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“This can’t be real.”
“It’s not,” Gus said. “The story, I mean. Someone made it up and got a bunch of other people to act it out. Think of it as a giant, two-hour long illusion.”
Matt snorted. “I think the whole thing’s an illusion.” He pointed towards the television screen, which was frozen on an image of a teenage boy, no more than three years their senior, as he was dragged by a pair of red, claw-like hands towards a fiery pit. “Those things don’t even look like demons!”
Gus shrugged. “They are just humans in costumes.”
“This can’t be real.” Matt repeated. “It just can’t be! Why would humans even watch this stuff?”
“Because it’s fun.” Outlandish as the story was, with its oracle boards and oddly dressed protagonists, Gus hadn’t been able to pull his eyes from the screen since he’d started the old tape. “And hey, if you think that’s weird, just wait until you see the movies they make about witches.”
The handful that Gus had watched had made him feel like he was looking in a broken mirror. He could see bits and pieces of himself in their shards, but he couldn’t connect them into a coherent whole.
Matt leaned back into the couch and yawned. “I think I’ll pass.”
Gus smirked. “Why? It’s not like you’ve got anything better to do.”
Matt rolled his eyes. “I still don’t get why you like this.”
“It’s good because it’s bad.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s what Luz said when she first showed it to me.” It had been rare for them to watch a movie together that couldn’t be described in such a manner.
“How do I know that you didn’t make this up?”
Gus laughed. “Do you seriously believe that I could make this?”
“You fought off Vernworth! You could probably conjure this movie thing in your sleep.”
Gus couldn’t push back his grin. “Thanks, but even I couldn’t have thought up half this stuff.”
Not that he hadn’t committed many of the film’s scenes to memory. Walking backwards on all fours, speaking in tongues, suddenly bursting aflame – if he pulled that kind of stuff during his upcoming Anatomy of an Apparition final, then he was bound to get an A.
“I can’t talk you out of this, can I?” He sighed, leaned his head against Gus’ shoulder, and reached for the remote at his side.