Spero's Arc

Chapter 7 of 10

Spero moved through the market with his hood up. He asked a bread seller about a girl in a purple cloak. The man's eyes drifted to Spero's hair, and a green curl slipped free of the hood. The man frowned. "Weren't you with that runaway knight?" Spero's stomach dropped. He backed away and lost himself in the crowd. He knew then that his hair marked him. The merchant from the gate had seen it too. Green curls did not belong here. He returned to the crypt as the light faded. Inside the still, cool dark, he reached under the loose stone. Valeria's note waited there. "Your hair. They're asking about it. Fix it or they'll take you." Beside the folded paper sat a sleek black vial, its glass smooth and cold in his hand. He understood. She had left it for him. Spero unscrewed the cap. The dye smelled sharp. He thought of his mother, who had loved his green curls, and his hand shook. But he pictured the guards, and his sister still lost somewhere in this city. He poured the dye into his palm and worked it through his hair. It stung his scalp. He rubbed until every strand went black. When he finished, his hands were dark and his old self was gone. He wrote a note back. "Done. I'll keep asking. I'm close, I think." He pressed it under the stone. Then he stepped out to test the change. Near a fountain, a cheerful voice called out. "You! Black hair, new face. You look like a fighter." A boy his age grinned at him, waving an arm. Behind him stood three others, all young, all loud. "We're the Platinum Imperial Protection Squad," the boy said, thumping his chest. "We're going to make the kingdom notice us." A girl beside him nodded hard. "We're catching rainbow dragons. Nobody's done it. When we do, they'll have to see us." Spero froze. A day ago the boy would have stared at his hair and shouted. Now he saw only a stranger. The dye had worked. Spero's shy nature made him want to slip away. But these were people who moved through the city freely, who talked to everyone, who might have heard of a girl in a purple cloak. He made himself speak. "I'm looking for someone," he said. "My sister." The boy clapped him on the shoulder. "Then help us, and we'll help you look. More eyes. More friends." The others cheered. Spero's chest tightened with the old fear of trusting anyone. Ramiro's face flashed in his mind. But he needed what they offered. "All right," Spero said. "I'll join." That night he left a new note under the stone. "My hair is safe now. I found a group. They'll help me search. But they mean to hunt rainbow dragons." He pressed the paper down and waited to see what Valeria would say.