The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 17

The party gave Char and Rath an alibi, albeit a shaky one. Char hoped it would be enough to remove suspicion from them until he could get Iris out of the mountain. They'd snuck into the barracks a couple of hours after rescuing Iris, promising their mother they'd try to come back later in the day, but they had to show up for breakfast in the mess hall and act as normal as possible in the meantime.

As normal as Char could act, knowing Iris was still unconscious in his childhood bed.

"Back to army food." Rath sighed, pushing what passed for scrambled eggs around his plate. "I don't think these even come from chickens."

"We'll be eating Mother's cooking again soon enough."

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

Char shot Rath a look. He knew they needed Kelnor to see them here, and they had to be careful about visiting their mother. Keeping Iris at her house was risky.

"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 pocketed the key and yawned. The dark circles under his squinting eyes spoke of a bad hangover. "You two don't look like you got much sleep."

"Neither do you," Rath commented. "So, you and Kara are back together."

Srot shrugged. "She's a great girl. What about you and Misa?"

Rath shrugged. "We'll see."

"Char! Rath!"

Srot winced at Kelnor's bellow. He crossed his arm over the table and rested his forehead on them. "Here we go."

"Hey, Kelnor," Rath called out, giving their commanding officer a winning smile. "Great morning, isn't it?"

Kelnor stormed toward them and planted his feet in an immovable stance, his red eyes hard. "Where were you two last night?"

"Could you keep it down?" Srot moaned.

"Srot's girl had a party," Char replied, keeping his voice casual and his muscles relaxed. "We were there all night."

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

"Ah, well, you see," Rath leaned toward Kelnor and dropped his voice lower, "last night was more about the girls than the booze, you know?"

Char could have sworn he saw Kelnor's lip twitch.

"And I assume these girls will attest to the fact that you were at the party all night?" Kelnor asked. "Without slipping out around, oh, say, midnight?"

"There might be an issue with that." Char glanced over at Rath and gave him a sheepish grin. The truth always made for the best lie. "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."

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

"You two." Kelnor shook his head, a definite wry smile on his lips now. "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."