Unmasked (9 page)

“But I still don’t…” Noelle began but Lacey held up a hand.

“Perhaps it’s a story for another time. Anyway, back to your question, Bri, the Author is good, so very good, but he’s very powerful. He doesn’t abuse his power like some vicious tyrant, but I think people should remember who he is before approaching him.”

Bri nodded softly, with a paralyzing awe that almost never clung to Bri’s fervent spirit.

“Do you think that I could meet him sometime soon?”

Lacey smiled brightly, “I wouldn’t even hesitate for a moment. Let tomorrow worry about itself and ask for him to come now. He will always come when you call.”

Bri arose, “I think I will, but I’d prefer to do it outside. I have a feeling that I will be out there for a long time.”

After the girls finished reading their notes, they each spent a little more time decorating their hallways and divulging in embarrassing stories at the campus cafeteria and training center.

Lacey pulled Noelle aside before she returned to her room.

“I want you to take my place when I get called into the story. They will call me any day now, even the day of Redemption, but I need someone to be counselor, and I think that you’re the best fit.”

Noelle nodded, stunned and not really quite sure what to say.

When she returned to her room, she collapsed on the bed as she spotted another note from the Author.

“Same time? Same place, tomorrow?”

She then took out her list of words on the construction sheet and read each one as if placing each in her heart as a treasure.

The door cracked open as Bri padded softly into the room.

“How did it go?” Noelle asked excitedly.

“Really well, I think. This has been a good day after all. You never know what you are missing even if it stares you straight in the face.”

“It has been a good day, I guess,” Noelle agreed.

Bri clicked the light and hobbled into bed, but before the two fell into a stupor, Bri muttered softly:

“This is the kind of day worth living for.”

On the day of Redemption, fall seemed to come in a very timely fashion. The autumn leaves glowed in brightness as the campus prepared for winter. The buzz of the Redemption tournament had rested on the campus that day, and Extras cafeteria had begun serving everything possible with pumpkin in it to celebrate the fall season.

“Pumpkin pie, bread, lattes, soup, and cookies,” Noelle listed them off echoing a gagging noise when she took a swig of the latte. “It’s enough to make you sick…do they ever serve good food in here?”

Bri shook her head sadly as she gazed begrudgingly at her uneaten pumpkin soup.

“I guess that if you get a job, Noelle, that you will be able to afford to stop by the campus restaurants and snack shops more regularly.”

Noelle shot her a quizzical look.

“Don’t you mean
us
? We can both get jobs, you know.” 

“No, that isn’t what I meant at all,” Bri said as she ladled her soup and then let it drop in her bowl. “Miss Willows told me this morning that I’m in the Romance story. I have to leave campus tomorrow.”

“What?” asked Noelle incredulously. “No, seriously, why can’t you work with me?”

“I would show you the letter, but they are still low on paper because of the placement,” Bri answered with the slightest trace of disappointment. “They’re telling campers individually now, but it’s fine. The Author still has a plan for my story; it just may not be as glamorous as a Main Character.”

Noelle rounded on Lacey as she sat down at the table with a tray full of pumpkin cookies.

“Don’t tell me that you’re leaving me too.”

Lacey shook her head, “Surprisingly, Miss Willows has not called me down to tell me the news, but I’ve heard that they’ll inform people up to about 11 pm the night before the story.”

The news of this spread throughout the lunchroom as several members of Sage Peak, as well as others Extra cabins, took a nasty shock that a novice had entered the story so early on. Many others expressed their astonishment that an elder camper such as Lacey had not yet been informed that she would be a part of the next story.

As the whispers rang throughout the room, Lacey slouched uncomfortably in her seat and Noelle suggested that they leave.

With a surprising pace, Lacey collected her friend’s trays and dumped them into the sink before racing out of the cafeteria.

She ventured over toward another building with several posters marked on the outside. She placed a bony index finger on a particular list that read “Redemption Qualifiers”. The administration had just posted it that morning because certain teams made last minute changes to their line ups. Lacey clawed her way down occasionally pointing out a person that she knew.

“Let’s see, the two people in Sage Peak who made it were Aleesha in the mile race and Collin in the improvisation activity, but the Extras also have Roman, the boy who beat Noelle in tryouts, who’s in Willow Brush, the Sci-Fi Unwanteds cabin, and twins Heidi and Maria who are in Pine Hollow, the Fantasy Unwanteds cabin, but I don’t really know anyone else who are Extras…”

She frowned slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Noelle asked automatically.

“Jim didn’t make it,” Lacey pouted and quickly added after she caught Bri’s quizzical expression. “He’s a guy in Fantasy. I met him recently.”

A sly smile crept onto her face which Noelle didn’t quite understand.

“Is that the kid who can’t talk?” Noelle asked, reminiscent of the incident with the Lapsus.

Lacey pressed her lips together as if hiding a secret, but nodded slightly with a wink.

“Spot anyone else that you know?” she asked quickly, flushing a slight pink.

Noelle scanned the list and instantly a name popped out to her.

“There,” she exclaimed, “Elm, I know her! She’s doing the – the mile? I thought that she liked climbing.”

Although none could argue, who had walked with Elm, that her pace was difficult to match at a leisurely stroll.

“I guess she’s good at running too,” Lacey answered in a voice that had an odd tone attached to it.

She sounded hopeful.

“Besides, Supporting Characters tend to try new activities. They don’t have as much at stake like us,” Lacey added with a hint of jealousy.

It had never occurred to Noelle that Elm only got a Supporting Character position. She had simply assumed that she was a guaranteed Main Character.

“Ellie’s on there!” Bri exclaimed bouncing up and down.

“Who?” Noelle and Lacey asked simultaneously.

Bri tapped the list under the riddle category.

“My sister. She’s a Supporting Character in Unknown. She says that she likes the category, but would rather be a Villain. More fun playing those kinds of characters, she says, but she never told me about this!”

“I think that there are no classes going on in the art room,” Lacey added enthusiastically. “I’m sure that they’ll be fine with us creating signs cheering for the competitors. After all, Elm needs all the encouragement that she can get in order to beat Aleesha.”

#

Lacey flickered on the lights to the musty building as they let off a soft hum. The room smelled of dust and old paint.

“It’s empty,” Noelle said automatically.

Lacey waved dismissive hand.

“The art teacher doesn’t mind. He says that he has so many supplies, and he figures that they’ll go to waste if we don’t use them.”

She unrolled a very large sheet of white drawing paper and rummaged through a few more drawers piling on various supplies onto the paint splattered tables.

“Can I make one for Elm?” Noelle began suddenly as the various supplies gave her a surplus of imagination. She pictured the eloquent sign bearing perfectly sketched letters on the blank canvas before her.

“No,” replied Lacey sarcastically, “I only put these supplies out in front of you so that you can admire them. Of course you can!”

Noelle sat stunned for a moment, but then a shaky hand reached for a medium-sized paintbrush as she began to sketch the letters in dark green, “Go Elm!” While she had pictured it to come out far better than the turn out, she still admired her work with a hint of pride.

The three girls worked in silence, Lacey and Bri collaborating on Ellie’s poster, while Noelle paused, occasionally, to imagine a few more creative touches to add.

“Your Elm friend better be good,” Lacey said, half-jokingly but seriously as well. “I refuse to leave campus tomorrow knowing that Aleesha won the race that I should be running.”

“Don’t say that!” Noelle said tersely. “You don’t know if you’re going to be in that story tomorrow. You might still have a chance.”

Lacey replied with a doubtful grunt.

“So,” Bri butt in, somewhat eager to change the subject. “What is Redemption like? Does the whole campus go to watch?”

Lacey laughed, “It’s insane! There are only so many seats available for each event, so you have to plan ahead of time. Usually certain events occur simultaneously – you know what? The administration did hand me a schedule for tonight. I know that I have it in here somewhere….”

She rummaged through the pocket of her jeans until she pulled out a very crumpled piece of paper folded several times.

She unfolded it and the three peered over the list, and it took them several minutes to decipher the crumpled writing.

REDEMPTION CLUB’S SEASONAL COMPETITION

Summary:
Three times every year competitors from teams all over the campus compete to prove that they deserve to be in another genre or characterization. They meet during the Spring, Summer, and Fall, but take an off season break during the Winter (due to the weather). Each competitor will face off the other teams in one event, out of five, to prove that he or she is the best and deserves the best placement.

Schedule of events this evening:

7:00
Riddle Slam

Event info: Competitors will be given a riddle to solve. Each will write down their answers on a sheet of paper and hand it into the judges. If they answer correctly, they will proceed to the next round, but incorrectly will result in termination from Redemption.

7:00
Word Play

Event info: Competitors will be given a sentence and each will try to say the sentence with more emphasis than the previous competitor. The competitor who says it with the least amount of emphasis than the previous will be terminated from Redemption.

8:30
Obstacle Course Relay Race

Event info: Relay teams will compete for the fastest time through the obstacle course. One member from each team will run through the obstacle and then hand the baton to the other teammate who will then finish the obstacle race but given a disability (blindfolded, hands tied behind back, et cetera).

8:30
Rope climb relay race

Event info: Relay teams will be given a high ropes or challenge ropes course to complete using teamwork and aiming for the fastest time. The first team to complete the rope’s course will win.

10:00
Mile Race

Event info: Each year we have a different race for runners to compete in (in year’s past we’ve had the 400m hurdles, 2 mile, 200 m sprint, et cetera). The first person to pass the finish line wins.

Good luck to all competitors, and we look forward to this Season’s Redemption!

When all three girls finished reading Noelle paused and did a double take when she read the times of the events.

“Some events are happening at the same time, Lacey, why is that?”

“Usually they don’t have enough room to cram in all the campers to watch an event, except for the mile race, which everyone can squeeze into the stadium. That’s why you usually want to plan for which events you want to see, because spots fill up fast.”

After completing their encouragement signs, the girls left the paint out to dry as each enthusiastically expressed their interest in certain events all the way back to the cabin.

#

Even though they left dinner relatively early to collect their signs and venture forth for the first event in Redemption, the stands had a large cluster of people waiting for the first events to begin.

Bri tapped Noelle lightly on the shoulder and whispered, “I’m going to go watch my sister, Ellie, in her Riddle contest, but I’ll meet you at the obstacle course race?”

Noelle nodded as Bri disappeared.

Lacey checked her watch impatiently every five minutes, occasionally, letting Noelle know how much time was left before the event would begin.

The bitterly cold winter air had already begun to give birth as the frosty air bit the noses of everyone in the stands, but Lacey along with everyone else came prepared with bundles of blankets to share with frozen friends.

Suddenly the several pairs of bright lights flickered on illuminating the field as several teams marched on the field. Noelle counted sixteen competitors, spotting Collin and Roman, the curly haired boy who had beaten her in tryouts.

A thin man wearing all black tapped the microphone several times.

He then dully stared at the anticipating crowd for a few moments before speaking.

“Welcome to this season’s Redemption,” he said looking bored out of his mind. “The event that you are about to watch is Word Play, and if you consult your flyers, you’ll find more information on the event.

“Now the judges,” he droned on, “will randomly select two players out of a list of names in a hat. They will then consult a list of pre-written sentences for the competitors to come up with impromptu ways to emphasize them.”

He raised his hand like a zombie as he motioned toward the judging panel. A miserly old man with very thick shaking fingers began shouting out names, but no one could hear what he said.

The man handed him the microphone.

“Collin and Holly will now compete using the sentence, ‘What is on your face?’,”

Holly stepped forward as Lacey whispered something along the lines of “Ladies first”.

“What is on your face?” Holly asked dully, but surprisingly she still had enough emphasis to knock out a few rounds in the word play.

Collin and Holly battled back and forth using different voices such as one of a stereotypical nerd, a super hero, and a few popular characters that had went to campus in previous years.

But eventually Collin beat out Holly with a germaphobe impression that could not be topped.

The judges pulled out a few other names of campers who almost no one had heard of.

They displayed dull sentences such as “My feet are asleep” and “This book is heavy” in such ravishing tones that Noelle wondered if she could ever have a shot of making Redemption in the first place.

“Don’t worry,” Lacey encouraged her. “My first year was really intimidating going up against people who could run the 200 meter hurdles in 20 some seconds, but if you put a lot of hard work in, I’ll promise that you’ll start seeing benefits.”

Eventually Roman lost to another boy named Cly, and Noelle felt a little pleasure in this. After all, why would she root for the boy who cost her a chance at Redemption?