"The exact same thing happened to my cousin."

The statement, spoken aloud by Phoebe Love, carried over the din of the Main Lodge to Elka's ears. It had been said loudly, with the intent of imparting whatever it was she had to say to the room at large, rather than just the people sitting at her table. Elka did not turn her head to look at the girl, sitting at the table behind her with Quentin Hedgemouse, Franke Athens, and Kitty Bubai- it would be unladylike to make her eavesdropping conspicuous, after all. She did, however, tilt her head slightly, so as to better hear what Phoebe had to say.

It was bound to be more interesting than the conversation she was currently having with her boyfriend, James. Which, in all honesty, wasn't much of a conversation at all; more a rapid-flow of words from her own mouth accompanied by some soft 'yeses' and 'uh-huh's' from him, with the occasional nod added in to spice things up. Talks between them often went like this, with her doing most of it and him the patient listener. She'd thought it a nice change of pace from Nils' obvious disinterest at first, but would it have killed James to have piped up a little more? James was shy- even now he couldn't bring himself to maintain eye-contact with her, his gaze instead focused on his dinner (a lump of cold mystery meat that looked like it had been picked up from off the floor and slapped onto his tray). Elka put it down to him being so in love with her that it rendered him speechless, which was very sweet, but did not make their dates any less boring.

"She used this relaxer she bought off of ebay," Phoebe was saying. Elka perked up. From Phoebe's grave tone, she could tell that this anecdote was going to be about two of her favorite things- haircare and disasters. "And she left it in for longer than she was supposed to." Phoebe lowered her voice to convey the gravity of her cousin's mistake. "By the end of the night, she had less hair than Tommy Pickles."

Franke snorted. "Oh, man," she said through snickers. "What a dummy."

Kitty, while not any more sympathetic, spoke with a little more tact. "Wow. If that had happened to me, my dad would have sued that company six feet deep into the ground." A smug smile curved her lips as she flipped her hair (which, while nice and shiny, was cut in a way that was too choppy for Elka's taste). "Of course, I would never use a cheap hair product from the internet."

"Yes, well-" Phoebe cleared her throat, obviously not wanting to hear anymore insults slung her cousin's way. "She ended up getting second degree burns on her head. My aunt had to take her to the emergency room to get them treated."

"Oh my god," Elka whispered, hand flying to her heart. She turned her head to look at the group, too invested in the story to care about hiding her interest any longer. "James, did you hear that? That poor girl."

James muttered something that resembled a yes, and then asked if he could go back up to the canteen to get some water. "My throat's feelin' mighty parched."

"Huh? Oh, fine, whatever," Elka said, waving her hand absently as she listened in on the table behind her.

"Woah," Quentin said, the only one of the three to sound sorry for Phoebe's cousin. "Was she okay?"

"Oh yeah, she was alright," Phoebe quickly reassured. "The burns healed, and her hair grew back." She paused, curling a strand of her curly hair around her finger as she recalled further information about the incident. "Well, most of it, anyway. She's got a sort of thin spot at the back of her head, but she's not bald or anything."

Elka shook her head, thinking that there was no way that any girl could be considered 'alright' if her hair had thinned out. This never would have happened if she had used Satinique's All Natural Relaxant. Elka sat up a little straighter, an idea having struck her. Hm, did I pack any of that with me? I ought to give some of it to Phoebe if I did.

Elka did not immediately rise to go check, for it appeared that there was more to Phoebe's story. "My point is," Phoebe continued, her voice crisp and clear, as though she were a teacher giving an important lecture, "is that somebody could totally lose their hair by using a bad product." She jabbed her spoon into the air to emphasize her point. "That Tender Brain that lost all of her hair might have just used a contaminated shampoo or something."

Elka sucked in a breath, the news absolutely shocking her. "James, can you believe it?" Elka whispered, not bothering to wait for an answer before speaking again. "I wonder who it was." In her head, she listed the female Tender Brains that she knew of- Crystal, that one weird girl who was rumored to eat bugs, and her new client, Chloe. She immediately ruled Chloe out, since Chloe now had Satinique to protect her from any trauma that could befall her tresses, which left only Crystal and the other new girl. It has to be the bug girl, Elka concluded. While Crystal did have an air of misfortune about her, Elka knew that the peppy cheerleader was perfectly capable of caring for her long, magenta hair. I've never even seen that other girl. Who knows what kind of mess she came to the camp with.

"Hm, yeah, that's definitely a possibility," Kitty said, tone honey-sweet. She let the sentence hang, silently implying that the Tender Brain may have lost her hair through some other unfortunate means.

"Or…" Franke began, eagerly picking up where Kitty had left off, "maybe someone," she elongated the 'one' for a beat too long to be accidental, "burned it all off!" The direction of her gaze left little question as to who she thought that someone was. "You know, for kicks and giggles."

"How rude!" Elka said, covering her mouth with her hand. "I can't believe she would say something like that, can you, James?" She leaned forward, excited to see what would happen next.

Phoebe visibly bristled. "That's...well, yeah, I suppose that could have happened," she grudgingly admitted as she stabbed her spoon into her mashed potatoes. Elka thought she looked like she wanted to mash the spoon into Franke's grinning face. "But don't you think that the counselors would have taken the perpetrators aside by now, if that was the case?"

"Franke's just throwing out possibilities," Kitty said, sounding too patronizing to be placating. "I mean, we're all having a discussion about the really weird thing that happened today." She fixed Phoebe with a sly, cat-like smile. "No need to get upset about it."

Heat bloomed across Phoebe's cheeks. "I'm not upset," she said defensively. Her expression said otherwise.

Quentin looked uneasily between the two of them, clearly uncomfortable with the conflict simmering between his crush and his best friend. "Hey, hey," he cut in, putting his hands up. "Maybe you're both right." He smiled over at Phoebe. "Maybe the girl sprayed, like, a ton of hairspray on her head." He then directed his attention at Kitty across from him, his features melting into a besotted look, "and uh, then maybe she accidently set herself on fire or something." He shrugged, cheeks turning pinker the longer he stared at Kitty. "I mean, it happens."

"Hm, maybe," Kitty said. She reached forward and tapped Quentin on the nose, which made him giggle in the most pathetically infatuated way that Elka had ever heard. "Accidents do happen when you play with fire."

Phoebe grumbled something too low for Elka to hear. "So, anyway, about your auditions," she said, changing the subject in a very heavy-handed manner.

Their talk shifted over to band matters, quickly losing Elka's interest. "Isn't that something, James?" Elka asked as she turned back to face him. Or rather, the empty space where he had been. "James?" She sat up, snapping her head towards the canteen line. There was nobody there except for Chef Cruller, flipping his burgers at the grill. A quick study of the room revealed no sign of her boyfriend's signature Stetson. "Oh, that man!" Elka shouted, indignation forcing her up from her seat.

Her outburst prompted the group she'd been eavesdropping on to stare at her. "Um...that sweet man!" Elka yelled, reigning herself in. "He's, well, I should have remembered that 'getting a drink of water' was our code for 'I want to be alone with you!'" She laughed, smacking her forehead. "Silly me! I better go catch up with him!" Elka then ran out of the Main Lodge, the smile she plastered on her face remaining there until the doors slammed behind her. Oh, rats, Elka thought, rushing to the rail to look out at the surrounding campgrounds, hoping to spot James walking along one of the paths. Looks like I'm on the hunt again.

Locating James the second time turned out to be a more arduous task than it had been the first time around. Elka first took to following the many trails that wound around the camp, hoping to perhaps run across her beau in the middle of a long, contemplative walk. She thought perhaps she'd find him moseying along the edge of the parking lot, or heading into the forest, but she was not so fortuitous. Next she checked that bench that he and Melvin used to hang around before she and James had found each other, but neither he nor that rude Canadian interloper were there. After that, she was quite stumped as to where to search next. She knew of no other spot that he particularly fancied- their dates usually consisted of Elka choosing the place and activity, and James going along with little protest.

As she was making her way down to the lake, it occurred to Elka that she actually knew very little about the man she had declared her one true love. She knew that he was a cowboy, and that he was polite to a fault and very sweet on her, but she did not know anything about his hobbies, the kind of books and movies he enjoyed, what his life was like when he was away from camp. She knew that he could play the harmonica, but she did not know what songs he liked to play on it- had she ever sat through the entirety of one of his songs? He's so interested in me that he just lets me do all of the talking, Elka thought, the realization bringing her to stop right where the beach met the dirt path. I'm beginning to think that our relationship is slightly unbalanced.

This troubled Elka greatly. For all of Nils' many faults, he had at least made it very clear where his interests lie, even if they offended her deeply. It's to be expected. Nils was such a taker; I'm clearly not used to loving a giver like James. Still, it couldn't hurt for her to work a little harder to get James to open up about himself. It won't be easy, since he's a rugged, old-fashioned fellow, and those types don't like to talk about themselves. But that's fine. I've read all of Mother's Cosmos, so I'm well prepared to smash any walls he might try to put up.

Elka resumed her search with new vigor, spirits bolstered by her resolve to improve her relationship with James. She could not see him on the beach, and there did not appear to be anybody on the docks, nor were there any canoes zipping across the murky lake waters. That left only the boathouse to check, so Elka headed over there, though not hurriedly- running on the lakeside beach risked sand getting into her shoes. She sped up a little once she climbed onto the wooden steps, though not too much, for they were a bit damp, and she had no wish to slip and fall.

Voices stopped her at the entrance; the light, caring cadence of Ms. Milla and the deeper tones of Agent Nein. Normally, hearing the two talking would not have stopped her from going where she wanted, as she had no reason to be shy with the counselors she'd known for three years. It was more the subject of their discussion. "Oh, Sasha, it was terrible," Milla said, followed by the sound of something being poured into a cup. "That poor girl. I had to shave all of her hair off."

Elka frowned, her stomach twisting uncomfortably. She had heard those words before, or something similar to them, in the vision she'd had in the morning. It's just a coincidence, she told herself, she's not talking about Chloe. How could she be? I gave her the Satinique, I stopped the whole thing from happening.

"If it's any comfort to you," Sasha said, his accented monotone letting Elka know that he did not grasp the tragedy that had befallen the camper that they were discussing, "complete hair loss is not the most traumatic injury that child suffered."

Of course he doesn't get it. Elka peered into the room, narrowing her eyes as Agent Nein accepted a steaming mug that had been floating over to him. Typical man. Always so quick to write serious problems off as no big deal. Elka noted that his own short, dark hair was clean and neat, with exception of a single strand that fell over his forehead. I bet you wouldn't be too happy if Ms. Milla had to shave all of your hair off!

"Well, no, it's not the worst thing that happened to her," Milla admitted as she tore open a sugar packet and poured it into a colorful, flower-patterned mug. "She had burns all over her scalp." Milla sighed and turned, leaning against the counter set next to Admiral Cruller's beloved canoes. "They weren't that bad, I think they'll heal up within a day or two, since we were able to treat them quickly." That did not seem to bring Milla any comfort, for her expression was downcast, focused on the liquid within her cup. "She's a brave little girl, but...it's not going to be easy for her."

Elka could not help but notice that the direction of Agent's Nein's gaze was not on Ms. Milla's face, but on her legs- one outstretched, the other bent at the knee, the heel of her boot resting on the cabinet door. Elka rolled her eyes, thinking that Agent Nein was not much better than Nils in that moment. Men really are all the same. To Agent Nein's credit, his eyes did not linger there for longer than a few seconds. "Hair grows back," he said before taking a sip of his coffee.

Ms. Milla gave him the same disappointed look she'd given Elka the last time she had spoiled the ending of the last puppet show. "It doesn't grow back overnight," she pointed out. Elka nodded her agreement. Why, it could take weeks for this girl's hair to get back to what it once was, and that was if whatever she'd done to it hadn't caused any permanent damage. "I just worry that the other children will...you know, tease her." She set her mug back onto the counter, looking like she was in no mood to drink it. "Will you please keep an eye on her when she's in your class for the next few days? Just to make sure that the other kids are being nice to her."

Agent Nein swallowed his coffee. "I was under the impression that you believed all of these children were angels." His voice sounded as flat as ever as he spoke, but Elka thought she saw the corner of his mouth quirk upward.

"Sasha." Milla said his name as though she thought he was the most exasperating being in the whole world (which he may well have been).

The half-smile fell away from Agent Nein's face. "I will do as you request," he said, "you do not need to worry about me allowing any bullying under my watch." He swiped at his brow with his free hand, effectively putting the loose strand back into place. "But I do think that you are more concerned about this situation than you need to be. These cadets are more resilient than you think. And besides that, I do not think I've even seen this particular child's hair, even before she lost it."

The words hit Elka like a slap to the back of the head. He can't mean Chloe. Her mind scrambled for an explanation that didn't involve her vision coming to pass. That bug girl, isn't she always invisible or something? She bit down on her lip. Yeah, that has to be what he means.

Ms. Milla muttered something Elka couldn't hear in reply to this. It must not have been a protest to the contrary, for Agent Nein then asked, "And what do you plan to do about Ms. Doom?"

"What?" Elka whispered, knocked so off balance by the question that she could not keep the utterance in her head. Oh, I hope he's talking about the whole puppet-show thing!

Her hopes were quickly dashed by Ms. Milla's answer. "I don't think she needs to be punished. From what Chloe told me, it seems like Elka was only trying to be friendly." Elka felt herself stiffen at the mention of Chloe's name. She wanted very much to run, to not hear further confirmation of her failure to change the Tender Brain's future, but she seemed to be frozen in place. "And she didn't force Chloe to use the dry shampoo."

"But you cannot allow Cadet Doom to give out more of those samples," Agent Nein said, finishing where Milla had left off.

Milla nodded sadly. "I thought Morceau told her that she shouldn't bring anymore of that Amway stuff to camp last year," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I guess she- or her mother, I don't know- misinterpreted." She cupped the side of her face with her hand, leaning into it as she spoke. "But yes, I will have to confiscate whatever else she has, before someone else gets hurt." It was not a task that Ms. Milla sounded particularly eager to carry out.

No! Elka thought, unable to believe her ears. Ms. Milla was mistaken. There was no way that the Amway products, which were beloved by millions of people across the United States, and had provided thousands of strong, independent women with a thriving career, could have caused this mess. It was merely fate. Elka had seen Chloe losing all of her hair, and thus it had come to pass. It's all a misunderstanding. Elka broke free of her paralysis and launched herself down the slippery steps. I have to go find Chloe! She needs to know that it wasn't my- I mean, wasn't Amway's fault!

Elka ran across the beach, heedless of the sand sneaking into her shoes and all thoughts of finding her boyfriend forgotten.

The first place Elka intended to look for Chloe was back in the girl's cabin, the place where she had initially encountered her, figuring that if she'd found the girl there once, she might find her there a second time. As she ran across the camp, an image of the sad, hairless Tender Brain curled up in her bunk, sobbing over the state of her shorn scalp, popped into Elka's head. Oh, you poor thing, Elka thought, chest aching from more than just physical exhaustion, I really did try to save you.

She was perhaps halfway between the bridge and her destination when the loudspeaker came on with a burst of static. "Cadet Doom!" the Coach barked, the boom of his voice not at all muted by the shaky transmission. "Report to my office A.S.A.P!"

Elka paused, breathless and heart still thrumming heavily from her run. The Coach's demand struck her as strange. Apart from yelling at her whenever she refused to do something in his class that she deemed inappropriate for a lady such as herself, the Coach rarely spoke to her, and he had certainly never called her into his office. She could not imagine why he had done so now- could it have had something to do with Chloe's accident? No, Ms. Milla said she was handling that. It must be for something else. Something stupid.

Whatever it was, it would have to wait; her top priority right now was clearing things up with Chloe before Ms. Milla came to take away her samples. She started again towards the girl's cabin without giving the Coach's treehouse a second glance. The loudspeaker quickly crackled back on. "And just what do you think you're doing, Cadet?" the Coach demanded. "You got molasses in your ears? You were just given an order, obey it!"

Elka turned around and craned her neck upward. From where she stood she could see him angrily glaring down at her, though only his helmet and narrowed eyes were visible, the rest of him cut off by the high window sill. "I'm a bit busy at the moment, Coach!" Elka yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth so that her voice would travel further. "I have, um, a customer relations issue that I really need to address." She could not help but be proud of how professional that sounded. "I'll be up once I'm done, okay?"

The Coach made a succession of aborted half-words, choked by his outrage over her disobedience. "Listen up, cadet!" he shouted once he regained control over himself. "You got two seconds to haul that fluffy blonde head of yours up here, or else you'll suffer the consequences!"

Elka rolled her eyes, knowing that consequences she would 'suffer' would amount to pretty much nothing. The Coach's bluster and aggression might strike terror into the hearts of the Tender Brains, but Elka had been coming here long enough to know that the Coach was all bark and no bite. "I'll be up there once I'm done doing what I need to do!" she replied, before turning her back and walking into the girl's cabin.

The Coach's hollering followed her into the room. She entered with Crystal and Clem's wide eyes upon her, their attention caught by the verbal altercation that had occured just outside of the cabin. ""Hello, Crystal," she greeted, giving her friend a wave as she glanced at the cards laid out on the floor. "Playing a card game?"

"We sure are!" Crystal said brightly, holding up five fanned out cards. "It's Go Fish!" She grinned looking like she thought the game the most exciting thing in the world. "Do you want to play with us?"

A small smile found its way onto Elka's face- oh to be as young and carefree as Crystal was! "No thanks," she said, shaking her head. "I can't right now."

"Aw, come on!" Crystal insisted, pouting a little. "It'll be fun!"

"Yeah, we could add you in," Clem offered, his friendly expression offset by the dark shadows under his eyes. Elka thought that he could use a lot more beauty rest. "There's pretty much no risk of you losing, since I'm the worst player in the world!"

Crystal's mouth dropped open in shock. "No way!" she gasped, leaning over to lay a hand on Clem's shoulder. "I'm way worse than you are! I keep accidentally showing my hand, remember?"

Clem's eyes shifted uneasily to Crystal's hand. "Let's agree that we're both pretty awful," he said, gently shrugging away from her touch.

"Okay!" Crystal said agreeably!

"That's...nice," Elka said, glancing around the room for any sign of Chloe's presence. "But I really can't. I'm actually in the middle of something." She saw that the blankets on Chloe's bunk were a bit rumpled, as though someone had been sitting on them not too long ago. "Was Chloe here, recently? I need to talk to her."

"Hm, I don't think so," Crystal replied.

Clem's gaze followed Elka's to Chloe's bunk. "Nobody was in here when we came in," he said, switching his attention back to his cards. "And we've been here about ten minutes." His smile dropped as he observed his hand. "I heard she had a bad accident earlier today."

There was no accusation in his tone, but Elka's stomach clenched anyway. "Yeah…" she muttered, looking down at her shoes. It wasn't my fault!

Crystal nodded as she made a request for a five. "I heard that too," she said as she accepted a card from Clem. "I guess she lost all of her hair or something? That's so sad." She snapped her head towards Elka. "Oh! Is that why you're looking for her?" she asked, her blue eyes shining with hope. "Are you gonna try to help her with your awesome hair skills?"

"Um-" Heat rose in Elka's cheeks. "Maybe," she replied, unable to meet Crystal's gaze. If only that were so. At this point, Elka wasn't sure if she even would have been able to help Chloe, if it was true that she was bald. It wasn't possible to work with something that wasn't there, after all.

A wet, popping noise came from out of nowhere. "I saw her," said a high-pitched voice, accented with a southern drawl.

Crystal screamed, dropping her cards "O-M-G! Who's there?" Her head whipped around so fast that her hair slapped her in the face. "Are you a ghost?"

"No." On the top bunk at the back of the room, the reclined form of a young brunette materialized. She held in her right hand a large piece of what looked like several jolly-ranchers melted together, the end of it slick with saliva and formed into a point.

Clem tactfully looked away from Crystal's fallen cards. "Hey Milka," he greeted the newcomer. "Spying again?"

Crystal let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, Milka," she giggled as she began picking up her cards. "You scared me! I thought my heart was gonna jump right out of my throat!"

Milka ignored the two cheerleaders, fixing her attention directly on Elka. Her dark eyes were sharp and knowing, and Elka could not stop herself from squirming a little as the girl- another Tender Brain?- regarded her. She can't know...can she? "I spotted Chloe heading up to the parking lot with Bobby Zilch and his pet rat," she said, cool in the face of Elka's growing nervousness.

"Oh!" Elka's hands flew to her mouth. This was not good news at all; she could not think of a worse place for Chloe to be than in the company of the camp's resident bully. Elka knew Bobby Zilch to be cruel, brutish, crass, ugly and unhygienic to the point where just standing near him made her want to take a bath. He also had the most horrific head of hair she had ever seen- had he a kinder attitude towards animals it could have comfortably housed several families of rats. "Why were they going over there?" Elka asked, terribly worried about the poor little Tender Brain. "Did she look like she was being dragged there against her will?"

The girl- Milka- shrugged, not appearing to be overly concerned for her peer's well-being. "She seemed fine to me," she said, touching her finger to the point of her big candy...thing. "Looked she was leading him somewhere."

Elka did not believe that meant that Chloe was safe- it was likely that Bobby had somehow convinced Chloe to go along with him somewhere, using her naivete to his advantage. "I hope they're still there," Elka said as she spun on her heel towards the door. "I need to get to her before he does whatever it is he's planning on doing!"

"Are you going to say you're sorry?" Milka asked her before she could finish a single step.

Elka sucked in a breath as she stumbled. "Say I'm sorry?" she asked, whirling around to face Milka again. "For...for what?" She could feel her cheeks heat up, and was certain that they were pinker than her bow. Milka shrugged again. The quick lift of her shoulders seemed to say 'you know what.' She can't possibly know anything though. Unless… "How...how long have you been sitting there, Milka?"

A brief moment of silence passed between all occupants of the room. Crystal looked between Elka and Milka, her head turning like she was tracking a ball in a tennis match, mouth hanging open. Clem kept his gaze focused on his cards. Milka gave no verbal answer, only pointing her finger forward. At first Elka thought she was pointing at her, but then a shadow fell over her before she could take offense to the rude gesture. She turned just in time to feel the gust of the Coach's breath hit her face as he shouted her name. "When I give you an order," he growled, stabbing his riding crop into the air, "I expect you to obey like your life depended on it!"

Elka wrinkled her nose- the Coach had had something garlicky for dinner. "Um, okay, wow. You don't have to shout," she said, putting her hands on her hips, indignation temporarily overcoming her concern for Chloe. "I'm sorry that you're upset that I didn't immediately drop everything to go see you. But I've got business of my own that I need to attend to, and I would really think you should respect-"

"Business? Business?" the Coach yelled, forcing Elka to turn her head, lest she inhale more of his breath. "Kid, your business nearly took Cadet Barge out!"

Elka scrunched her brows together, confused. Cadet Barge had to be Chloe, and while the girl had suffered a fate arguably as bad as death, it didn't actually mean she had almost died, as the Coach was now claiming. "I thought that Chloe was okay," Elka said, paling at the idea that maybe something worse had happened to her that she just hadn't heard about it. "Didn't she just...lose all of her hair?" Even just saying the words made her throat tight.

"She had burns all over her scalp," the Coach said, smacking his helmeted head with his crop. "Trust me, I know how painful those can be."

"Oh my God," Crystal whispered.

"Got any twos?" Clem asked.

Elka bit her lip, a feeling of guilt welling up inside of her despite already having known about Chloe's burns. "Ms. Milla said that they weren't that bad," she said, more to reassure herself than to argue with the Coach.

The Coach blinked, his anger replaced by confusion. "What, did you already talk to Agent Vodello?" Elka remained silent, not wanting to add 'eavesdropping on two counselors' to her confession list. The Coach took her silence as a confirmation. "Then you already know that I'm gonna need to confiscate the rest of that poisonous junk."

A protest formed in Elka's throat, but she killed it by keeping her lips pressed closed. She was not surprised to hear the Coach making that demand, though she had hoped that Ms. Milla would have been the one to do it, since she was much nicer. Could she convince the Coach not to take her Amway samples away? Maybe, but it would take time that Elka did not have; not with Chloe in the grubby clutches of Bobby Zilch. "Fine," she grumbled, heading over to her bunk to fetch the tote that held the rest of her samples.

"I know it's fine," she heard the Coach say as she pulled the tote bag out from under her bed. The smugness in his voice made her want to shove his crop into his good eye.

Elka tossed the tote at him ten seconds later. "Jeez," the Coach said, wheezing with the impact. "You selling rocks, too?"

Elka tapped her foot on the floor as the Coach checked the contents of the bag. "Can I go now?" she asked, impatient to find Chloe.

The Coach grunted as he slung the tote bag over his shoulder. "Yeah, dismissed," he said. Without any hesitation, Elka shot past him, nearly knocking him over in her haste to get to the parking lot. "Hey, watch it!" he called to her back, "you better start showing some respect, Doom, or you're gonna regret it!"

The situation was exactly as Milka had reported it to Elka. Chloe was indeed in the parking lot, and she was unfortunately not alone. Bobby Zilch was there, but he thankfully did not appear to be harassing Chloe, at least not at the moment. He was standing near the red convertible that Elka thought belonged to Ms. Milla, intensely scrutinizing the door as he held one arm out while touching two fingers to his forehead. Chloe stood in a dangerously close proximity to him, observing his actions. Elka could not read her body language, since her back was to her, but it didn't look like she was in any distress. That was a good sign, but Elka refused to drop her guard. He might just be getting started with whatever it is he's planning, she thought as she began making her way down the path to them.

Benny Fideleo was also there, although he stood some distance away from the other two- acting as a look-out, perhaps. He noticed her approach first, signaling it in the most conspicuous way possible. "Hey boss!" his weasley voice shrieked, a grin slithering onto his face. "We got us a broad heading our way!"

Elka frowned. She did not appreciate being referred to as a 'broad', or as a 'chick', or with any other derogatory term that men like Nils and Benny typically used for ladies such as herself. "My name is Elka," she said indignantly, her fists clenching as she walked over to him. "And if you call me anything else, you'll be sorry."

Benny's smile stretched wider, his enormous ears wiggling with excitement. "What're you gonna do?" he sneered, looking her up and down in a way that Elka definitely did not like. "You gonna burn my hair off too, just like you did with Captain Chrome Dome?"

In any other confrontation with this cretin, she would have mentioned that her boyfriend was James T. Hoofburger, the best sharpshooter in this camp, and that Benny's ears made for a very easy target. But Benny had set something off when he used Chloe's misfortune to insult her- the short, quick-burning fuse that was Elka's temper. "Oh!" Elka howled, her lady-like composure forgotten in the wake of her outrage. "How dare you!" In one quick motion she reared her arm back, then launched it forward, her fist making hard contact with the nasty redhead's clavicle. "You don't know anything!"

The punch knocked Benny right off of his feet, and he plummeted to the ground with a yelp. "Youch!" he squealed as his backside hit the pavement. He scrambled backwards, clapping his hand over the spot where Elka had hit him. "Boss, help!" he cried, eyes wide with terror and panic. "This bird's trying to kill me!"

"Don't call me a bird!" Elka screamed back, aiming a kick to his shin and only narrowly missing.

A grunt of frustration interrupted Elka's violent outburst. "Benny, you dumbass, can it!" the grating voice of Bobby Zilch hollered, "you're throwing me off!"

"Boss, she's killing me!" Benny screeched, staring up at Elka as though she were a cougar about to maul him. "She already broke my collarbone!"

Elka rolled her eyes, the impulse to squash this guy like a bug killed by how little time he was ultimately worth. "I didn't break anything," she denied, shaking her head. "You were being unimaginably rude to Chloe and I, so I hit you."

Benny merely whimpered out another plea for aid. It went ignored by his boss, who kept his focus on whatever it was he was doing to the car door. Chloe's attention, however, had been caught, for she was no longer watching Bobby, but her and Benny. Her helmet was on, blocking Elka's view of the girl's face, but somehow Elka knew that her eyes were locked onto her. What emotion they held was unknown- Elka could not imagine that it was anything positive; it was probably sadness, resentment, or anger. Perhaps some mixture of the three.

Elka stared back, barely registering Benny frantically crawling away from her. She knew what she had to do- go over there, see if Chloe was okay, express her condolences for the Tender Brain's loss, and then clear up any misconceptions Chloe may have had regarding Elka's involvement in this mess (And to apologize a small voice nagged at her. Elka shushed it.). Something, however, was keeping her in place, an uncomfortable roiling in her stomach that got worse every time she so much as thought of lifting her feet. The unpleasant sensation was utterly foreign to her; she was not usually one to shy away from speaking to others, even when the subject matter was a difficult one to address. Why, she bore bad news all the time at home! Her cowardice in this situation baffled her.

Fortunately, it seemed that the same fear had not taken hold of Chloe, for she began crossing the parking lot. Her gait was quick and purposeful, like that of someone who knew where they were going, and knew exactly what they were going to do once they got there. This relieved some of Elka's anxiety, and although she could not bring herself to meet Chloe halfway, she was able to straighten her shoulders and put on an expression that conveyed kind concern. "Hello, Chloe!" she said, giving the girl a flappy wave (nerves had robbed the action of its usual grace).

Chloe returned the greeting as she came to a stop in front of Elka, not sounding particularly upset or angry. "I'm glad that you are here," she said, what little Elka could see of her face set in a neutral expression. "There is something I wish to discuss with you."

It did not take a girl with Elka's intelligence or precognitive abilities to guess what that something was. "I've been wanting to talk to you as well," Elka said, nodding. She was glad that they seemed to be on the same page, and was hopeful that they'd be able to sort things out.

"Really?" Chloe said, a trace of surprise lifting the final syllable of the word up.

"Yes, I've been looking all over the place for you. Ever since I heard about-" She faltered, her words failing as her eyes fell onto Chloe's helmet. For a split-second, the image of what must be underneath- a smooth, shiny, hairless scalp- flashed in her mind. "Oh, I'm just so sorry!" she cried, throat tightening with emotion. "It's so horrible, losing all of your hair like that!"

She reached forward to lay a comforting hand on Chloe's shoulder. Chloe flinched away from her touch, thwarting the action. "Please do not put your hands on me," Chloe said. Her bluntness took Elka so far aback that she obeyed the request without question, her arm falling to her side. "To be truthful," Chloe continued, "the hair loss did not bother me as much as the burns."

Elka winced. "Oh. Um, do they hurt a lot?"

Chloe shook her head. "Not so much at this point in time. The salve Agent Vodello used was quite effective at providing relief. Prior to that, however, I was in a substantial amount of pain."

Elka covered her mouth with her hand to hide the way she bit her lip. "Oh my God," she said, guilt shooting through her like an invisible lightning bolt. "That's horrible. I don't...hm." The response to this was not coming easily to Elka; she had expected Chloe to express her anger and despair over her hair loss, and was unprepared for the plainly-delivered account of the pain the girl had suffered. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything about that," Chloe said, "since that is not what I wish to discuss." She heard Chloe take a breath in and out, like she was bracing herself for what she had to say next. "Elka, I wish to preface this by saying that my respect for you as a lifeform of this planet has not been diminished by this incident. However, I feel that it is imperative that I inform you of my dissatisfaction with the product you gave me to test out."

Elka nodded, not surprised to hear Chloe express that particular sentiment. In truth, she had expected Chloe to be far meaner about the whole thing- had their positions been reversed, Elka was certain that she would not have been able to contain her rage. Chloe was being calm and polite here, and seemed as though she would be reasonable enough to hear Elka out. "I'm very sorry to hear that," Elka said sympathetically, mimicking the way she'd overheard her mother speaking to unhappy customers. "Would you mind telling me about your experience?"

This Chloe was more than happy to do. The account she gave was detailed and well-organized, even including a minute-by-minute timeline of the dry shampoo's effect on her hair. Elka listened intently, nodding her head and making encouraging noises when appropriate. She only became uncomfortable at the end of it, when Chloe recalled her time in the boathouse with Ms. Milla, for it was very accurate to the vision Elka had earlier in the day. "I can only conclude," Chloe said, a little winded from all of the talking she'd just done, "that the Satinique Dry Shampoo is a failure of a hair care product on every possible level."

"Yes, I can see why you would think that," Elka said. She did not doubt that Chloe was telling the truth about her experience- the proof was right on her head, after all- but even after hearing the story, Elka thought that all of the blame for Chloe's accident could not be put on the dry shampoo alone, and that she could convince Chloe of this. "Do you mind if I ask a few follow-up questions?" she inquired, pleased with how professionally she was handling all of this.

Chloe tilted her head to the side. "I would have thought that my report on its own would have been enough explanation," she said, voice edged with annoyance.

"Well, it will help me figure out how Amway can improve its, uh, products and services," Elka answered quickly, not wanting to irritate a peer who already had enough reasons to be mad at her.

"Hm. In that case, I will gladly provide you with further clarification," Chloe replied.

"Right. You mentioned that you used what you called a 'conservative amount,' of the product in your hair," Elka said, smiling genially at Chloe. "How would you put that in, uh-" she paused to search for the correct words and found them after a second of thought. "...in numerical terms?"

"Nummerical?" Chloe asked.

"Like in numbers," Elka answered.

"I know that," Chloe said brusquely. "What I do not know is how you expect me to know the precise amount of product I put in my hair. I do not recall the instructions on the bottle stating how many millimeters of product there was in each spray. Do you know?"

"Erm-" Elka of course, did not know; had never even thought to wonder about such a thing. "I mean, um, how many sprays would you say that used?"

"I used three," Chloe replied promptly, patting the left side of her helmet. "I began by spraying here," her hand moved to tap the top of her head, "then here," she let that arm drop, and brought the other one up to the knock on the right side. "And my final spray was here."

Only three? That was not very much at all. Elka rarely needed to use dry shampoo but she knew that she used more than three sprays on those occasions when she wanted a little extra volume. She had never experienced any trouble, save for that one time when she'd accidentally gotten it into her eye and had gone temporarily blind in it, which was obviously her own fault. That's proof then, Elka thought, that the dry shampoo wasn't the reason why she lost all of her hair, after all. It was just meant to be. Absolved of her guilt, Elka struggled to keep the relief she felt from showing on her face. This is still a very delicate situation. Chloe is under the impression that this whole thing is Amway's fault, and she probably won't like me telling her otherwise. She decided that it would be best to get more information from Chloe, keep her talking- maybe she would figure out how wrong she was for herself. "And you said you were cleaning your helmet with Janitor Cruller's cleaning spray at around the same time?"

Chloe did not immediately answer. Through the face plate, Elka could see her brows knitting together. "Yes," Chloe admitted. "I did that right after I put the dry shampoo in."

"Right. And do you know what's in that cleaning spray?" Elka asked.

"It looked and smelled like windex," Chloe replied, not bothering to hide the confusion the line of inquiry caused her. "I cannot provide you with an exact list of ingredients, if that is what you are asking for."

Elka pounced upon this eagerly, seeing this as a way to deflect the blame away from Amway. "Yeah! I don't expect you to! Nobody knows what's in that stuff." She leaned forward toward Chloe, who responded to this by edging back. "So don't you think that maybe it wasn't the product I gave you that did this, but the spray you used on your helmet?"

"No, I do not think that at all," Chloe said, shaking her head vehemently. "That's preposterous. I did not put any of that cleaning spray on my hair."

Though Chloe had not raised her voice, Elka could detect the rising anger radiating off the girl in psychic waves. It seemed that having her view challenged had offended her more than the hair loss- was this girl really that stubborn? "Okay, calm down," Elka said, raising her hands defensively. "I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just trying to explore all of the possibilities."

"That is not necessary," Chloe shot back sharply. "Do you truly expect me to believe that my injuries were caused by a spray that did not touch my hair at all, and that the product that I directly applied to my scalp had nothing to do with them?"

"Well, you know," Elka said, glancing around her surroundings nervously, as though hoping to find some inspiration as to how she should resolve the tensions growing between them. All she saw was Bobby still at the convertible and Benny slowly crawling his way to him. "Maybe you got some of it on your hand and then…" She allowed the rest of her words to die, for she could not bear the incredulous way that Chloe was looking at her. It made her feel as though she were being accused of intentional wrongdoing, which caused indignance to flare up within her in spite of herself. "Look," she huffed, hands coming to her hips. "I've used dry shampoo hundreds of times, and always more than three sprays." She was careful not to mention that the dry shampoo she used was a different brand, for her mother preferred to reserve the Amway products for her clients. "I have never lost a single strand to any of them." She flicked her fingers through her hair; still shiny and full of body despite her stressful day.

"That does not mean anything," Chloe countered, her bluntness beginning to wear on Elka's nerves. "Your experience is anecdotal, and thus not more valid than mine." She blew out a sigh, her breath briefly fogging up her faceplate. "All of these questions and alternate explanations, these blatant denial of facts...Elka, I do not enjoy saying this, but it seems to me like you are trying to avoid taking responsibility for your actions."

The accusation hit her right in the most vulnerable part of her psyche, like one of her boyfriend's psi-blasts shooting directly in the center of his hay-bale targets. "You-" she choked out, using what remained of her self-control to bite back the rest of her outrage. It would do her no good to lose her temper now, but the urge to take Chloe by the shoulders and shake her was so hard to resist. Was it any surprise that Elka would be thought the villain in this story? Wasn't that always the role her powers gave her, regardless of whether or not she tried to prevent the things she saw from coming to pass? "I am not trying to avoid taking responsibility for this," she said, tears pricking the corners of her eyes, "because this is not my fault. This was fated to happen! Nothing could have changed it!"

As she put up this defense, the pitch of Elka's voice rose to a near shriek, attracting the attention of Bobby Zilch. He looked back at them with a suspicious cast to his ugly, zit-covered face. Well, let him look; let him come over here, even! It wasn't like he could make her more upset than she already was.

Chloe put about a step's worth of distance between the two of them, clearly uncomfortable with the yelling. "I assume you are referring to the vision you had of me this morning. The one you told me about, but did not elaborate on."

Elka took her handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped her eyes, able to reign herself in a little. "Yes," she admitted, folding the handkerchief back up into a square. "I saw you in the boathouse with Ms. Milla, exactly as you described it." She glanced down at her handkerchief, pinching the cloth between her fingers. "I was trying to help you. I thought that maybe if you took better care of your hair, than it wouldn't have...you know." She flapped her hand at Chloe's helmeted head, feeling very tired of everything and wanting this awful day to just end already.

Chloe's response to this was cut off by Bobby suddenly calling out to her. "Hey, Chloe!" he said, his mean, mis-matched eyes on Elka, "you need me to come over there and knock Ms. Cleo into next week?"

"Ugh," Elka said. His voice was the audible equivalent of rubbing sandpaper over one's skin.

"No thank you, Bobby," Chloe replied. "There is no need for aggressive action." To Elka's shock, Bobby stayed put. How did she get this guy under her thumb like that? Elka wondered, impressed and a tiny bit envious of her ability to command him so effectively. I hope they're not actually dating, that would be weird…

"I acknowledge that you were only trying to help," Chloe said, cutting off Elka's nauseating speculations. "And I do not believe that you were actively trying to do me harm."

Elka's shoulders relaxed as though a weight were being lifted off of them. "I'm so glad that you understand," she said. And she was, more than just because she wanted to clear Amway's name- at this point she wasn't even sure she wanted her samples back. She didn't want for Chloe, or anyone else for that matter, to think that she was a bad person, or that she took any enjoyment from the suffering that she was often forced to witness. Things were quite bad enough at home; she did not need that sort of negativity following her to camp.

"However," Chloe continued, "I am certain that it was the dry shampoo that you gave me that ultimately caused my injuries, and I do not understand why you are trying to convince me otherwise."

Elka's mouth worked uselessly for a second before she retorted. "Well, I don't understand," she said, mocking Chloe's phrasing, "why you're blaming me for this!" She realized that she had begun shouting again, and was probably quite red in the face, so she paused to breathe. "Even if the sample I gave you caused your hair loss- and I'm not saying that it did- it wasn't like I forced you to use it!"

"That is true," Chloe conceded. "I am the one who decided to use the product, against my own better judgement. I accept that. But I would not have used it at all if you had not given it to me, nor if you hadn't made false statements regarding its effectiveness."

Elka threw her hands up, having officially given up on convincing Chloe of the truth. "What do you want from me?" she whined, feeling utterly defeated.

"I only wanted to inform you of my dissatisfaction," Chloe answered without a moment's hesitation. "And to let you know that I want nothing to do with any of the other Amway products that you have to offer."

Elka let out a cheerless laugh. "You don't have to worry about that. The Coach took all of my samples away."

"Oh, that is good," Chloe said, not picking up on Elka's bitterness. "I suppose that I have now fulfilled my intended purpose in speaking with you. Though, it does not seem like anything was truly resolved." Elka sighed, in complete agreement with that assessment. "In light of the conversation thus far, I do not think that further discussion between us will be in any way productive."

Elka mumbled out a 'yeah'. So this was it, then- the two of them were to part ways on this unfortunate note, with Chloe thinking Elka to be some scalp-destroying witch. Pretty soon, that would be what everyone around camp would think. The story of Chloe's hair loss was already making the rounds; it was only a matter of time before Elka's involvement in the incident came to light. I have to do damage control now, she thought, working out in her head how she would go about doing that. I could tell everyone that her hair was already in pretty bad shape before she used my shampoo, then they would realize that what happened was inevitable. It wasn't the nicest thing to do, but Elka had to salvage her reputation somehow.

Before she walked off to start on that project, she felt compelled to apologize again- not by any lingering sense of guilt, but by the pity she felt for Chloe, who would no doubt have a rough time in the coming days. "I really am sorry that this happened to you," Elka said, her words heavy with the genuine sorrow she felt for the poor, bald little girl who had been so cruelly treated by fate. "Sometimes, that's just how it is, and there's nothing you, or anyone else can do to control it."

Chloe just looked up at her, and in the silent seconds that passed, Elka felt as though the girl was judging her, and not in a very positive way. You can think what you like, Elka thought, willing herself not to fidget under the girl's scrutinizing stare. I know that I did the best I could do. That's enough for me.

Finally, Chloe nodded. "Your apology is noted,"she said, her tone giving no indication as to how she really felt. "I must be off now. I believe that my companion is waiting for me to come back, so that he may demonstrate his skills at psychic lockpicking."

Elka watched her go, waving goodbye to her back. She could not help but notice that there was a bounce in her step as she rushed over to the ugliest, most uncouth boy in the camp. At least she's not letting this whole thing get her down too much. But that Bobby Zilch is trouble. Unlike her James, Bobby had no respect for women, and she thought that his intentions for Chloe were less than pure, even if he did look pretty happy to see her returning to him. He's lulling her into a false sense of security so that he can...I don't know, hack into her campster account or something.

It was no business of Elka's. This she decided as she made her way back to the cabins, where she hoped to establish at least some control over the narrative regarding this incident. No more meddling for me. I can't emotionally afford to get myself involved in the problems of other people, she thought, her footsteps strangely heavy as she hiked up the path. I need to focus on things I can control, like myself, and James. I won't try to change anyone else's fate, even if I have a vision. That just leads to trouble.

Still, she could not stop herself from looking back at the parking lot as she crested the hill, feeling like she had failed the little Tender Brain she watched from afar.