Masks Read Online Free PDF Page B

closed her eyes and recited from memory, thinking that Tutor Ancilla would be proud—and probably a little surprised—to hear her do so. But she really
did
pay attention . . . at least,
some
of the time. “And when the last of the traitors had been executed, the young Autarch made a decree: Henceforth all citizens of Aygrima would be Masked in all public places. For all the long years of the Rebellion powerful Gifted in the service of the Autarch had been secretly developing the magic of the Masks, and now at last they were perfected. Never again would the people of Aygrima suffer as they suffered during the Rebellion. Never again would innocent blood be shed by murderous traitors, for the Masks would reveal all traitorous thoughts to the Watchers, protectors of the people, trained to use their Gifts to read the message of the Mask. Those who would defy our great and benevolent Autarch in future would be discovered and punished before they could act on their traitorous impulses. Blessed be the Autarch. May he guide and protect us forever.” She opened her eyes again. “Did I get it right?”
    “Perfect,” her father said.
    “Can the Watchers
really
do that?” she asked. “See what you’re thinking?” She thought about Mayson.
Will he someday be able to read my mind?
It was an odd and unsettling thought.
    “Not exactly,” her father said. “As I understand it, it’s more . . . they get a . . . a sense that certain people may be a danger to the regime.” He shrugged. “To tell the truth, Mara, I don’t know exactly
what
they see when they look at a Mask of someone who might threaten the Autarch. It’s a secret, as you’d expect. But whatever it is, if they see it, they will question the wearer of the Mask. If they don’t like what they hear . . . well.” He grimaced. “Then Traitors’ Gate awaits.”
    Mara flinched. She couldn’t help it. She had been forbidden to ever go near Traitors’ Gate, which of course meant she’d sneaked up there with Sala, and she’d had several nightmares since involving naked, rotting corpses impaled on spikes. She had no intention of ever going back. The thought she might actually end up as one of those corpses . . . she shuddered.
    Her father, though he didn’t know she’d been to Traitors’ Gate—at least, she
hoped
he didn’t—smiled reassuringly and put his hand on hers. “Now, now, you certainly don’t have to fear
that
.”
    “I heard,” Mara said, wanting to change the subject, “that sometimes, if someone does something bad enough, the Mask just . . . shatters.”
    Her father nodded. “Yes. An outright betrayal of the Autarch would do that. And sometimes, of course, a Masking fails. Almost never for the Gifted,” he hastened to add, squeezing her hand. “But sometimes, someone has something wrong, inside, something that makes them bad, or makes them a threat to themselves and others. And the Mask . . . the Mask knows. It refuses to attach itself to that person’s face. And he or she becomes one of the unMasked, and we don’t see them again.” His face turned grim for a moment. She could tell there was something he wasn’t telling her—she could read his face like one of her schoolbooks—but then he forced a smile and squeezed her hand even harder. “But none of this is anything to worry about. As beautiful as you are, inside and out, your Mask will always be beautiful, too, to anyone who sees it, from the lowliest peasant all the way up to the Autarch.”
    Mara smiled at him, but inside she quailed.
And what happens to someone who lied to the Tester about the magic they saw?
    It wasn’t a question she could ever ask.
    It will be all right
, she told herself again.
It will be all right
.
    It has to be.
    ···
    On the night before Sala’s fifteenth birthday and Masking, with three months to go until her own, Mara, naked and giggling, shouted to Sala, “Race you to the other side!” and dove into the reflecting pool in