Chapter Thirteen: My Hair Raising Experience

The man regarded me with open contempt in his golden eyes as he sneered down at me, sword in hand. "Why do you struggle?"

"Because I'm human," I replied with a smirk, "and that's something you could never hope to become."

I lunged forward to attack, but he was faster. Time seemed grind to a halt as his sword rose to meet me, the razor-sharp blade piercing through my chest with almost no resistance. My eyes widened and I coughed as I felt blood begin to fill my lungs.

"PENNY!"

I awoke in total darkness, jolting upright and grasping my chest. My heart raced a mile a minute as I dimly registered that I was fine. There was no man with yellow eyes. I hadn't been stabbed. I was in the tent that Lady Artemis had given me to use while traveling with the Hunt.

"It was a dream," I muttered, trying to calm my racing pulse. "It was just a dream."

After a few minutes spent trying and failing to get my heart rate back to normal, I gave up on going back to sleep. It was probably early enough that most of the other girls would already be waking up anyway. I stretched, extending my arms out and arching my back as I stood up, letting out a small groan as I felt my shoulders and lower back pop.

"You know," Hunter said, standing in the door flap of my tent, "it's often considered impolite to crack your joints around others."

"Almost as impolite as walking into someone's tent uninvited?" I asked with a grin as I started to get dressed.

At first, uncle Joe had been surprised when I told him about Lady Artemis' decision to let me join her hunters. Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't also immediately supportive of me. He still had to get his own affairs in order before he could leave to his sister's side, but we still spent the rest of the week getting my wardrobe updated once again - this time for the outdoors rather than city life. My only complaint was all the pink camouflage gear he had bought which had caused almost the entire Hunt to collectively suffer an attack of the giggles.

Hunter had tried to officially dub me 'Cabela's Barbie' in between gasping breaths which led to my first real glimpse of the Hunters' sisterhood. Phoebe, a large ginger-haired girl with functional muscles and a square jaw had almost immediately shot down the idea that I was Barbie, saying that I was 'too short'. Naomi chimed in that I might be 'Skipper' instead, since she was Barbie's 'little' sister. Celyn then made a joke about pulling on my left arm, which made the others start laughing again for some reason.

After that, I said my goodbyes to Uncle Joe and we headed out. Once clear of the city, I yelped in shock, tripping over my feet and falling flat on my butt as a large pack of wolves, each standing taller than me, came running right for us. However, instead of pulling out knives and bows like I expected, the Hunters seemed excited to see the giant predators. As it turns out, the wolves come as a package deal with the rest of the hunt, and the way some of the girls spoke to the pack in low tones, it wouldn't surprise me if they could understand them.

"So what's the plan for today?" I asked, coming back to the present.

"More travel," Hunter replied, causing me to groan.

After the slight hiccup with the wolf pack, my first day traveling with the Hunt got off to a better start. Apparently there was some monster activity somewhere in New England that warranted an active hunt. We quickly left Manhattan behind, traveling up through Connecticut and then further into the Northern Appalachians.

Soon the city streets gave way to dirt roads, which were quickly left behind as we navigated through twisting game trails. The sounds of the city were already a distant memory. As someone who was born and raised in the city, let me tell you this; Central Park has nothing on the scope and majesty of an untamed wilderness. The difference in air quality alone was eye opening. It felt like I had taken my first breath after not realizing I was suffocating my whole life.

If not for Lady Artemis' consideration, I would never have kept pace with the group. It didn't come as a big surprise that the main method of travel was on foot, but the pace they kept was brutal. By the end of the day I'd ached in places that I never knew could ache. Once we finally stopped to set up camp, I had just wanted to collapse onto the ground with a groan. Of course, I couldn't just collapse immediately - setting up the camp was a full group activity.

Zoë set about quickly breaking down the tasks and assigning the girls to groups. I was sent with Celyn and Claire to collect wood for the fire - which nearly proved to be a disaster. After accidentally burning all the kindling they handed me, I was reassigned to the task of chopping and carrying the larger logs that wouldn't burn as easily in my hands. After that, it was decided that my pyrokinesis was a good way to start and maintain the cooking fire.

"Come on," Hunter said, having lost patience with me. How long had I zoned out for? "We can get an early start after breakfast. Or do you want to break camp on an empty stomach?"

I felt my face heat up as my stomach growled before I could answer, causing Hunter to start laughing. I threw a pillow at her head, but she dodged it easily before leaving me to finish getting dressed. Glancing at a mirror hanging on one of the walls, I paused, remembering the way my hair had styled itself before. Had I just imagined it? It wouldn't be the first time my mind wandered while I was doing something, only to catch up after the task was done.

"It would be cool if my hair really could style itself," I mused out loud, running my fingers through my hair and wincing as I snagged a particularly bad tangle. "But, what if...?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, letting the air out of my lungs slowly as I tried to grasp the spark of power inside myself. I frowned, feeling only the familiar rising heat of my fire. Opening my eyes, I activated Aura sight. Everything inside the tent was bathed in a silvery glow, as if it was illuminated by the light of the full moon on a clear night. After a moment, I turned my attention back to my reflection. My own aura was a vibrant golden red-orange color, bright and hot like a flame. But there was also that strange purple color right below the surface as well. Neither color quite touching the other, but both swirling in and around each other as if in a constant wary dance.

I shook my head slightly and focused only on the purple colors swimming in my aura. I tried to remember what I had felt before, but it was like grasping at smoke. I glared at my reflection, trying to will something - anything - to happen. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. I could hear the sounds of the other girls moving around outside and I could feel my stomach grumbling at the thought of missing breakfast.

"What am I doing?" I grumbled.

Trying to save time combing out my hair by using magic that may or may not actually work only seemed to take more time than actually using a comb to do it. Just as I was about to give up, I felt something tugging on my hair. My eyes flew open and I turned back to the mirror to see traces of my purple aura floating through my hair, sweeping through the tangles and settling the hairs perfectly into place.

I was in awe, wondering what else I could do with this new power. Could it be used to style my hair? I thought about the girls in the hunt and how all of them wore their hair in different braids.

"Of course, my hair is just too short for that," I said with a slight frown, only to gasp with my next breath.

In the mirror, my eyes widened comically as the glowing purple tendrils of power seemed to infuse into the individual strands of my hair, causing them to lengthen to just below my shoulders. Reaching up, I ran my trembling fingers through the new growth, giving it a slight tug and wincing as it pulled on my scalp. It was real!

"Can it grow longer?" I asked, my grin growing wider as my hair cascaded further passed my shoulders. I turned this way and that, feeling my hair shift with each movement of my head, and staggered slightly not used to the sudden weight of extra long hair.

"Okay, shorter is definitely better." My hair once again returned to it's previous shoulder length as I mused, "What else can I do?"

Obviously I could control the length, not just growing it, but shortening it as well with just a command. I remembered how it had brushed itself before. Could I make it style itself too? I quickly turned back to the mirror.

"Ponytail. No, that's dumb. I don't have an elastic..."

Once again, it felt like several fingers flitted across my scalp, gently gathering my hair into a bunch and tying it back. I frowned slightly and reached around to feel where the elastic band would normally rest and found only hair.

I went over to my packed bag and, after some digging, found the compact mirror uncle Joe had sent with me. Moving back to the hanging mirror, I held the compact at an angle behind my head so I could get a look at the knot and my jaw dropped. I had half expected a Gordian tangle that only the sharpest sword would be able to hack through, but instead the hair was intricately braided around the base of the ponytail. Seeing the intricate braid reminded me of the hairstyles some of the girls in the hunt wore. I deliberated for just a moment before making up my mind.

"Braids," I said, grinning as my hair began to style itself into braids similar to Hunter's hair. I turned my head left and right, examining my new 'do', a huge grin splitting my face. Not a single hair was out of place, I doubted even the best mortal stylist could have done better. I couldn't wait to show it off! I hurriedly finished getting dressed, verifying in the mirror that my hair was still immaculate, and headed out to join the others - making sure to shut off my aura sight in case I accidentally spotted Lady Artemis. I didn't want my eyes to melt out of their sockets, after all.

"Um, Skipper," Celyn said upon spotting me. "Why is your hair purple?"

Wait, what?