Rise of the Smileys

by Ben Hamby​

Chapter 0

I should have at least gotten some popcorn...​

Darkness.

"Not again ..." you groan to yourself. 

At least this time you can see something. It's really dark, and you're sitting down. You can see seats in front of you, stretching out to either side. You realize that you are in a movie theater, and you can feel that you're not alone. Looking to the left and right, you see that you have the row to yourself. There are people filling the rest of the theater, but you can't make out any details in the darkness.

There's something in the back of your mind telling you that there's more wrong with this place than the obvious, but you can't quite think of what it could be. You decide to take stock of the situation. You don't have a weapon on you, but you remember your lessons with Cat. Unarmed combat isn't your strongest skill (maybe you should work on that!). Making a mental note to put in some practice, you can feel your muscles start to tense up. 

"No," you whisper, "that's not right."

Forcing yourself to relax and take a deep breath, you feel the tension leave to be replaced with a sense of readiness. You have to stay loose if you're going to fight effectively. Holding back the sudden urge to make a bad pun, you even manage a slight smile before looking around again.

You can see a large, lightly shimmering screen in front of you, as if there is light somewhere far behind it. There are big, dusty curtains to either side of the screen. There's something old timey and kind of cartoonish about the theater, like it used to be used for plays before movies were a thing. The shadows are weird here, and even with the huge dimly lit screen you still can't see anything but rows and rows of silhouettes in the seats. The theater is larger than you first thought, and every seat but the ones on your row have someone in them.

The feeling that you are forgetting something really important is starting to make you angry. As a matter of fact, why are you even still sitting in this crowded theater? Then it clicks.

 A facemask! Why aren't you wearing a mask? You reach towards your ear, but it isn't hanging off of it like you sometimes leave it. You would feel it if it were around your neck or under your chin. Where did you leave it? This place already felt wrong, but now it's downright unsafe.

"I wonder ... " you say out loud. "Can I just get up and walk out of here?"

Still thinking to yourself that you need your mask to walk past all of these quietly breathing people, you reach down to your front pocket and realize that there's something in your lap. Something ... heavy. Looking down, you can't see anything in the shadows. Overwhelming dread grips you as you slowly reach down to pick up the mysterious item.

Before you can touch whatever it is, a ratcheting sound erupts behind you, scaring you nearly right out of your skin.

A bright light flickers to life on the screen. After a moment a blurry image appears, slowly coming into focus. The thing on the screen looks like ... a mask? 

For the first time you hear more than just breathing. The people in the theater start shifting around in their seats, and there's a sense of ... what? Excitement? Anticipation? You still can't take your eyes off the screen. It's an old theater mask maybe? As the image becomes clearer you hear a sound from somewhere in the theater behind you.

A giggle. An unmistakable, slightly muffled giggle.

And then another. And another.

The image on the screen is crystal clear, but you no longer care. 

You stare at it for just a moment before tearing your eyes away to look around the room. The giggles fill the theater, overlapping each other and adding to the terror that you feel. But you knew before you saw them.

Smileys. The theater is full of Smileys.

You try to leap up, to defend yourself, or just sprint out of this horrific theater, but you can't move. Frozen in place and unable to close your eyes, you feel the weight in your lap shift. Unable to stop yourself, you lift the oval thing into the flickering light.

A Smiley mask.

Its straps are already gently reaching towards your face as you lift it to about chest height. Out of the corner of your eye, you see something flash. Huge block letters appear under the weird mask on the screen, and you read a phrase that you have become very familiar with.

"NO ENTRY WITHOUT A MASK"

You look down at the thing in your hands, and you suddenly feel very calm. Almost happy! As you bring the mask slowly towards your face, feeling the straps slither over your head, a single thought enters your mind.

Isn't life funny?

You start to giggle.

Chapter 1

Why is there a god in my living room?

The mask on your face feels like it's suffocating you. Everything is darkness as you reach up to try and pull it off your face. It comes away easily as you rip the big fluffy thing from your face and throw it across … your room?

You're sitting in bed, bolt upright and sweating while at the same time your whole body feels clammy and cold. Obviously not in a theater full of Smileys, you blink away the confusion for a moment before thinking to yourself, "Ugh. Another stupid dream."

Wide awake with your demigod fight instincts still flooding your body with adrenaline, you get out of bed while still scanning the room for danger. Shaking off the feeling, you get dressed and stumble towards the bathroom to brush your teeth and start your day. You think about your time fighting Pontifex and dealing with the Apple of Discord as you rinse, swish, and have a rather satisfying spit in the sink. You finally look at yourself in the mirror and drop your toothbrush in shock. 

They're very faint, but you have marks on your face. Normally, you would think they were just pillow creases, but they're only on either side of your mouth. Like a smile. You rub at them for a bit to no effect, and you feel fear in the pit of your stomach. It takes a moment for that feeling to shift to anger. Taking a few deep breaths, you get your emotions under control. If only there was something you could do about all of this dream stuff. And then you remember the date.

"YES!" you shout out loud to no one in particular, forgetting about your face for a moment. "Quest night!"

It's October 30th, and the Austin branch of Camp Half-Blood is going on a quest into Mr. D's head to get rid of the first Smiley mask. Somehow. You shiver a moment and touch your face, the nightmare still a little too fresh in your mind. But if it is going to get rid of the Smileys? You're up for just about anything to do that. As you wander into the kitchen to scrounge up some breakfast, you're interrupted by a rather familiar sound.