"Your hair is the biggest atrocity I've ever seen!" exclaimed the pink-and-white-haired stylist. She was tall, wearing very high heels that seemed to be made of ice, and a crystalline pink dress. The woman was so beautiful that it almost hurt to look at her.
"Sis, can you do something about it?" Everett asked as the cameraman set up his equipment.
"Wait, are you Everett's sister?" Jade asked the girl. To tell the truth, the athletic woman's body, which surely had an abdomen of steel under her dress, made it a bit obvious that she was.
As if the two tusks protruding from her blue-lipsticked mouth and snow-white skin weren't enough.
"That's right, Laska Frostakov at your service. You must be the girl Everett mentioned on the phone, the one he likes," the girl said, apparently as honest as Everett.
"I find her pretty, petite, and fragile," Everett didn't seem to have a problem admitting that he liked Jade. "Wait. Where's Aspem?"
"Oh! You know our little brother," Laska said, rolling her eyes, "He's hungover, he said the party was intense and I had to open the salon by myself again. It's not like I need him much. He is always never here."
Everett looked at the pink-haired woman as if she had three heads. The way she had put everything into making that comment had disturbed his inner peace.
"I'm going to kick his ass," Everett said, snorting, "He's irresponsible! You and I built this out of nothing, so he would have something. I should never have left."
"Clients always ask when you'll be back to dying and cutting hair," Laska said, looking at her brother in the reflection of the mirror. The whole place looked very normal for a Yeti beauty salon, very white and clean, without a trace of ice or cold.
It was very minimalist too. But it was a bit of a small place, and it was hard to imagine two huge Yeti working here.
"Did Everett work here?" Jade asked, and Laska laughed out loud.
"He and I used to do miracles!" Laska ruffled Jade's hair. "My baby brother used to sing while he worked, so when I heard that Monster Mash, the duet not the band, were looking for more members, I told him that he had to audition!"
Jade couldn't believe her ears.
It was hard for her to imagine such a tall but stoic-looking young man singing in a salon.
Surely many women came to hear him sing. Jade would have done that. She would have dyed her hair rainbow to spend hours here listening to Everett sing!
But it wasn't just the voice; there was something about him. Something magnetic.
Jade couldn't understand the meaning behind it all.
"How much will it cost?" Jade finally asked Laska, who cocked her head. "I mean the haircut?" she tried again.
"I'll do it for free if Everett shows my salon logo on the video," the girl said.
"Haircut?" Everett asked, turning around from where he had been checking through the camera to get a shot with the operator. "I didn't bring you here for haircut."
"We're going to cut it," Laska ruffled Jade's hair again. "Change your hair colour, do your makeup, do your nails, give you a foot massage, pedicure, whatever it takes to make you look absolutely stunning and relaxed!"
"And you won't charge me anything?" Jade asked. "Don't be ridiculous! People pay tons of money for this kind of job!"
"You're being dramatic," Everett crossed his arms. "What's the deal we made?"
"Don't be dramatic, I know, I know," she sighed.
But it was uncomfortable, like going in a car down a hill with no brakes and no steering wheel, blindfolded.
Why did he want Jade to change her hair colour?
And why would Laska do that for a perfect stranger?
Was she doing it for her brother?
Was she using Everett to promote herself?
"Do you know anything about Spike and Ike?" Everett asked.
"Our little brothers don't send letters anymore," Laska replied, "I guess they already found out why we left home."
"I miss our family," Everett whispered, looking down, "It hurts me to have been exiled. At least now we have something to call home here."
"Do you remember when we first opened this place?" Laska asked, preparing her materials to start the extreme makeover. "Brother! We were so young!"
"You guys opened this place?" Jade asked.
"Everett was eighteen and I was twenty, Aspem was sixteen," Laska said, picking up a comb and scissors. "We were running away from our home in Nepal and we heard that there was a group of Monsters in these lands so we took the risk. We didn't speak the ‘Evalonian Tongue’ which means English, we didn't know anyone, we didn't have money, and we didn't even know what that was."
"And how did you open this place?"
"Everett was already a giant and was trained by our parents, the Great warriors Winda and Colden Frostakov who kept the village safe from foreign threats," Laska shrugged, turning to face the cameraman who was already giving her a thumbs up to begin, "Let's just say muscles speak louder than words, so the owner of the mall gave us a chance. In fact, Henry Stein was the one who taught us how to speak English, although Everett still speaks caveman if he's not singing as you may have noticed."
"Oh, wow... My dad is a celebrity among celebrities!" Jade couldn't help but feel impressed. It seemed that these siblings did not have it easy. Being foreigners in a country, a world, so unknown must have been terrifying.
"The owner's wife was nice, actually," Laska smiled, "She thought we were cute."
"You two are cute!" Jade laughed, "Everett is like a polar bear that you want to hug and squeeze! And you look like a supermodel."
"Thanks," Laska blushed a bit, "Now let's get started!"
"Before we start, I want to know," Jade looked at Everett in the mirror, "Do you really like me?"
Laska chuckled and Everett nodded.
"You're little mountain goat that I want to hug until your eyes pop out," Everett nodded and Jade lost her smile.
"That's a compliment," Laska explained, "We once stayed on a mountain a long way from home, there were baby goats that we adopted and raised until they were strong enough to carry on. Everett loves goats."
"But goats are stubborn," Everett reached over and took a lock of Jade's hair in his hand, "I have idea, but I need to know what clothes Zeth will buy for her."
"Go ask him," Laska said, handing her brother a notebook, "And ask him for an autograph, I'm a huge fan."
Once Everett got out and the cameraman started filming some scenes of Laska inspecting Jade's hair, the stylist spoke up.
“We're going to bleach this Baby Yeti hair, Then we will take care of giving it colour, it will be washable, and then we will cut it and style it."
"Do what you have to do." Jade whispered, and she really tried to smile for the video.
"My brother likes you a lot," Laska said, whispering in Jade’s ear, "I've never seen him so into someone. Last night we talked on the phone, he told me that you were an angel sent down from heaven, so pretty and so kind."
"Oh, really?" Jade didn't want to admit that the butterflies in her stomach were because she was in love with Everett. That sounded too cheesy, like something straight out of one of those romance novels.
She felt like she was living in one of them. It was hard to believe it when Laska was right in front of her, working on her hair, telling her these things.
"But I'm warning you," Laska lowered her voice to a growl, and Jade flinched. "I don't care that you are Henry's daughter. If you break my little brother's heart... I'll break your bones."
There was a strange glint in her blue eyes as she said it, and Jade was certain that her expression was the scariest she had ever seen. It was scary to be talked to like that.
"Hey, Jade!" Zeth said, standing next to Everett in the salon doorway with a bag of designer clothes in hand. "I’ve found the perfect dress!"
"And I picked boots and accessories," Everett said, holding up a couple of bags