Sleight of Hand: The Final Card

Chapter 37

"All right, Aiv, let's get you fixed up," Enaj said when Aivilo walked back into her room, donned in the thick robe and her hair twisted up in the towel. "How'd that shower feel?"

"It was... nice. Relaxing."

The girls all beamed at each other. Enaj sat Aivilo down at the vanity in the room, and Rae brought the makeup bags over. "Are... are you sure about this?" Aivilo asked as Enaj began to rummage.

"Don't you worry, Aivilo, Rae and I are experts! Besides, the other girls will be getting ready with us too!"

Aivilo was silent as Enaj and Rae started talking makeup, pulling out brushes and picking shades. They elected to go with a simple look, something that wasn't too overwhelming for anyone. They chose soft golden shades of eyeshadow that matched Aivilo's dress. They did parts of their own makeup while also doing Aivilo's, and the other girls bustled about in her room with their dresses and makeup and accessories.

They finished applying Aivilo's makeup and looked at their handiwork approvingly.

"We're the best," Rae admitted, holding her hand out to Enaj for a high five.

Aivilo's gray eyes popped. With the mascara applied, her eyelashes looked longer than they already were and incredibly thick. Her fair skin shimmered a little like it did when she'd been a Superhuman, and her cheeks as well as the bridge of her nose was tinted with a delicate pink, accentuating the cute dusting of freckles she had. Her lips were glossy and gave her face a little pop of color. They looked fuller than usual.

That'll be good for kissing, Enaj thought smugly. It seemed like most of the other girls were done with makeup, but Rae was helping the others with their finish­ing touches.

"All right, now time to do your hair," Enaj chirped.

Aivilo was silent. She looked at herself in the mirror a little gloomily.

"Hey... are you okay?" Enaj asked.

"Sorry... I'm just... not used to this. The only other person who I really did anything like this with was my mother."

Enaj's heart throbbed for Aivilo. The poor thing.

"Well, now that this war is over, I'm sure we will have much more time to do things like this together," she said, trying to lighten the mood as she removed the towel from Aivilo's hair. While it wasn't as bright and colorful as Enaj remembered, it was still thick and con­tained the ombré effect of red-to-gold. She would use that to her advantage.

"Let's see... your dress has a corset-style back, so we'll want to show that off. You have a nicely shaped neck and collarbones, so we don't want to obscure that, either."

"Um... Enaj...?" Aivilo said. Enaj hummed her response as she started brushing out Aivilo's hair and using a blow dryer to remove the remaining dampness. Doing Aivilo's hair would be easy... it had a very similar consistency to Enaj's, just with more curl.

"I... well... I'm human now," she started.

"So?" Enaj asked.

"So... isn't this pointless?" Aivilo asked. "I mean... if I stand on that stage next to all of you guys looking like a human while you all glow with Superhuman power... I mean, won't that look bad?"

Enaj laughed.

"Aivilo, even though you're a human, you still look very much the same. People will know it's you. Yeah, some of the color and texture you once had is gone, but that doesn't change the fact that you saved us all. There's no way the rest of the Elite could outshine you, even as a human."