This choice: That would be a complication too far. • Go Back...Chapter #66The Brain Twister by: Seuzz   After texting Catherine, you and the others sit back to wait for Grant to come out in his new disguise.
You wait. And you wait. And you wait.
Glances are exchanged. Golem-Grant hangs his head and grins to himself.
Ethan finally trudges over to the bathroom door. "Dude, are you dead in there?" he barks.
"Don't come in!" a feminine voice shouts back.
"Then stop fingering yourself! Get dressed, and get out here, we got places to go!"
The door muffles Grant's reply. Ethan swaggers back to the sofa, and whaps the fake Grant on the back of the head.
At last, a minute or so later, the bathroom door fumbles open and Kaylee Mercier totters out with a wide grin stretching across her pink, shining face. "Oh fuck me!" she gushes as she clumsily resettles her bosom with the palms of her hands. "This is going to take, like, so much freaking getting used to!"
You cringe, and dodge a sidelong glance from Paulina. Does she think you were acting like this goofbag when you first put on Cindy's mask?
"God, I'm so glad I'm not in, like, heels or anything," Kaylee continues. She twists around to rub and admire her butt—which is, admittedly, one of the girl's best features. "I feel like I'm all totally off-balance and stuff! Maybe this girl need a boob reduction!" She giggles. "Or a boob enbiggenment!"
"You're fine the way the way you are," you snap as you haul yourself to your feet. "So, do you know Alejandra Cortes?" You have to repeat the question when Kaylee only gapes back. "Alejandra Cortes," you say for the third time through gritted teeth. "Do. You Know. Her?"
"Oh, sure. Her." Kaylee titters again. "The girl we're getting for Joe. Oh, fuck!" She claps her hands over her face and guffaws. "Can you picture Joe and boobage? Oh, fuck!" she gasps again, "That's gonna be, like—"
"But Kaylee knows Alejandra, right?" You tamp back the urge to haul off and slug her. "Doesn't Kaylee know Alejandra?" That's what Paulina had told you, that Kaylee was more likely than anyone else to know an 11th-grade soccer player.
"Huh?" Kaylee giggles again.
No, you don't slug her. But you do grab and hold her by the chin. Her eyes pop in surprise.
"Listen," you growl into her face. "Get your fucking head in gear. Do you understand me, Grant? Get your new, fucking brain in gear. You did put that metal band on, didn't you?" You dig your nails into her cheeks, and Kaylee cries out in a soft whimper. "You didn't just pop yourself into her panties and call it a day, did you? You do have her memories, don't you?"
"Oh, sure!" she squeals, and squirms inside your grip. "I just—!"
Ethan's voice booms out from behind and above your shoulder. "Stop fucking around, man," he rumbles. "So you got boobs now, so fucking what? You gotta be serious about this."
Kaylee pales and swallows; her eyes roll in their sockets.
"Okay," she stammers. "Um ... Alejandra Cortes. Oh, sure! I ... Kaylee knows her! Sort of." She twists about, but still you keep hold of her.
"Good enough to text her?" you ask. "You know her good enough you can text her about a party she should come out to?"
"M-maybe?"
You glance back at Paulina, who raises a skeptical eyebrow in answer. Golem-Grant has covered his face with his hands and is peeping out at you through his fingers.
"Okay. Can you text Alejandra?" you ask Kaylee. "You got some way of contacting her?" Kaylee's brow furrows, then she nods. "Good." You let go of her, but continue to glower into her face. "Send her a text or a voice chat or whatever the fuck you need to reach her. Tell her you're at Catherine Muskov's house, and there's a raging party going on, and there's this really cute guy who is all talking about her, about Alejandra, I mean. Tell her she totally needs to come out to Catherine's so she can meet him, 'cos this guy is hot."
"Yeah? Okay, who is he?" Kaylee asks as she fumbles at her phone.
"I don't know. Just a guy."
"I need a name!" she pleads.
"No you don't. You didn't catch it. Fine, tell her he's from Eastman," you add when Kaylee's expression turns reproachful. "He's from Eastman, and he's, like, a football player or something. And he's beef stacked on top of cake with extra slices of beef and extra slabs of cake piled on top, and he's talking about her."
Kaylee's eyes widen, and she swallows as she bends over her phone.
Silence envelops the room as she taps a message in. It takes her a suspiciously short time to do so, and on a hunch you demand to see it before she can hit "Send."
"Jesus," you sigh as you glance over it, for it reads like a badly edited business memo: Thers eastman football plyaer here at catherine muskovs whosi very hot and taking ab u. Come over n meet hm. "Is that the kind of thing Kaylee would write?"
"Well, I don't know!" Tears pop into Kaylee's eyes. "I'm not used to— I just wrote what you told me to!"
You grimace to yourself, for even you can tell that you're acting too much like a bully, even though Grant deserves it. You suck in then let out a deep breath.
"Listen," you say, and now you take Grant's fake face gently between your palms. "You have to write it like Kaylee would write it. I'll give you the facts, but you have to think like Kaylee would think, and you have to write it like Kaylee would write it."
But Grant only returns you a doubtful frown.
"Okay, think of it like this," you continue as a sudden inspiration smites you. "It's like you're a spy. You're still you, Grant. You're still you, only you're disguised inside this new body and you've got some new memories that you have to use. So you're like a spy. You have to fool everyone into thinking that you're Kaylee Mercier. You have to fool them," you repeat, "and to fool them, you have to act like her, and talk like her, and you even have to think like her. You have to pretend to be her so totally that even when no one is watching, you're still being her. Okay? Because you're like a spy under deep cover."
Grant blinks, but there's a dawning light of comprehension in his eyes, so you release him. "You have to be her while still being yourself," you continue. "Like I'm being Cindy Vredenburg—" You favor Kaylee with an arrogant little toss of your head. "While still totally being Will Prescott. You see?"
Kaylee nods, and her expression turns thoughtful. "I think so," she murmurs. Then she closes her eyes, and says, "Give me the facts again? Where we are, what's going on?"
"We're at Catherine Muskov's. She's the co-captain of the track team—"
"Tch, I totally know Catherine. Kaylee's on the track team too, you know. She's been out to— Oh!" Her eyes pop open again. "Weekend party! I was— I mean Kaylee was—"
"You are Kaylee now," you remind her.
"Right." A smile tugs at her lips. "I was thinking of going out there, but then you— But we're telling Alejandra there's a guy out here, at Catherine's? An Eastman guy?"
"A football player. And he's hot."
"And he's talking about Alejandra," Kaylee murmurs. Her expression tightens. Then she shivers all over, and squeals. "Oh my God! Have to tell Alejandra, she has to get her butt out here!" Rapidly she begins tapping at her phone.
You let out your breath—you're surprised to realize you'd been holding it in—and cross back over to the sofa, where Paulina is sitting with her hands folded atop her knees. "Nice hypnotism job," she tells you. She turns to golem-Grant, and grabs him by the hair. "And you left us this one I still get to abuse," she adds as it cries out.
"He just needed some reminding. You glance back at Ethan. "How are you doing, man? Do I need to give you the same kind of talk?"
"Nah," he grunts, and rolls his shoulders. "I'm pretty solid in here."
So you turn back to Paulina. "What about you? Can we find a skinsuit for you?"
"No," she replies, and her lips whiten. "I don't mind being me."
You twinge a little at the implied rebuke, but affect to ignore it. "Just as long as you don't have a problem with what the rest of us are doing," you say. When she doesn't reply, you ask, "Do you?"
"You don't have to worry about me."
"What about Lindsay?"
She doesn't answer right away. "I'll keep an eye on Lindsay."
"Do you think you can get that book away from her?"
"I thought you copied it all out." Paulina's tone is sharp.
You make a face. "I guess I'm mostly thinking I don't want someone else making masks behind my back." Actually, you're mostly thinking you don't want Lindsay reading up on the golem paint, and thinking that maybe she could use it against you and Caleb.
"Lindsay's not going to make anything out of the book," Paulina assures you. "She thinks it's evil. She's going to get rid of it. Burn it or something."
"All set!" Kaylee chirps behind you. "Alejandra says she's going to come out to Catherine's. So, I guess we better go out there? Or at least I should?"
"I'll pick up Joe," Ethan says as he takes out his own phone. "We should get Andy— Uh, Webb out there too. You coming?" He glances between you and Paulina.
She shrugs, and you've already told Catherine you'll show up at her house.
But you've still got some cheerleader business to deal with, and you think—you hope—that these guys can pull off a substitution without your direct supervision.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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