All day were preparing ourselves for the ball that evening. I had not quite realised the effort we were to be making until Una appeared with two bowls of liquid.
"What's this for?" I asked her as I peeked up to investigate what was in them.
"For our hair, don't fear it will only be temporary. My hair will be going some shade of blonde, I hope. And then to match your costume, I have one to make your hair jet black" she explained as she stirred the contents of the bowls.
"Oh my goodness, that's quite the effort!" I laughed as we prepared our hair. The blonde suited Una more than I thought it would as we then pinned up most of her hair so we could easily place her headpiece on later.
I looked at my hair in the mirror, it was jet black and somehow Una had managed to completely flatten my curls and add black feathers into my hair which you would only notice up close.
"Do you think I look ill?" I laughed, nearly unable to recognised myself. The darkness of the hair made my skin look even paler. I wondered what it would look like once we had painted our faces and added the masks.
"Once the costume is all on, you are going to look amazing. Trust me!" She smiled, giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"You were right, Una. We are unrecognisable" I glazed at ourselves in the mirror. Una with her now blonde hair pulled back and held with her peacock headpiece. Her blue falling into green gown that floated with the long feathers making a statement piece on her back. We had also made a lever so she could pull the feathers up and down, we were both quite proud at our efforts.
On the other hand, I had the complete opposite. My costume was based on a raven, I was dressed completely in black with a black feathered cape. My dress only came knee length which I wasn't sure was appropriate, but Una assured me for the costumed balls that anything went. I had long black boots on too, so I wasn't showing too much off. I looked completely transformed.
"Now, I'll go ahead to the ball first. We don't want to enter together as people will be looking for clues" Una told me excitedly "I'll be close by to check on you, but we must not give anything away!"
I laughed at her, partly for how excited she was and then for how serious she was taking this ball too. I still couldn't get my head round that surely not everyone attending would be truly unrecognisable.
"See you in there!" She gave me a quick hug as she went ahead. I suddenly felt nervous, I wish I didn't have to go in my own but at the same time, at least I could well and truly be invisible.