Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (29 page)

Sh
e went outside to the barn
and
gathered items needed to implement
her
plan
.
Next stop was the junk
pile
at the edge of the woods
.
Sh
e came back inside
and headed upstairs
with two fishing poles, an
armload of nuts, bolts and gizmos galore
.
George
followed
her
to
the
bedroom sucking h
is
thumb the whole time
.

An hour later
,
s
he was finishing the job, standing on a chair,
while
tacking a blue tarp to the ceiling
.
C
ords
ran
through the hollow metal rings at
the tarp’s
edges. Another cord ran across the floor between the two beds
where she had
tied the
m together.

George
took h
is
thumb out of mouth. “What’s
d
at?”

“It’s a trap
.
See that string running across the floor—that’s called a tripwire
.
If unwanted
visitors
come in the middle of the night
,
they’ll walk right into it
.
And
when they do the tarp will fall right on top of them.”

“Ohhh,”
George
said
with interest.

“And see that fishing reel over there
—
and the one over there?
”
Sh
e pointed to the reels nailed on opposite walls and
George
nodded
.
“If they fight the tarp
,
the line will unravel, and the more they struggle, the more
e
ntangled
they’ll get
.
The plates, cans, bolts, and junk are my alert system
.
When the strings and wires are disturbed
,
the junk will clang together
,
making so much racket
we’ll
wake up before the intruders can sprinkle us with their dust
.
Then I’ll have proof Wybbils are real and I’m not crazy.
”

George
pulled
h
is
thumb out
of his mouth to say,
“
Ohhh,
”
and t
hen
he
plugged it back in.

Glory
finished tying strings to the handles of the closet and the door
.
By the time the room was rigged
,
the rest of her siblings had come home.
George
followed h
er
down the hall to
the
room he shared with
their
three
brothers
, w
here s
he
planned to set-up a
nother
trap
strictly
for George’s safety
.
Just as she
finished
,
a tremendous clang, then a rattle, came from h
er
bedroom, followed by more bangs, then a loud thud.

Uh-oh, somebody had prematurely triggered a trap
.

Glory
ran to h
er
room and stood in the doorway
.
The tarp was on the floor
with
a body struggling inside it
.
Other than being triggered too early, h
er
plan had worked like a charm
.
Awesome.
Fishing line was still zipping out as h
er
victim twisted and writhed inside the tarp
.

T
hinking it was
one of the twins,
she was about to be thoroughly amused
.
Then
s
he saw the pink house slippers and white legs bulging
with
purple veins sticking out the bottom
.
H
er
hands slapped both cheeks
.
She
had caught
Nana
!

Nana
looked like a giant drumstick gift-wrapped in reinforced plastic
. F
ishing line zipp
ed
around her winding tighter and tighter as she struggled
.

“Hold still,
Nana
!
I’ll get you out!”

“Mercy,”
Nana
’s muffled voice came from underneath the plastic
.
“Oh dear, I think I’m suffocating.”

Glory
ran downstairs to get a knife, passing
three
brothers and
her
sister on the way up
.
When
s
he returned with a steak knife
,
Patrice
and Brandon were on the floor next to
Nana
.
Brandon
was cutting a big hole into the plastic with scissors
.
When the circle of material opened up
Nana
’s
face appeared. She gasped for air
. H
er
upper lip and brow covered with beads of sweat.

“
Good gracious
,” she
said weakly.
“I was putting away clothes when everything turned blue. What on Tullah happened?”

“Glory happened,” Danny said. “Nuff said.”

“Are you hurt,
Nana
?
” Brandon
st
ead
ied
her as she tried to sit up. “
Should we call the paramedics?
”

“No need for that,” she said
.
“These old bones can still take a lickin
g
.”

“Gimme that,” said
Patrice
,
motioning for
Glory
’s
knife
.

“Good idea,” Randy quipped
.
“Demented
Glory
shouldn’t handl
e
sharp objects.”

“I’m so sorry,
Nana
,”
Glory
handed over the knife to
her sister
and hung back
.
“That was meant for the Wybbils.
”

The screen door slammed downstairs
.
Dad
’
s voice boomed from below
.
“What’s going on up there!”

Danny cupped his hand to his mouth
.
“Nothing
!
Just
Glory
trying to kill
Nana
!”

The others
chortled
.

Glory
scowled.

Dad
c
ame upstairs and looked around, not saying much, except
to
order
Glory
to take down
t
h
e
traps.

Da
ng
it!
She glanced worriedly in the direction of the mesa
.
That’s the end of Plan A
.
But there was no Plan B
.
Now
s
he’d never catch a
Wybbil
by the toe
and get a wish
.
W
orse than that, the
Alley
s were defenseless.

The next day started the weekend
.
S
ound
s
of bickering
brothers
woke
Glory
.
Following her nose
,
she wandered to the kitchen where
most of the
family
flocked
like vultures
around a pan of
Nana
’s s
teaming-hot cinnamon
rolls
.