by C. E. Smith
I couldn’t help but remember the men that had been in my house, wondering again how my mother truly was.
It wasn’t cold, but I shivered. Ryker clearly noticed because he took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. He’d told me that one of his friends had been checking the house and aside from a nasty bruise on her cheek, my mother seemed alright. The black van had been there several times, but there were no signs of them hurting her further. The men were probably waiting for me to come home, but that wasn't happening any time soon.
As we passed the pink scissors, Stella came through the door. "Oh," she said. "Hi Ryker. Eva, was it?"
"Edyn," I corrected and tried to discreetly let go of his hand.
Ryker wouldn’t let me. "Hey, Stel."
She glanced down at our interlocked fingers, and a flicker of sadness and envy flashed across her face before she was able to replace it with a blank expression. "What are you two up to?" she asked.
"I’m just showing Edyn around our part of the Circle. She’s never been underground before. She’s a Topsider." He glanced at me, and his eyes sparkled.
It wasn’t lost on Stella though. "I see," she said without inflection. "Hey, Edyn, I run the salon if you ever feel like a change in your hair or anything. It’s nothing like Topside salons but we make it work."
I smiled in gratitude. "Thanks. I’ve never really been to a salon before. My mom would always just trim my hair at home to save money. It might be kind of fun."
Slowly she grinned, and I felt for a moment that perhaps she didn’t hate me. "Oh we could have some serious fun with your hair. I love working on virgin hair." She reached out and touched my long dark locks. "You know, I’ve got something in mind that I think would look great on you. Why don’t you come by this afternoon? No charge."
I looked at Ryker, and he shrugged with a smirk. "Leave me out of this."
Turning back to Stella, I took a second to try and read her. She seemed sincere. "Okay, sounds good. It would be nice to get some girl time."
Ryker feigned hurt and put his hand over his heart.
"Oh whatever, you big baby." I said and pushed him away.
He laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. A look crossed Stella’s face but was gone as quickly as it came. I didn’t want to hurt her, even though I didn’t know her. I gave her a small smile, and she seemed to bounce right back. It was apparent that she knew Ryker was never just hers, but I could tell she was sad about it, nonetheless.
"Just come by in a couple hours. I’ve got a few errands to run right now, but I’ll be back in a while. I’ll see you later," Stella said before walking off.
I turned to look at Ryker. "Do you think that’s a good idea?"
He pulled me close to him. "Stella’s harmless."
I shook my head. "That’s not what I mean. It’s obvious she has feelings for you. I just don’t want it to be awkward or make her uncomfortable."
"Nah, she’ll be fine. Besides, I’m sure she’ll like you. I mean, who wouldn’t?" he said and kissed my forehead.
"Okay. But what if she dyes my hair purple and gels it into spikes or something?"
Ryker laughed. "Well that would be something, that’s for sure."
We continued walking and Ryker pointed out the different shops to me. Ryker explained to me that this was only one sector of the Circle. People here were pretty normal. Most of them had run away from various problems they had encountered Topside: abuse, government oppression and poverty. Quite a few, he said, were Quintessents.
"Why are so many Quintessents down here? I thought it was dangerous?" I asked.
We stopped walking and sat down on a bench along an old brick wall covered in faded graffiti.
"Yes and no. It’s dangerous for them in certain parts of the Circle, but not here. This area is mainly just where good people try to freely live their lives without being subjected to the government's experiments. It's dangerous Topside for sure, as you found out, so this is a better alternative. Many of them are just like you."
I’d had no idea just how wide the scope was of the Essence Project. It made sense, though. I wouldn't be the only one they wanted.
6
T hat afternoon, Ryker walked me to the salon to meet Stella. When we got there, she was reading a Topside fashion magazine. She looked up when we walked in and smiled. "Hey there. I’ve got some awesome ideas."
My eyes widened, but Ryker just laughed.
He turned to Stella. "Think it’ll be a couple hours? I’ve got some stuff to take care of so I’m going to do that while y’all are busy."
Stella nodded, focused on my hair. "Mhmm."
Ryker laughed. "Okay, I’ll be back later."
She guided me to a chair in front of an old mirror and sat me down. "You need color. Something bright," she said, throwing a smock over me.
Oh no, purple spikes here I come.
"What about a red?"
She squinted her eyes. "What kind are you thinking? A natural looking red probably wouldn’t look the best with your skin tone."
I thought for a moment. "More of a fiery deep red, maybe? Ryker had mentioned something about ‘fake red’ the other day. I think that’s what he meant, but I don’t know about doing it all over."
The corner of her mouth lifted. "I know exactly the red you’re talking about, and I’ve got just the idea in mind. Let me grab the bleach," she said before walking to the back.
Oh, boy. What the Hell would that turn out like?
A moment later, Stella came back with a cup and brush in her hand. "So, you’re a Topsider, huh?"
"Yep. I didn’t even know much about the Circle until a few days ago. Ryker’s…" I hesitated, "father brought me down here. He found me hiding in the church near where that entrance is." I shivered as dark memories flashed in my mind.
She pursed her lips as she painted the strong smelling bleach on the bottom third of my hair. "I heard about that. Some of it anyway. I was with Ryker when Marie came and found him and told him Samuel had taken a girl back to his place."
"You were?" I met her eyes in the dirty mirror.
"Yeah. We were at my apartment. Marie nearly tore the door down pounding on it. As soon as he heard her voice say Samuel’s name through the door, he yanked his shirt back on and was off running. He didn’t even really stop to listen to Marie, but I talked to her for a few minutes after he was gone. Didn’t Samuel give you the creeps when you were with him?"
I nodded. "He did, but I was terrified and needed a place to hide out. I thought it was just my nerves making me paranoid. I won’t make that mistake again."
"You’re lucky Marie found us when she did. Samuel’s done some pretty horrible things to girls."
The smell of the bleach stung my eyes and made keeping tears back impossible.
"Look," she said. "I’m sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I can still see the bruise on your jaw, and I know that you’ve obviously been through more than enough to know how bad he is."
I wiped the tears off my face. "Why doesn’t anybody do something about him if that’s who he is?"
Stella continued painting. "He lives in a different Sector. The one he lives in isn’t a very friendly one. That’s where most of the criminals that find their way down here live, so people try and stay out of their way. Ryker doesn’t have any contact with him and hasn’t for a long time. He tries to pretend he doesn’t exist, and I can’t say that I blame him."
"No, I wouldn’t either, if that’s the kind of man he is." I swallowed hard. "Can we change the subject? Sorry, it’s just that I’m having nightmares over that, and I don’t really want to talk about it."
She paused, and a glob of bleach fell on the floor. "Edyn, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. Of course. What do you want to talk about instead? Something to get your mind off of it."
I thought for a moment.
What would be a good common interest?
"Well, tell me about the Ryker you know," I said. "I haven’t seen him in twenty years,
so I don’t know much about him now."
Her eyes widened. "Twenty years? When he said you were an ‘old friend’ I had no idea it was something like that."
"Yeah we were friends when we were little. It was only for about two years, and then his family moved away. I was four and he was seven. He was very protective of me then, though. I guess that hasn’t changed even after all this time," I said with a laugh.
"Well, he does have a protective streak. He can be quiet sometimes when he gets in one of his moods. The best word I have to describe him is ‘haunted’. He has quite the dark past. Hang on," she said, "let me set the timer so I don’t leave this stuff in for too long." She took the cup and brush and went around to the back again.
I couldn’t help wondering what all had happened to Ryker. The thought of him having a dark past unnerved me. I didn’t want to think about anything hurting him.
I wonder if we were moving into all of this too quickly. He wasn’t the same seven year old that used to protect you from the monsters in the woods. A lot could happen in twenty years.
I chewed on the thought for a minute, but when his face came to mind peace coursed through me.
No, this was right. It may have been crazy, but it was right.
I remembered kissing him earlier that day and that quiver deep down inside me fired up again at the memory.
"Earth to Edyn. Come back to us," Stella said, and I looked up to see her reflection over my shoulder in the mirror, an amused look on her face.
"Oh, sorry," I said.
She waved a hand to dismiss my apology and laughed. "Please, you’re not the only girl to get lost in your head with Ryker Evans."
"About that," I said. "He kind of told me about you two but didn’t say a lot. I don’t want to step on your toes or upset you."
She started fumbling with my hair, massaging the bleach in more. "I know he doesn’t love me," she said. "We’ve known each other for about seven years now and have been close friends. I told him years ago how I felt about him, and he just doesn’t feel the same way. I figured I’d rather have him in my life as a good friend that I could mess around with sometimes than not at all, and it seemed to suit him just fine. He’s got a fierce, uncontrollable spirit, and it’s easy to be consumed by him, so just be careful." She saw alarm enter my eyes and said, "Oh he’d never intentionally hurt you or anything like that, don’t misunderstand me. He’ll die to protect you. He’s just so intense, it’s easy to forget yourself sometimes when you’re with him."
I thought it over for a moment and said, "Have the two of you, you know, slept together?He insinuated that you had but didn’t say much."
Stella laughed. "Oh yeah, many times." The timer went off and she said, "Here, let's go and rinse this out. It’s pulled your hair up light enough for the dye it looks like."
We walked over to the sink and she started rinsing the bleach out of my hair.
"I’m sorry," I said. "That’s personal. I shouldn’t have asked you that."
She laughed again. "No need, girl. It doesn’t bother me. It’s not like people don’t know. They’ve seen him drag me away and vice versa enough times when we couldn’t keep our hands off each other."
I blushed, but she didn’t notice. It was odd to be having this conversation with her about my boyfriend when we hadn’t even slept together.
Boyfriend.
That sounds so strange.
Is that what he is now?
I'd never actually had a boyfriend before.
And when would we have slept together? We’ve only been together for a few days.
"I guess those days are over now though, since he’s with you." She shut the water off and put a towel around my hair. "I’ll have to find another distraction now, although I think I already have one in mind." She smirked, and I blushed. "But you’ll certainly have fun with him. Like I said, he consumes you, but it’s unlike anything else. It’s incredible. Now, let’s go get this red on you," she said and led me back over to the chair at the mirror.
After quickly blow drying my hair, she went to get the red dye, and I couldn’t stop thinking about his eyes. Those powerful, hungry eyes that saw everything inside of me.
Would I be enough for him?
I knew he said he was fine with going as slowly as I needed to, but I could still sense the urgency that he had inside. It was primal. I could see what Stella meant about being consumed by him, and I knew it wouldn’t be hard to let that happen. I think it had already began to fester inside me. He was intense.
Stella came back and started coating the bleached parts of my hair with red goop. "This is going to look fabulous," she said, "and Ryker will love it."
"You think?" I asked.
"Oh, absolutely. I’ve known him a long time too. I know what the man likes," she said and laughed.
The thought hit me that even though I had technically known him longer, she knew him far better. "So you’re really okay with this? With me and him?"
She kept working the dye into my hair. "I am. I knew someone would come along one day and completely mesmerize him. I knew he wouldn’t be mine forever, and that he wasn’t ever really mine to begin with anyway."
She worked on my hair for a while longer as she chatted away about some gossip involving some of her other friends. When she rinsed the red dye out, she decided it wasn’t enough so she put another coat on, and I sat for another twenty minutes letting it soak in. My stomach growled. I had been there a couple of hours already. After rinsing again she was satisfied with the color. I could just see the red from the corner of my eye. It was vibrant.
"Don’t look in the mirror," she said. "I want you to wait until I’m all done with it before you see it." She turned my chair around so my back was to the mirror and picked up her shears. She snipped away, and I could see pieces of red cascading to the floor around me.
"You’re not cutting it too short are you?" I asked.
"Nope, just taking the dead ends off and changing the shape a little bit," she replied. "I’m going to give you bangs if that’s cool."
"Umm--"
"Not straight across elementary school bangs, sexy side bangs."
"Sure why not," I said.
When she was done chopping my hair off, she pulled out a round brush and a hair dryer.
After she was satisfied, she said "Let me grab my make up real quick," and hurried to the back. Before I could sneak a glance I heard her calling back. "Uh uh, don’t you dare!"
I laughed and shook my head. She returned a moment later and went to work applying shimmery dark eyeshadow and black eyeliner.
"You know," she said. "The red with this make up really makes your green eyes pop. They’re scary gorgeous." She painted some deep red lip stain on my lips and coated it with a clear shimmery gloss. "There, perfect. Take all of this with you, and if there’s any makeup of mine at Ryker's feel free to use it."
"Thank you," I said, and she whirled my chair around. When I saw myself in the mirror, my jaw dropped. I was unrecognizable. "Wow."
"I know, right?" she replied. "You know, he’s not going to be able to keep his hands off of you now."
She pulled the smock off of me, and I stood up. The jeans and fitted black t-shirt hugged my every curve, and the red in my hair exploded in the light. She had left the top two thirds of my hair in its natural dark chocolate, but the bottom third was blazing like it was on fire. She had put a couple streaks of the red in my new bangs as well, and twisted the bottom in gentle curls.
"Damn," I said with a laugh.
I loved it.
She threw an arm around my shoulders and said, "Good, I’m glad. Now, when it starts to fade I’m going to drag your butt back in here to redo it because it’s too epic to let it get dull. I left a few streaks darker in the bottom to give it some dimensions, and if you ever want to go back to your natural color again it won’t be hard. You’d better not, though." She looked at our reflections in the mirror. "You look just as fierce as he does now. It’s like you’re
made for him." There was a touch of sadness in her voice, and I heard the door behind us opening.
We both turned, and her face lit up immediately. Someone I didn’t know had walked in, and she ran up to him, throwing her arms around his neck like she did to Ryker the first time I met her. He was average height but built like a bull with dark hair swept out of piercing blue eyes.
No wonder she’d be distracted by someone else when that someone looked like him.
"Hey Zak!" she said, her voice light.
He put an arm around her waist. "You ready?" then he looked at me. "Wow, who’s this?"
She smacked him playfully. "This is Edyn, and she’s Ryker’s squeeze so back off!"
He threw his hands up in surrender. "Oh don’t worry, that’s a Hell storm I don’t need. I kind of like living." Even though he was playful about it, I could tell there was a part of him that wasn’t joking, and it left me wondering what exactly made Ryker so intimidating.
Stella laughed. "Edyn, I’m sure he’ll be here soon. I need to lock up though so we can get going. Do you mind waiting for him outside? I need to go and get distracted," she said and winked.
"No, not at all." I said and we walked out, with Stella locking the door behind us. "Thank you Stella. I love it, I really do."
She twirled a lock of my hair. "You’re welcome, and I do too. I have to say I’m a damn genius when it comes to beauty."
I laughed. "You two go have fun."
Zak threw her over his shoulder, and she squealed. She looked at me with delight all over her face and waved.
Well I guess she’s getting over Ryker already, I thought with some relief, and turned to see my reflection in the glass window of the salon. I really did look fierce. I looked powerful although I’ve never had an ounce of power in my life. Stella’s words ran through my head again.
You look as fierce as he does now. It’s like you’re made for him.
It certainly felt like it when I thought about him. Now at least I looked like it. I was peering closely at the ends of my hair. It glowed between my fingers, and I loved the look of it. I could just make out the faint purple bruise that was still on my jaw.