049 - Magic and Hair, part 5

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After the remaining brownies went back inside the tiny door in Ms. Featherstone's office wall, and she had a few minutes to compose herself, the principal spoke.

"The amount of time it would take to teach you even a handful of rudimentary defensive spells would take the better part of a semester," she said. "Not only that, I would prefer that the magic on your hair continue to be used primarily on the spell keeping the seal on the breach intact. But the time has come to make some difficult choices."

Ms. Featherstone moved her gaze across the girls' faces. Her eyes met Dawn's and narrowed. "Dear, step forward, please."

Dawn looked to either side of her before realizing Ms. Featherstone was referring to her. She sheepishly took a step toward the principal.  "Y-yes?"

Ms. Featherstone raised her hand. An orange glow crackled around it, and instantaneously shot to Dawn's long dark waves of hair, the tips of which lifted from the vicinity of her ankles and undulated in front of her. Dawn's face became fearful.

"W-what are you doing to--?"

"This," Ms. Featherstone replied, "is a simple warding charm." Her fingers gestured as Dawn's hair formed a loop, and the tips separated into thirds, almost resembling a claw. Dawn and the rest of the girls were awestruck. Even after the things they had seen, the magic their mentor wielded still amazed them. "As I've stated before, one of the reasons hair is so useful as a magical object is because it is malleable. The shape I'm making is called a sigil."

"A what?" Mary asked. Her eyes never left Dawn's mass of levitating waves.

"SI-jil," the principal prounounced. "Or rune, or glylph, if you will. Sigils are symbols that are imbued with power in and of themselves. They bridge the gap between your conscious mind and the source of magic itself. Creating one out of your hair to put a spell on your hair itself will increase the potency of the spell."

"And w-what spell are you doing with my hair again?" Dawn seemed a tad calmer the more Ms. Featherstone talked, so she continued.

"You remember Bilbo's sword in the Lord of the Rings movies, that glowed blue when orcs were near?"

"Nerd alert," Megan mumbled. Julie shushed her, but the corner of her own lips turned upward a tad.

Ms. Featherstone eyed the blond for a nanosecond, but kept going. "I will be giving you all a spell that will help your hair alert you when it is in magical danger. It won't be incredibly powerful until you learn how to listen to it fully, but we have to start somewhere."

Megan and Julie looked at each other, seemingly thinking the same thing. Julie looked at her feet, but Megan spoke up. "Um, not to disrespect, but couldn't Julie have used that about three haircuts ago?"

"A fair question. I won't be giving Julie this spell, either." Julie's eyes shot up in surprise at her principal, but Joanna spoke calmly. "The dark magic in your hair will only be strengthened to work against you with whatever spells are at my disposal. I dare not attempt it." Julie looked down again, forlorn.

Ms. Featherstone muttered an incantation, and with a flick of her wrist, Dawn's hair settled down around her in luxurious ebony waves once more. She repeated the spell in turn with Mary and Megan, then put her hands on Julie's shoulders, speaking compassionately. 

"We will win this," she reassured. "We have to. In the meantime, keep this ribbon in place, and it will help keep evil at bay." In her mind she added the words "I hope."

"Now," she continued, your next class will be excused for today. You will spend it here in my office meditating." The confused looks she got didn't deter her. "If you want to master having magical hair, you will need to learn how to focus and listen to it. It takes patience, and one thing we are unfortunately short on, time. Don't worry, I will teach you."

The girls sat in a circle on the floor. Julie rested her head on Megan's shoulder, and they began...