Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (62 page)

Bone
suddenly shoved her. She stumbled backwards and landed on her rump. He
came at her with fingers cupped and slightly spread as if he intended to strangle her. She let out a screech and backed away like a crab.

“
For Tullah!
”
She heard
someone yell
.

A second later Matthew dropped out of the sky to tackle Bone
.

Slingball player
and Wybbil struggled for power over
one another, while
Mandy
aimed the
slingboard
at
White Feather
, speeding up
to
plow right through him
. He
deftly jumped
aside.
The slingboard nosedived to the ground. Mandy landed in the sand on her side.

“Mandy!
”
Olivia came running
.
“Are you okay?
”

Mandy stood, hacking up sand.
“Y
ou
disgusting
little
troll.”
Without warning,
she
dropkicked him straight in the face.
Cartilage crunched.
White Feather
held his
nose. Thick brownish blood gushed over his mouth and down his beard.
Man
d
y approac
hed
him,
fists
raised
in fighting
pose
.
As much as Glory hated
that girl
, right now she was cheering her on.

“Stand down
, Tullahn,
”
Needle
jumped between
Mandy and White Feather, pointing
the
glowing
Nightburner
at Mandy’s heart like a fencer.
“I don’t want to hurt ye.”

Matthew
and Bone were in a
wrestling
match going nowhere.

“What are you waiting for,” Matthew hollered
at the
others
.
“Run for the door.”

Clash
couldn’t run
because he’d
just jumped
White Feather
.
“For
Tullah
!
”
he yelled, while
White F
e
ather
spun in circles, trying to grab any section of Clash that he could reach.

Olivia
hurried through the open door
alone
.
Mandy scooped Needle’s legs out from under him
with a swing of her foot
. After he hit the ground, she catapulted of
f
his belly to
bee
line for the door
.

Matthew and
Clash
together
wrestled Bone to the ground
.

“Don’t just sit there
!
”
Clash
screamed at Glory
.
“Run!”

Caught in the moment,
she ran for the
little camp
outside the door, dreaming of being free from the Bamboozle
o
nce and for all.

When she got to the opening, it was
like running head first into the side of a house
. Her lungs deflated. Her body bounced against the invisible barrier. She landed on her back gasping for air.
Stunned for a moment, the next thing she knew, tiny images of
Needle
and Clash circled around her
head.

“Aye
,”
Needle’s voice sounded like an
echo in a deep valley. “
I think she’s coming around.”

“Where does it hurt?
” Clash
was beside her
,
stroking her hand. Hadn’t he escaped with the others?
“
Anything broken?”

“Are we
alive
?
”
Glory moaned
.

“For now, I guess.”

“Where
’s the rest of them?
”

“
A
Wybbil
in goggles
got Olivia as soon as she ran out
,” Clash informed. “
The other two
Wybbils
ran off
into the jungle after Matthew and Mandy.
”

“
My companions will find the missing Tullahns
soon enough,” Needle said, rubbing his shoulder
.
“Your friends caught us by surprise, but they won’t the second time around
.
I have the mind to let them stay in the jungle and let them find their own way off the island.”

“They’re not my friends,” Glory said
.
“I told them not to jump you guys.
Clash
, you’re still here, why didn’t you go with them?
”

“And leave you here by yourself
?
No way.”

“You should have
left me
.”

“Partners in crime, friends to the end, remember?”

Glory gave
Clash
’s hand a grateful squeeze
.
“Thank you.
”
Sitting up, she addressed Needle
.
“
What
are you going to do with
the others
when you catch them
?
”

“Send them home, what else?”

“Take
Clash
with you.”

“Aye.”

“I’m staying right here,”
Clash
said,
squeezing Glory’s hand harder.
“W
e’re best friends
.
W
herever she goes, I go.”

“
But s
he opened one of the magic doors
,” Needle explained. “
The
test won’t end until death, victory
,
or submission to the authority that put
her
her
e.
So it goes without saying
she cannot leave the Bamboozle, which means if ye stay with her, neither can ye.
”

“I’m staying.”

“But ye can’t go through the doors with her
—so
ye cannot help.
”

“
He already went through the green door,” Glory pointed out.

“
H
e came from the green door
into
the Bamboozle, not from the Bamboozle
into
the
green door
. It’s not the same thing.”

“
No matter,”
Clash
said
.
“I’ll wait for her return.”

“I see,” Needle said
.
“
S
tubborn
ness must the natural
Tullah
n
disposition.”

A Wybbil
’
s voice came from outside the door
.
“We’ve rounded up all the
uninvited
Tullah
ns except
the runt
.”

Needle cupped his hand
to holler back
.
“
He
’
s with me
a
nd wants to stay in the
Bamboozle
.”

“Come again?”

“Ye heard me, he wants to stay in the Bamboozle
with
the
Rock Collector
.”

“Let h
im
.
One less
problem
to
take back
to
Tullah
.”

“
All right then,
” said Needle
.
He turned to address Glory
.
“While we deal with
the other
s
, I
shall
leave ye
to continue
the
test.
”
With
a tip of his
hat,
Needle
went through the door and it vanished behind him, leaving not a single trace
.

Clash had a fine imagination and a thirst for adventure.
His enthusiasm fed her courage.
She
watched him checking out the wall where the red door had been earlier.
“I hope
everybody’s
okay
out there
,
”
she said
.
“I
c
an’t tell reality from imagination in this stupid place.
”