Chapter 3
Crystal blinked twice to clear her eyes and realized that she didn't really see a floating head with flames shooting out of it. The face she saw was attached to a tall girl who looked about twenty years old. Her curly reddish-blonde hair was backlit by the sun streaming in through a skylight in the terminal roof, making it glow like fire. She wore beige shorts and a matching tank top, which showed off a trim, muscular body. Crystal wondered if she was a professional athlete.
The most noticeable thing about the girl was the heavy golden necklace she wore. It was made from overlapping rectangles of gold; each rectangle etched with different symbols and patterns. It looked very old and very formal and seemed out of place on someone dressed so casually.
Crystal stood there; her mouth half-open, not sure what was going on. “Uhh, Yes. I brought a suitcase full of snacks with me in case I didn’t like the food here. It looks like someone has stolen it.”
“Oh, I see,” said the girl, briefly turning her head to the exit where Crystal had been staring. “That is unfortunate. Nobody should take things that don’t belong to them. Well, this is a good reminder of why we shouldn’t steal. Every time you’re hungry you’ll remember it.”
Crystal wanted to yell at this girl for lecturing her. After all, she was the victim. What’s more, she didn’t need to go hungry to learn that you shouldn’t steal. Her parents taught her that years ago. Who did this stranger think she was?
Yes, that was an excellent question. Who was this girl? Crystal’s anger took a backseat to her curiosity. “How do you know me?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m Freyja. I am a counselor at Camp Gladsheim,” the girl said, handing Crystal her driver’s license and her camp counselor ID card. “I was sent here to pick you up. As soon as your parents approve, we’ll be on our way.”
Crystal started looking for her mother again. The sooner she got to camp, the better.
“You know, it’s a four-hour drive to the camp,” said Freyja. “After that long plane trip, you need to sleep in the car. You won’t do it, but you’d feel much better if you did.”
Crystal was not interested in a nap, and she didn’t feel much like talking on the way to the camp. Freyja respected her silence. There were times that Freyja didn’t appear to notice that anyone else was in the car. In fact, there were times when Freyja didn’t even appear to notice that she was driving a car. She always drove safely and courteously, but sometimes Freya’s eyes would just stare off, unblinking, at the horizon.
After three and a half hours of driving on freeways and country roads, they left the paved roads behind them. The camp was down a long gravel path that went steeply downhill. The road switched back and forth with hairpin turns, causing Crystal to feel a little carsick. Tall evergreen trees grew on either side of the road, but as they went down the hill, the trees became more widely spaced, with grass and wildflowers growing between them.
A large sign, the letters carved into giant wooden planks that were old and cracked, let Crystal know when they finally arrived at Camp Gladsheim. The camp clung to the side of the hill they had been driving on, which continued steeply downward until it plunged into the water of the fjord a hundred yards below them.
Freyja pulled up to a row of cabins. There were few trees here, so Crystal got an unobstructed view of the fjord. It was beautiful; unlike any body of water that she had ever seen before. The far shore was a steep mountain soaring almost straight up out of the water. She wondered if this side looked as steep when seen from over there.
Crystal wanted to stand there and admire the view, but there was something important she had to do first.