The Caterpillarian

Chapter 4

Before my life could flash before my eyes, one of those Sun shaped objects cracked against Amatoshi's skull again. He lowered his sword, the room blazing with heat once more as he crashed to a single knee.

I breathed but didn't move. I had come so close to meeting my end that all I could do was stare, relieved that I was still alive.

"C'mon!" Jasper urged, tugging me by the sleeve.

I broke out of my stupor, slipped past Amatoshi and darted after my friends. We ran into my room, slammed the door shut and simultaneously collapsed to the floor.

That familiar music soothed my soul. We were safe.

I glanced up when I heard Jasper chuckling.

"Wh-what's so funny?" I asked, unable to fathom his reaction.

"I have no idea," he said between laughs, flopping onto his backside.

Was he losing it? I'd be next.

And then I began to laugh. And so did Alison.

"I almost died!" I said, releasing some kind of yelp as I laughed.

My stomach ached. What the heck was so funny about this? Maybe it was the surrealness of it all. Whatever the reason, I welcomed it. Better than feeling fear.

"No, please, my stomach hurts!" Jasper yelled, which only made us laugh louder.

Finally, the room began to quieten again; aside from the piano, of course.

"Man, what a day," I said, following a sigh.

Then I realised I still had the mask gripped between my fingers. Holding it up to my face, I noticed it was a mask of a cat. It had cat-like eyes and cat-like ears and a cat-like nose. But there was no cat-like mouth.

"Let's look at your mask, Jasper," I said.

He sat up having been lying down and tossed the mask to me.

This one had bulging eyes with two tiny holes on the tips. It was oval and plastic like the others. It was lime green with navy stripes zig-zagging and crisscrossing.

"Hang on," Jasper spoke up, his eyebrows meeting in the middle, "it was red and yellow when I found it."

"What are they even for?" Alison asked, looking at hers. "Why did we need to find them?"

I turned the one Jasper gave me around planning to put it on for a laugh, when I spotted text on the inside.

"There's something written here," I started. "Eyeless and faceless, Noeyes sought out the masks of Bigeyes. The mask of the cat—viewing any through this mask would transform even the most hideous into the most beautiful of creatures." I swirled the cat one around, spotting more text. "The mask of the Chameleon granted him the ability to match any beauty standard."

"Here, too," Alison said, staring into her eight eyed mask. "The mask of the spider, so he could spin a web so beautiful, he could ensnare those so ugly."

I turned them back around. "Ah, so these are supposed to be a spider and a chameleon." The cat was obvious but the other two, not so much.

"Noeyes?" Jasper said with a shrug. "Bigeyes? Who are these people?"

Were they horrifying creatures like Amatoshi? I hoped I would never find out.

But I was more interested in these so-called powers that these masks supposedly granted. The cat mask said that it would transform someone ugly into someone beautiful.