"What the..." says Gil. "That's kinda ominous, don't you think? What does it even mean?"
"I don't know," I say. "Not yet anyway..."
"This face though, I feel like I've seen it somewhere before," says Alica, tapping her index finger at the poster. "I just can't quite put my finger on it."
"And what's with the mask, that is super creepy!" Gil says and then leans a bit closer to the board. "Although that is some quality painting right there. I've only ever seen a few people with brushwork like this."
"You're saying someone painted all of these by hand? There's dozens of them!" Alica says, slightly amazed.
"I mean, the masks are. The text is way too neat to be anything but printed."
"What about the edges?" I ask. Gil looks at me and frowns.
"What about the edges?" he asks. I look at him for a moment.
"The... text around the edges? You can see it can't you?" I say slowly. Gil turns back to the posters and feels one between his thumb and forefinger.
"Yes, I can see it, but honestly it looks like it's just a part of the paper's texture. It's not made with any ink I know," he says and shakes his head. "It was probably on the paper before the posters were printed."
"Interesting," I say and pull one of the posters down.
"Why are you taking it with you?" Alica asks.
"I need to figure out what the text says," I say, folding it up and stuffing it in my bag.
"You're assuming it says anything, and is not just decoration," she says, crossing her arms.
"Well, I... I just have this feeling there's more to this," I say. Alica looks at me thoughtfully for a second and I glare at her. Then she shrugs and brushes past us into the dining hall.
"Good enough for me," she exclaims. "Now let's go get lunch."
~x~
We hole up in the library after lunch. I'm browsing through books with ancient runes and other alphabets and Gil is finishing off an animalogy essay due today. Alica on the other hand is sleeping. Friday mid-afternoon power-nap she calls it. Helps her stay up later in the evening. Why she needs to stay up late she refuses to tell us but I can imagine plenty of reasons and it's not like it really matters anyway.
I close yet another decryption book and sigh.
"Nothing?" Gil asks, not looking up from the book in front of him.
"Nothing," I say, leaning my elbows on the table. "I'm starting to wonder if there really isn't anything more to this..."
"Shit," says someone from behind me and I turn around. Percy is standing there with a pile of books in his hands and a expression like he's seen a ghost. His mouth is slightly open and he's staring at the poster I've spread across the table.
"Percy?" I ask and snap my fingers in front of his face. He startles, blinks and looks at me. I raise my eyebrows at him. "You okay there?"
"I... what? Oh, yes." He clears his throat. "I'm fine, yes. But, uhhh, wh-where did you get that.. poster?"
"There were several hanging in the entrance hall," I say slowly. "Didn't you go for lunch?"
"Oh, no, not today, I've been doing inventory since noon, my afternoon classes were cancelled, see, and you're saying there's several of these hanging around?"
"Yes, that's what I said," I say, exchanging a look with Gil. "Do you... know something about them?"
"What? Oh, oh no, not really," he says quickly and lays down the books on our table. He is extremely fidgety. "I just, well, I recognize the mask."
I smack Alica's head and she snorts and bolts upright with a "huh wha".
"You do?" I ask, smile fighting its way onto my face. Gil is at full attention too and Alica squints up at Percy who looks baffled by the sudden attention.
"Uh, yeah," he says "I mean the name is written right there, too. It's the mask of Geltoech, the Allseeing Eye. A deity from an old western religion, apparently gifted with sight so powerful he can see everything, past, present, and future. He used to be a very popular deity, specially amongst, well... sorcerers."
"You don't say..." I say. "Why is everything suddenly about sorcerers?"
"Well, in my opinion, everything has been a long time about sorcerers," Percy says, oddly amused. "It's just been 30 years since anyone in the country has been allowed to be open about it."
"Do you think something is gonna happen?" Gil says. "I mean, between the possession victim and the poisoning and now this weird poster, I get the feeling someone is planning something big and probably not so great."
"Possible," I say. "Though I have no idea what they're trying to accomplish with this backwards plan."
"We do have a puzzle to solve that cold shed light to the matter," says Alica who's apparently finally woken up enough to join the conversation. We all look at her, confused, and she rolls her eyes. "The very reason we came here, remember? To decode the text?"
"Oh yeah," I say and turn to Percy. "Do you have any idea what this means?" I point around the edges of the poster. He looks closer, frowning at first but then he seems to recognize something.
"I uh, I think I've seen these letters somewhere, wait a moment," he says and then he strides off.
"That was easier than I thought," Gil says. "I was sure we would have to persuade him a bit more."
Soon Percy is back with a huge book that has no markings on the covers. I try to peek at the pages but Percy holds the book too high.
"Ok, let's see here," he says and starts to translate.
"'Every sorcerer that wishes to be free
of tyranny come tonight at 8pm to the abandoned barn on the outskirts
of town. Take a mask and be prepared to prove your worth before
Geltoech. Long live magic.'"
Our eyes grow bigger and bigger as he goes on and once he's finished everyone is dead silent.
"Γαμώτο," Alica whispers.
"Well then," says Percy.
"That was..." I say.
"Should we... tell someone?" Gil asks.
"Hell no!" I say. "We need to go see what they'll do. There's no time to organize a proper raid."Percy looks very uncomfortable. "Besides, as long as they're not hurting anyone, why should we stop them?"
"What about the mask?" says Alica. "It said 'take a mask', didn't it?"
"It's probably so that people won't be afraid of being outed as magical," says Percy. "If everyone is masked no one knows who the others are and nobody will be in danger."
"But where so we get a mask?" she insists. We all just shrug. She looks unimpressed.
"Hey, our class is starting!" Gil suddenly says, looking at the large clock above the front counter.
"Crap, you're right," I say and we quickly gather our stuff and get up. "Thanks, Percy. See you later!"
"Bye," says Percy and then we're out of the library.
~x~
To my surprise there's already a letter in the lost-and-found. To my bigger surprise, there is also another one. From someone else. I grab them to go and read them once we're through with all the classes.
My face falls. He's going away, is he? And I had the feeling I was just about to figure him out. Also, patronizing? Surely not. But I am glad that he thinks he's found a cure for Tauria.
I hesitate for a moment before picking up the other letter.
Well then. Guess it won't be quite as boring after all. The boy doesn't have many friends though, and I doubt it's Tauria. Aside from her condition making it unlikely, the tone is much too hostile for her. But Tauria had mentioned someone else, hadn't she? Yesterday, when I went to visit her... Laelia, wasn't it? I scan the student information in my mind. Laelia Salvai, third term. Exceptionally smart, especially for her age. Youngest attendee ever admitted into the Academia, only 17 when she began her first term. Don't know much about her personally though... I better look into her when I get the chance.
There's a knock on the door, which surprises both Gil and me. I go to open the door to find a box. I look down the hall to see that there's one in front of everyone else's door as well. Other people are looking out their doors too, picking up their boxes and looking confused.
"What is it?" Gil asks, peeking over my shoulder. I open the box. "Oh, shit." We look at each other and then back at the box.
There's two masks in it, just like the one on the poster.
________________________________________________________________How exciting, I finally finished. Yeah, yeah, I'm super late again, but I had zero ideas what to write and was doing all kinds of other shit instead. Sorry about that. But hey, here it is, finally, and next time it will be dad's turn to write! Yay. Your topic isssssssss...... "Snake"?
On another note, I am glad to inform all of those who don't watch the news that USA finally legalized same sex marriage in all 50 states! Even Texas! And to celebrate that I whipped up a bit of fanart.. is it called fanart if I'm the original creator? Oh well, have art.
(Wow this is a very picture heavy part isn't it?) It's Oz and Gil! Who could now get married in the US if that was a place that existed in this universe. It's kinda bad and what even is shading but I spent a lot of time on it so I'm gonna put it here anyway. #lovewins and peace out.
Pie out.
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