Chronicles of the Unknowns: Intervention

Chapter 7

I wasn't sure how many days had passed, but the shore was finally in view. It was early dawn, so not many of the others were awake yet. The only other person who had stirred was Ayana.

When I looked over my shoulder to get her attention, she was already gazing at me. And the look on her face was intense.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Your hair," she said.

I looked down at my hair. My fingers ran through it instinctively.

"What's about it? Something wrong?" I asked.

"It is too recognizable."

I rose an eyebrow. Hunter had started off as my best friend and now he was my boyfriend. Next to him, I probably spent the most time with Ken since we were fighting partners, but Ayana seemed to be closer to me than anyone else despite both of those facts. She was very kindhearted, but also extremely shrewd.

"I don't think I'm following," I admitted.

She took a few steps to get closer to me. Her green eyes glinted in the rising sunlight.

"Right now our mission is to infiltrate this country, but your face has been broadcast in nearly every country on this planet. Being recognized from miles away is counterproductive in this situation. We cannot change your face, but we can change your hair to help reduce the chance of you being called out."

My head rose a little in a slight nod, understanding what she was trying to say.

"Do you think I should cut it?" I felt a little insecure about that. I liked my hair long. It was a testament to how far I'd grown from who I was before.

She cupped her hand under her chin and gave me a long thoughtful look.

"Hmm. We can dye it darker. Brown or black..." she trailed off thinking.

"Brown, definitely. Long hair is fine since your hair was much shorter before and we are changing the color. Maybe find colored contacts, but that may be a stretch given our situation. It won't be permanent, but it will take several weeks to fade, even longer to wash out," she continued.

"I guess that makes sense...so how are we going to do it?" I asked.

Ayana reached her hand out and closed her eyes. I watched as a plant began to grow out from her palm. It had a lot of small green leaves, but I couldn't tell it apart from any other plant I'd seen her use.

She used her powers to extract the seeds from the plant and then crushed the leaves. I was in awe.

"I didn't realize you could make plants grow right out of thin air," I said.

She gave me a small smile.

"It takes a lot of concentration and will power and I can only do it on a small scale like this."

She motioned me toward her and I bent down a little so that she could reach. I was the tallest lady out of all of us. Her fingers combed through my hair and I fell into a lull as she worked. After a few minutes she was done.

"Ideally, the heat from the sun would dry it into your hair, but we are in a much colder climate now. By tonight it should be fine," she said.

I looked at my hair that had fallen on my shoulders, lamenting that I didn't have a mirror so that I could see my full face. My once blonde hair was now very dark, somewhere between brown and black. I knew it would lighten with time, but I still felt a little hesitant about it.

Suddenly, I felt a shift in the waters.

There was a large ship coming our way. I could make out the Russian flag from where we were.