Isa brought her face closer to the screen, as if that could help her see the pixelated photo better. She sighed and leaned back, her finger hovering over the “Buy Now” ebay button.

Two hundred bucks was a lot of money. Even if the artifact was priceless. If she asked the seller questions, they might realize what they had.

She swiped to her banking app. Then her budgeting app. Then to her messaging app.

Isa: can I borrow $50

…

…

Arjun: borrow or have

Isa grimaced. He had a point, she was already in his debt.

But before she could respond, a notification popped up. It was a deposit from Arjun of $50.

Isa: your the best 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

Arjun: 😎

Next was Kassie.

Isa: Heeeey….can I borrow $50? 🥺

Kassie: what are you buying this time

Isa: it's a mask. I think it's fairy

Kassie: okay but only if you let me wear it

Isa: it could be dangerous

Kassie: only if it's real

But her phone pinged again with another $50. Isa paid the extra fee to transfer the money instantaneously, and then switched back to ebay. She clicked the button.

Her heart pounded as she waited for the page to load. It stayed blank. She waited.

Nothing happened.

She closed the app and restarted. Her fingers gliding across the screen, to her search history and then the item.

It was still there.

She breathed out her held breath and then pressed the buy button. She double checked every confirmation page, rereading her address three times, even though her settings were saved.

Then she confirmed the purchase.

It would be at her apartment in 5-8 days. An agonizingly long ship time, but it would be there.

She leaned back in her seat. But the relief didn't last long. She went back to the listing, saved the images, and walked over to her bookshelf. She scanned the titles, but didn't pull any out. She didn't have anything on masks.

But it was late, so she wasn't about to go do more research. She half pulled out the glossy tome on fairy art before changing her mind. Instead she pulled out the beaten up cloth bound book, the spine held together with yellowing tape. The cover had a winged person embossed in what was probably once gold. If there ever was a title page, it was gone now.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The mysterious book was, of course, Isa’s most prized possession. She turned on her lamp and sat in the beat up cloth chair she got in a thrift store. Her cat, Jerri, jumped up as soon as she saw an available lap.

After Jerri got comfortable, Isa rested the book on the cat’s rump. She paged through the yellowed pages, with drawn diagrams and figures and text in that particular font it seemed only old books had.

She pulled out the photo on her phone.

It was a book of stories, most of them Victorian, and therefore almost certainly made up. But looking at the illustrations, it just felt right. The mask had to be real.

She put the book down and pulled out her phone to scroll through Instagram, trapped in her chair until princess Jerri decided to move.

She probably wouldn't figure more out until it came. So now to wait.

Arjun and Kassie, having both contributed to the purchase, insisted on being there to open it.

Kassie also insisted that Isa send her pictures of the package to check for “tampering.” Which was a good move, because Isa would have absolutely just taped the package back up. Of course, if it had been packaged normally, she might have managed it. But it was wrapped in excessive amounts of patterned tape that would have been obvious if she cut through it.

Kassie arrived before Arjun, of course. She brought a bottle of wine (because Friday, obviously) and started complaining about her last online date.

“The guy agreed to a call first, which I appreciated. The thing is, he chose the date and time, only for it to be in the middle of an open mic night, where he was performing! So he cut me off in the middle of my thought. Then he had the audacity to suggest getting coffee, and argued when I said no. Can you believe it?”

“The audacity,” Isa said, glancing at her phone.

“Are you paying attention?”

“Just checking the time,” Isa said. Which was true. She was also checking to see if Arjun had texted.

Kassie shook her head, “Last time I’m going on a date with a musician, I swear.”

“That’s what you said last time.”

“Yeah, but this one was especially cute,” Kassie said.

Kasie was absolutely going to date a musician again, Isa would put money on it, except that no one reasonable would take that bet.

He phone pinged with a message from Arjun that he was on his way. Which meant he just finished gaming and was thinking about leaving.

Isa looked up at Kassie, “He’s not going to be here for another half an hour at least….so whatever happened to that guy from work?”

Arjun actually arrived in about twenty minutes.

“Alright! Let’s do this!” he said, rubbing his hands together. Kassie poured him some wine in one of Isa’s mismatched thrift store glasses.

Isa pulled out a kitchen knife and started cutting apart the box while Arjun made lame jokes about her being around sharp objects.

The box was filled with balls of newspaper. She rummaged through it until she found the mask, covered in the same with more of the patterned tape. She carefully tore around it, and needed to pull out some scissors to get through it.

Kassie and Arjun watched as if she was an elementary schooler at a birthday party.

When she finally pulled it all away, they saw it.

Kassie and Arjun exchanged glances.

Kassie spoke first, “It’s okay Isa, we all get fooled sometimes-”

“Damn, you got totally scammed dude,” Arjun interrupted and grabbed the mask.

It was a glittery half mask, and the cheap-looking yellow glitter was shedding on the table. It had a big chip missing from one of the edges, showing the white plastic underneath. It wasn’t worth $200. It could have come from the sale section of a dollar store during Halloween time.

Arjun was about to put it on, when Isa reached for it.

“Since I was stupid enough to buy it, I should at least have the honor of being the queen of fools first.”

Arjun laughed and handed it back to her.

She put it on, tying the ribbon behind her head, and was about to make some joke, when it was just gone.

She felt her face, but it was just skin. She looked around but it wasn’t on the ground.

Kassie and Arjun’s eyes were wide.

“What happened?” Isa asked

“It’s like a tattoo…but it’s fading…” Kassie said.

Isa ran to her bathroom, to the mirror. She just saw the faintest trace of golden filigree disappear into her skin. The brief glimpse had been achingly beautiful.

Her friends followed, but no one said anything.

“Well shit,” Said Arjun, “I guess you were right about the fairy stuff.”

Author notes: Updates at the end of the week. The day might change as I figure out my schedule, but I plan to update every week.