Bones of Salt

Jonathan

Jonathan had always thought of himself as an adventurer of sorts, and strictly speaking, he was, so he couldn't hide his excitement when Mira said, "You need to wear disguises."

Cypress and Matias were a little jealous that the 'detention' consisted in something thrilling like going into town to follow the leads to the murders.

"I certainly do," Jonathan replied. "Not to brag, but I'm pretty recognizable. If people see me on the street, they'll know something's up with the Blood Drinkers."

"You might be the new boy in town, but I've lived here all of my life," Roman added. "I'm not sure everyone knows who Jonathan is, but I will catch attention."

"That was exactly why I told you to wear disguises," Mira said. "I understand that blending in, for either of you, is pretty much impossible."

"At least you trust their acting abilities," Evangeline commented. "That's something."

At the end of the day, Minx and Mira settled for the only disguise that could somehow make Roman look like anyone else — a black hat that had to conceal, at least in part, his blond and curly hair, black sunglasses and a black all-over outfit.

"My honest opinion?" Roman asked. "I think I could look less conspicuous."

But this was all the tutors could do. When it came to Jonathan's turn, a lot of things were discussed.

"Try to speak without your accent," Cypress suggested.

While Jonathan was bilingual, he still retained part of his Tallyard accent when talking Megleni. He tried to speak in an accentless way, but it came out worse than he'd intended.

"I remember," Carmela said, touching her lip, lost in thought. "The insults I received from the common people last year when I was a new recruit. I had bleached blond hair, and it is considered the norm that Blood Drinkers take their appearances very seriously."

Jonathan had never given it much thought before, but Carmela's hair was now part dark brown and part blond, because her roots had grown.

"If we dye Jonathan's hair a terrible color, no one will think that it is something that is permitted to the new recruits," Carmela added, enthusiastically.

"Are you sure..." Mira started to ask.

"It's the only option!" Minx commented. "Though I've been asked before whether my hair was dyed."

Roman arched an eyebrow. "This is stupid. It's not like people recognize the foreign recruit because of his brown hair. It's the accent. It's the clothes he wears."

"Well, we'll give Jonathan a new set of clothes and tell him to speak accentlessly like before," Mira said, more confident than Jonathan felt. "But perhaps Carmela is right. He'll dye his hair too. What is your favorite color, Jonathan?"

Jonathan's favorite color was red. In a matter of minutes, his hair looked exactly the color of blood. A deep, dark red that didn't fade into dark brown.

"Well it suits you, pretty boy," Roman commented when he'd seen the result.

"Don't go around town showing your ghostly powers, little creep," Jonathan replied, but he was grinning.

"I object," Matias commented. "He doesn't look inconspicuous now."

"The hair dye will fade in a few washes," Jonathan replied. "I wasn't going for inconspicuous, I was going for 'someone who's not Jonathan Loreta'. That way, we can ask about the body without people connecting it to the Army."

When Roman and Jonathan went to the nearest town, Iaș, Jonathan declared the idea he'd been developing in his brain for some time.

"I just know who the first person to contact is," he said. "We'll talk to a man of culture. A doctor."