Trial by Fire (Worldwalker 1)

“We’re almost done,” he said, smiling encouragingly at her. He stood behind her and began painting the dye he’d made in his small cauldron onto her hair. Rowan dyed her hair in layers, getting all the way down to the scalp. He piled the dyed hair on top of her head, being very careful not to stain her face or neck with it. As he worked, the stench of the dye kept intensifying.

“That smells awful. It’s making my eyes sting,” she said. “What’s in it?”

“Black walnut husks.”

“They smell like pee,” she said, sniffling.

“No, they don’t,” Rowan responded cautiously. “Pee is why the dye smells like pee.”

Lily stiffened and turned her head carefully to look at him. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

“You can’t make dye without a stripping agent, Lily,” he said pleadingly. “I don’t have any way to make peroxide or ammonia out here, but I do have uric acid in my urine.”

Lily faced front again.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked.

“No,” Lily said through gritted teeth, trying to ignore what was seeping into her scalp.

“You can rinse it off right now if it’s too disgusting. I’ll go catch a squirrel, and we don’t have to go back to Salem.”

“No thank you.”

“Lily, you really don’t have to—”

“Are you going to finish or not?” she said, cutting him off.

“So stubborn,” he said, more to himself than to Lily.

“I’m not stubborn,” Lily said. “I have conviction. And I’m not afraid to do something difficult in order to stay true to my beliefs.”

“That sounds familiar,” he said in a slightly sad way.

They lapsed into silence while Rowan finished painting her hair with the dye and they waited for it to set. When Lily was done rinsing the dried dye out of her hair in the stream, Rowan made another, more careful, pass at trimming her hair with his knife. He took his time, making sure it was even and that it fell properly around her face. Finally he stood back and gave her a satisfied nod.

Lily’s hand shot up to feel her hair. Rowan had given her what felt like a bob. She scrunched her damp curls, happily noting that he’d had the sense to give her some layers so she didn’t have pyramid-head.

“How does it look?” she asked anxiously.

“I think it looks great short,” he replied, still studying her. “But I’ve always preferred you with your hair up, so I can see your long neck.”

Lily was thrown for a moment. Of course, he was referring to Lillian, but it was still strange to hear Rowan speak to her in such a familiar way when she’d only met him three days ago.

“And the color?” she asked, unable to hold his appraising gaze.

“It’s dark,” he warned. “Outlander dark, which works in our favor. If you don’t let anyone see your light eyes, we might be able to pull this off.”

They broke camp quickly. While Lily washed out the cauldron, Rowan took care to make sure all of her hair was burned before he buried the black walnut husks and the embers of the fire under a few layers of dirt. In minutes, it was as if they’d never been there. Lily looked over her shoulder as they left the campsite and headed back to Salem, conscious of the fact that they’d left no soda cans or ugly plastic wrappers behind.

“What’s wrong?” Rowan asked, touching her arm.

“Nothing. It’s just that in my world we’re so concerned with everything being clean. Everything has to come in its own package.” She gave Rowan a rueful smile. “And it makes such a mess.”

His nose scrunched up as he puzzled out the contradiction. “Being clean makes a mess?”

“Unfortunately,” Lily said, nodding.

“I don’t think you’re doing it right then.”