Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (67 page)

“Not fair! You can’t do this
!
Cheaters!”

“We can’t be cheating
when we’re not the one taking
the test,”
Needle
said, pulling
open the black door.
“Tell us
the
location of
the
Elboni
or prepare to be thrown to
your darkest fears”

“I know what’s behind the doors isn’t r
eal
!
No matter what happens
I’ll
just
end up here again
!
So I’m not in the least bit scared!
”
She
lied
.

“Not real? I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were ye
.
Besides, things change after
the
last door spits you out,” Bone said. “If
the
black door doesn’t get you, then
the
riplets will.”

“Riplets?”

“Under our feet lie thousands of riplet eggs
.
E
very seven days
they hatch
.
Hunger brings them to
the
surface to feed.”

“But there’s nothing here
‘cept
sand
.
”

“
And the riplets
—
vermin that lives beneath the sand.”

“
H
ow can anything survive on sand alone?”

“Cannibals they
be, thousands of them
.
Once hatched, they live
out their entire life in a single day
, devouring
anything that moves, including each other,
until only
the strongest
one remains to lay more eggs.
It’s a never ending cycle.
”

“
Thes
e
riplets,”
Glory
gulped, “Will eat a
nything?
”

“Anything
alive
,” Bone answered with a glint in his eye.

Glory
felt helpless dangl
ing
between the
Wybbil
s l
ike
a pig about to be skewered and roasted over a fire
.
T
he sandy beach
was visible beyond the black door, sparkling
under the full moon
.

“Where
be
the
Elboni
?
”
Bone snarled.

“You don’t understand!
”
Glory
said, trying not to cry
.
“
I don’t want to harm Wybb, but I don’t want to lose my family either
.
And I’m not even sure you’re telling me the truth about your world losing its magic
.
Please, please, can’t you spare
just a little bit of magic for a desperate Tullahn?
It’s not just
for me
, you know
!
”

“Hey!” she heard
Clash
yell
.
“Get your paws off her!”

“On three,” said White Feather.

“One, two, three
...
”

Glory
sailed through the door
.
She tumbled
head over heels
into
frosty grass
,
coming to a stop
in
a
pile of dry leaves
.
The sun looked like a struggling white orb behind a patch of
gray
clouds.
The icy air nipped at her nose.
A single star twinkled over a
dilapidated
white
farmhouse with peeling paint
. She wondered what in the heck she was doing outside
in
her
pajamas
and how those pajamas got to be in such wretched condition. Little tears covered them. The fabric seemed glued to the scabs on her knees.
Glory
was wearing her own coat and
oddly enough,
someone else’s varsity jacket
.
She glanced at the house with both dread and longing. Home
l
ooked
welcoming
and
sad
at the same time.

“Grab h
er
,
”
a
woman shouted
.

Startled
,
Glory
spun around to see who had spoken
.
A woman in a gray tweed coat was pointing her way
.
Two police
officers
lumbered toward
her.

“You!” One of them yelled.

“Me?” Glory pointed to her chest.

“Run,
Glory
!
Run!”

Her head jerked toward the porch.

Danny and Randy
were there shouting at her to run away.

Bewildered,
s
he
saw
several adults
coming out of the house
. Eyes went big as she recognized the bony face of Miss Crenshaw, the woman set on destroying the Alleys.

The
big guys in uniform
were
headed h
er
way
.

“Run!
”
Brandon shouted
from just inside the front door.

That sounded like a good idea
.
G
lory
bounded over
the
leaf pile
, trying to remember what the heck s
he might have done to get
i
n trouble with the law
.
Maybe someone figured out she was the one spray painting inside
of
Queen’s Mesa
.

A
crowd of police and other adults
were at the house
.

She
must have done something bad—REAL BAD
.
If I can get to the woods I’ll make my way to Queen’s Mesa and hide out ‘til this
thing
blows over
.

S
he sprinted toward
the clumpy field, but wasn’t fast enough
.
A cop overtook h
er
from behind and clamped onto
her elbow
with an iron grip
.

“I
won’t do it again
!
”
Glory
protested, trying to
break his grip
.
“You’re hurting me!”

“
You didn’t
do anything wrong,
young
lady
,” he said
, dragging her
toward the front yard
.
“You’re not in trouble
.
A citizen made a report about
a mishap here, that’s all
.
We’re here to help.
”

M
iss
Crenshaw slid
in
between the police officer
s
, walking
next to Glory
.

“I am not your enemy,
sweetie,
” she said
.
“
Y
our welfare is my number one concern.
Hold still
.
” M
iss
Crenshaw took hold of the hem
of
Glory’s
shirt
.
“I just want to
have a look
at you.”

She suddenly
remembered the whipping in the barn
.
And the welts.
She
punched
and tri
e
d to squirm away
for all she was worth, but the man was a
bull moose
.

M
iss
Crenshaw
zeroed in on her back. She
discretely
slipped
up the back of her coat and shirt.
How
di
d she know
?

Miss Crenshaw gasp
ed.
The cop let out a few swear words
.
C’mon,
she wanted to say. No biggie. T
he welts
are
already scabbed over
.
Dad shouldn’t have whipped her like that and she knew it. Still…they didn’t understand how great the real Dad could be, what he had been like before Mom died.