The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 17

Char and Rath snuck into the barracks early the next morning, promising their mother that they'd come back later in the day. They didn't know how quickly news of Iris' disappearance would travel, and they didn't want anybody coming to their mother's house looking for them. The party gave them an alibi. Char hoped it was enough to remove suspicion from them until he could get Iris out of the mountain. He hadn't quite worked out a plan for that bit yet.

"Back to army food," Rath said glumly over breakfast, pushing what passed for scrambled eggs around the plate. "I don't think these even come from chickens."

"We'll be eating Mother's cooking again soon enough," Char reminded him.

Rath sighed. "Why don't we just skip out now? She's probably awake."

"We need to be seen here."

"Ugh, my head," Srot groaned, dropping onto the bench across from them.

Char glanced around to make sure nobody was looking and handed Srot the key under the table. "Tell Kara thanks."

"Yeah, sure," Srot muttered. "You two don't look like you got much sleep."

"Neither do you," Rath pointed out. The tell-tale dark circles under Srot's eyes were enough on their own, but the way he winced and shielded his eyes from the light filled in the picture.

"So, you and Kara are back together," Char commented.

"She's a great girl. What about you and Misa?" he asked Rath.

Rath shrugged. "We'll see."

"Char! Rath!"

Srot winced at Kelnor's bellow. "Here we go," he said, putting his head in his hands.

"Hey, Kelnor. Great morning, isn't it?" Rath asked cheerfully, meeting the hard red eyes of their commanding officer with a winning smile.

"Where were you two last night?" Kelnor asked, his voice dangerously low.

"Could you keep it down?" Srot moaned.

"Srot's girl had a party," Char replied casually. "We were there all night."

"I know about the party," Kelnor said darkly. "He asked for permission to go. You two didn't. And you don't look hungover."

"Ah, well, you see," Rath said, dropping his voice conspiratorially, "last night was more about the girls than the booze, you know?"

Char could have sworn Kelnor's lip twitched just slightly. "And I assume these girls will attest to the fact that you were at the party all night? Without slipping out around, oh, say, midnight?"

"There might be an issue with that," Char said sheepishly.

Kelnor's eyes sharpened, but he waited for Char to continue.

"I don't really know the names of all the girls I danced with."

Rath laughed. "Neither do I. Every time I looked, it was another girl. He was attracting them like flies. Were you wearing a new cologne or something?"

"I think it had more to do with the fact that you weren't letting go of Misa, so they had to go elsewhere," Char pointed out.

"Either way, we're missing something very important here," Rath said. "Something happened around midnight that we weren't a part of. Was it more fun than spending the night dancing with beautiful women?" he asked Kelnor.

"You two," Kelnor said, shaking his head with a wry smile. "I know you did it, but I have no way of proving it, so you're off the hook - for now. Better hope it stays that way."