Chapter 74 The Cut

The new arrival, Natisha, turned her attention to her new co-client. “Nice to meet you, Evernya. I am going to try a unique approach to curling your hair with a combo of heat and telekinesis.”

“Oh, you’re the one that was doing the crazy intricate hairstyles earlier. I have telekinesis too, but nowhere near your control.” Evernya gushed, eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“Thank you. I pride myself on my fine control.” Natisha replied humbly.

“Good luck with my hair. It seems to want to stay straight,” Evernya warned.

“I’ve never failed to curl someone’s hair before, and this time won’t be any different,” Natisha asserted with confidence.

Natisha got to work starting by telekinetic manipulating a section of Evernya’s hair in a tight cylinder before applying heat to the cylinder. “Oh, how did you do that? I thought you were going to use fire manipulation for heat.”

“No, I’m not sure how much you know about us Psion’s, but we can’t awaken elemental magic. As for how I created heat, that’s a secret.” Natisha replied, smiling.

Disappointed but understanding, Evernya remained silent as Natisha continued her work. Natisha carefully regulates the heat while manipulating the tension on the cylinder of hair. A minute later, she unraveled the cylinder while keeping heat and curls in the hair until Evernya’s hair cascaded down her back. The result was beautifully wavy hair, which turned into counter-clockwise spirals toward the end. Amber and Natisha stared intently at the curly chunk of hair for almost a minute, for any signs of straightening.

“See, I never fail at curling hair, like Amber, with her amazing hair washing. I specialize in curls and intricate styles.” Natisha gloated.

“Oh, just wait for it. My hair has never failed to remain perfectly straight.” Evernya said with a smile, half-hoping Natisha failed as revenge for not telling her the heating secret.

As if on cue, her hair straightened itself. “Oh no, you don’t!” Natisha yelled as she reapplied her telekinesis and heat.

She redid her curling process, but this time, putting extra effort into it to make doubly sure Evernya’s hair wouldn’t come uncurled.

Unfortunately, all her efforts failed as Evernya’s hair straightened itself, as if to taunt her. Both Amber and Natisha slumped in defeat as Evernya’s hair returned to its normal straightness.

“I give up! This hair is so unfair! Straight hair isn’t always easy to curl, but not to this degree. Are you straightening it yourself?” Natisha pouted while staring at Evernya accusingly.

While trying to suppress a smile, Evernya defended, “No, my hair has always been straight. Even when I fall asleep in random places, I always wake up with it in perfect condition. It’s kinda freaky seeing it move on its own like that. Another weird quirk about my hair is it never gets in my eyes unless I want it to, even though my bangs should be at least partially covering my eyes.”

“It’s like your hair is alive. I have never heard of anyone with hair like yours.” Amber marveled, enjoying her friend’s failure after how Natisha taunted her.

“I think I’ll settle for a trim. It’s pointless to continue trying to curl my hair.” Evernya decided.

Natisha straightened herself, returning to her previous humbly confident self before she admitted. “I hate to admit it, but you are right. If I can’t curl your hair, I don’t know what could. Besides, applying too much heat to hair can lead to damage. I need to get going anyway. My next customer should be here any minute. Sorry I couldn’t help, Amber.”

After Natisha performed a tactical retreat, Amber inquired in a half serious tone, “So how much do you want me to trim off? I half want to shave it all off out of spite.”

Terror flashed on Evernya’s face as her hands shot up to cover her head, exclaiming, “I like my long hair, no shaving it off!”

Amber giggled at her client’s reaction as she said, “Sorry, was just kidding. Just the fact that your hair will probably give poor Natisha nightmares justifies its existence. By the way, she doesn’t have another customer for an hour. She just lied to get away from your evil hair.” Amber whispered the last part just loud enough for her client’s sensitive ears to hear.

“Blame it all on Meira. She is the one who brought me here.” Evernya said, shamelessly throwing the blame at her big sister.

“Shouldn’t you know that your hair is like this? You had to have had haircuts before,” Amber questioned.

Evernya wiggled her snug silver collar down just enough to reveal the black slave band underneath as a response.

Amber’s expression shifted to one of concern. “Oh, I am so sorry. I should have known when you said Meira adopted you.”

The slave band comes in handy to explain my lack of knowledge or experience in this world. Who knew a slave band would have a positive effect on the wearer. Evernya happily thought.

“It’s ok, I am mostly over it. Unfortunately, this black band is a permanent reminder of it. Meira didn’t free me from being a slave. I did that myself, but she saved me from a deadly situation soon after.” Evernya replied vaguely, brushing off Amber’s concern.

“I am glad you are free. no one deserves enslavement,” Amber stated.

“I agree it’s disgusting that you humans allow it to happen, no offense.” Evernya fumed.

“None taken, us humans have a lot of issues,” Amber replied.

“I am sure all races have their faults. Human’s faults are just magnified because of how many of you guys there are. Anyway, I would like my hair trimmed to just below my shoulder blades in the back.” Evernya commented, prodding Amber to return to the task at hand.

Not wasting any more time, Amber floated Evernya’s hair up before launching a precise air blade at it. The air blade impacted with Evernya’s hair, causing a few strands to sheer off, but most of it remained intact. “What the hell is with your hair! I can barely cut it!” Amber exclaimed as she continued her work.

Amber repeated the process with a much stronger air blade, which cut away a little more. Meanwhile, Evernya was fighting the urge to giggle, but lost all humor when she saw Amber’s expression in the mirror.

While staring at Evernya’s hair like it is an enemy she needed to vanquish, Amber vowed. “I refuse to allow this evil hair to defeat me again!”

Amber unleashed a rapid assault of Air blades onto Evernya’s hair, clipping away a few strands at a time. Over the next fifteen minutes, Amber slogged her way through her client’s tough hair, collapsing on a nearby chair, exhausted as she finished.

“Sorry about that. I had no idea my hair was so resilient.” Evernya apologized, staring at the exhausted woman with genuine sympathy.

Too exhausted to stand up, Amber replied. “It’s fine. I needed a workout anyway. I can’t believe it took that much air blades to cut your hair. Most people only require a few blades for a simple trim like yours.”

Out of curiosity, Evernya tried to cut a strand of her hair with a small force blade, cutting through the strand like a knife through butter. Seeing this, Amber slumped in her chair, utterly defeated.

Upon catching Amber’s reaction, Evernya apologized yet again with a sheepish expression. “Sorry about giving you so much trouble. It looks like from now on I’ll have to cut my own hair.”

“Please do, I don’t think I can handle your hair regularly.” Amber replied. Any desire to work with Evernya’s unique hair long destroyed.

“Well, no offense to you, but I doubt I will visit this city too much either way,” Evernya replied, to the relief of Amber.

“Makes sense if you live with Meira. You must live near Druth, so coming here is a hassle.” Amber commented.

“Yeah, portal stations suck, then there is the fact I have to wear this stupid collar,” Evernya grumbled, pointing at the bulky silver collar locked around her neck.

“I would hate to wear a big collar, isn’t it heavy?” Amber questioned.

“It isn’t too heavy, despite its thickness. It may not be heavy, but it restricts the range of motion of my neck plus it’s simply degrading.” Evernya fumed, tilting her head slightly to the side to demonstrate the extent of her range of motion.

“Oh, wow, I was wondering why you didn’t turn your head,” Amber commented.

“Anyway, unless you can give me another one of those hair washes, I think I’ve had enough hairstyling for the day,” Evernya stated, looking at Amber through the mirror with hope bordering on begging.

Amber smiled at her client’s attempt as she said. “You made your enjoyment known. I am pretty sure everyone in the salon heard your purr, but unfortunately, I can only give one per customer. The solutions I mix myself are expensive, and I only bring enough for a day’s worth of washes if I give a customer extra someone else won’t get one.”

Evernya’s face reddened with embarrassment. “I hope I didn’t make too much of a scene. It’s not my fault my purr motor sometimes starts when I am enjoying myself.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think anyone will complain. I still think you need some more style to your hair, but I don’t think your hair will allow anything more.” Amber replied, lacking her previous enthusiasm for working with Evernya’s hair.

Evernya breathed a sigh of relief as she tried to survey her surroundings through the mirror, but couldn’t to turn her head far enough. “That’s good. I would hate to annoy everyone with my purr. By the way, I think my hair is just following my wishes. I wanted it to remain straight, so it did. Though, I have no idea why it was so difficult for you to cut it.”

“How unusual it’s, like your hair has a mind of its own,” Amber commented with renewed fascination.

“Well, I am used to it with my tail. My tail also automatically does things such as curl around my waist so I can sit down in a chair like it’s doing right now. Unlike my hair, I can still control what my tail does, which is probably how it learned to curl around my waist in the first place with muscle memory.” Evernya continued.

“Interesting. I’ve never heard of a shifter’s tail moving automatically. From what I’ve read, shifters have to learn to control their tail just like any other limb.” Amber cut in.

“I keep learning more unique things about myself every day. I wonder when it will stop.” Evernya commented in fake exasperation.

“Well, at least the differences from normal shifters are helpful,” Amber commented.

“Yeah, I guess,” Evernya replied halfheartedly as her mind flashed back to her range disability.

Amber reassured her client, taking Evernya’s sudden mood shift as a sign she revealed something she didn’t want to. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about you. It’s not like anyone would believe me if I did. I’m sure Natisha won’t say a word either since she prides herself on being able to style anyone’s hair, so this was a major blow to her ego she won’t want anyone to find out about.”

“Thank you. These quirks aren’t too dangerous if they get out, but it may make some people may become more curious about me. I want to keep myself out of the spotlight as long as I can, which I have a feeling won’t be very long.” Evernya said, she banished the depressing thoughts of her disability.

“A mage shifter isn’t unheard of, but they usually only exist among the bloodline shifter families, so I agree you will draw a lot of attention no matter what you do.” Amber said.

“Oh, that’s not the worst of it I wish it were,” Evernya commented without elaborating further.

Amber checked the clock at her station before stating, “I hope everything turns out well for you in the end. Anyway, I enjoyed talking with you, but I have a customer scheduled for five minutes from now.”

“It was nice talking to you, too. When I first saw you, I thought you would be a lot more uptight.” Evernya revealed as she stood up to follow Amber toward the front.

“I have to dress this way because most of my customers are rich and snobby, forcing me to look the part. When I’m not at work, I rarely wear heels or fancy clothes. I have to wear this stuff enough at work, so I like to wear comfortable stuff all other times.” Amber admitted, earning a giggle from Natisha as they passed her lounging at her station.

“You look good in the outfit. I am sure you have many admirers. As you can see, my dress code is very lax. If I can get away with it, I wouldn’t even wear as much as I am now.” Evernya complimented before switching the attention to her simple black form-fitting tank top and short shorts.

At the mention of admirers, Amber scowled as she said. “I do, but I don’t take any of them up on their dating offers. I want to date someone interested in me, not how I look. Like at first, I thought you couldn’t afford to come here with your outfit, but that wasn’t the case. If someone likes me because I wear this, they are not someone I want to date.”

“Well, I can’t afford a trim here, but Meira is paying. I am as poor as it can get though if I sold the outfit Meira bought me, I could live off it for a while.” Evernya replied before she went wide-eyed, “Is Meira paying for it? She didn’t give me any money.”

“You’re fine. The salon doesn’t allow us to style someone’s hair unless they have a valid method of payment on file. In your case, Meira gave us her card number to charge the amount owed. I think she was hoping you would get more than a trim. Since we failed to curl your hair, we will only charge you for the trim. Meira also had weird instructions not to show you the total price. Any idea why that is?” Amber asked curiously.

Unsurprised, Evernya explained. “Oh, that’s probably because of my reaction after I saw the total price of my outfit. I kind of froze up from shock for a few minutes. Over sixty-four thousand for an outfit is absurd.”

Amber let out a whistle at the cost. “Wow, she splurged a bit, but you will be among some of the richest people outside of Tier 1 cities, so she wanted you to look the part.”

“Yeah, her excuse was that because it was my first formal event, she wanted me to stand out. I could wear anything to this event and stand out since I am probably the only shifter going.” Evernya grumbled.

“You probably are, but you never know this event is all about who has money to spend, not their race. There are some rich shifters out there, but the number of rich humans heavily outnumbers them. Most likely, if a rich shifter wants to attend, they will send someone to go for them because, like you, they don’t like to wear collars.” Amber replied as they neared the curtained-off front.

“If I had any choice, I would skip too,” Evernya grumbled, not looking forward to tonight.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m glad she made you come out here. Despite how much of a pain it was to work on your hair. It was a pleasant change to talk to someone different from my usual customers.” Amber said as they reached the curtained doorway.

“You to, it is hard to find a human who treats me like a person,” Evernya replied as she followed her through the curtained doorway into the reception area.

As they neared the reception counter, still manned by Stephanie, said receptionist’s eyes widened with fear.

“What’s wrong, Stephanie?” Amber inquired, concerned.

“Nothing, I’m fine.” Stephanie stuttered while fearfully glancing at Evernya.

“I may have gone a little overboard when she questioned if I was a mage,” Evernya whispered to Amber.

As realization dawns, Amber whispered back. “Stephanie a little skittish, so it doesn’t take much to frighten her.”

Feeling a little guilty, Evernya apologized. “I’m sorry if I scared you, Stephanie. I didn’t mean any harm by what I did. I overreacted because I am sick of everyone questioning me. You just happen to be the unfortunate victim of my built-up frustration.”

While trying her best to overcome her fear, Stephanie replied, “It’s ok I can see how people questioning your qualifications would be frustrating. It was partly my fault for not paying attention when you unlocked the door.”

“How do you know I unlocked the door? You weren’t looking when I entered.” Evernya inquired.

Stephanie regained some confidence, prompting a ramble after making sure no customers were waiting for her. “I reviewed our security sensors to confirm it was you who made everything on my desk come alive. Oddly, the sensors couldn’t pick up your mana signature, but since it failed when you opened the door and your show, I confirmed it was you.”

“Apparently, I don’t radiate mana like most people. I don’t know why I don’t, though. I just found out myself.” Evernya replied, casually dropping a bomb.

Unbelieving Evernya’s claim, Stephanie focused her senses on Evernya. “You are right. I can’t sense any mana coming from you, and I am very good at sensing mana,” Stephanie revealed in shock.

“Will this bring me issues?” Evernya inquired with worry.

Previous fear forgotten, Stephanie replied with enthusiasm, as one of her interests was magical security. “Maybe some security systems need to sense someone’s mana signature at all times. If you are in an area with that type of security system, you may cause the security system to trip.”

Wonderful, another issue to deal with. I guess I’ll have to be careful. I wonder why most people don’t notice my lack of mana leakage? I usually check the mana grade of anyone I come into contact with, but that must not be the case for humans. Evernya thought before turning her attention to Stephanie. “Thanks for the warning. I would rather avoid having police or security on my ass. I have enough trouble with attracting them, as is no need to add another reason.”

Stephanie gave Evernya a fearful look at the mention of attracting the police, forcing Evernya to clarify. “Don’t worry, I’m not a criminal. People keep calling security on me because I am a shifter who happens frequent places shifters rarely venture to.”

Stephanie turned sheepish as she apologized. “I am sorry I shouldn’t have assumed anything.”

“It’s ok. My wording wasn’t the best,” Evernya replied, shrugging off Stephanie’s assumption.

Amber cut in their conversation after checking the time. “Well, I got to get ready for my next appointment. I hope we meet again, Evernya, as long as I don’t have to cut your hair again. With your talent, I am sure I will hear about your accomplishments soon.”

“I’m going to attend DIOM in the fall, so maybe you will hear about me from there,” Evernya replied internally, hoping news of her wouldn’t spread.

“We won’t get much news from a Tier 3 university unless it is a major story. Maybe if you are on the dueling team and you advance past regionals.” Amber stated.

Evernya’s shoulders relaxed as she said, “I am glad that news about me won’t spread too far. I get far too much attention as it is.”

“Do you have a cell phone?” Amber inquired.

Evernya mumbled in embarrassment. “No, but Meira said she will get me one soon.”

I feel like I’m in my freshman year of high school all over again. It was so embarrassing being one of the few students without a cell phone of any kind. Evernya thought, only increasing her embarrassment, further reliving it with vivid detail because of her enhanced memory.

Amber materialized a piece of paper and pen and jotted something down, handing it to Evernya. “That’s my number. Reception between cities can be spotty but feel free to call or text me anytime.”

“Thanks, I will text you as soon as I get a phone,” Evernya said after tucking the piece of paper into her tiny left front pocket.

“Good luck with college, Stephanie will take care of the rest,” Amber stated before rushing back through the curtain as fast as her high heels would allow while still appearing dignified in front of the group of richly dressed people seated in the waiting area.

Now somewhat comfortable around Evernya, Stephanie inquired, “What did she mean about not wanted to cut your hair again?”

“I guess my hair is hard to cut and impossible to curl,” Evernya replied

“I was wondering why your hair looks the same,” Stephanie commented, running her eyes over Evernya’s beautiful raven black hair.

“Yeah, I only had her trim my hair,” Evernya said, prompting Stephanie to type something on her computer.

After a few seconds of typing, Stephanie glanced up over-the-counter to Evernya, speaking in a polite, well-practiced manner. “Do you want to schedule your next appointment?”

“No, I doubt I will come all the way here for a haircut,” Evernya replied.

“Well, if that’s all, we will charge the cost of your haircut to a card under the name Meira,” Stephanie stated.

Evernya nodded affirmatively as she said, “Thanks. By any chance did Meira tell you when she would be back?”

Stephanie’s smile disappeared as she replied, “No, she didn’t. She left right after you went in back.”

“I’ll have to go hunting for my wandering elf then, and no, I don’t mean actual hunting,” Evernya commented, quickly adding clarification at the end.

Stephanie smiled at Evernya’s attempt, “Have a nice rest of your day.”

“You too,” Evernya replied before stepping away from the counter, making way for the next customer.