Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (61 page)

“
Narcis
sis
tic Personality Disorder runs in families too,” Glory said. “
Your Uncle Ted
seems to have it. As do you.”

“Screw you,” Mandy said
.
“Oh, wait, that’s your sister’s job—screwing people.”

Glory sprang from seated position to
pin Mandy to the ground. Sh
e grabbed her bangs
, using them like a handle,
to bounce
the back of
her off the ground
.

“Get off m
e
,
you
heifer
!”

Matthew pulled
Glory
off
,
wh
ich angered Clash. Despite the size-difference, Clash jumped on Matthew’s back to defend Glory.

“Stop it!” Olivia
screamed through her tears
.
“
Everybody
—
stop it
!
This is getting
u
s nowhere
!
”

The emotional outburst got everybody’s attention. They slowly let go of one another.

“Let’s call
a
truce
,”
Olivia
suggested. “W
ork together until we figure out a way to get out of this place. Then we can go back to hating each other
.
”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Mandy said
, adjusting her skirt.

“How about you, Glory?”

“Whatever it takes.”
She looked at the bird, rubbing a piece of dirt off its
pearly
body
, h
oping it wouldn’t ruin her chance
to procure a slice of the magic pie.
She
placed it to dry lips and blew
.
A low vibration like the foghorn on a lighthouse interrupted the silence of the night with a forlorn
OOOOOOGAHHHH
!
The whole world seemed to shake at the s
ound
of it
.

Glory
’s companions exchanged nervous glances.

“That was totally weird,” Olivia said
.
“What did you just do, Glory?”

“I called the Wybbils to come get you.”

“Nuh-uh,” said Clash. “Really?”

“
I don’t like it,
” Matthew
added.
“I’ve never heard a sound like that before. It sounded like…like…”

“Like
something
magic,”
Clash
said, grinning and rubbing her palms together
.
“Or something alien.”

“I wonder what the
star riders
will
say
when they see all of you
.
”
Glory bit her lip
, having second thoughts
.
“I hope they don’t hurt you or anything.
”

“Maybe we should hide
,
”
Olivia
suggested.
“At least until you feel things out with them.”

“That’s a good idea
,” Many agreed. “That will give us t
he element of surprise
when we jump them.”

“Jump them?
”
Glory
said
suddenly
alarm
ed
.
“
That’s a terrible idea.
Even if we overpower them, then what?
We’re in the middle of an ocean on Wybb. We can’t get home without them.
”

“Look, look!
”
Olivia said, her voice shaking
.
Everybody followed her finger
.
A
rectangular slit of light shined from the wall, and the red door reappeared
.

“Uh-oh,” said Matthew.

“
Whoa,
” said
Clash
.

“
Quiet everybody,”
Glory
ordered
.
“
I’ll s
tay put
.
Everybody else to the shadows.
”

Matthew stepped on the slingboard
and
offered a hand to Mandy.
She
took it and
stepped on the back of the board, wrapping her arms around his waist, and the
slingboard
ascended
,
hover
ing
fifteen feet or so
above the action
.
Olivia and
Clash
scurried to the darkened edges of the Bamboozle
, where they melted into the shadows
.

Glory
sat in the patch of moonlight
, trying hard not to look at Matthew and Mandy hovering high overhead,
or at Clash and Olivia who had glued themselves to the dark edges of the Bamboozle.
She could hear the
purr
of the
sling
board, but with the
red
door open
ed
the sound
blended in with the buzz of insects
and
chattering
animals
.

Needle entered with the Nightburner glowing.
She
wanted so bad to see the expressions on her classmates’ faces, but didn’t dare. At the sight of his saggy jowls and disgusting worm-like beard, t
hey must be
freaking out about now. What a gratifying thought.

“
Y
e cal
led?
”
Needle asked, his
Wybbils
companions
, minus the pilot,
coming in behind him, smiling
.

“Yes
.”

“I see ye went through
the
green door, and surprisingly got back through
it
again without using
the
whistle.”

“Yes.”

“
O
nly compassion opens
the door from the other side,
”
Needle said.
“That means there be
hope for ye after all.”
Bone said
.

Glory
thought about the bus incident
, and to be honest, she hadn’t felt
compassion for anybody on that bus
, except maybe herself
.
Could it be the door wasn’t picky and compassion from any ole
Tullah
n
do?
Matthew and
Clash
, even Oliv
i
a,
had
displayed
it in
heroic
amounts
during the
o
rdeal
.
It must have been the
y
that brought her back
through the door.
That didn’t explain Mandy
—
s
he must have got pulled along by momentum
.

“The question be,” Bone said
.
“Does the
Tullah
n have any compassion for the plight of Wybb
?
”
His black bottle cap eyes looked down his large nose at her
.
“Are ye ready to negotiate?”

“Uh, not
quite
yet.
”
Now that she had called him here, she didn’t know
if it was wise to reveal the presence of more Tullahns.
“
Uh, what would you do if an innocent Tullahn got dragged her
e
by mistake?”

“There be no such thing as an innocent Tullahn.”

“Oh.” That didn’t sound promising. “Uh, h
ow much time until Wybb’s magic fails?”

“Four days tops.
”

“Then
getting back the Elboni isn’t
an emergency.”

“Not an emergency!
”
Bone picked her up by the collar, pulling her to his face and giving a shake
.
“
The more the magic fades, the less dependable it becomes.
Wybbils
will die and may be dying
right now
as we wait for you to come to your senses.
”

“Anybody else hear a high
-
pitched
sound
?
”
Needle said, massaging his ear.

“Don’t talk to me about sense,” Glory said
.
“Because if you had any
,
you’d wa
i
ve Wybb’s
senseless
rules about wishes to save your planet.”