The Gender Lie(10)

Owen called my name. Turning, I saw him holding a bag and waving an arm, beckoning me over. I noticed that he had taken his mask off, and I turned to Alejandro, who was in the process of taking his off as well. Grabbing the straps of my own mask, I removed it, taking a deep breath of fresh air and releasing it with a small sigh.

Then I moved toward Owen, hoping to finally glean more details of the mission ahead of us.





5





Violet





As I stared at the bag in Owen’s hand, resentment and understanding warred within me.

“Ugh, no.”

Owen gave the sigh of eternal patience, and I resisted the urge to childishly stomp my feet.

“Violet, even with the time that has passed, everyone will be looking for you. Maybe not as fervently as a few weeks ago, but your face will still be fresh in everyone’s minds. The bombing of that facility killed dozens of people and wounded dozens more. Patrians want revenge.”

His words were reasonable but I hated the feelings that the contents of the bag were inspiring. I knew it was irrational—I had done it before, so it shouldn’t be such a big deal—but internally I was balking, trying to find another solution.

Ultimately though, there wasn’t any, so I reached out and accepted the bag.

Owen patted me on the shoulder. “Alejandro said you could use the small room down at the end of the galley to change. Amber’s already down there getting ready.”

I turned reluctantly, heading for the small narrow stairs that led to the galley.

I moved through the slender hallway toward the door at the end. There was a small kitchenette just before the bedroom, with a small table and stovetop neatly set up. I pushed open the door and found Amber slipping a dress over her uniform.

I glowered at the dress while placing the bag on the bed and unzipping it. Sighing, I began pulling the folded items out and examining them. The suit was a simple gray—a little threadbare, but serviceable. A gray-blue button-down shirt and a black tie were next, followed by a fake beard and a small box of pills labeled Deepvox.

As I set them out one by one, I felt a pang of déjà vu. The last time I had been in Patrus, Lee had given me similar items to help with his mission. Dressing like a man had afforded me more liberties around Patrus, but it had also carried a great risk. Any woman caught impersonating a male would face punishment.

Not to mention it was downright uncomfortable. The opposite sex—especially the Patrian ones—were still a giant mystery to me. Acting like one was almost impossible, so most of the time I had tried to keep my head down and my mouth shut.

Amber was looking at me inquisitively while I started unfolding the clothes. “It’s not your first time, is it?” I heard it as a question, but she said it as a sentence.

“Nope.”

“I hate it,” she said.

“Yeah,” I agreed. It did make me feel better, knowing that Amber despised the costume as much as I did. I looked up at her. “Won’t your hair make you stand out?” I asked.

Amber’s fingers shot up to the sides of her head where the hair had been shaved down. She cast me a crooked smile, and pulled a glob of hair from the bag on her side of the bed. “Ta-da!” she announced, waving a blonde wig around like a white flag.

I chuckled as she plopped it on her head, winking at me dramatically. The hair, which needed to be brushed, chaotically fell around her face, making her look wild and deranged.

“Come here,” I said, reaching over to grab the brush that was sitting by her bag. Dutifully, she sat down with her back to me.

Carefully, I began brushing the wig. It was tricky to do, but I eventually made my way through the tangled mass. Amber sat patiently under my hands as I worked.

“There,” I said, putting the brush down. She twisted around to give me a better look, and I nodded approvingly. The blonde helped to highlight the freckles across her cheekbones, and her normal aggressive appearance was gone, replaced with a pixie-like quality. “You look cute,” I commented.

Her violet eyes tightened in annoyance, and I laughed. I moved back over to my costume and groaned. “My turn.”

It took a while to get the padding sorted, but Amber helped me, and after about ten minutes, the curves of my hips and breasts had disappeared under foam and wool. Applying the beard took another few minutes. Owen had provided something a little simpler than I was used to—a goatee.

It framed my mouth well, however, and I felt more secure that it wouldn’t fall off as easily if I smiled or laughed—not that I anticipated doing much of that.

I tied my hair up and dropped a cap over it. I looked a little effeminate in the face, but overall, the disguise seemed sound. I was glad I was wearing my invisibility suit underneath it—it helped to alleviate a lot of the heat wearing the entire outfit generated. However, it would be impossible to shed the disguise quickly if I needed to use the camouflage function, so I made a mental note to keep a knife handy, just in case.