s face.  He’s too surprised to resist and simply topples over backward.<br/>
<br/>
“Come out,” you shout in the direction of the golem.  “Help me get him up here before he wakes back up.”<br/>
<br/>
It takes both of you to lift up Keith’s slumbering body up onto the table.  The golem removes the mask when it reappears, leaving you to empty the fuel on top of him.  The golem lights a match and hands it to you.<br/>
<br/>
“Now or never boss,” it says.<br/>
<br/>
“I hope this works,” you reply, tossing the match.<br/>
<br/>
Then everything goes white.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“Fuck,” you exclaim.  “Fuck! Fuck! <i>Fuck!</i>”<br/>
<br/>
Keith lies on the table.  His eyes closed, his breathing shallow.  Everything seems normal except for one thing.  His skin has turned granite grey – the same colour as the golem in its natural state.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t think he’s dead boss,” says the golem. “If that’s any consolation.”<br/>
<br/>
“Any consolation,” you shriek.  “I’ve just turned one of my friends into a mindless lump of clay.  How do you think that feels?”<br/>
<br/>
“I think I have a good idea,” it says smiling sadly.  It picks up the mask of you.  “Shall I put this on him?”<br/>
<br/>
“On <i>it</i>,” you interrupt.  “On <i>it</i>…  Yeah put it on.  I hope that thing has at least some memory of being Keith.”<br/>
<br/>
You watch as the colour flows back into the new golems skin.  Its bulk shifts around a little as it turns into a near perfect copy of you.<br/>
<br/>
“Hey guys,” the new golem says, standing up.  “What’s with the long faces?”<br/>
<br/>
“Keith,” you ask hopefully.<br/>
<br/>
“Where,” says the new golem turning round. “I just see me, me and er… sort of me again.”<br/>
<br/>
“You just remember being me,” you ask miserably.<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” it replies.  “Should I remember being anyone else?  And where is Keith anyway?  I thought the plan was for him to come here and you were going to cast that new spell to immobilize him?”<br/>
<br/>
The new golem pauses at it realises something is amiss.<br/>
<br/>
“Wait,” it says.  “Since when did you have two golems?”<br/>
<br/>
“Since I cast the new spell,” you say bitterly.  “You are Keith.  All that’s left of him.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t understand,” it stammers.<br/>
<br/>
“Keith got turned into a golem,” says the old golem.  “Skin like stone.  Only comes alive with a mask on – even then only as the person the mask is of.”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck,” exclaims the new golem.  “Fuck! Fuck! <i>Fuck!</i>”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s what he said,” says the old golem, indicating you with a wry smile on its face.<br/>
<br/>
“What do we do now then,” asks the new golem.<br/>
<br/>
“The only thing we can do is press on with the plan,” you say.  “Stop Blackwell.  Then we figure out a way to restore Keith.”<br/>
<br/>
“If we can’t restore him,” asks the old golem.<br/>
<br/>
“As long as we stop Blackwell, his sacrifice will not have been in vain,” replies the new golem.<br/>
<br/>
“We’re going to restore him,” you insist, as you pick up the spellbook and touch the new golem with it.  It glows briefly.  “We’ll keep one working through the book until we find a spell that undoes this.  First Golem… Shit, I’m going to have to think of a better name than that for you.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s ok, I kind of like it.  Makes me sound more important than Mr Number Two here,” it interrupts.<br/>
<br/>
“Whatever,” you continue.  “I’m going to change your mask for Melody’s in a second so you can translate the new spell and see if you can work out a way to reverse the one we just cast.”<br/>
<br/>
“Er, I’m going to forget you said all that when you change the masks round”<br/>
<br/>
“Shit,” you reply.  “Ok, I’ll worry about that in a second.  New Golem, you get to pretend to be me for a while.  I’ll wear the Keith mask.”<br/>
<br/>
“What about the masks you just made,” asks the original golem.  “If I’m being Melody and working on the spell over the weekend, I can’t polish them up.”<br/>
<br/>
“The spell’s surely more important,” says the new golem.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s got a point,” you admit.  “A couple of extra masks might come in handy next week.”<br/>
<br/>
“And it’s not like Keith’s condition is going to deteriorate any further,” says the first golem.<br/>
<br/>
“That was pretty tactless,” you say.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not one for tact boss, none of us are.  So what’s it going to be: Masks or Spell?”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212222
author_id: imaj
title: Become Your Own Girlfriend
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“I can’t use the new spell on Caleb or Keith without knowing what it does first,” you say.  “So that only leaves your plan.”<br/>
<br/>
“Ha,” exclaims the golem.  “I knew it!”<br/>
<br/>
“Shut up,” you shout at it.<br/>
<br/>
The golem stares at you plaintively until you realise what the problem is.<br/>
<br/>
“Ok, you can talk, but no more crowing.”<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks boss.  You know, you’re going to need to be careful when you get me into school that you don’t order me to do something stupid like that.  Would be a bit of a giveaway.  More importantly, who’s it going to be?  How about Gloria Rea?”<br/>
<br/>
“I said no cheerleaders.”<br/>
<br/>
“Not even Yumi Saito?”<br/>
<br/>
“No.”<br/>
<br/>
“Mindy McAdams?”<br/>
<br/>
“No.”<br/>
<br/>
“Anna Randall?”<br/>
<br/>
“Stop trying to guess,” you sigh.  “None of those people are going to come down here if I ask them.  I have a couple of ideas, but I’ll have to see what’s going to work tomorrow at school.”<br/>
<br/>
“You are no fun at all,” says the golem.  “Whatever happened to the old Will Prescott?  The one that had fun and played practical jokes on all his friends?”<br/>
<br/>
“He got mixed up in a life or death struggle with an evil wizard?”<br/>
<br/>
“Good point,” says the golem.  “Maybe I should just shut up again?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m going to need you to prepare the spell for when I arrive.  Follow the instructions exactly as they are set out on my translation.  Set it out on the table where I’ve marked the sigil already.  Once you’ve don’t that finish polishing the last mask.  I’m going to need both of them when I come back here after school tomorrow.”<br/>
<br/>
“You got it boss.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“Hey Will,” whispers a voice to your right.  “Can I borrow a pen?”<br/>
<br/>
Cassie Harper is a friend, sort of.  Since Mr Kowalski’s endlessly rotating seating schedule for your maths class moved her seat next to yours about a month ago, you started talking to each other.  Well, she started talking to you.  Cassie talks almost constantly all the time.<br/>
<br/>
All.<br/>
<br/>
The.<br/>
<br/>
Time.<br/>
<br/>
You’d assumed Kowalski moved her there simply because you wouldn’t talk to her.  That lasted for a week before you finally broke and realised it was simpler to talk back.  Surprisingly you discovered she’s quite likeable:  She’s kind, listens attentively on the occasions she is quiet and can be funny too.  <br/>
<br/>
While she may not be the prettiest girl in the school, you cant help but compare the way she seems to be smiling permanently to near fixed scowl that people like Chelsea Cooper display on the rare occasions they see fit to talk to you.  At nearly a foot shorter than you, with a slim figure, a cute spray of freckles across her nose and generally wearing loose fitting clothes, you tend to think of her more as a younger sister.  Well, a nice younger sister, your actual yonger brother Robert is more some kind of monster.<br/>
<br/>
“Will,” she says a little louder.  “Hello?”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, right,” you mumble, handing her a spare pen from your bag.<br/>
<br/>
She winks at you before returning to her work.  You blush momentarily as two rows in front of you, Caleb turns round to give you two thumbs up and a cheesy grin.  Bastard.<br/>
<br/>
“Is there a problem Mr Johansson,” drawls Kowalski looking up from his marking.<br/>
<br/>
“Um… no sir.”<br/>
<br/>
You cant help but smirk.  In the corner of your eye you can’t help but notice Cassie is giggling quietly too.  You quietly tear a corner of paper out of your notebook and scrawl ‘want to meet up after school?’ onto it, passing it across.  You’ve been on a couple of study dates with her before – her maths is terrible – so you figure she might agree.  A minute later, she returns it with ‘would love to’ written on it in her own looping handwriting.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“So why do you think it never got used,” asks Cassie as you lead her down the stairs to the basement.<br/>
<br/>
“I asked my Dad once, a little while after I found my down here.  Something to do with Fort Suffolk.  Some big expansion planned years ago.  The Saratoga Falls Education Board built it to accommodate the kids from military families.  Expansion never happens and the school never gets used.”<br/>
<br/>
“What a waste of money,” she says sniffily.  “Just think of all the things they could have spent it on instead.”<br/>
<br/>
“Like,” you ask.<br/>
<br/>
“Free cakes for math’s classes,” she suggests uncertainly.  “That would buy a lot of cakes.  Or one really big cake several miles wide.  We deserve compensation for having Kowalski inflicted on us.  Still, it looks like a nice place to just hang out.”<br/>
<br/>
“It is,” you agree as you approach the door.  “Me, Caleb and Keith came down here a lot over the summer.  Not so much recently, but I thought you might like it.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s really sweet of you.  Wait up a sec,” she says, grabbing your arm from behind.  Cassie walks round you, standing between you and the door, crinkling her nose before continuing.  “There, I’m glad you brought me down here, I was beginning to think all you thought about was maths.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not even that good at maths,” you say, puzzled.<br/>
<br/>
“Will,” she says smiling as she looks up at you.  “You say that but you make it all seem so much easier for me.  I really should thank you properly.”<br/>
<br/>
Cassie stands on her tip toes and kisses you.  A gentle peck on the lips.  You realise she is holding your hands.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh…” you say as it slowly filters into your brain.<br/>
<br/>
“Come on,” she says, turning round and opening the door.<br/>
<br/>
She doesn’t get any further because the golem looms out the darkness and places a mask on her face.  You have the sudden, horrible feeling that something has gone profoundly wrong.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“What the fuck did you do that for,” you shout angrily at the golem.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” it says, shrugging its shoulders.  “I thought that was the plan.”<br/>
<br/>
“We were about to have a makeout session.  Couldn’t you have waited for five minutes?”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure,” says the golem, waving its hand dismissively.  “I’m sure she would have been ok with your cousin sitting in and watching it.  Hell, maybe she’d have asked me to join in.  If you were that desperate for a quick kiss and cuddle you could have asked me at any time.  I’m the girl that can’t say no.  In fact, I know for a fact you’ve had a crush on Umeko for years, so I’m actually kinda insulted that you haven’t taken advantage of me yet.”<br/>
<br/>
“Real girls are worth more,” you state pointing at Cassie’s prone body.  “And you damn well <i>know</i> I’m that fucking desperate.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem pauses to think for a second.<br/>
<br/>
“Yep, I see that now.  Oh look,” it says, changing the subject.  “The mask has come back out.  She’s going to wake up in minute or two.  Either we hall her over to the table or she wakes up and you get to explain what’s going on.  Possibly including that you were just luring her down here to steal her life.”<br/>
<br/>
“<i>Borrow</i>, it’s <i>borrow</i> her life damn it,” you say as you pick up Cassie by her shoulders.  “Now get over here and help me move here.  And you haven’t heard the last of this you useless heap of dirt.”<br/>
<br/>
It’s simple to lift Cassie’s small frame over to the table where the new spell has been prepared.  You whisper apologies to her as the golem pours the fuel on top.  It hands you a book of matches.<br/>
<br/>
“You better get a move on,” it says.  “She’s starting to wake up.”<br/>
<br/>
Hurriedly, you strike a match and toss it on top of Cassie.<br/>
<br/>
Suddenly everything goes white.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122221
author_id: imaj
title: The Fate of Cassie Harper
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“You know,” says the golem.  “In a way, this could be good.”<br/>
<br/>
You’ve been staring morosely at the two completed masks for fifteen minutes.  One of Cassie, one of yourself.  You made the second when the flare of the spell died down.  Anything to distract yourself from what you’ve just done.<br/>
<br/>
“How the fuck can you say that?”<br/>
<br/>
“Well,” says the golem as it lays Cassie’s clothes in a neat pile next to you.  “Now you have two golems.  You can put the mask of you on the new one and that means I get to stay me.”<br/>
<br/>
You look at what’s left of Cassie.  Her skin has turned the same granite grey as the golem’s. She feels cold and damp to the touch. While she is still breathing, her eyes are closed and she shows no other sign of life. Weirdly, her clothes didn’t turn to stone.  Her hair bunches have kept their shape even after the golem removed the elastic bands Cassie had used on them.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m tempted to rip that mask off you and pound you into dust with a hammer,” you snarl.  You pick up the mask of yourself and hand it to the golem.  “Put it on her.  Let’s hope for your sake this is a fuck up that can be recovered from.”<br/>
<br/>
Colour returns to Cassie’s skin as the golem places the mask on top of her.  You watch as she stretches out and bulks up to match your own proportions.<br/>
<br/>
“Hey there,” says the old golem to the new one.<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t you ‘hey there’ me,” replies the new golem as it stands up.  “I’m just as pissed off at you as the boss is, what with having his memories right up to quarter of an hour ago.”<br/>
<br/>
“Please tell me something good,” you ask the new golem.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m sorry boss,” it replies.  “I don’t think there’s anything left of Cassie’s mind in here.  Just in the mask.”<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck,” you shout, smashing your fist down on the table.  “What do we do now?”<br/>
<br/>
“The only thing we can do now is carry on with the plan,” says the new golem.  “And thinking of that, I’m feeling a bit chilly right now.  I’m going to need your clothes so we can make the swap.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s a bit harsh,” says the first golem.  “Can’t we give him a bit of space to calm down first?”<br/>
<br/>
“I know exactly what he’s going through right now,” says the new golem.  “More so than you do as I’m a more recent copy.  He knows the only option is to press on.  We all do.”<br/>
<br/>
“I know, I know,” you say ruefully.  “I guess we can try to undo the spell later.  Maybe there’s something in the book.  I don’t know.”<br/>
<br/>
All three of you sit silently for a minute.  There’s simply nothing else to be said.  Realising that, you quickly and methodically remove your clothes, passing them to the new golem who begins to put them on.<br/>
<br/>
All that remains to do is put on the mask.  You bring it up to your face quickly, you stumble for a second then it feels like your brain is exploding.  Suddenly the room seems much bigger than before.  Fragments of thoughts that you don’t recognise surface unbidden.  Above them all, a powerful, all consuming need.<br/>
<br/>
“Er boss,” says the first golem.  “I know it’s cold down here but its not that cold.”<br/>
<br/>
You look down at yourself.  The nipples of Cassie’s small perky breasts are quite stiff.  Your crotch feels a little damp too.<br/>
<br/>
Cassie’s thoughts and feelings are overpowering.  You realise that she’s had a bit of a crush on you for a while now.  The last thing she remembers is leading you into the basement room, getting ready to make good on that crush.  Now that you are her, you’re ready to pick up where she left off.<br/>
<br/>
It doesn’t help matters that the Will Prescott in front of you is still half naked either.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221222211
author_id: imaj
title: Give In to Cassie's Feelings
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Take the clothes off,” you hiss at the Will golem.<br/>
<br/>
“What?  But you just you just told me to put them on.”<br/>
<br/>
“Master,” you say indicating yourself before pointing at it.  “Golem.  Take them off.  Now!”<br/>
<br/>
The golem hurriedly disrobes, leaving  the clothes in a messy pile on the floor.  You lick your lips nervously as you watch it.  It seems a little unsure of itself.  Unsurprising, you would be too.  Cassie is anything but.  Her feeling are so strong, you’re drowning in them.  She’s wanted this for some time.<br/>
<br/>
So you jump on the golem.<br/>
<br/>
Literally.  You hook your legs around its back and drape your arms around its neck.  As Cassie, you barely weigh anything.  Even so the golem stumbles for a moment as it places both its hand on your ass to support you.  You stifle a moan as you start to rub yourself against the golems body.<br/>
<br/>
“Oooh, nice,” says the original golem, the Umeko faced one.  “Do I get to play too?”<br/>
<br/>
“Shut.. ah..” you begin to say as the golem guides its stiffening cock into your sopping wet pussy with a free hand. “the… ahh… fuck… ahhh… up… ahhhh”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“So what was it like,” asks the Umeko golem later.<br/>
<br/>
The Will golem has already gotten dressed and left.  A little stray Cassie thought insists this is so typical for a guy.  She wasn’t terribly impressed with the golem’s performance either.  Now that you’ve put her persona aside you find that a little embarrassing.   She wont tell anyone about that though, you think with a wry smile.<br/>
<br/>
“You ask the other golem yourself if you want to try it,” you shoot back.  “Just find me a towel or something to clean this mess up.”<br/>
<br/>
You’re referring to the warm sticky mess that’s dribbling slowly out of your cunny.  Cassie’s thoughts are nipping insistently at you.  She’s very fastidious about keeping clean and to be honest the prospect of walking to your new home with that in your panties doesn’t appeal to you either.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m just curious,” says the golem as it starts to rummage around some of the abandoned parts of the basement.<br/>
<br/>
“If you must know,” you say, as you sift through an old cupboard.  “Yeah, it felt good.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well duh boss,” it replies.  It throws a rag across to you.  “How about this?”<br/>
<br/>
“That’ll do,” you say grudgingly as you use it to mop your thighs.  “That’s weird.  It felt like there as a lot more.”<br/>
<br/>
“Cassie’s pretty small boss,” says the golem.  “It probably just felt like a lot.  I wouldn’t mention that to anybody by the way. In fact you might want to mention that Will Prescott is in fact an <i>amazing</i> lover.  Just saying.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“So are you two like an item now,” asks Beth Tanner as the pair of you walk into school on Monday.<br/>
<br/>
Of course you told her.  Beth is Cassie’s best friend and cut from a similar mould, if a little larger and quieter.  The pair are well known around Westside as gossips too.  The real Cassie would tell Beth everything.  You’ve left out a couple of details of course.<br/>
<br/>
“Totally,” you giggle, letting Cassie take the driving seat.  “Oh there he is there, c’mon, lets go over.”<br/>
<br/>
You bound over to where the golem is standing at its locker with Keith and Caleb.  Your friends, look surprised while the golem itself smiles faintly.<br/>
<br/>
“Hi Will,” you say sweetly, standing on your tip toes to kiss the golem full on the mouth.<br/>
<br/>
The look on Caleb’s face is priceless.  You try not to let your amusement show on Cassie’s face as the golem slips its arms around your back and holds you close.  It looks at Caleb and Keith meaningfully, who take the hint and scurry off with Beth following close behind them.<br/>
<br/>
“Listen,” you whisper in the golems ear.  “Keep a low profile today.  Just make sure that you are never alone with anyone.  I’ll check on you throughout the day and we’ll meet up after school at the clubhouse to plan for tomorrow.”<br/>
<br/>
“Sure thing boss,” it whispers back.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Gloria Rea and Kendra Saunders block the corridor in front of you.  It’s not that either are particularly large, but from your Cassie perspective they loom menacingly.  Both girls are standing completely still, arms folded under their breasts.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh hiya,” you say cheerily. Cassie isn’t friends with the schools top cliques, but she’s not on the hit list in the same way Will and Caleb are.<br/>
<br/>
“Inside,” says Kendra evenly, indicating an adjacent empty classroom.<br/>
<br/>
“I’d love to but I’m meeting Beth for lunch.  Did you hear about…”<br/>
<br/>
“Inside,” she repeats, cutting you off.<br/>
<br/>
“Ohhhkaaay,” you say slowly.  As you move inside, the two cheerleaders close the door behind you.<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea Cooper is sitting at the teachers desk,  She regards you coolly.<br/>
<br/>
“Who runs this school,” she asks quietly.<br/>
<br/>
“Well I suppose Principal Sagansky,” you begin.  “Of course there’s the parent council and the Saratoga Falls School Board…”<br/>
<br/>
“Listen Cassie,” she says oh so sweetly.  “Think about it for a second and try again.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, you mean like you do?  Yeah Chelsea, everyone looks up to you.  I was just saying that yesterday to…”<br/>
<br/>
“Quiet,” she shouts, her face turning red.  You’re not intentionally trying to wind Chelsea up, just being Cassie, but a little part of you is quite amused at her reaction.  “I’m good to you Cassie aren’t I?  You get to go to all the good parties and you don’t have any problems with bullies.”<br/>
<br/>
“Um… Yes?”<br/>
<br/>
“So what’s with the sudden interest in that Prescott freak?  He’s exactly the kind of person you shouldn’t be mixing with Cassie.  I’d hate for you to stop getting to talk to all the cool people.”<br/>
<br/>
“But I like Will,” you whine.  “He’s kinda cute.  Like a little lost puppy.  I always wanted a puppy when I was young but my Mom never let me because of her allergies…”<br/>
<br/>
“Look Cassie,” Chelsea says smiling insincerely.  “I’m looking out for you, really I am.  You need to think about who your friends are, OK?<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea ushers you out the room silently, leaving you to walk off and meet Beth for lunch.  You’d always assumed that you, Keith and Caleb were way below Chelsea’s radar.  Why the sudden interest now?<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“Did you see Cindy Vredenburg at all today,” you whisper into the golems ear.<br/>
<br/>
You’ve met the golem at the main entrance after final bell for a quick kiss and cuddle.  Partially it’s for show, but mostly it lets you exchange some information.<br/>
<br/>
“A little it says, she seemed to be too busy crying to do anything.”<br/>
<br/>
Crying.  That would be in character for Cindy in the circumstances, but ‘too busy to do anything’?  Why would he impersonate Cindy and then not use the disguise to hunt you.  Unless he’s being extra careful.<br/>
<br/>
“Go to the clubhouse,” you whisper in the golem’s ear.  “I’ll be along as soon as I can.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem gives you a long slow kiss then breaks off.  It waves to you sheepishly as it makes its way out the door.<br/>
<br/>
“I can’t believe I look that pathetic,” you mumble under your breath as you watch it leave.<br/>
<br/>
“What was that Cassie,” says a familiar voice behind you.  You turn around to see your, well Will’s, ex not quite girlfriend.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh nothing Lisa,” you giggle.  “Isn’t he just adorable?”<br/>
<br/>
“Well,” says Lisa frowning.  “If you like that deer in headlights look I guess.  The rumours are true then.”<br/>
<br/>
“Rumours,” you ask perplexed.  Cassie can’t stand the idea of there being gossip she doesn’t know about<br/>
<br/>
“About you and Will silly,” says Lisa smiling.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh I getcha,” you smile.  “Yeah, totally.”<br/>
<br/>
“You know,” she adds darkly.  “I’m glad to see he’s moved on, but there are a couple of things you should know about Will.”<br/>
<br/>
Things you should know about Will?  You’re pretty much sure you do know everything about Will, since you are him.  Lisa doesn’t know that of course.  You wonder what secrets she has in store for you.<br/>
<br/>
“Like what,” you ask.<br/>
<br/>
“This isn’t the place,” she says leaning in conspiratorially.  “Let’s take a walk.”</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212222111
author_id: imaj
title: Go With Lisa
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Sure,” you say to Lisa.<br/>
<br/>
“Once round the playing field should be enough,” replies Lisa, opening the door for you.<br/>
<br/>
“So what did you have to say,” you begin once you reach the school sports field.  The football team is having an after school practice session but they are far to busy to pay attention to the pair of you.<br/>
<br/>
“I know you’re feeling happy right now Cassie,” replies Lisa.  “But there are some things you really need to know.”<br/>
<br/>
“So you already said.  Spill the beans.”<br/>
<br/>
“Will isn’t the amiable goofball he appears to be.  You’ll find that out like I did.  He’s possessive, suffers from dark rages and… and…” she says seemingly to the verge of tears.  “He took advantage of me.”<br/>
<br/>
You stand with your mouth hanging open for a second, shocked at the betrayal.  You stumble for a second, mentally trying to pull the veneer of Cassie’s personality back over your own.<br/>
<br/>
“No way,” you say, Lisa doesn’t seem to have noticed the momentary blip.  “That’s not like Will at all.  He’s been nothing but kind and sweet to me.”<br/>
<br/>
“He just wants to get inside your panties Cassie.  It’s all sweetness and light to start with.  He’ll help with your school work, give you gifts.  I kept trying to tell him we were just good friends but he wanted more from me, more and more.”<br/>
<br/>
In a sense it is true, you have tricked your way into Cassie’s panties.  You’re wearing them right now.  The rest seems… skewed:  A little bit of truth to sugar coat a whole lot of lie.<br/>
<br/>
“I only agreed to date him be I was scared what he would do.  And it was always more, further and further,” says Lisa, tears are streaming down here cheeks now.  “Kissing after school became quick feels in his truck.  Then one night, he took me up to the old North Suffolk overlook on Plumtree Road and he tried…  he tried… he tried to have sex with me.”<br/>
<br/>
Lisa’s moved to complete lies now.  In truth you never got past first base with her.  Inside you’re raging at the sheer size of the falsehood.  Cassie however, is agog.  It’s exactly the kind of story that she would pay attention to.<br/>
<br/>
“And, what happened,” you ask.<br/>
<br/>
“I managed to push him off, but he kicked me out his truck and left me there to walk home by myself.<br/>
<br/>
“Wow,” you say.  It’s a sentiment that you and Cassie both share, if for different reasons.<br/>
<br/>
“All I’m asking is that you think about what I’ve said.  Think about who your friends are,” Lisa says before turning and walking away, leaving you standing alone watching the football team train.<br/>
<br/>
Girls: You’ve never understood them, not even now that you are one yourself.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“I told you she’d be jealous boss,” says the Umeko golem.  You’ve arrived at the clubhouse a little late, but you ‘brains trust’ is waiting for you.<br/>
<br/>
“You really think that’s what it is?”<br/>
<br/>
“Lisa has been more friendly to us over the last couple of days,” acknowledges the Will golem.  “It’s strange that she’d tell a bunch of lies about us to Cassie.”<br/>
<br/>
“Unless she’s jealous,” interrupts the Umeko golem.  “She totally wants you back boss, but Cassie’s in the way.  So she goes to Cassie, tells her some sob story that’s going to scare her out of the picture.  It’s a classic plan.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s a fucking cliché is what it is,” states the Will golem.<br/>
<br/>
“What’s freaking me out is that Chelsea Cooper of all people tried to warn Cassie off Will too today,” you explain.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” splutters the Will golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” you continue.  “She gave me this big speech about how good she’d been to me, to Cassie, in the past and how dating Will might get in the way of that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Psycho bitch is psycho,” says the Umeko golem.  “Who knows what the fuck is going on inside her head.”<br/>
<br/>
“I know I keep going on about how Blackwell could be anyone,” you say.  “But mostly I’ve been assuming he’s pretending to be Cindy.  What you said after school got me thinking.”<br/>
<br/>
“What I said boss,” asks the Will golem.  “Give me a hint maybe?”<br/>
<br/>
“About Cindy.”<br/>
<br/>
“That she was crying all day you mean,” it asks.  “I said she wasn’t talking to people either.”<br/>
<br/>
“Exactly.  If that’s Blackwell he’s spending too much time pretending to be Cindy.”<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t understand the problem,” says the Umeko golem.  “I mean, that’s a good thing right.”<br/>
<br/>
“No,” you explain.  “What if it actually <i>is</i> Cindy.  That’s the reason Cindy is acting so much like Cindy, because she actually <i>is</i> Cindy.”<br/>
<br/>
“That makes absolutely no sense boss,” says the Will golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Fuck,” you exclaim.  “You know what I mean:  Blackwell’s not Cindy.  He’s impersonating someone else.”<br/>
<br/>
“But who,” asks the Umeko golem.<br/>
<br/>
“If you ask me, and you should by the way since I am both devilishly handsome and incredibly intelligent,” says the Will golem.  “Both Chelsea and Lisa are acting strangely.”<br/>
<br/>
“I think you’re right,” you say.</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122221111
author_id: imaj
title: Confronting Chelsea
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“I think he’s Chelsea,” you continue.  “It makes sense.  Chelsea and Cindy are friends.  Lucy used to be cheerleading captain.  Chelsea would talk to Lucy, wouldn’t she?  So Lucy tricks Chelsea into that big SUV of hers, next thing Chelsea knows she’s trapped in Blackwell’s house.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why Chelsea though,” asks the Umeko golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Isn’t it obvious,” you reply.  “Chelsea pretty much has the run of the Westside.  She runs the cheerleading squad with an iron fist and she’s got the basketball team sewn up too because she’s got Gordon Black wrapped around her pretty little finger.  If Blackwell’s impersonating Chelsea he can use half the school against me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Plus he gets to have a really nice set of boobs,” interrupts the Umeko golem.  “What?  Boobs are important too.  I know I enjoy having them.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s why she, no scratch that, he, made such a big deal off warning Cassie yesterday.  He wants to isolate me, well, Will from everyone else so he can make his move.”<br/>
<br/>
“So what do we do then,” asks the Will golem.<br/>
<br/>
“Well, he doesn’t know about Cassie.  That’s something in our favour.  In fact he was losing at bit just talking to me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Losing it?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah,” you reply.  “You know how Cassie can be once she gets started.  I was just talking as she would and Chelsea, Blackwell, whatever you want to call him started to get angry.  I bet if we make him angry enough he’ll slip up.”<br/>
<br/>
“And how do we do that,” asks the Will golem.<br/>
<br/>
“He wants Cassie to break up with Will, doing the opposite will be a start.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
It’s pleasantly sunny on Tuesday morning so you decide to forgo Cassie’s normal jeans and jumper combination in favour of something a little more revealing: A shortish skirt with a tight fitting jumper.  A pair of, what Cassie regards as, cute boots round out the ensemble.  You’ve even gone to the effort of applying a little make up and styling your hair properly rather than shoving it into bunches as Cassie normally does in the morning.<br/>
<br/>
In other words, its clear to everyone who watches you bound up behind Will in the car park that Cassie Harper has made an effort this morning.<br/>
<br/>
“Guess who,” you say, jumping on the Will golem’s back.  It squawks and falls awkwardly on the ground.<br/>
<br/>
“Ooops,” you giggle, picking yourself up and dusting off your clothes.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh,” groans the golem.  “Is that an angel I see before me?”<br/>
<br/>
“Where,” you say, looking right round you.  “Oh wait, no.  It’s me silly!”<br/>
<br/>
The golem picks itself up and gives you a long, slow kiss.<br/>
<br/>
“Who’s watching,” you whisper in its ear.<br/>
<br/>
“Gloria Rea just saw us and walked into the main building,” it replies.  “She didn’t look happy at all.”<br/>
<br/>
“Excellent”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You’re ready when the inevitable happens during lunch period, in the main hall by the lockers.  You’re with Beth at the locker she and Cassie share, removing a maths textbook.  The hustle and chatter dies down as a shadow falls across the locker.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh hi Chelsea,” you say smiling sweetly as you turn round.<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea stares at you silently, flanked by Gloria Rea and Kendra Saunders.  Beth is still standing beside you but that’s more because she can’t escape than anything else.  Everybody in the hall has stopped to watch you, to see what happens next.<br/>
<br/>
“I was just thinking about what you said yesterday,” you say in a loud voice.  In the silence everybody can hear you.  “You know, about who my friends were.  I think Beth’s my best friend really, but I kinda like Deanna and Connie too.”<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea holds up her hand, to motion you to stop talking.  She turns round and addresses the crowd.<br/>
<br/>
“Nothing to see here folks,” she says smiling.  “I’m just going to have a quite chat with my friend Cassie.”<br/>
<br/>
Suddenly people are looking away, at their feet, at anything else.<br/>
<br/>
“I really like Will too,” you begin again before she has the chance to turn round.  Before everyone else has a chance to begin talking again.  “He’s kind and sweet.  He helps me with my maths work which is great because maths kind of sucks and Kowalski is horrible.  His friends are pretty cool too.  But I don’t think you’re my friend Chelsea.”<br/>
<br/>
If anyone was talking before, they’ve stopped now.  Everyone’s attention is fixed on you, out of morbid curiosity if nothing else.  Chelsea simply stares at you, unable to believe that someone like Cassie would ever talk to her like that.  <br/>
<br/>
“No, you’re definitely not my friend Chelsea, because friends don’t threaten each other.  They don’t corner their friends by the lockers because they’re not doing what their told.”<br/>
<br/>
You risk a brief glance up the corridor.  At the edge of your vision you spot the Will golem round the corner.  Behind him, Principal Sagansky.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t need to do what you tell me Chelsea,” you finish.  “I’ve got my friends and you’re not one of them.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why you little bitch,” hisses Chelsea, finally finding her voice.  She slaps you hard across the face and launches herself at you.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Beth and Caleb are waiting for you when you finally exit the Principal’s office some thirty minutes later.<br/>
<br/>
“Ohmygod,” shrieks Beth.  “You’re covered in blood.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s not mine,” you say smiling faintly.  “That bitch Cooper’s.”<br/>
<br/>
“Wow,” says Caleb.  “Just <i>wow.</i>  People are going to be talking about what happened today for years. Years.  I’ve never seen Chelsea lose her cool like that.”<br/>
<br/>
“Never mind that,” interrupts Beth.  “What did Sagansky say?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m being sent home.  He couldn’t get my Mom on the phone so he left a message.”<br/>
<br/>
“What about Chelsea,” asks Beth quickly.<br/>
<br/>
“Her Mom’s on the way to pick her up now.”<br/>
<br/>
“Wait a minute,” says Caleb.  “Chelsea Cooper, <i>the</i> Chelsea Cooper is getting sent home from school?”<br/>
<br/>
“What choice does Sagansky have,” asks Beth.  “Half the school, including Sagansky himself saw Chelsea hit Cassie first.”<br/>
<br/>
“Hang on,” you interrupt.  “Where’s Will?”<br/>
<br/>
“Um,” says Caleb hesitantly.  “Lisa said she had something important to tell him.  They went out to the bleachers at the sports field.”<br/>
<br/>
A horrible sensation creeps up the back of your spine.<br/>
<br/>
“Wait here,” you say, running off.<br/>
<br/>
*****<br/>
A single solitary figure sits in the stand by the sports field.  It doesn’t respond when you wave.  It doesn’t respond when you shout.  The reason becomes clear as you run closer.  Sitting like a statue in the oversized clothes of Will Prescott is the grey granite golem creature that was once the real Cassie Harper.<br/>
<br/>
Oh fuck.<br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221222211111
author_id: imaj
title: Run to the Clubhouse
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You stare for a moment at the statue like golem trying to piece together what has happened.  The features of Cassie Harper are cast perfectly in its grey granite material.  Will Prescott’s outsize clothing hangs loosely on it.  The mask it wore is nowhere to be seen.<br/>
<br/>
The mask is gone then.  Taken, presumably, by Lisa.  The only way she could have removed the mask was if she knew the word of power to do so, and that means…<br/>
<br/>
Blackwell.  Lisa was Blackwell.<br/>
<br/>
Impossibly, the yawning pit of despair in your stomach deepens.  You’d discussed your plans with the golem when it was wearing that mask.  It knew everything you’ve done.  It knew about the clubhouse.<br/>
<br/>
You take off in the direction of the school gates, running as fast as Cassie’s legs will let you.  No time to worry about what people will think when they find the statue.  You have to stop the book from falling into Blackwell’s hands.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
You take a moment to catch your breath as you reach the elementary school.  Cassie isn’t exactly athletic.  Worse, while her boots may look utterly adorable, they‘re clearly not made for walking, let alone running.  Still wheezing slightly, you make your way down the steps to the basement.<br/>
<br/>
The door is ajar, the lock lies smashed on the floor.  You still your breath and start sneaking forwards into the room.  The last thing you see is Lisa appearing out of the darkness swinging a plank of wood at you.<br/>
<br/>
Then the lights go out.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“She’s coming round,” you hear a woman’s voice say as you open your bleary eyes.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” you mumble.<br/>
<br/>
“He’s coming round,” you hear another voice correct.  Younger, kind of familiar.<br/>
<br/>
“Lisa?”<br/>
<br/>
“Back with us Mr Prescott,” the voice is Lisa’s but the words clearly aren’t.<br/>
<br/>
You try to move your hands but they won’t budge.  They’re pinned behind you back and, it seems, tied together.  Your legs fair no better, as far as you can see you’ve been tied to a chair, and a chair for five year olds at that.  The position leaves you both very uncomfortable and embarrassed, as well as immobile.<br/>
<br/>
A woman looms over you.  She’s wearing the thrift store clothes you bought last week in order to get Melody the job as Blackwell’s assistant.  They do not fit well at all.  The jumper is stretched to breaking point over an ample bosom.  It’s Lucy Vredenburg, or at least a copy of her.  Lisa, no Blackwell, stands at her side.<br/>
<br/>
“What did you do with my golem Blackwell,” you spit.<br/>
<br/>
“It had a little change of face,” says Blackwell in Lisa’s soft voice.  You can see he’s spinning a mask in his hands, Umeko’s reflection visible in it.  “One much more to my liking.  Although I must admit Will you have excellent taste.  Who is the young lady you captured in this mask?  I may perhaps visit her later.”<br/>
<br/>
You remain silent and stare at Blackwell defiantly.<br/>
<br/>
“No matter, I have your mask and will find out later,” says Blackwell, placing the mask of Umeko on a desk.  “It’s really a shame that I’m going to have to kill you Will.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh yeah,” you say with more bravery than you actually feel.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve actually shown quite the affinity for magic.  The spells of the Liber Personas are not easy to work and have defeated even the most experienced practitioners.  Yet here you are, a mere boy and you’ve mastered many of them.”<br/>
<br/>
Blackwell pauses for a second to pick up another one of your masks.  He shows it to you, the reflection of Melody clear in the half light of the basement.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve even shown some promising signs of base cunning.  Infiltrating my home in the guise of one of my students was impressive.  Perhaps you may even have stolen some of my secrets, given time.  Pretending to be this Cassie girl was a clever move as well.  I have to admit that I had no idea that she was anything other than she appeared to be right up until the point I unmasked the golem at school today.  Perhaps if you’d made different choices you could have served as my apprentice.”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s not too late to change your mind, you know,” you interrupt.  “Let me live and everything.”<br/>
<br/>
“Hah,” exclaims Blackwell.  “A sense of humour too.  A fine student you would have made.  But no, not now.  Now I have other plans for you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Care to enlighten me,” you ask hopefully.<br/>
<br/>
“This isn’t some bad movie Will,  I’m not about to explain the details of all my plans in front of you while there’s even the most remote chance you might still escape.”<br/>
<br/>
“I guess you read the evil overlord list after all,” you say bitterly.<br/>
<br/>
“Not sure I follow young man,” says Blackwell, looking puzzled.  “No matter, time for you to die.”<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11231222212222111111
author_id: imaj
title: Blackwell's Mistake
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Actually,” you say.  “You’ve forgotten something.”<br/>
<br/>
The words hang in the air unanswered for a moment.<br/>
<br/>
“Excuse me,” says Blackwell imperiously.  His eyes meeting your gaze.<br/>
<br/>
“When you swapped the masks on the golem,” you begin, desperately hoping that you are right.  “You forgot one thing.”<br/>
<br/>
“Pray tell,” says Blackwell evenly.  You spot a flicker of movement in the corner of your eye.<br/>
<br/>
“The mask is nothing to do with the golem’s master.  It’s the hair placed in it when the spell is cast.  Sic him Lucy.”<br/>
<br/>
“I thought you were never going to work it out,” says the Lucy golem as it swings a wooden plank across the back of Blackwell’s head.  It connects with a satisfying thud and he crumples to the floor.  <br/>
<br/>
“Maybe you aren’t such a loser after all,” it says, leaning over to check Blackwell.  “Hmmm, still breathing, mores the pity.”<br/>
<br/>
“A little help here?”<br/>
<br/>
The Lucy golem rolls its eyes as it walks over to the chair.<br/>
<br/>
“So what are we going to do with him,” you ask as the golem unties you.<br/>
<br/>
“Deaths too good for him,” it replies.  “I’ve seen some of the things he’s done.  Lived them.  And he… he…”<br/>
<br/>
“He killed you,” you say, rubbing your wrists where the ropes had bitten into them.  “Untie the legs as well.  Cindy isn’t taking it very well.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem stops untying your legs for a second.  It sniffs a couple of times before continuing.<br/>
<br/>
“I just wish I could have said something to her.  I mean, I know I’m not really Lucy, but just to say goodbye.  To let her know that the creep responsible had gotten what they deserve.”<br/>
<br/>
“What does Blackwell deserve,” you ask, standing up and stretching as the ropes fall away.<br/>
<br/>
“He was going to cast a spell on you.  He had the sigil and graveyard earth ready for it.  All it needed was for him to add his hair.  Turnabout is fair play I say.”<br/>
<br/>
“That one,” you say unsteadily.  “I think that one would be fitting.  Help me get the clothes off him.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
The Lucy golem regards what’s left of Blackwell coolly.  His skin has turned granite grey, his eyes closed and his breathing laboured.  This is the second time you’ve turned a living person into a golem, but you don’t feel the guilt you felt after Cassie.<br/>
<br/>
Not one bit<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” says the Lucy golem.  “Yes, that is fitting.  Will you place a mask on it?”<br/>
<br/>
“No,” you state evenly.  “I don’t think it deserves the ghost of even someone else’s life.  Maybe sometime in the future, but not today.”<br/>
<br/>
“Good,” it says, looking directly at you with a hollow expression on its face.  “What now?”<br/>
<br/>
“There’s still a golem left at school,” you say looking at Blackwell’s mask of Lisa.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
Amazingly the Cassie golem is still sitting on the bleachers when you return, shortly before the end of the school day.  It comes to life with a start when you place the Lisa mask on it.<br/>
<br/>
“Ow,” it moans.  “What the hell did you do that for?”<br/>
<br/>
You stare blankly at it for a second.<br/>
<br/>
“It remembers everything that happened from when Blackwell was wearing it,” says the Lucy golem.<br/>
<br/>
“I…  I…” the Lisa golem hesitates.  “I remember everything he did.  Oh god…”<br/>
<br/>
The golem visibly pales.  The silence is only interrupted by the school bell ringing in the distance.<br/>
<br/>
“What,” you ask hurriedly.  “What is it?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m trapped in his basement, the real Lisa is.  He came down to gloat a couple of times.  We have to get her out.”<br/>
<br/>
“Help me get her up,” you begin to say to the Lucy golem, before realising it’s not there.<br/>
<br/>
The golem’s taken a few steps down towards the touchline and is looking into the middle distance at the students streaming out the school.<br/>
<br/>
“There,” it says quietly, pointing at a girl walking along the far side of the pitch.  “That’s Cindy…”</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122221111112
author_id: imaj
title: A Final Farewell
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>“Cindy,” you shout, running across the pitch and waving.  “Cindy!”<br/>
<br/>
Cindy stops walking to stare as you run up to her.  She’s in a sorry state.  Her eyes are red and you can see that her makeup has run.  Stray bits of blond hair fly out at odd angles from a poorly held together ponytail.  Her clothes seem drab and lifeless.<br/>
<br/>
“Cassie,” she says, her eyes fixed more on the ground than on you.<br/>
<br/>
“Um..” you begin.  Even Cassie’s bright personality seems subdued by Cindy’s appearance.  “Hi Cindy.  I know this sounds a bit odd, but there’s someone that wants to speak to you.  Over by the bleachers.”<br/>
<br/>
“It does sound odd,” says Cindy sadly.  She looks up at you and gives you a little half smile.  “But what else do I have to do?”<br/>
<br/>
“C’mon then,” you reply, linking arms with her.  “Let’s go.”<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“Lisa,” asks Cindy as the pair of you reach the side of the bleachers where the golems are waiting.  “What did you want to see me for, and why are you wearing those clothes?”<br/>
<br/>
“It’s not me that wants to see you,” says the Lisa golem, stepping smartly to one side.<br/>
<br/>
“L… Lucy?  But… but you died,” says Cindy, her voice trembling, tears streaming down her cheeks.<br/>
<br/>
“I am dead,” the Lucy golem says with a sigh.  “I’m so sorry…”<br/>
<br/>
“I missed you,” cries Cindy, breaking away from your arm and running to hug the Lucy golem.  “I missed you <i>so</i> much.”<br/>
<br/>
“I know, I know,” says the Lucy golem, clearly holding back tears of its own now.  “Listen Cindy, I have something very important to tell you.”<br/>
<br/>
The Lucy golem swallows hard.  A single tear runs down its cheek then it continues.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve only come back to say goodbye.”<br/>
<br/>
“What,” asks Cindy, breaking off the hug to stare at her apparent sister.  “You have to go away again?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m so sorry,” says the Lucy golem, hugging Cindy tight again.  “There was a man.  An evil, evil man who wanted something badly.  He thought that killing me who help him get it, so he arranged for me to have a car accident.”<br/>
<br/>
“I knew it,” sniffles Cindy.  “I knew it didn’t make sense. You were always so careful.”<br/>
<br/>
“I wanted to tell you Cindy.  I wanted to let you know.  He’s been stopped.  He’s never going to hurt you, or Mom and Dad again.”<br/>
<br/>
“Stopped,” asks Cindy.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes stopped,” the golem says, shuddering momentarily at the memory.  “Cassie here and Will Prescott stopped him.<br/>
<br/>
Cindy looks round for a moment and smiles nervously at you.<br/>
<br/>
“There’s one last thing Cindy,” continues the golem.  “It hurts so much for me to see you like this.  I need you to stop blaming yourself.  Live your life and remember that I always loved you.”<br/>
<br/>
The golem gently kisses Cindy on the forehead and breaks the hug.<br/>
<br/>
“Goodbye,” it says before turning and walking towards the wood at the edge of the school grounds.<br/>
<br/>
Cindy stands dumbfounded for a moment before she turns round again towards you.  She smiles.  It’s a dazzling smile, full of warmth and, for the first time in a week, happiness.  She bounds over and hugs you tightly.<br/>
<br/>
“Thank you Cassie,” she says.  “And thank Will for me too.”<br/>
<br/>
“I think he knows,” you say weakly.<br/>
<br/>
And with that Cindy runs off in the direction of the car park.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">*****</div><br/>
<br/>
“You did a good thing there Will Prescott,” says the Lucy golem when you catch up with it.  “I’ve one last favour to ask you.”<br/>
<br/>
“You do?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes, take my mask and destroy it.  Never use it again.  I want to cease to exist.”<br/>
<br/>
“Really,” you say staggered by its request.  “You seem so different from how I remember you at school.  You were always so… such a…”<br/>
<br/>
“Bitch,” laughs the golem darkly.  “The things I’ve seen, the memories I have from when Blackwell used me.  They make my life from before seem unimportant.  I’ve changed.  You have too, I think.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve got the mask of Melody in my bag here, I can swap it easily.  I still need to rescue Lisa and restore Cassie though.  I thought your mask might have helped with that.”<br/>
<br/>
“You have the mask of Lisa for that.  Besides, if anyone can sort things, it’s you Will.”<br/>
<br/>
You reach out and remove the Lucy mask from the golem.  You’ll keep your promise and destroy the mask.  And you will rescue Lisa and restore Cassie.  Someone has to put things right.<br/>
<br/>
But that, as they say, is a story for another time.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 112312222122221112
author_id: wordsmitty
title: He must be Lisa.
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You don't want to even consider that Blackwell got to Lisa, but telling lies is just not her. Never. NO.  She must have had a real good reason to lie; but even then, you know that she wouldn't.  You've known her too long to not recognize subtle changes in her, and lying is not subtle.<br/>
<br/>
Of course, Blackwell would know she wouldn't ever lie.  The mind strip would tell him that after absorbing her memory, emotions, and morals.  But the mask doesn't control you.  You control the mask.  You use it as a disguise and manipulate it as you see fit. Blackwell must be a master at doing this.  Lying to Cassie would be easy for him, and he would make it truly honest.  Besides Lisa and Cassie barely know each other.  Blackwell would figure she wouldn't know Lisa's honesty and would be easy to fool.<br/>
<br/>
"DAMN!  It all makes perfect sense."  You turn and slam a fist into the first thing you find that isn't solid enough to break your hand but is good for passing on the fury you feel and release your temper.<br/>
<br/>
"OW! Fuck you, boss. Why'd you do that?" the golem shrieks with the little breath he has left while he is bent over holding his gut.<br/>
<br/>
You ignore him, her, it, and slam your fists down on the table.<br/>
<br/>
"IT'S LISA!  He's taken Lisa." you almost start to cry.  Only your anger keeps your despair away, and you're not just irate at Blackwell.  He didn't set this conflict that now involves Lisa.  You did.<br/>
<br/>
          ~ ~ ~<br/>
<br/>
"You must avoid her unless there's others around.  Never let her, or anyone get you alone." you tell the Will golem later when you've settled down. You've changed from the Cassie mask to Melody because of her calming effects and she thinks a lot clearer and more logical than any of "you."  Plus Cassie is so constantly emotional that it was  driving you more to panic than finding a solution.<br/>
<br/>
"Right, boss. Don't have any fun with her alone." it cracks back.<br/>
<br/>
Ignoring his remark, you continue. Melody mask and her mind keeps you focused and business-like.<br/>
<br/>
"Watch for any purse or bag or somewhere she might be hiding and carrying a mask to use."<br/>
<br/>
"Got it.  Look for baggy spots she'd be hiding something."  It pulls on the shirt and looks down at its chest.<br/>
<br/>
"And <i>listen up</i>," you look straight into the Will golem's smarty-mouth face so sternly that his silly grin and eyes droop to serious concentration of each word that follows, "above all don't let anyone reach or touch your face or forehead. If he suspects you might be wearing a mask, he'll try to remove it.  We CAN'T ... let that happen."<br/>
<br/>
"Yes. I understand." it says calmly.<br/>
<br/>
You don't mention it, but that will be your approach, to remove his Lisa mask.  But if it's really a golem, ...? You wonder if you could take control of it somehow and use it against him.  Even with Melody's intellect, you need more time to think this through and plot out your plan of attack in minute detail.  Anything less and ... <br/>
<br/>
There will be no "and."  You <u>will</u> succeed ... for Lisa.<br/>
<br/>
If Blackwell gets the Will Prescott mask, it will have all your memories as well as anything the golem got while talking to you, which is almost everything you've planned and done including the clubhouse, impersonating Melody, and ...  Suddenly, a thought hits you or more precisely comes from the Melody side of your thinking. You wonder if you can make the golem forget and change the memories in the mask?<br/>
<br/>
The Will-masked golem is still looking at you waiting and listening for a command to do something. Your Melody side urges you on to give it a test.  So you figure you might as well.<br/>
<br/>
As you are about to say, "I want you to forget everything about ...," you realize that with it being here along with you wearing Melody, you can’t easily have it forget Melody and the clubhouse when it would immediately see them here.  You also think that if you can make it forget, maybe you can add some additions to its memories.  Also, how would you know it worked unless you put on the mask and read its memories, <i>and</i> since it is you, how would you know they weren't there since you know yourself.<br/>
<br/>
<i>It's just soooo confusing</i>, you start to get a headache. You need some time to think this through, so you just decide to give a few final directions until you can come up with a plan.<br/>
<br/>
"We need to keep this place secured." you tell the golems. "Don't let anyone in.  Even me.  Unless I tell you the pass phrase which is "the book is useless." Got that?"<br/>
<br/>
"Aye aye, captain."<br/>
<br/>
"Message received and understood, boss."<br/>
<br/>
"And you," looking at the Will-masked Cassie golem, "head home and act normal for me.  BUT remember to watch out and not get caught alone even with family.  Lock your door and window when you sleep.  He could send his golem as anyone." You sincerely hope Blackwell hasn't taken over any of your family.  Just because he said in the lecture hall that he was saving the last mask for you, doesn't mean he doesn't have others to use.<br/>
<br/>
"Will do, Mr. Paranoid."  Then he heads off for your home.<br/>
<br/>
You still can't believe that you are that annoying, but golems have no personality.  Maybe you need to work on that.  It could be why Lisa dropped you.  You don't take things seriously and are always trying to wise off like a little kid looking for attention and trying to cover your insecurity.  "You need to grow up, Will." you think.  You cock your head and wonder if that is Melody psycho-analyzing you.<br/>
<br/>
          ~ ~ ~<br/>
<br/>
You've been wearing Melody to help you think, but you also need her to get into Blackwell's and see if you can get more information.  Impersonating Melody occasionally is one thing, but you can't control her and your two paths may cross or something leak out that there are two of you.  What if Blackwell talks to her around class and mentions the assistant job?  Or e-mails her or calls.  You didn't think this would drag on long and hadn't planned that out.  It's a good thing that Melody hates Blackwell and that her mind is triggering these thoughts to consider.  She even has some ideas of how to get Melody out of the way.  It was almost like she didn't like herself and was willing to expunge her current existence to have another.  It freaked you out, but then maybe it was just your own thoughts from too many B movies that had both minds mixed up.  Or maybe wearing the mask has side effects like it taking you over and being controlled like a golem. (<i>shudder</i>)  Yeah.  Definitely, you have to cut watching those cheap mysteries when you're bored.<br/>
<br/>
Deciding to try to clear your mind, you go get the spell book.  After you turned Cassie into a golem, you had gotten to the next page and now finished translating the new spell with Melody's help.  It uses just a bit of graveyard dirt and fuel in the same procedure when you created the golem and turned Cassie into one, but now uses it on a mask with mind band that's been imprinted and sealed.  Also it needs a bit of your hair.  Since the only mask of a whole person is Melody and you don't want to mess it up, you direct the Umeko golem to finish polishing the new blank and decide to head home - that is Cassie's as her - and wait until tomorrow evening when the polishing should be done.  This will give you some time to plan things out.  You only wish that you could keep the Melody mask on because her intellect helps you think much better than Cassie.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1123122221222211122
author_id: wordsmitty
title: Spies and Spells.
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>The next two days at school are really challenging.  First there is the subtle harassment from Chelsea and her coterie.  You thought that Lester the Molester was bad, but he is nothing compared to what girls can do to each other to get their point across.  Fortunately, you are able to explain as Cassie that you are trying to break it off with Will, but he keeps after you and is so sweet the way he ... etc., etc. Eventually, Cassie's continual rambling babble and seeming sincerity keeps them mostly at bay.  However, no matter how you try, they never reveal anything as to why they want Cassie away from Will.<br/>
<br/>
In order to try to find anything out as well as to keep tabs on Lisa (which isn't as easy as it may seem), you enlisted Cassie's friend Beth and a few others who thought Lisa's talk to get you away from Will was not all that sincere either.  It seems a lot of Westside's "lesser" girls - as considered by yourself and friends - actually have a fairly good opinion of Will Prescott even if he isn't one of the "A" listers, really good looking, or as sophisticated as their ideal man, but he is still worthy enough boyfriend material.  They willingly keep you informed of Lisa's movements and anyone she may be talking to and what she may say or ask about Cassie or Will.<br/>
<br/>
It is one of these spies that tell you that Lisa was making a move on Will and trying to steal him back.  They had heard her talking to him in the hallway while everyone was changing classes asking if they could meet for a study date that evening.  The Cassie side of you instantly thinks "bitch" but more so is hurt thinking Will was two-timing you.  It's crazy how the mask's persona can be very strong and almost overpower your own.  That's good in carrying out the disguise, but you have to concentrate at all times to remind yourself who you really are.<br/>
<br/>
As soon as they tell you this, they add how loyal Will had been, although his story was that he couldn't because he had been grounded until Sunday.  It wasn't an absolute refusal, but the Cassie in you feels very happy.  You yourself think it is a brilliant ploy (of course, the golem has your brilliant mind !).  It might work well into your plan to unmask Blackwell and rescue the real Lisa.<br/>
<br/>
From the intelligence you and Cassie's spies have gathered, there seemed no particular reason for Chelsea's vendetta towards Will Prescott, and Lisa mostly was just being Lisa.  She didn't go out of her way to watch you or say anything bad about you to anyone else.  It was all a big puzzle that you hadn't located the right pieces to assemble.  Maybe you were wrong about Blackwell being her.<br/>
<br/>
If all this isn't enough stress, it is now three days of mid-terms, and studying cuts severely into your time at the clubhouse or planning your moves.  Being Cassie, your family is fairly strict about curfews during the week and even more so during test periods.  They allow Cassie to study after school until dinner which is the only time you can escape to the clubhouse.  You are lucky that you and Cassie compliment each other so well that one or the other have a good grasp on all subjects and don't have to study much to keep up her marks.  Also fortunate, the Will golem can study at night since golem's really don't need sleep. <br/>
<br/>
(One of the interesting effects of the masks is that you can just take the mask off the golem, put it on, and have all its memories.  If you hadn't gotten involved with this mess with Blackwell, you could have been a genius and never studied.  Hell, you could have gotten all sorts of knowledge by using the golem to get it for you and used it to ... who knows?  Add another golem or two to study and work for you, and there'd be untold possibilities. Wealth. Fame. <i>Girls !</i> )<br/>
<br/>
          ~ ~ ~<br/>
<br/>
When it neared dinner, you decide to send the first golem home as Cassie so you could wear Melody and do some planning.  It slows the work on the other masks since you have to do the polishing.  Even though it is mindless work and lets you think, it distracts you just enough that you spend little time with it and mostly just thinking as Melody until you have a clear plan in place.<br/>
<br/>
To take your mind off Blackwell that evening, you decide to concentrate on the next spell.  Besides if Blackwell took Lisa, he could have turned her into a golem as you had done to Cassie. If so, you need to find the spell to turn her back.  If the next spell is the one, you want to get to it as soon as you can so you have it to release her.  If it isn't, you need to press on to the next. Then the next, and ... Your feelings for Lisa are very strong, and it is good that you had switched masks and now are wearing Melody to keep it in perspective or you might go off and be easily trapped by Blackwell.<br/>
<br/>
The spell itself requires a sealed mask.  The only ones you have are of Umeko with your mind strip, Melody and the one of you.  You aren't about to mess up the Melody mask, so you need to decide whether to use Umeko or yourself.  You also have yet to test whether you can tell a golem to forget or change part of the memory in a mask.  Maybe you can combine doing both.<br/>
<br/>
At this point either mask would work, so you just grab the Umeko one sitting on the shelf since it was easier than ripping the other off the golem.  Placing it on the sigil you had carved on the table, you sprinkle the graveyard dirt on it, drop a piece of your hair you had cut earlier without a mask on, cautiously soak it with the right amount and mix of fuel, and nervously ready a match to strike and set it off.<br/>
<br/>
"What ya' doin', boss?"<br/>
<br/>
You damn near jump up onto the table as the match lit and fell onto the mask exploding into a brilliant white before dying back to the usual purple flame.<br/>
<br/>
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT FOR?" you scream falling away from the flash and now trying to see anything except a big dot in front of your eyes.<br/>
<br/>
"Sorry, boss.  I thought you saw me watching." the Will golem sheepishly replies.<br/>
<br/>
          ~ ~ ~<br/>
<br/>
After about fifteen minutes, the flames go out.  The mask now looks more a dull gray like golem skin, but you can still see a faint reflection through the haze. Your mind immediately thinks, "It's a golem mask." It might have been Melody that concluded this, but maybe it was you.  The fact is, all the sudden your mind began to spin with all the spells you had done so far realizing that they are connected and progressing in a certain way. <br/>
</span></div></div>


