Uncle Steve residence. 9:00 AM...
Katelyn found herself faced down on her pillow in her bed. She turned her head towards Danny's bed and saw a peaceful looking guy with his hands draped over the side of the bed. She lifted her head up and noticed her pillow was a little damp; "probably drool" she thought to herself. She around and saw that she was in her dry nightgown and her mask under her pillow.
She sighed contently. She didn't remember too much from last night but she sniffed the room and she didn't smell sulfur in the air anymore.
She got up from her bed and wrapped a blanket around her while tightly grasped the mask underneath. She walked into the living room and saw the other teens eating breakfast and watching TV.
"Morning" Katelyn yawned.
"Oh looks who's up. You and Danny were out like a log," Malcolm sneered. The rest of the teens also looks towards her and snickered at each other.
A red-headed woman entered the living room with a pitcher of orange juice and greeted Katelyn. "Oh good morning, your Katelyn right?" The lady asked.
Katelyn nodded. "Ah okay. I'm Aunty P, but you can just call me Peggy. Grab some food and join your friends," Aunt Peggy continued.
Katelyn looked over at the kitchen counter and grabbed a muffin and poured a cup of coffee. She then sat down with the rest of the group watching a re-run on Nickelodeon.
"Oh come on there's gotta be something better than watching an iCarly re-run..." Malcolm took the remote and started channel surfing. After a few clicks he landed on a local channel discussing the news.
"Early this morning, a wildfire started blazing at Stillwater Cove between Pebble Beach and Carmel. It burned close to 30 square miles and was projected to be more devastating than the 2016 Soberanes wild fire. However, when authorities arrived to contain the fire they were shocked to see the entire area covered with an inch of snow. Residents nearby told us that they saw something in the sky that rained down the flurry that extinguished the fire."
"I saw something green in the sky and then it started snowing. It happened real fast," a resident said.
"Authorities will continue to investigate the cause of the wildfire and the unidentified flying object that was spotted at the scene of last night's fire. Reporting from Pebble Beach, I'm Abigail of KION."
Katelyn quickly finished her coffee and dropped the empty mug to the sink and attempted to sneak her suitcase back into her room. She slipped the mask back into her suitcase and slowly dragged it back to her room. Danny, now wide awake on the bed, was scrolling through his phone. When he saw her, he quickly flipped over his phone and casually asked, "whatcha doing with your suitcase?"
"Oh... you were sleeping so... I thought I move it to another room so I can clean it up without waking you." Danny nodded and got up from his bed.
"God I'm sore," he mumbled as he dragged himself to the bathroom.
As Katelyn lugged her suitcase into the room's closet, Aunt Peggy knocked on her door. "Hey Katelyn are you there?"
"Yes," she responded and opened the door.
"Would you mind if we take a walk to the beach? It's a lovely morning~" Aunt Peggy asked.
Katelyn nodded and walked together towards the beach; the same beach that she stood last night when she transformed.
"Isn't this place grand? A private place to do whatever in private... except..." Aunt Peggy turned around and pointed her index finger towards a camera that was mounted on the corner of the strip of beach
Katelyn's stomach sank. She was caught. Her face started to blush and she felt the need to run away.
"Don't worry. I deleted the footage from last night... fellow masker," Peggy comforted Katelyn.
Katelyn was taken aback. How did she know about the mask?
"I was wondering what happened to it when Stanley threw it away all those years ago... turns out it's a small world after-all."
Katelyn looked at Peggy and realized she was The Peggy that she read about when she first researched the mask.
"Your Peggy... the one that..." Katelyn stuttered.
"Yep! The very same one. That cartoon and movie was based on a true story you know." Peggy continued, "and now it's in your hands. I'm glad it picked you. Thanks to you, you saved our neighborhood."
Katelyn started to cheer up and Peggy's smiled beamed right back at her.
"I... have... so many questions!" Katelyn stammered.
"I bet you do. But I was thinking of taking you kids to work today. I'm a wildlife writer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and I have something that might be of interest to you." Peggy suggested.
Katelyn nodded.
"Great! You and I will go in my car and Steve will take the rest of your friends. We can talk privately on the ride over."
--------------------------------
On the ride to the aquarium, Katelyn and Peggy shared their experiences with the mask.
"Eventually, Stanley really didn't want to keep it anymore. For him, the mask accomplished it's job and now him and Tina live in Malibu doing god knows what. I haven't really kept in touch..." Peggy continued, "but Stanley did entrust me with something really special that might be of some use to you."
Peggy parked the car and the two walked through the lobby and into the Touch Pool area. "Wait here for a second," Peggy directed and she went through an employee only access door. After a few minutes, Peggy came back with a old chest and a rusty key.
The two sat together and Peggy opened the box. Inside the box there was another mask and a container that held a joystick of some sort.
"This is the sister mask. It was made to allow others to "control" whosever wears both masks. This mask only works with its brother; what you have." Peggy took out the sister mask and handed it to Katelyn.
"And this is the remote control. In the months after finding it, Stanley worked really hard to add a special switch to the back of the remote." Peggy turned the remote over and there was a little slide toggle with "FW" etched next to it. "That controls the wearer's free will."
Katelyn was stunned. With this ability, could she use the mask without having to worry about loosing herself to her alter-ego? As she thought about the potential, Katelyn unconsciously rubbed her palms together until Peggy noticed.
"Someone's gears are turning. When Stanley used this, he was able to control himself... sometimes" Peggy's voice trailed off.
"You have to be really careful. There was this one time where the remote broke and it almost permanently stayed on one of Stanley's dates. This tech is pretty old so be really-really careful, understand?"
Katelyn nodded. "Good. Now let's meet up with the others. Keep these together and keep them safe. If you ever want to retire from being the mask, let me know and we can safely lock everything away."
Katelyn stuffed both the sister mask and the remote controller into her purse and walked with Peggy back to the lobby.
While Katelyn was walking, she was anxious to get back home and try out the sister mask. Oh the fun she would have now that she would be in control.
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Small world; familiar faces...
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