Chapter 6:Masquerade, Part 1

Summary: Grace and her friends attend a party to get their robot friend back.

AN: Warning for unreality in this chapter.

Grace leaned out of the window of the limo to watch the various buildings pass by on their way to the charity gala. She felt a hand gently squeeze hers. When she turned around, Simon was sitting next to her. Ryan and Min-Gi sat together on the further end of the seats, Ryan’s head on Min-Gi’s shoulder as the latter wrapped him in a tight embrace.

“It’s been a while since we’ve crashed a party,” Simon commented. “Although, none of them have been as big as this.”

“That time we got clowns to crash Chole’s 13th birthday party comes pretty close,” Grace said with a smile. “She never found out who sicced the clowns on her.”

“And we got away with most of the treats for later.” The two of them dissolved into laughter. Grace sighed.

“Are you gonna be ok dealing with your evil step mom for the night?” she asked, resting her head on his shoulder. “Just say the word and I’ll steal you away from her.”

“I have to deal with Joanne enough at home, I’ll be fine,” he insisted. “Are you gonna be ok dealing with Ryan all night?”

Grace snorted and rolled her eyes. “As long as we stick to our stories and Joanne is distracted the whole time, we’ll be fine.”

She leaned forward in her seat to help herself to the mini-bar. She pulled out two soda cans, holding out one to Simon.

“To a successful raid?” he asked, lifting his can.

“To a successful raid,” she said, knocking her can against his own before drinking.

The limo pulled up to a large and fancy building. Well dressed guests lined the walls in the front.

Grace opened the door, letting herself out first before helping her friends out. Ryan and Min looked around in awe.

“I’ve only seen buildings like these when we went to our freshman formal,” Ryan commented, letting out an appreciative whistle.

“Pick your jaw off the floor, guys. Also, put your masks back on, holy shit.” Grace gasped, noticing the two were suddenly mask-less. She looked around to see if anyone was watching them.

“It was kind of stuffy in the limo,” Min said, pulling his mask back over his flushed face. He adjusted his collar, which had for some reason been jostled out of place. Ryan pulled his mask over his face before shuffling over to Grace’s side.

“Everyone’s earpieces working?” Simon asked, testing the device on his end as everyone proceeded to do the same. Simon led Min-Gi to the front of the line so they could head inside first and assist Joanne.

“Remember, Ryan, when we get in there, you’re an out of town family friend who came as my plus one because my parents were too busy to attend,” Grace told him.

“I’ve got this, Gracie,” he said with a dismissive wave before ruffling the girl’s hair. “Joanne will be none the wiser.”

Grace stuck her tongue out at him and pushed his hand away from her head. As the two got closer and closer to the front of the line Grace scanned the area to see if anyone she recognized was around.

“Name?” someone asked. They were finally in front of the line. A young woman with her hair tied into a loose ponytail stood at the door with a clipboard in her arms.

“Grace Monroe,” she said calmly. The woman glanced in Ryan’s direction.

“Who’s this?”

“My plus one,” Grace answered before Ryan could say anything. “He’s with me.”

The woman raised an eyebrow at Ryan, and for a moment, Grace felt her heart drop at him possibly being recognized. But the woman then shrugged and let the two inside the building.

“Well, we’re in,” Ryan said, looking around. Joanne stood on top of a balcony with Min and Simon. She seemed to be reading off a long list to the two. She was gesturing haughtily with both of her hands, so Grace assumed she stashed the One-One somewhere else. Simon looked at the floor in boredom, Min-Gi looked around trying to catch someone’s eyes. Ryan looked up at Min and waved. Grace quickly put his arm down before Min - or anyone else- would spot them.

“We’re supposed to be inconspicuous, Ryan!’ she hissed. “That means not trying to talk to Min or get his attention. If anyone recognizes either you or him, we’re screwed. Please.”

“It’s just been soooooo long since Min and I have been able to spend time in each other’s presence,” Ryan sighed, dramatically placing a hand to his heart. “I’ve just come back yesterday after being gone for a year, after all…”

Grace sighed, feeling a slight pang of sympathy for him. “I know… bet you guys really missed each other.”

“He missed me a lot when I was gone. More than I realized. I wanna make it up to him,” he said. He sounded a little less playful and a little more genuine. He put a hand behind his head awkwardly.

“I’m sure you will,” She said, squeezing his shoulder.

“But I promise I won’t distract Min or attract attention to us tonight. At least until we get the robot back.” He holds her hands in his, looking her in the eyes.

“Thank you. Now let’s start looking.”

She linked her arm in his and pulled him along to start looking. The two immersed themselves in the crowd, Grace doing most of the talking as they mingled with guests. Ryan kept his eye out for anywhere the robot could be while Grace kept in contact with Simon via her headpiece. The people they’ve talked to bought the story Grace made up, not even casting a second glance at Ryan. Listening to Simon, she avoided any area Joanne seemed to be heading towards to keep out of her line of sight.This went on for about an hour. One-One was nowhere to be found.

Ryan suddenly pulled Grace over to the buffet table. The two hid behind a large bowl of shrimp.

“Hold on,” he said.

“You see One-One?”

“What? No, I was just hungry,” he said, taking some shrimp from the table and popping it into his mouth. She sighed and held her hand out for some as well. Ryan handed her a plate to take some shrimp for herself. She noticed Ryan still staring at the guests.

“We can take a break now, that robot’s not going anywhere,” she said. “You…alright?”

“I’m just looking. I’ve never seen so many people in one place like this. Especially not dressed like this. My family’s never had parties this big.”

“Well, don’t make it so obvious you’re staring!”

“Fine, fine.”

“And don’t eat up all the shrimp,” she added.

“Look who’s talking,” he teased, pointing to the pile of shrimp on Grace’s plate. “If you’re not careful, you keep eating so much shrimp you might turn into one of them!”

“Oh, please,” she scoffed, trying not to giggle. He chuckled and gently pinched her cheek.

“See, you’re already starting to turn pink! You better let me take the rest of those off of your hands before it gets worse.”

She laughed, moving her plate out of Ryan’s grasp before he could grab more shrimp off of it.

“You have your own, move!”

“I like the ones on your plate better.” She continued laughing, but Ryan’s laughter seemed to be getting fainter as the sound of static grew louder in comparison until it was practically crashing against her eardrums.

When she turned back to look at him, she only saw his face and hands in all black. He seemed to be saying something, but the sound of static drowned out his voice.

“What?”

He spoke again, but the words came out just as incomprehensible. Grace blinked a few times, wondering if fatigue was starting to get to her. She hadn’t slept much since she and Simon went over the notebook the first night. Her dreams had been plagued with a green train, a faceless individual in a cloak, and what she assumed was One-One in the individual’s glowing hands. The cloaked figure ripped him in half over and over again. She always woke up when the train came right at her, no chance of avoiding the same outcome.

Grace lifted up her own hands to her face. Her hands remained the same, but Ryan and everyone else in the room looked like blobs of darkness and and emptiness highlighted by the outlines that engulfed them.

She started to rub her hands on her face, the sensation not unlike dipping one’s entire hands into a carbonated drink. When she pulled away, the static was starting to creep down the tips of her fingers. Even worse, the sensation had started to spread over her cheeks.

Something wrapped around her wrist and pulled her down. Grace yelped as she felt her knees hit the ground first. Ryan’s voice calling out to her a second time. This time, his words were more clear.

“Gracie, I’m here!” She felt what she believed were his hands gently but firmly squeezing hers. His arms slowly became more visible to him, and when she looked up at him, Ryan looked back at her with his mask lifted, thoroughly freaked out.

“R…Ryan?”

“I’m here,” he lowered his voice. “We’re here.”

“What… happened just now?” she asked as her breaths slowly returned to their normal rhythm. She noticed her own mask was off as well.

“You just… zoned out. But then you looked like you were about to pass out. People were gonna start staring, so I brought you under the table until you were back,” he said. “Are you ok?”

“I don’t even know what happened to me just now. This has NEVER happened before,” she said.

“I’ve been through stuff like this before,” he said quietly. “It’s gotten really bad since that field trip. It…helps if you’ve got someone with you to keep you grounded when it’s one of those days.”

“What? Ryan, I wasn’t ‘zoned out’. I couldn’t understand a word you were saying and everyone was in black and white covered in static, and then I started getting covered in static and–”

“I thought I saw two people over here,” went a young woman's voice. Grace saw four pairs of heels stop right in front of the table she and Ryan were hidden under. Grace scowled upon recognizing who’s voice she heard and yanked her own mask back on. She sat completely still on her knees, waiting for the girls to leave the table.

Unfortunately, the four seemed intent on having a full blown conversation at the shrimp table. Grace tried her best to keep her arms and legs from going numb as the girls in front of the table laughed and gossiped.

“We should leave,” Ryan whispered. “If they ask, we can just say that you dropped your mask or something.”

“I’m not doing that,” she hissed, crossing her arms.

“Who cares, these are just some random guests.”

“Those are our classmates up there.”

“They’re not gonna recognize us with these masks, remember?” Ryan said, pointing to his face. “What are you so afraid of?”

“I’m not ‘afraid’ of anything,” Grace scoffed. “I just don’t want her to see me .”

“Who?”

“I told you someone was here!” went a girl's voice. Grace tried to scramble out of the way, but someone yanked the tablecloth up before they could escape. Grace groaned and helped Ryan up from under the table to face the girls in front of them.

“So there was someone hiding over here after all, Chloe,” a dark skinned woman piped up. All of the girls wore masks just like Ryan and Grace, but Grace could still feel Chole’s eyes zero in on her.

“We were just leaving,” she mumbled. She quickly scanned the area, looking for an out.

“Is something wrong here?” Grace cursed herself as she saw Joanne stroll up to the group. “ I surely hope you and your friends aren’t trying to cause any trouble at my god-daughter’s sweet sixteen of all things.”

“There’s no problem,” Ryan spoke up, making Grace flinch. “She dropped her ring and we had to go looking for it. We…still haven’t found it.”

Joanne turned her attention to Ryan, a hand on her hip. Simon and Min-Gi were nowhere to be found near her.

“And you are…?”

“He’s my cousin-” Grace jumped in, slightly panicked.

“Twice removed,” Ryan added with a shrug. “I was adopted.”

“And now he, uh, he lives with us now. Sometimes. It’s complicated.” Joanne and the other women looked utterly confused, and for a moment Grace worried that their cover was blown. Joanne scoffed.

“I could honestly care less about whoever this young man is, just stay out of my way tonight,” she groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as she walked away. Unfortunately, Chloe and her posse didn’t leave with her

“So… cousin, huh?” Chloe said, moving closer to Ryan. She reached for his mask. He took a few steps back.

“I'm taken, sorry,” he said quickly. Chloe pouted.

“Aww, I’m sure she won’t mind if you dance one little dance with me,” she teased. Ryan stiffened.

“He’s not interested,” Grace cut in, standing in between the two.

“What, you’re his little bodyguard now?” The dark skinned girl said. The others giggled and jeered in response.

“Nope. Just someone looking out for a person she cares about. You could do the same, Shanya. I’m sure Chloe would love to know that you think she should get her teeth fixed before smiling in group photos. Just to look out for her, you know?”

Grace smirked as she watched the girls turn on each other and start to argue. She herself turned on her heel and pulled Ryan away.

“Thanks,” Ryan said once they were far away from the group. “I owe you one.”

“You owe me a million,” she joked. “Let’s continue looking for One-One.”

“If Joanne’s down here, then there’s no one on the balcony, let’s go.”

The two snuck up the stairways to the balcony. Ryan spotted a double doorway that led into a hall and pulled Grace through.

The hallway was lined with identical doors. The two of them didn’t know where to start.

“Jesus Christ…” Grace grumbled.

“Hey, Grace?” Ryan said awkwardly in the silence. “About what happened back at the shrimp bowl table? You wanna talk about it? We kinda got interrupted before.”

“I think… it’ll be fine once this is all over,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t worry about it, Ry. Thanks for looking out for me, though.”

A person in a sparkly purple dress and a large purple hat came strolling out of one door, a small cake in the palm of her hand. She yelped when she spotted the two in the hallways.

“They said I could have one!” she gasped. “I wasn’t stealing anything, I swear!”

The movement caused her earrings to jingle as they clashed against her face.

“We’re not here to get you in trouble, we… wait…Kez?” The person took off her mask slowly.

“R…Ryan?”

Ryan slowly took his own mask off. The young woman soon enveloped him into a tight hug, which he happily reciprocated. Grace looked around pensively to see if anyone else was here.

“Kez? What are you doing here? And…where have you been? I feel like it’s been years since I’ve seen you. You just… vanished!”

“I’ve been… around,” she said. Her voice squeaked as she trailed off. She ruffled Ryan’s hair. “You’ve definitely grown up since I’ve last babysat for you and Min. Hair’s a lot longer too. What are you two up to tonight?”

Grace stepped forward. “None of your-”

“We’re looking for a … a white… ball robot thing-” Ryan cut in before Grace could stop him. She gave him a look.

"Ryan!"

“What? I know Kez. Maybe she’s seen a little robot around…or someone with him?”

“Well, I did see some lady go into one of the rooms chasing a white ball on my way to the kitchen.”

“Did you see which room she was in?”

“I…think…. It was that room!” she pointed to a room with the door left slightly ajar. She led the two inside what looked like a bedroom. “Yeah, it was this one! I caught the wallpaper before she closed the door.”

“Quickly!” They rushed inside.

“What’s your ball doing in a place like this?” Kez asked. “And why did that lady have it?”

“She stole it from us because she hates me and has a weird grudge against Simon,” Grace grumbled.

Grace immediately went to work uprooting everything in sight to look for One-One. A little orb came scampering around from under the bed.

“Miss Grace! You’ve come with your friends to rescue me!” he said. Ryan jumped.

“The robot can talk?” He spluttered.

“I don’t think that’s the weirdest thing about this guy,” Grace said, scooping One-One up.

“That Joanne lady seems like the kind of evil stepmother you read about in storybooks,” One-One murmured. “I just wanted to get something to eat but she chased me back here.”

He seemed to be peering up at Kez, who was strangely frozen in place. Her mask was back on her face. She said nothing, her gloved arms stuck at her sides .

“Something up, Kez?” Ryan asked, reaching out for her.

She shook her head, backing up. Ryan opened his mouth to say something else.

“Grace? Grace!!” Simon’s voice came out panicked through Grace’s earpiece. “Grace, can you hear me?”

“Simon, we got One-One! As soon as you can, you and Min need to ditch Joanne so we can get him and Ryan out of here,” Grace said happily.

“That’s the thing. Joanne’s been getting suspicious since you two disappeared. She’s trying to go back upstairs and bust you guys. Min’s been distracting her, but he can only keep her occupied for so long.”

“Right, we’re leaving,” Grace said. She handed the robot to Ryan and made her way to the door. The three of them snuck down from the balcony to blend in with the rest of the guests. Kez hugged Ryan once more before spinning away and immersing herself in the crowd.

“You see Joanne anywhere?” Ryan asked. Grace spotted Joanne looking increasingly frustrated as Min-Gi talked to her. She seemed really desperate to get back on top of the balcony. Grace tried to catch Min-Gi’s eye and signal that they’d succeeded. She looked around for Simon. Someone’s hand landed on her shoulder, and she whirled around, ready to defend herself.

“Relax, it’s me,” Simon said, holding his hands up. “You said you got the robot?”

Ryan turned towards him, One-One resting in his arms.

“Nice. Now we can get to part two of tonight’s events.” Grace gave Simon a knowing smile. He gave her one back as they stood face to face.

“You up for another raid?”

“Always.”