Time Scout by Robert Asprin & Linda Evans

”Thanks for the compliment,” Margo muttered. The last thing she wanted to be was “noticeable” if attracting attention earned her scars like Kit’s, but the timing was rotten. She’d spent the last twenty-four hours trying hopelessly to memorize Latin declensions and conjugations and whatever else all those verb and noun forms were called. All those fickle, changeable word endings left her head spinning. She’d tried-really tried and now as a reward they wanted to dye her best feature some hideous, drab color to match the clothes they’d picked for her to wear.

Margo wanted to cry or scream at something or wail about how monstrously unfair it was. Instead, she swallowed it raw. Time was ticking away and she was still very little closer to scouting than the day she’d stepped through Primary into La-La Land with a heart full of bright hopes and no notion how murderously difficult it was going to be.

You’ll see, she promised. When we get to London, you’ll see. I’ll prove to you both I can do this.

”Okay,” she said finally. “I guess I go downtime looking like a mud hen. Sven keeps telling me, be invisible. I should’ve seen this coming, huh?” Then, in a bright tone that turned a bitter complaint into a cheery joke, she said, “Let’s get this over with and get down time before I’m too old to enjoy it!”

Kit laughed and even Malcolm chuckled. Margo swept out of the apartment before she gave it all away by crying. Malcolm caught up and fell into step.

”You know, Margo,- he said conversationally, “it might help to think of this as the biggest game of dress-up you ever played.”