Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (70 page)

The
friends fell silent
for a couple of more minutes
.
   

“
Yep, I’m sure he’s fine
.
And l
ook on the bright side,”
Clash
said
.
“You’ve gone through all three doors
.
The test is over.”

“
And m
y only reward is getting out of the Bamboozle
—
big whoop.”

“
Notice, we’re still here.
Do you the think the Wybbils know you’ve finished the test?
”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe you ought to blow the whistle
.”

“I’m not ready to see their ugly faces just yet
.
Give me a little time to collect myself
, figure out a new strategy.
”

“
Well, it’s pretty simple
.
Just give them their Elboni.”

“
Are you crazy? I can’t do that, especially now, af
ter seeing my
Dad shot and my family split apart. Don’t you understand?
I need
to figure out the binding ritual worse
than ever
!
”

Clash
took in a sharp breath and rubbed
his
temples
.
“
Listen to your
s
elf.”

“What?” Glory asked defensively.

“You’re obsessed.”

“If you’re not going to support me, why don’t you just go home
?
”

“Maybe I should.”

“
Yes, m
aybe
you
should
,” Glory said. “T
hat is if you’re even really here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You might be an enchanted thing only pretending to be
Clash
.”

“Funny, you should say that, I was thinking the same thing about you
.
The Glory I know isn’t quite as nuts as you.”

The two
rolled apart to
glare at each other
.
A staring contest ensued
.
Whoever blinked first would lose—that was the rule—but their anger melted into laughter before any winner emerged.

“
I don’t know about you, but stealing cargo, blowing up aliens
,
and
flying
space ships always makes me feel better.
”
Clash
roll
ed
over to
turn on
Matthew’s red
Sliver, encouraging her to take out the blue one.
“So whaddaya say, how about a nice game of Space Raiders
?
You can even be Princess Gala if ya want to.”

“Maybe
later
,” Glory said, shoving it into the roomy pocket
of
her pajama bottoms
.
“
But you go ahead, while I ponder my next move.”

“Ponder?”
Clash
looked offended.
“You sound like an old lady talking like that.”

“At least I don’t dress like one.”

“Now you’re just being mean.
”

T
he ground began to shake and dimple
.
Both
of them
jumped to their feet
, glancing nervously all around, standing only a few feet away from each other
.
Dozens of small shadowy rat-like figures the length of
Glory’s
forearm burrowed out of the sand
.
One stepped into the moonlight, snout sniffing the air.

Glory
gasped, but didn’t dare let out
a
breath
.

Clash
mouthed the word
r
iplet
!

The riplet
had pink skin covered with sparse white fuzz, pink eyes, floppy round ears, a nubby black tail and a mouth full of long green teeth
.
Ew
!
The thing looked like it could nibble through concrete.
Glory
threw the stuffed animal at it
.
Within seconds
,
hundreds of riplets came out of the ground and swarmed over Mister Bear
.
Stuffing flew and Mister Bear was gone before
Glory
could blink
.
Clash
’s jaw dropped in a silent
horror. They
kept
their
feet planted, cringing
as p
a
dded
riplet
feet scurried over the top of
their
shoes
.

More and more riplets came out of the sand until every inch of open space squirmed with them.

If only
they
could fly
.

Clash
kept pointing at something, jabbing h
is
finger toward Glory’s chest
.

Glory looked down
—
t
he whistle
!
Her hand instantly went for
it
, but a
terrible
realization
crossed h
er
mind
.
Every
time she had used
it
the
star riders
had taken
several minutes to respond
.
If the demise of
Mister
Bear
was
any
indication
of
how fast the
riplets would
tear them apart, she and Clash would be nibbled to the bone before the Wybbils arrived.
But what choice did she have? Lifting the whistle to her lips,
a riplet
dropped out of nowhere to land on her shoulder. It bit her right through the whistle’s cord and into her neck. She dropped the whistle
in the frantic sea of fur below
.

Uh-oh.

Matthew’s
slingboard
rested in the sand some twenty feet away
. So
close, yet so far
.
Her eyes traveled back up the
Bamboozle’s tall stem
.
If only
s
he had a
jet pack
.
Fat chance of that
, but
a whifferdil
rested
nearby
.
The
Wybbil
s said anyone with a strong connection to the
Elboni
could fly one
.
Despite the scoffing
Wybbil
s,
Glory
knew that
s
he and the
Elboni
shared a strong connection.
It was worth a try.

To fly such a craft
...
what did the pilot say
?

Riplets brushed against h
er
legs
.
Boy, did it stink in here.
The
urge
to scream
a
lmost won out
.
Be calm and remember
what the pilot said
.
Her mind drew a blank, but then
his
words came back in a flash
.
To fly the whifferf
di
l
the pilot needed to
meditate on
three things
:
the
Elboni
,
the wind
, and the whifferdil itself
.

Riplets squeaked, chattered and gnashed at each other
.
Glory
closed
her eyes, trying to block
them out
of
her
mind
.
No more bus rides in the buff
.
No more
Hoogula
s
and bottomless pits
.
No more heartless M
iss
Crenshaw
s
.
And no more riplets
.

Only the Elboni.
S
mooth, perfectly round, indigo, caressing, peaceful, powerful
and
mysterious
;
its power coursed through h
er
the same way it flowed through Wybb, like blood through veins
.