Transversals

XVIII. Sunday Morning Shopping Trip

I was still combing through my hair as I pounded down the stairs, examining the short ends completely destroyed by now. I knew they needed cut soon, but I wanted to redye my hair before then since the dark roots were growing in as well. I wasn't sure what color yet.

"You ready?" Will said to me as I slipped on my shoes, still furiously finger-combing. Hanna laughed from the kitchen, Dad sighing and telling her to get a rag. "Want to brush your hair first?" he added.

"No," I replied, tipping my head over and collecting my hair into a messy bun.

Flipping upright again, Will leaned back and put a hand on the doorknob. "Watch where you're swinging that tumor of yours."

I punched his arm on the way out. "This isn't enough hair for tumor status."

He laughed and filed into the driver's seat of his car, and we talked about my hair on the way to the Giant Eagle in town. It used to be down to my waist, but I got sick of caring for it and chopped it just past my shoulders at the start of school. It was thick, hot, annoying, and had a bunch of split ends anyway, so I didn't do much second-guessing of my decision. I talked to him about cutting it even shorter, just past my chin. He said it'd look cute, and we deliberated what color would suit short best. Light blues or pinks would make me look like a fairy, but firetruck red or unforgiving deep purple would be more fitting to my personality.

I didn't like dwelling on decisions, and I wasn't ever the type to do so. I never liked to think twice before jumping into something, even when I definitely should have some sort of thought process going on before blindly throwing myself into a dangerous situation. But so far the tactic had been working fine. I saved Ben the previous night by being impulsive.

But hair is very different from lives, a voice in my head added. I mean...it was right. Changing my hair color on a whim didn't have near the potential fallout of changing military tactics in a possible war. Of course, that was a hyperbole.

I stuck my hands in my pockets as we headed inside the store, still discussing hair color as we went to the breakfast foods aisle. I thought about the previous night as it came to me. Mostly the fact I'd kick Jeremy's ass into the next fucking dimension if I saw him again. And, the fact my cold heart had developed a crack now that the chance had been blown.

I didn't understand, though. Was it a setup? It had to have been, who am I kidding. The stuff about the Ingenist world's history he recited, it was too intricate to be lie. But he wasn't actually a "Recon", as he called the rebels. He must actually be working for his parents on the other side, the Arcs or whatever. The extremists out to get Transversals.

Which brought up the question of how Ben showed up without someone on his tail, why an unmonitored mirror would be right where we needed it and leading to the right dimension, and why Jeremy had helped Lana and Ben defeat ice monsters until I was added into the mix. Man, it sucked. I thought I really liked Jeremy on top of it all. I thought I really had a chance at my own, happy, cuddle and date-filled relationship, but nope. Just Will does. Although if Lana does a 180, I'd be kicking her ass as far across the universe as I could.

But why, why. What was I, truthfully? And what really were Transversals? Was I just a genetic freak of nature that magically shows up from nowhere? Jeremy had mentioned that I was an exception, but never quite got the chance to explain that little detail any further on our so-called date. How did "transversalism" work, how did it get passed down? Oh, shoot. What if Jeremy was my only chance to find out?

Whoa, wait. He almost got you killed. No, no sympathy for killers. Even if he does have information. That's what kidnapping is for.

"Harley for god's sake, are you sleeping again?" Will asked, dropping the jug of Uncle Jack's Maple Syrup in my arms. I almost felt them give out, still weak from yesterday. Will's dark brown eyes narrowed. "There's something really, really weird with you as of late."