GLASS NERVE | alex rider

Eight.

( tw : n/a )

CHAPTER EIGHT
DISOBEDIENCE

"It looks wrong, James."

The father-daughter duo was trying to wrestle a wig onto her head atop her mess of natural hair. It would need to stay on for weeks to come, not budging or moving no matter what. Her hair couldn't survive being bleached and chopped for the mission and then dyed back to brown and laced with extensions when she got back. There could be no indication the twin sisters were actually one person.

"You're the one that bought it." He positioned it on her head, pulling on the lace to make sure it covered her cap and hairline. "It's not like Stellenbosch knows the exact shade of Lilith's hair You're fine."

Bella rolled her eyes, holding the wig down against her head as James carefully started to glue the lace down, smoothing it down with the end of a comb until her entire hairline was glued down. It looked fine, maybe it was a few shades paler then Lilith's actual hair but no one would notice. As he cut off the excess, Bella got to work smoothing down the hair with a hot brush, flattening it to her head.

Lilith Devin, Bella's supposed twin sister, looked nothing like Bella. She actively bleached her hair, leaving her dark brown roots to grow in after every dye. She had brown eyes, not green. Lilith also had plenty of piercings, which is why Bella had to get all of those redone the day before, including Lilith's newest septum piercing. She flipped it up when she went to see Alex, not wanting to make up an excuse why both her and Lilith have septum piercings.

Lilith wasn't a romantic like Bella either. She was a hardened, punk-rocker girl who wound laugh herself to exhaustion if she could see what her "twin" sister enjoyed. Lilith would call Bella lame and Bella would call her a bitch.

She specifically hunted down a blonde wig with brown roots yesterday because at Lilith's last institution, they wouldn't have let her dye her hair, so the brown would've grown back in. Everything had to fit together perfectly so Stellenbosch didn't get too curious and investigate past the surface.

For their whole mission, they were lucky James used to be quite famous in America, still relishing in his popularity and wealth all these years later. Point Blanc only took troubled rich kids from well-known families. Since James had done so well in MMA, Lilith fell into that specific category.

"Stellenbosch will be here any moment now." James said, quickly putting all their wig supplies back into the large bag they lugged around everywhere they went. He slid it into the closet, piling towels on top of it. "Go get dressed."

Bella nodded and left the bathroom, purposefully passing her own bedroom and going into the one James spent the morning staging to look like Lilith had been responsible for decorating it. When going through her files, it was always noted Lilith would sometimes be allowed to visit home if she was on good behavior, meaning they would and should have a room for her.

It was covered top to bottom in black wallpaper, decorated in chains, skulls, posters of bands like SOAD, Korn, Slayer, and Pierce the Veil, and one big tapestry covered the overhead light to keep the room dark. There was a pack of cigarettes on her bedside table, half gone and half untouched. She used a black zippo lighter with a skull printed on both sides. She kept her room slightly messy but organized, a trait she learned from all the wards she spent her time in.