Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (76 page)

BOOK: Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series)
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A wallop of thunder made h
er
jump.

“As
the
magic fades,
the
storms grow more violent,” said Bone
.
“If
the
Elboni
’s
not returned to the Queen’s Mesa,
the
inter-dimensional
ity it shares with
North Star Cathedral
will be severed. O
ur world will stop turning, and everyone will die.”

“If you don’t grant me my wish, my family will be destroyed, and my father will die.”

“What
’s
a handful of
Tullah
ns worth compared to millions of
Wybbil
s?” Bone asked.

“Why does it have to be either Wybb or my family?

Glory
asked
.
“If you’d agree to give me
a
wish, we could save both.”

“Quit saying that word,” Bone reminded.

“What did I say?

This time,
Glory
hadn’t realized
s
he even said it.

“I give up,” said Bone
.

“Tell me,”
Glory
said
.
“What I saw in the Bamboozle—was it real?”

“As real as fear itself,” Bone said.

“Don’t give me this vague crap!”
Glory yelled in frustration
.

My family i
s in serious trouble
, but nobody cares!

Needle said
.

I
t’s out of our hands
.
Only someone
with pure intentions,
in the good graces of the
Elboni
,
can get what
she
ask
s
for
.
And there’s even more to it than that.

“How do you know I’m not in the good graces of the
Elboni
if you don’t even try to give me a wish?”


Not only are ye a
Tullah
n, a liar
,
and a
Stone Napper—ye be a destroyer of worlds as well
.
Need I say more?

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be that way
.
It’s just
...

m
emories of George reaching for her, crying her name, filtered through her mind in slow motion
.
If she didn’t save her family, little George might be lost forever
.


I don’t
want
Wybb to suffer. It
’s just that I don’t know what
else
to do.”

“Return the
Elboni
,” Needle said.

“I’ll lose my family.”


We’ll lose our world.”

“My family
is
my world.”


It be pointless to reason with this one,” Bone said.

“Aye,

White Feather said with contempt and threw a
n extra
napkin at h
er
. “Now wipe your filthy chin. Lady
Gost
is waiting.

 

 

 

Chapter 25
 

 

 

They entered the cathedral
with the same bowing walls and the long arched windows
.
Huge waves rolled over the
Sea of Serenity
.
L
ightning flashed inside
of
dark clouds
.
Th
e
golden pedestal
reserved for the sacred
Elboni
remained empty.

L
ady
Gost
stood with the Book of Law
s
held against her chest. A
circle of
guards
faced outward around her.

“Come,” Lady
Gost
beckoned
.

The guards opened
,
allowing t
he
star riders
to
approach with
Glory
between them
.
The
emissaries
bowed
low
, while
Glory
only bowed her eyes, stealing a glance or two at the tiny woman in the white gown who
looked at
Glory
with
dis
pleasure
brimming in her dark eyes
.

“Foolish
Rock Collector
,” she said
. “In
passing the Bamboozle
’s test
, y
ou
have failed to give us what
is
ours, and failed to keep what
is
yours
.
By law, the life that
once
belonged to y
ou
now belongs to me
.
But y
ou are
so very young
;
I’m in a
quandary about what to do
.”

Glory
’s
heart pounded
.
There was a wisdom about
Lady
Gost
that made h
er
want to do whatever she asked
.
Remembering what happened
behind the last door of the Bamboozle
, however, gave her pause to consider
.
I
f
that
was what
waited at home, s
he’d rather not come home at all.

“How did y
ou escape
the
Bamboozle?

Lady
Gost
asked.

“On the whifferdil
,

she
blurted out.

Lady
Gost
turned to the emissaries, raising a
n incredulous
eyebrow.


The Rock Collector be
lying,” the three
Wybbil
s said
.
“We didn’t help h
er
out,
nor did the pilot,
we swear it.”

“I flew it myself,”
Glory
said
proud
ly. “Flying it
was easy, but landing
was a real crock.”

White Feather gasped
.

Lady
Gost
tossed her head back, shielding her eyes in the crook of her arm as if
Glory
’s
words were stinging bees
.

“Liar!” cried Bone.

Needle shook his head, looking disappointed.

“Impossible.

Lady
Gost
’s eyes narrowed into slits
.

A
Tullah
n, by
her
very nature,
resides
outside
such
graces of the
Elboni
.
So, o
ne more time I ask y
e
, where
is
the
stone?

Glory
looked down at h
er
blurry
reflection in the shiny f
loor
, mumbling,
“I’m not gonna tell you.

L
ady
Gost
raised the book high over her head
.
“Great
Elboni
, what shall I do?

Lightning streaked from cloud to cloud
.
Thunder rolled
, shaking the cathedral
.

The Guardian of Sacred Things
titled
her head
back with a jerk
.
Her
eyes glowed with white light
.
Lips
mov
ed
as if in prayer
.
The
g
low faded and
she
spoke again.

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