by C. L. Stone
The rest of the students had a mixture of various dressy costumes, with cats and witches and popular book and movie characters mixed in. The costumes looked good, but knowing how much the masks and our outfits probably cost, it did feel a little over the top.
“We’ll use these outfits again,” Victor said. “There is prom, after all.”
“Nu uh,” Gabriel said. “You can’t use the same stuff for prom. That’s not the same thing.”
“I like them,” Kota said, walking up behind us. I turned, surprised at seeing him for once without his glasses, the half mask on his face.
“Can you see?” I asked.
He tapped the mask close to his eye. “Contact lenses,” he said.
My mouth popped open. “You...”
“I don’t like them,” he said. “They can get really dirty and I worry about getting an eye infection. I’d rather have the glasses.”
“It’s just for tonight,” Gabriel said. “It would have looked weird with the glasses.”
“I like it,” I said quietly.
Kota’s green eyes lit up behind his mask.
“Let’s get inside,” Nathan said, following up next to Kota. He really filled out his suit, and the red tie swayed as he kept the jacket open.
“Yeah,” Luke said as he approached in his suit with the baby blue tie and mask. He cut in between Gabriel and me, taking my arm and tugging me deeper into the tent. “I smell food.”
Some of the guys chuckled.
I followed the others deeper into the tent. We broke off into pairs, me with Luke for the moment. Later, I’d be switching between all of them about every five minutes to walk around, dance, but most of all, be on the lookout in case anything screwed up.
“At least there’s no fog machines here,” Luke said.
“And no boxes with bombs in it,” I said.
“We’ve got the place covered,” Mr. Blackbourne said in my ear. “Nothing to worry about. Just make sure the students aren’t acting up.”
There weren’t two thousand students under the tent, but the place did start to fill in after a while. The lighting grew brighter and faded with the pulse of the music. There were towers of tiny pieces of cakes, little finger sandwiches and lots of bowls of punch.
I stood by Luke while he loaded his plate and kept an eye on the others. They were easy to follow with their masks. North’s was the only one that was black, and he was with Dr. Green, who wore a purple mask, and blended in with the students rather than the teachers. They stood beside a table near other students holding cups of punch and talking casually.
Only about half of the students danced at all. The rest sat at the tables, or stood and watched those dancing, checking out costumes. Some clustered around the darker corners of the tent.
Luke held up a plate full of cakes between us. “Try these,” he said. “I know the baker. These are good.”
I lifted my mask a little and I pinched off part of a square and took a bite. The cake wasn’t overly sweet. It was fresh, with a hint of chocolate. “It’s good,” I said, smiling at him.
It was a change from this morning. After returning from the church to Nathan’s house, Nathan and I waited up to hear that North was fine, that he’d just suffered some minor burns and a concussion, but he was going to be released in the morning after being monitored at the Academy hospital. Kota stayed with him.
Mr. Blackbourne and the others had left the scene at the school to take care of the Korbas. There wasn’t any more news about the fog machines or who might have manipulated the scoreboard.
The night started to pass by in a whirlwind of music and spotting Academy people. Each of the boys took turns walking around the dance floor with me.
That was until it was Victor’s turn. Instead of making a circle, he cut through the thicker part of dancers. Victor held me by the waist and swayed for a bit to one of the faster songs, but shooed Kota away from his turn, when a slow song came on. Kota relented, allowing Victor two songs and a half before he finally cut in.
After that point, I was on my feet for an hour as Gabriel, Luke, Dr. Green, and North, each took turns to dance with me at least once.
North was the quietest. “I hate this school,” he said.
I couldn’t blame him. It was hard to really relax knowing something was probably going to happen. The goal for the Academy tonight was to ensure, as far as everyone else knew, that nothing happened at all.
I stood by North as someone from the school took the mic to announce the homecoming king and queen. The king would be first.
North and I pulled back as most of the students stood up to gather around the small stage.
“Hey,” North said. “I’m going to go grab something to drink. He touched his mask, adjusting it. I didn’t think he liked it. “Do you want anything?”
I spotted Luke and Gabriel nearby. Luke made a gesture with his hand, at me, pointing to his own mask, and then pretending to lift it up.
I almost didn’t have the nerve for what he wanted me to do.
Almost.
“You know, Gabriel did a nice job on my makeup tonight,” I said to him, reciting the lines I’d practiced. “Would you like to see?”
North’s dark eyes blinked in confusion. “Uh, okay.”
“Come see,” I said.
North leaned in and I hooked my fingers under my mask, quickly lifting it. I leaned in to reveal my face, and I couldn’t help my big grin.
In a jolt, North retreated a step. “What the...Baby!”
I was already giggling, knowing my face resembled one of Nathan’s zombies. When I winked, the makeup made it look like my eyeball was hanging out of my face, and there were gashes on my cheeks and lips, fake of course. The makeup was lighter than I expected, a promise Gabriel kept when Luke came up with the idea that afternoon as we were getting ready. I could feel it, but it was comfortable enough to wear for the evening.
North shook his head. He turned around, scanned, spotted Luke and pointed a finger. “You!” He was loud enough to almost be heard over the music. “What did you do to her face?”
Luke and Gabriel made a run for it.
I laughed as I pulled the mask back down, watching North storm off after his brother. The announcer started the drum roll to declare the homecoming king.
“And the winner is...” he said, “Jared Anson!”
There was a thunderous applause. I didn’t know the boy, but I thought he was on the football team.
And my heart sunk a little.
“Hey,” said a deep voice. “Aggele.”
I turned, spotting the dark blue mask. He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder.
“Hi, Silas,” I said quietly, smiling at him.
“Not disappointed that I’m not homecoming king, are you?”
“Are you?” I asked.
Silas’s mask tilted toward me. “I never wanted to run.”
“Just to let you know,” Mr. Blackbourne said in my ear. “Silas, you actually came in second place. We had to manipulate the database to lower your vote count and still make it fair to the others.”
Silas chuckled. “Crazy kids.”
“So you might have gotten up there,” I said, nodding toward the homecoming king, who was receiving his crown and fanfare. “If you’d tried.”
“Not my style,” he said. “Besides, I would have been up there with...well...you didn’t run, either.”
“I wasn’t even on the roster,” I said.
“Actually,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “To be included on the roster of entrants, a person needs a hundred votes to be considered. Your name came up two hundred and eighty five times.”
I was grateful for the mask at that moment, sure that I was blushing and that my mouth was hanging open. “How?”
“It was a ballot, and people could write in names. Unfortunately, we had to erase you from the official ballot.”
“I didn’t know,” I said quietly.
“It’s been a busy week,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “I apol
ogize for not telling you sooner.”
“Come here,” Silas said, pulling me into him and hugging me. “You and I didn’t do too badly. Maybe one day we’ll run for... well...Maybe nothing. Let’s do something else.”
“How’s Theo?” I asked him.
“Sent to a retreat,” he said. “Once the police showed up, one of our Academy team members arrived to represent him as his lawyer. He’ll go to trial soon and will probably face deportation.”
“And you?”
“It took a couple of favors from the Academy again,” he said. “I’m off the hook as far as officials are concerned, but the Academy wants a meeting with me...”
“Please don’t talk about that right now,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “The short wave radios in these masks aren’t exactly secure.”
“Nothing’s happening,” Silas said. “This was the big moment of the night.”
We watched and waited as the homecoming queen was announced. It turned out to be Jenny, the girl who had dropped off her can at the diner earlier. I almost forgot about her. “Did she get her can back with donations?”
“She actually got the most, I think,” Silas said. “When she picked it up, she had two other jars to go home with her.”
I was stunned. “She only had three days.”
“Academy people go in that diner a lot.”
“We’ve still got a couple of hours left to go,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “We don’t have to wait long before the night is over.”
I’d been glad to hear this morning that Silas was fine, not currently in trouble, and would be going to the dance location ahead of time with North and Dr. Green. I had asked a lot of questions, but it came down to Silas and Charlie admitting to the police that Theo suffered from an addiction to lighting fires.
At first, there was more excitement as other homecoming things were announced, the king and queen had a dance. When the mood change to allow the dance part to continue for all, the lighting around us changed. I didn’t realize what was different, until I looked around and saw glowing cat faces and some other costumes lighting up under black lights.
“This should make things interesting,” Silas said. “Kids could sneak kisses.”
“We’ve already caught one...young couple in the bathroom together,” Mr. Blackbourne said.
Silas sighed.
Suddenly, behind Silas, I spotted something, and at first, I thought I was losing my mind.
I blinked to make sure, but it was clear. Gabriel and Luke were facing away from us as they were checking out the photographers. On each of their backs, glowing a light green, was a mask.
Resembling Volto masks.
Stunned, I grabbed Silas’s arm and pulled him around. “Do you see that?”
“What?” Mr. Blackbourne asked in my ear. “There’s a lot of video feeds. What do you see?”
Silas had turned by then, taking several moments to stare. “Volto,” he said.
“Where?” Mr. Blackbourne said.
Silas turned around, trying to look over his own shoulder to check out his back. He was glowing, too. A big mask on his back. I felt the material. There was a distinct difference, some sort of paint that only glowed under the black light.
Some people were pointing, laughing.
“It’s on me, isn’t it?” Silas asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Mr. Blackbourne, we’ve got a problem. Volto painted his mask on the backs of the costumes.” I turned, showing Silas my back. “Do I have one?”
“No. Must be just the guys,” Silas said.
“Didn’t the costumes get mixed up?” Mr. Blackbourne asked.
They did. It struck me all at once then. The masks at Tissu being left behind. Later, after Gretta made her costumes, it must not have been the assistant who messed things up, it was Volto, painting his masks and tucking the outfits into the wrong bags.
I caught North and Dr. Green turning their backs to each other, catching on. Kota, Victor and Nathan were crossing the tent, charging at me.
Suddenly, through my earpiece, a voice spoke.
“I helped you once,” said the electronically distorted voice. “I’ll help you twice, but you owe me.”
I waited, assuming Mr. Blackbourne had heard what was said, and perhaps Victor, Kota, and the others, but neither of them changed course. Silas didn’t acknowledge that he’d heard anything.
“What?” I asked, my heart pounding.
“Tell Kota the next time I leave a sign for them, he needs to pay attention. I tried to tell him his car was being stolen.”
“Did you steal it?”
“Not this time. By the way, the thing you were waiting for? It’s happening now. Take your dates out to the parking lot. Don’t let them talk you out of going. You need to see this. Don’t let them keep you in the dark.” Then there was a distinct click: a phone hanging up.
I grabbed Silas’s arm. “We have to go.”
“What?” Silas asked. “Why?”
“You didn’t hear?” I asked. “Volto was talking to me. Through the earpiece.”
“Miss Sorenson,” Mr. Blackbourne said now through earpiece. “You can hear me now?”
“We have to get everyone out to the parking lot,” I said. “Something’s happening out there. Maybe we can stop it.” I checked for the exit, and started to hurry as fast as heels would allow.
“Sang,” Silas took my elbow, pulling me until I nearly fell, but he caught me. “We can’t just run in. It might be a trap.”
“What’s going on?” North asked, coming up next to me.
“We have to hurry,” I told them both. “We’ll miss it. We need to know. And we have to go quietly, or else we won’t find out...”
“You can’t trust him,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Whatever he’s told you.”
“Some need to stay here and watch over the students,” I said. “But don’t we need to investigate and make sure this isn’t going to be a trap sprung on anyone else? And what if...”
“I’m not seeing anyone out in the parking lot,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Wait...my feeds. Victor, the feeds have been diverted somehow. The timestamp is frozen. He’s cutting through the signal.”
“It was the risk we were taking going wireless,” Victor said, looking around at the other boys as they gathered around. We were probably causing a scene and with the masks on their backs, they looked intimidating. “Anyone can jump on the lines.”
My heart was racing, and I kept trying to pull away from them. Maybe I sensed it in the air, and in the way Volto had spoken, but we were running out of time. We were going to miss whatever he was trying to warn us about.
That’s what it felt like: A warning.
“Please,” I begged. “We need to go see.”
“No,” North said. “We have to...”
There was thud in the ear piece. Mr. Blackbourne was saying something, but it wasn’t into the microphone.
Suddenly, the earpiece gave off a piercing squeal. Instinct took over, and I covered my ears, but since the earpiece was inside, I quickly scratched at it until I could pull it out, leaving it hanging off the side of the mask.
The boys had all done the same. Kota spoke into his mask, “Hey, you there? There’s a...”
“That’s not feedback,” Victor said. “That’s a disruption to the line. He’s cutting off communication.”
“He might be in trouble,” North said. He snapped at me. “Stay here with Silas. We’re checking out the parking lot. Some of us may need to go after Mr. Blackbourne.”
“But...”
North pointed a finger at my nose. “Don’t,” he said.
Kota started directing the others. Kota, Victor and Luke were going to head to Mr. Blackbourne and find out what was going on. Silas stayed with me. North and the others were going to circle the parking lot.
I hovered where I stood, indecisive, but wanting to obey the boys. The urge to get involved was overwhelming, especially knowing Mr. Blackbourne could be in trouble, and that whatever
Volto had done, it was happening right now. Whatever favor he’d planned, we were missing it.
I swallowed every ounce of wanting to disobey Kota and North. Trust.
Silas stood by me while the others ran off. There were curious looks from other Academy members around us. Some looked like they were talking into earpieces. Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. There was a flurry of movement as the music blared a little louder. They were possibly masking their movements. The Academy was on the move.
It all happened at once. There were people on the floor offering food, people taking photos. Everyone was checking what the students were doing. I suppose if anyone was on a cell phone, or acting weird, they were looking for those people.
“Sang,” a voice said. It was faint. I realized it was coming through the earpiece. I put it back in again. “Mr. Black—”
“Now that they’re gone,” Volto’s voice rang through. “Go inside the estate. I’ll guide you from there.”
“Silas,” I said.
“What?” he was putting his earpiece back in. “Is he back?”
“Volto is,” I said. “He said go inside the estate.”
“Oh shit,” Silas grumbled. “Why?”
“Better hurry up,” Volto said.
I tugged at Silas’s arm. “I don’t know,” I said to him. “But listen, Volto hasn’t hurt us, right?”
“Are you kidding?” Silas asked.
“Please,” I said. I’d had enough of being told to stay behind. “We’re the only ones here, and maybe he’s diverting their attention or whatever, but... please, Silas?”
“We should stay,” he said.
“We need to find out what’s going on. Isn’t that what we’re doing now? If we’re going to catch up with him, we have to find out what he’s doing. We can’t just stand here.”
Silas looked longingly toward the exit that the others had disappeared behind. He looked toward the other Academy members, all seeming to scramble in different directions, giving orders. “I don’t know.”
“We’ll go slowly,” I said. “Together.”
Silas groaned and then tucked his hand around my elbow and started out. “If we end up kidnapped, I’ll kill him.”
“Down, doggie,” Volto said in my ear. Silas didn’t react, so I guessed Volto could hear what they were saying, but I was the only one who could hear him.
