The Crystal Code

Chapter 26

Bethany and Emma were squealing by the time they were finished.

"Let me see!" I lundged for the hand mirror, only for me to be held back by a wall of air.

"Not yet!" Emma said picking up the scissors again.

"Come on! We are going to be late." I said finally sitting back down. "And this is Bethany's fault by the way." They had spent half an hour choosing what to wear, I mercifully had been sparred from the dresses. Bethany, on the other hand was wearing a black dress, Emma didn't seem fond of them either. In the end, Emma and I had chosen normal outfits with a bit more bling.

"I'm glad it is!" Bethany said returning with a few pins. "Now let's finish it up." Emma and Bethany worked on my hair for another ten minutes before they finally told me to close my eyes.

"Open!" I looked and saw my reflection. What used to be my long, curly hair, was now chopped short to my shoulders. Since Bethany cut off a side of my hair with her axe in the maze, she decided to clean in up so I don't have a weird fringe-thing.

"Wow. It actually looks decent." I stammered.

"Decent? It looks amazing!" Bethany said.

"I'm so proud right now!" Emma jumped up and down.

"Now can we go, were going to be late." I said pushing up off the seat, carefully walking towards the door to avoid walls of air put in place by Emma.

"Fine. But I like keeping the boys waiting." Emma said before trudging after me.

"Same." I smiled a little.

"Make that double-same." Bethany hollered from her room.

...

Passing the nurse's office was like a maze in itself. And I was done with mazes.

We were finally across the long hall full of beds when we heard someone say to move out of the way. Several teens rushed around carrying a body that was all beaten up. It was a boy, with raven black hair and a tall build.

"What happened?" Bethany demanded of the nearest boy.

"We found the kid out in the forest while on patrol. Looks like the kid was attacked by some lingering monsters." The fair-haired boy said.

"I thought they had all retreated." Emma said stepping forward.

"So did we." He replied scratching his neck.

"Wait. Monsters attack civilians?" I asked.

"No, that's the weird part. The kid doesn't have a crystal on him, but he's certainly not ordinary if he was attacked." He said at last.

"Thanks, Will." Bethany said before rushing forward. I saw a moment later that Chris, Logan, and Franky were also asking questions.

"Did you guys hear?" Logan said as greeting.

"Yes." Emma cut in. "Its weird. We need to stay close tonight."

"Agreed." I said. That drawed everyone's attention to my new hairstyle.

"What happened?" Franky commented.

"She cut her hair obviously. Looks great!" Chris replied, I almost blushed...almost.

"Do you think we should still go out?" Emma saved me.

"Well I think we've had enough crazy. Let the camp handle this one." Bethany stated. "Now let's go before we're all late."

"That's what I'd been trying to say." I gave her a glare and she gave me a small smile.
Bethany led us all outside and marched up the gental slope of the hill. At the top, the gold and white helicopter shined in the moonlight.