Good, Evil, and the Gray Area (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 13: Beauty Takes Pain

I was ushered into another big tent by Immanuel's wife. She didn't speak to me at all, just led me. I followed, unsure of what to do. I could try to escape, but they knew about my powers, or at least Immanuel did. His wife probably did too, but I couldn't see any sort of protection against me, or at least nothing obvious, like Immanuel's invisibility/shield spell.

The inside of this tent was elegantly furnished. It was probably 12ft by 15ft. Huge, for a tent. The roof was just above my head, however. Immanuel's wife stood a good three inches shorter then me, so I assumed this was her tent, or a tent specifically for women.

Immanuel's wife sat me down on a couch, and walked to the other side of the tent. She rummaged in a desk. The couch was velvet, and red. I wondered how they carried it around, if indeed they did travel. I assumed they did, because there were no permanent dwellings here.

The woman came back with a basket in her hands. I looked at it, suspicious. It could have a bomb in it!

But no. It was worse then that. Makeup, nail polish, razors, scissors, wax.

I cringed. Immanuel's wife finally spoke.

"This will make you acceptable at the meeting. You better not complain, flinch, or anything like that. If you do, I have a shotgun in my purse. Immanuel may be mad, but I would tell him you were threatening me. The men may think they need you, but I don't. You are expendable to me. I would be careful."

I cringed. This woman seemed violent. As much as I would hate this, I resolved myself to take it.

She took out her scissors first, and cut off the ends of my hair. Then, she left the tent and came back with a bucket of ice cold water. She made me dip my head in it while she washed my hair. When my hair was washed and my head was numb, she dumped out the water and moved on to my legs.

"We won't worry about anything that won't show." She said flatly. I let out a relieved smile.

She made a fire, and melted the wax over it. Then, she waxed all the hair off my arms, legs, and the exess hair on the back of my neck. I barely kept myself from frying her to a crisp.

When that torture was over, she cut my nails, and polished them. She did my toenails to, but not as thoroughly, probably because she assumed no one would look at my feet. After the cutting and polishing, she carefully chose nail polish out of her basket.

My fingernails and toenails both ended up dark purple.

Then, she told me to undress. I did. She gave me clean underclothes, and handed me a dark purple dress.

"No. I'm not wearing a dress." I said flatly. You can't run in a dress. Dresses don't keep the cold out, the rain off.

She moved towards her purse. I lit my hand on fire.

"You may think I'm not powerful, but I'm powerful enough to kill you easily." I said, my eyes narrowed, my voice low and dangerous.

"If you hurt me Immanuel will kill you. He may need you, but he loves me." Said the woman. She sounded unsure though, and her eyes darted from side to side.

"I won't hurt you if you let me wear pants and a shirt. I don't care if you do my hair in an outlandish way, I sat through the waxing, the nail cutting and painting, but I'm saying no to the dress." I said, trying to bargain with her. As much as I didn't like the woman, I didn't want to kill her.

"Fine." She said, defeated. She hurried off and returned with tan pants and a white button down shirt. Not the best outfit, but better then a dress. Hopefully I could get my old clothes back before I made a run for it.

I put them on, and a black pair of sandals. I definetly needed to get my sneakers back.

Then, we heard Immanuel yell, "Can I come in?"

---------------------

I've been writing longer chapters, and I hope you like it better that way. Comment, Vote, Fan!