The Dark Ice Chronicles - The Magi

Chapter 9 - Every Girl Crazy 'Bout A Sharp-Dressed Man

To Harris’s delight (and mine), Elena’s idea of a uniform contains no typical comic-book materials whatsoever. In fact, it seems to have been created with the idea in mind that uniforms don’t have to look so special.

Elena hands us each a pair of black slim jeans, very similar to the ones I’m wearing right now, except with faint strips of color running through the weave. It’s like those security threads on dollar bills, the ones that say “USA TEN” or whatever when they’re held up to the light - they’re virtually invisible until Elena points them out to us. My new jeans have light blue strips, and Harris has red in his. Similarly, we get new hoodies, mostly black but with thin horizontal stripes. Again, light blue for me, and red for Harris.

“They look like ordinary cotton and/or polyester garments,” Elena says, “but they’re not. Instead, they are made from a special blend of cotton and spun-steel filaments. To demonstrate, I’ll need one of the hoodies you’re currently wearing.”

I shrug, then take mine off and hand it to Elena. She proceeds to cut one of the sleeves off with a pair of huge scissors, then tries to do the same to the blue-striped hoodie. The scissors have absolutely no effect on this one.

“You can try it yourselves, if you like,” Elena says. “You don’t have to assume I’m just feigning weakness.”

“But we’re not-”

“Go on, try it,” Elena says, handing the scissors to Harris.

He frowns at me, then tries to cut his new red-striped hoodie. This one also proves impervious to the stainless-steel blades.

“Okay,” I say, whistling under my breath. “Color me impressed.”

“As well you should be,” Elena says. “Now, boys, you may change into your new uniforms over there.” She gestures to a blue door. “Then you can come back here and wait for all the others. I’ll only brief you when you’re all suited up.”

Harris and I nod, then enter the room beyond the blue door. It’s a perfectly ordinary locker room, with a row of metal cuboids on one wall.

“Just put your old pants into the lockers,” Elena’s voice says, coming from an overhead speaker. “I’ll have them blended with my spun-steel mixture this week. And if you could send me any other pairs of pants or other clothes to enhance, I would appreciate it. Thank you.”

I raise my eyebrow and look at Harris. “She’s just creepy.”

“Does she got any cameras or mikes in here?” Harris looks around the room nervously.

“Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“I imagine at this point, we’re beyond surprisability.”

I laugh as I open one of the lockers. “Is that even a word?”

“You askin’ me, dude?”

I shrug, then take my jeans off and stuff them into the locker before taking a look at the new ones. They look like ordinary, garden-variety Levi’s - even down to the stitching pattern on the back pockets. The only way to tell they’re not real department-store clothes is the fact that it’s totally devoid of brand-name logos anywhere. There’s not even a tag inside them.

I put the jeans on. They’re a bit tight, especially in the crotch, but no more so than any other new pairs I’ve ever had. Aside from that, they fit very well, as does my new hoodie. I look at my reflection in a full-length mirror on the back wall and pronounce myself satisfied.

“They’re not bad at all,” I say. “Heh, you know how vertical stripes are supposed to be slimming? Well, it looks like horizontal stripes make my shoulders look wider.”