by K A Riley
“Listen, in honor of your birthday I’m ordering in tonight. But I want to make sure we’re finished eating by seven so we can get ready.”
“Ready?” I replied. “For what?”
“Midsummer Fest, silly,” Will said, smacking me gently on the top of my head. “But we can skip it and do something else for your birthday if you want.”
“Ow!” I shouted, rubbing my head in mock agony. “You’re really planning on going?”
A mix of excitement and apprehension worked its way through me. Attending the procession would mean the possibility of seeing Callum again, but it could also mean running into the horrid woman from the park.
“You are coming with me, right?” Will asked.
“Um…” I replied. “I’m not really sure. I don’t have a mask…”
“Of course you do. Here. I got a little something for you on my travels.” He reached for a large wrapped box sitting on the kitchen island. In my excitement at seeing him I hadn’t even noticed it. “Happy Birthday, Sis.”
My eyes bugged out as I held the large gift in my hands. I set it on the kitchen table and ripped it open, only to discover what looked like eighty layers of white tissue paper.
“Are you sure there’s actually something in here?” I laughed. “I mean, not that I’m not grateful for such an awesome box of garbage.”
“I’m sure. I had a heck of a time getting that thing onto the plane.”
I reached into the box, rifling through the paper until my hand met something smooth and cool. Grabbing its edge, I eased it from the box, gasping when I set my eyes on it.
The object was a mask, pure white with a prominent nose, complete with nostrils and a set of feminine lips with a small hole, apparently for breathing.
But something about it wasn’t quite right.
“There are no eyes,” I said, a feeling of murky foreboding swirling through my mind as I stared at it. It wasn’t only that the mask lacked holes where the eyes should have been. It didn’t even have indentations to depict them. The face looked oppressive, blinding, like something that would imprison me inside itself. “Why aren’t there eyes?”
“Read what it says on the back,” Will said with a funny smile.
I did as he said, turning the mask over. Inside, in a tidy painted script, were the words,
Wear me and see all.
“Weird, right?” Will said as I stared. “I mean, that it’s in English instead of Italian. I guess they expected an American tourist to buy it or something.”
Confused, I pulled the elastic strap attached to either side and glided the mask over my head to secure it in place. Though it should have been impossible, I could see Will as clearly as if I hadn’t been wearing anything over my eyes at all. In fact, if anything, his features looked clearer, more in focus somehow. I could see every pore on his nose, every bit of stubble coating his chin.
“This is wild,” I said. “High-def! Where did you…I mean how…where did it come from?”
“I was in Venice for a week,” Will replied. “That place is famous for its masks. I mean, most of them are super-ornate, covered in decorations. Feathers, gold, you name it. I was about to buy you a black one with red feathers when this old woman in a shop stopped me.”
“Wait,” I said, pulling the mask off. “I’ve already had my fill of mysticism for the day. Is this going to be one of those stories you see in movies about old ladies selling cursed monkey paws?”
“Sort of,” Will laughed. “She was a bit of a loon. She literally walked up to me holding this thing in her gnarled hand and said, ‘You must give this face’—I remember specifically that she said ‘face’ and not ‘mask’—‘to your sister, the Seeker.’”
As he said the last word, I drew in a quick breath, nearly dropping the fragile mask.
Reeling, I staggered away from Will. “Wait—what did you just say?”
My face must have turned white, because he reached out and grabbed my arm to steady me. “Vega! You okay?”
I nodded. “Fine,” I said. “Sorry. I must not have eaten enough today.” I pulled myself up onto one of the kitchen’s wooden stools and repeated my question. “Tell me—did she say anything else?”
Will looked pensive for a moment. “She said one thing—that the mask would ‘teach the Seeker how to see the world as it truly is.’ I asked her what that means, and she said ‘It is not for you to know. But the Seeker will come to understand soon enough.’ She was all mysterious and spooky about it. Honestly, it’s probably just some silly sales pitch she uses to make the big bucks. Anyhow, there was no way I could say no after that, so I just nodded and smiled and handed her my cash.”
“Weird,” I said with a withering smile. “But thanks. It’s…really amazing.”
“I got a mask for myself, too,” Will said, reaching into his large army surplus bag and pulling out a black mask. It was shiny, with two round eye holes and what looked like a giant beak. “It’s a Plague Doctor mask. People used to think these would keep them from getting sick. They say the long nose created a pocket of clean air doctors would breathe in, so they didn’t catch the plague from the sick people they were helping.”
“Did they work?” I asked skeptically. “The masks, I mean.”
“I don’t see too many doctors walking around with the plague, so I guess they must have.”
“Cute,” I said, my heart still hammering in my chest after Will’s tale of the strange woman in Venice.
“Anyhow,” he said, “you and me. The Festival. Tonight, after dinner. If you try to stay home, I’ll drag you out by your hair.”
“Try it and you’ll get bit.”
Will laughed.
“Fine,” I said, “I’ll go. As long as you promise to stay with me.”
“Stay with you?” he asked with a look of surprise. “Of course I will. But Vega—you look kind of freaked out. Are you okay?”
I eyed him for a moment, chewing the inside of my cheek before saying, “You’re going to think I’ve lost it.”
“I won’t. Promise.”
I told him about our grandmother’s gift of the necklace and Charlie handing me the box containing the strange dragon key. Even as I did so, I felt all the apprehension that had built up over the day melting away. Somehow, saying the words out loud made the two incidents seem less shocking.
“And see?” I said, drawing the dragon key and chain out from under my shirt. “They link together.” Will watched as I demonstrated the magic trick where the key connected to the chain, locked on somehow, and then slipped off when I tugged it a certain way.
“Probably magnets,” Will suggested, leaning in to inspect the key and the chain more closely. “Either way, it’s pretty neat.”
“So, what do you think? Does it mean something, or am I losing it?”
“Well, Nana’s always been weird, as you know, so I wouldn’t worry about any of that. As for Charlie’s present…maybe it was his way of thanking you for always being nice to him. You’re one of the few people who is, you know.”
“Maybe,” I said. I still hadn’t told him about the woman in the park, about the odd way she’d looked at me, or how she’d acted like she’d come to Fairhaven just to find me. I still wasn’t convinced I hadn’t imagined the whole thing.
“I’m glad you’re here. Oh, by the way, Liv will be at Midsummer Fest and I promised her we’d look for her. You’d better be prepared. I think she’s planning to propose to you tonight.”
“Great,” Will said, grabbing me in a headlock with one arm, grabbing the mask with the other hand, and dragging me toward the stairs. “I’ll be sure to turn her down gently. But don’t worry about all the other stuff—it sounds like you just had a weird day. Besides, you got some nice new jewelry out of it.” He released me at the bottom of the staircase and smiled. “I know it’s just until tomorrow, but man, it’s good to be back in Fairhaven.”
“It’s good to have you home,” I said, punching his arm.
By the ti
me I’d made it upstairs I’d all but forgotten the madness that had befallen me that morning.
Will was home, and nothing else mattered.
Midsummer Fest
At 7:30 P.M., after we’d eaten dinner and scarfed down two cinder-block sized pieces of a double-chocolate cake Will had picked up at our local bakery, we found ourselves walking through Norfolk Commons’ main gates. Will was dressed in his long-beaked plague doctor mask, a pair of blue jeans, and a faded gray sweater with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows.
I’d changed into charcoal-gray jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black hoodie with the strange white mask Will had given me covering my face.
“You look like the Angel of Death,” he told me as we walked along.
“Good,” I replied. “Maybe it’ll keep people from talking to me. I just wish I’d thought to bring that scythe from the garage. That would have completed the look and kept everyone at a respectful distance.”
“Come on now. You know the rules for Midsummer Fest,” Will said, ticking them off one at a time on his fingers with pretend sternness. “No alcohol. No drugs. No unleashed pets. No bare feet. And absolutely no long-handled, razor-sharp weapons of mass decapitation.”
“That’s the problem with these big public parties,” I said, giving Will a playful nudge with my elbow. “They get you all geared up but then never let you have any real fun.”
“Hurry up, Miss Death!” he urged, breaking into a jog. “I want to have a look at everyone’s hideous faces.”
It seemed most of the town had gathered in the park already by the time we arrived. Groups of teenagers were huddled here and there, laughing at one another’s costumes and masks. The younger kids bounced and yipped all over each other, while the older kids played it cool, bantering back and forth, talking politics, and telling dirty jokes. It took me only a second to spot the three Charmers, the popular but evil clique who made Plymouth High miserable. Each of the trio was dressed in a similar outfit: blue jeans, a colorful sweater, and a half-mask made of ruffling feathers. Count on the Charmers to look like arrogant, indifferent peacocks.
Despite her face being largely covered, it was impossible not to recognize Miranda, the Charmers’ notorious leader. Her long red hair, her pride and joy, was a dead giveaway. She wore the most impressive of the three masks, a red creation with long feathers extending upwards from each side. It wasn’t entirely surprising to see her one-upping the other two girls. I had to admit she looked striking under the overhead streetlights. She was tall and slim, built like a runway model. Every high school boy’s basic dream; every high school girl’s basic nightmare. The truth was, as much as I hated her arrogance, I envied her confidence. To be able to walk through school or stand like that in the middle of a park, just oozing that “I’m Queen of the World” vibe…It was impressive. Even admirable, in a way. If only she wasn’t such an unholy bitch.
It took some effort, but I managed to stop looking at her and her giggling, twittering friends. Instead, I swung around to see if I could spot Callum. At least he wasn’t with Miranda and her gang. Which was good. The idea of him getting sucked into that vortex of haughty stupidity would have broken my heart. Somehow, fortunately, he didn’t strike me as the sort to fall for the prom-queen type, but then, what did I know about relationships? I’d never had a boyfriend. My first kiss happened during a game of spin the bottle at a party at Liv’s when I was thirteen. As everyone oohed and ahhed, I leaned in to meet Kevin Lewandowski over the glass soda bottle only to have him shriek in pain when my braces sliced a deep gash in his lower lip. He spent the rest of the night in the bathroom with a piece of gauze pressed to his mouth. At least that’s what I heard. I wasn’t there as I was too busy running home, crying and lava-hot with embarrassment.
That turned me off of kissing for a while, and I don’t think it did much to inspire Kevin, either.
As I searched the crowd for Callum, my gaze moved through the throngs of noisy people. Most of the costumes were relatively innocuous: a white rabbit here, a black, Zorro-like half-mask there. After a little while, I found my eyes pulled to the face of a teenage girl I’d never seen before. She wasn’t wearing a mask, which may have been why she stood out among the raucous menagerie. But there was something odd about her, too. Her skin was a milky, almost translucent white. Her eyes were emerald green, and her mane of hair was a spectrum of thick, wavy browns. But what was most striking about her was the animal draped around her neck like a scarf. At first, I thought she was wearing a mink stole, but after a few seconds, it moved, slithering over her shoulders like a furry snake.
The image sent a chill into my bones, up my spine, and through my teeth. I wasn’t usually squeamish, but the events of the day had me on edge.
Next to the girl was a young man without a mask whose face was deeply scarred by one long, red slash mark along his right cheek. He looked like he’d been on the losing end of a knife fight. He and the girl were huddled close, engaged in what looked like an intense conversation, when they were approached by a tall young man with broad shoulders and the most expressive blue eyes I’d ever seen.
“Callum,” I mouthed silently, a smile stretching my lips wide.
In his right hand, pinched between his thumb and his first two fingers, he held what looked like a dragon mask. He twirled it absently as he talked with the green-eyed girl and the scarred boy, who both shot me quiet glances across the park’s jogging path as if they were sizing me up. I looked away, pretending not to notice them—and hoping they hadn’t noticed me noticing them.
As I was peeking back at them out of the corner of my eye, the girl nodded to the boy, and the furry animal around her neck raised its head and glared at me through black, slightly sinister-looking eyes.
“What the heck are you staring at?” Will asked.
Flustered, I pulled my mask off and looked at him for a second. His eyes sparkled behind the plague doctor mask, and I could tell he was smiling.
“I just…” I began, “there’s a girl with an animal over there. A ferret, I think. Maybe a mink. I don’t really know the difference. I was sort of mesmerized, I guess.”
“Where?” Will asked, looking around.
“Where what?”
“Where’s the ferret?”
“Over there,” I replied, glancing as inconspicuously as possible toward Callum’s trio. They were still standing together, still talking, but the ferret had disappeared.
“I don’t see a ferret,” Will said.
“Neither do I. It must have slipped into her bag or something.”
Confused, I pulled my mask back on and took another look at the girl. As I stared, the ferret reappeared, jutting its small head out and staring at me again with an eerie, piercing kind of awareness.
“Um, Will,” I said quietly, turning to my brother.
“Hmm?”
Without taking my eyes off the ferret—or whatever it was—I tugged on Will’s sleeve. “The woman in Venice—the one with the masks…did she say anything about this mask making people see weird things?”
“Weird things? Like what?”
“Like evil-eyed but adorable rodents.”
Will let out a laugh and waggled his fingers in the air in front of his face. “Oooo…are you hallucinating?”
“Knock it off,” I said with a hard smack to his arm. “I’m serious.”
“Ow,” he said, holding his upper arm like he’d been shot. “There’s nothing sinister about the mask, and, before you ask, no, I didn’t slip any psychotropic drugs into your milk.”
“That’s great,” I said. “So, I’m just losing my mind.”
“You always did have a great imagination, Sis.”
Ignoring Will, I took one last glance at the trio, catching Callum’s eye for a second. It was so strange—I knew he couldn’t see my eyes through my expressionless mask, but somehow, I still felt like he was looking right into them.
After a few seconds he put a hand on the shoulder of each of his two companio
ns before moving away with them into the crowd.
Hearing someone call out, “Vega!” I whipped around to see a giant zebra head weaving its way through the jostling crowd and heading right toward me and Will.
“There you are!” Liv yelled, her voice deep and muffled from inside the striped rubber head. “Cool mask, Vega. I wouldn’t have known it was you except for the fact that I recognized your satchel.” She turned to my brother, hopping up and down, her hands clasped together. “Will,” she chirped, “you look so handsome, even in that weird bird-head!” She threw her arms around Will, hugging him so tight he let out a choked cough.
“Thanks, I think,” he chuckled, pushing her gently away.
“Come on,” Liv commanded. “We need to get our candles and noise-makers! The procession starts in a few minutes.”
We made our way over to a long table where for two dollars Liv and Will each purchased a red plastic kazoo and a glass containing a white candle to carry with them on the procession.
“You’re not getting one?” Liv asked me, holding up her candle.
I shook my head. “Nah. I want my hands free in case…” I stopped myself, realizing there was no way to finish the thought without giving away what had happened earlier in the day. I wasn’t about to explain that I might need my hands to punch some stranger in the face. “I just don’t want to set myself on fire,” I said.
“That’s okay,” Liv giggled, throwing an arm around my shoulders. “If you want, you can share mine.”
When we’d moved back into the long line of festival attendees, a voice crackled over a nearby speaker announcing the procession was about to begin. “Happy Midsummer Fest!” it screeched. “May the remainder of summer be momentous and remarkable for you all!”
Liv elbowed me gently in the side, nodding up ahead. “Ugh, look who’s talking to the Charmers,” she whisper-hissed. Our three enemies were standing off to the side, talking to Callum, who was now wearing his dragon’s head mask. My heart sank with the realization that the very meeting I’d been dreading was taking place right before my eyes.