Chapter 133: Dye Another Day

By the time the sun came up, Blair looked like something monsters had dragged out of the forest.

She stared at her reflection in the dark kitchen window as she poured herself a glass of water. Purple shadows under her eyes. Hair in a frizzy, rainbow-colored nest. A tiny red mark peeking out from the collar of her pajama shirt that she definitely had not noticed until this exact moment.

Blair yanked her collar up so fast she nearly strangled herself.

"Good morning, dear."

She jumped. Clarice sat at the head of the dining table, already perfectly dressed, her dark blue hair pinned in an elegant twist. She was sipping tea from a delicate porcelain cup, looking like a queen in a painting.

"G-Good morning," Blair mumbled.

Clarice’s silver eyes swept over her, head to toe. "You look tired," she noted pleasantly. "Rough night?"

"I couldn’t sleep."

"Mm." Clarice took another dainty sip. "How unfortunate."

Footsteps thudded down the stairs. Blair’s stomach tied itself into a knot.

Daemus shuffled into the kitchen in a wrinkled T-shirt and sweatpants, rubbing the back of his neck. He stopped when he saw her. For a moment they just looked at each other across the kitchen island. Then he gave her a small, lopsided smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"Morning."

"Morning," Blair whispered, and dropped her gaze to her glass of water.

Daemus opened the fridge and stared into it for much longer than any fridge deserved. Blair stared at her water. Clarice watched them both over the rim of her teacup with the quiet delight of someone watching a very good soap opera.

The silence was so thick Blair could have spread it on toast.

Then Jack came down the stairs, and it got worse.

He was dressed for travel in a long black coat, a leather bag slung over one shoulder, not a single hair out of place. He looked like he’d slept a full eight hours.

"I’m leaving," Jack announced to the room.

Daemus shut the fridge. "Leaving where?"

"The academy requires my attention." Jack set his bag down by the door and pulled on a pair of black gloves, one finger at a time. "I’ll be gone two days. Perhaps three."

Clarice lowered her teacup. "What sort of attention?"

"The sort that does not concern you, Clarice."

Clarice’s smile didn’t slip, but her fingers tightened around the cup.

"What about my lessons?" Blair asked quietly. Then, realizing everyone had turned to look at her, she added in an even smaller voice, "Sir."

Jack’s red eyes settled on her. "Today’s lesson is cancelled. I’ve arranged a substitute to continue your instruction in my absence. He arrives tomorrow morning."

"He?" Daemus’s ears twitched. "Who?"

"Someone qualified."

"That’s not a name."

"How observant," Jack said flatly. Then he picked up his bag and walked out the front door. Clarice excused herself shortly after, murmuring something about letting "you two young people talk".

Daemus cleared his throat. "So."

"So," Blair echoed faintly.

"Wanna... sit outside?" He rubbed the back of his neck again.

Blair nodded, because she didn’t trust her voice.

They ended up on the back porch steps, side by side, close but not touching. The morning air was cool and smelled like cut grass. Daemus stretched his long legs down the steps, and Blair hugged her knees to her chest and tried very hard not to look at the tall tree at the edge of the yard.

She stared at her toes instead.

"About last night," Daemus started. Blair’s heart stopped. "When you asked why I like you."

Oh. That. Her heart started again, weakly.

"I said you saving me was one of the reasons." Daemus picked at a loose splinter on the step. "And then the professor knocked and I sort of... bailed. Which was lame. So I’ve been thinking about how to say the rest, and I figured I’d just say it."

Blair finally dared a glance at him. His ears were pink.

"You saving me from Rain," he said, "yeah, that made me look at you different. But I liked you before that." He started. "You’re scary smart, and you never make me feel dumb for being... well, dumb."

"You’re the only person who’s ever been around me and never wanted anything," Daemus went on, quieter now. "You just wanted to be left alone." His grin flickered back. "I just didn’t let you."

Something hot and painful welled up in Blair’s chest. She blinked hard and looked down at her knees.

"And you smell really good," Daemus added thoughtfully. "Like, stupid good. That’s also a reason. I’m not gonna lie about that one."

A laugh escaped her before she could stop it.

Daemus smiled at the sound, soft and relieved. He reached over and tucked a tangled strand of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered on her cheek, warm and a little rough, and then he leaned in and kissed her.

It was slow. Careful.

Blair leaned into him, her fingers curling into the front of his T-shirt, and for one long moment she let herself forget everything but the warmth of his mouth and the low, pleased rumble in his chest.

When they finally broke apart, Daemus rested his forehead against hers. "Okay?"

"Okay," Blair breathed.

They sat like that for a while. Then Blair made herself say it.

"Daemus." She swallowed. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Anything."

"Could you..." She stared at the grass. "Could you buy me some hair dye? Dark brown. And brown contacts. The same kind as before."

She didn’t have to look at him to know his face had fallen.

"You’re going back," he said quietly.

"I’m human," Blair whispered to her knees. "I want to live like one."

"You are living. Right here. Like this." He gestured helplessly at her hair, at her eyes. "Is it because of me? Because I said I’d protect you? I didn’t mean it like you can’t..."

"It’s not you." Blair shook her head. "It’s me. I can’t... I’m scared all the time, Daemus. Every time someone looks at me, I think they know."

Daemus didn’t say anything for a long time. Then he let out a slow breath and stood up, dusting off his sweatpants. "Okay," he said. "I’ll get them."

Daemus came back that afternoon with a plastic shopping bag and an expression Blair couldn’t read. He held out the bag without a word.

Inside were two boxes of dark brown hair dye, a set of brown contact lenses, a bottle of lens solution, and, at the very bottom, a crinkly packet of carrot-shaped gummy candies.

Blair picked up the gummies and looked at him.

Daemus shrugged, not quite meeting her eyes. "They were by the register."

"Thank you," she whispered.

He nodded and turned to go. He got as far as the doorway before he stopped, one hand braced against the frame. "Do you want help?" he asked without turning around. "With the dye. The back is hard to reach, right?"

Blair stared at his broad back. "...Yes," she heard herself say. "Please."

They did it in the bathroom. Blair sat on the edge of the tub with a towel around her shoulders, and Daemus stood behind her, looking offended by the tiny plastic gloves that came in the box. They barely stretched over his knuckles.

The moment he cracked open the bottle of developer, he sneezed so violently he nearly dropped it.

"Ugh." He wrinkled his nose, eyes watering.

"You can open the window," Blair offered.

"I’m fine." He sneezed again. "I’m fine."

Then he got to work.

He was clumsy at first, glopping too much dye on one spot and missing another entirely. But he learned fast. His big hands moved through her hair slowly, section by section, working the dark paste from root to tip.

Neither of them spoke.

Blair watched in the mirror across from the tub. Pink disappeared first. Then purple. Then the soft silver strands near her temples, then the flashes of blue. One by one, the colors vanished under a thick layer of mud-brown dye.

In the mirror, Daemus’s eyes followed every strand.

When he reached the last lock, he paused. He held it between his gloved fingers for a long moment, a single ribbon of iridescent color catching the light from the window.

"I’ll still know," he said quietly.

Blair’s eyes met his in the mirror. "Know what?"

"What you look like." He painted the last strand brown and set the brush down. "Even when nobody else does. I’ll know."

By evening, it was done.

Blair stood alone in front of the bathroom mirror with freshly rinsed, freshly dried hair the color of wet bark. She blinked the second contact lens into place and looked up.

A plain girl looked back. Dull brown hair, dull brown eyes, the kind of face that slid off people’s attention like water off glass.

Invisible.

She should have felt relieved. She waited for it, the familiar, safe feeling of disappearing. It didn’t come.

When she came out, Daemus was sprawled on the living room couch with his phone. He glanced up and he smiled. "Looks good, Bunny," he said.

Then his phone buzzed in his hand.

Daemus glanced down at the screen, and his smile slowly faded into a frown.

"What is it?" Blair asked.

"It’s from Jack." He turned the phone so she could see. The message was three words long.

Jack:Keep your temper.

Daemus scratched his head, genuinely baffled. "Why would I lose my temper?"