Chapter Six
As evening fell, the girls helped Demetria develop her disguise.
“Cut it!” Demetria insisted.
Dana held the scissors, but could hardly stand the thought of snipping the hair.
Chloe said, “We could dye it! Dye it black. It feels wrong to cut that hair.”
Dana nodded, “Dye it, please!”
Tracy said, “There’s actually some here, really good stuff my mom bought.” She dug through the cabinets beside the sink. “Yep. Here it is.”
They washed her hair in the sink and worked the dye in. Dana laughed, “Something about this makes you seem way older. Let’s go with that.”
Demetria smiled, “Maybe I’m showing my age?”
Chloe laughed, “4,000’s the new 17?” She looked over at Tracy, “Do you have any peroxide?”
Tracy dug a bottle out from beneath the sink. By the time the girls were done, Demetria looked like she was fifty. She deflated herself beneath a formless brown dress and managed to appear unremarkable and mousy. She threw a dark blue cloak on over her shoulders and covered her head with the hood. They brought her out into the kitchen.
Robbie was astonished. He started laughing. “That’s amazing! You look like the women I date!” He had to wipe a tear away he was laughing so hard. “That’s really good work!”
Tracy smacked his arm, “Hey now, don’t diss the ladies!”
They carried out their plan. Johnny and Dana pulled the Flying Fox up close to the house, then they shut off all the lights in the house and left the bus’s headlights blazing in the night, pointing down the driveway. Dana put on a blond wig and a hoodie, and Keith, Tracy, Richard, and Johnny all hustled her out to the bus in the center of their group. Johnny and Dana drove away into the night.
In the meantime, Robbie and Demetria slipped out of the basement door and snuck into the dark woods. They were following trails he and David Mathis mapped out as children. They walked south for hours until they were on a long gravel path that used to be the old Eastern Ohio Traction Company railway. The crickets were chirping and the night sky was brilliant with stars since it was a new moon. They heard an exaggerated hammed up fake owl call, “harah huuu huuu.” Robbie laughed. David stepped out onto the trail into the blue light of the night sky.
“David, this is Demetria. Demetria, David Mathis.”
David said, “I’ve heard all about you, Demetria. It’s an honor to make your acquaintance. I hope the walk was enjoyable, we still have a couple hours to go.”
“I’m going to head back to the ranch.” Robbie said. “Demetria, here’s a phone that you can use if you want to talk to us or Morgan. He doesn’t have the phone, yet but I’ll get it to him soon! There’s a set of numbers in there. I’ll text you with details. I think we’re safe using this thing, but avoid using your old email addresses.”
Demetria hugged him. “I have hope, real hope, for the first time in centuries! Will it be safe to see Morgan, soon?”
Robbie nodded, “We’ll work that out as soon as possible.”
The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter Page 6