Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (8 page)

The cavern’s entrance smelled of powdered cement mixed with singed leather. The taste coated her tongue.
The thorny beast ran in circles, whimpering, trying to lick the burns on its rump. She
quietly
scooted along the perimeter of the rocky walls
hoping the devil dog creature had forgotten its prey. Her
lungs want
ed
to hack out trapp
ed dust, but she fought the contraction
.

One
eye on the creature, another on the cavern’s entrance, she trod
over
broken rocks
.
Ten more feet to the cave’s opening
...
a little more
...
a little more
..
.
t
he confused animal
panted
on its side
too preoccupied with
licking its hindquarters to see her leave.

Free
at last!
Glory rushed down the side of the mesa. Sliding halfway, she
lost control, and
rolled down the rest
of the way
until her body whacked against a tree. Ignoring the tearing
pain in her ankle
, she was on her feet in an instant, prepared to sprint through the forest.

A heavy touch to the shoulder made her scream
.
She spun around with fist raised. There was
Clash
,
white-
tipped
hair
standing
straight up,
fishing pole
in hand
, backpack slung over h
is
shoulders
.

“What
’s
the matter with you?
”
Clash’s voice rose in
puzzlement
.
“It’s just me
.”

Glory looked back to the
mountain from where she’d just escaped
.
It jutted out of the forest like a giant tree stump, veined and brown. A hawk circled its peak, but
there was no sign of the beast. A faint howl
echoed from the hilltop,
fading away
until the only sound was Glory's own labored breathing.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”
Clash asked.

“Do you have to ask?”

“You mean that dog howling?”

“
That was no dog.
It was the red-eyed devil of Queen’s Mesa.”

He laughed, shaking his head, not taking her seriously at all.

She ought to be mad at him, but if the roles were reversed, she’d think he was joking
too
.
In the light of day, the legends surrounding the mesa seemed absurd again, but the urge to put distance
between her and the caves
was strong. She
forced her taxed body to
move forward. Clash
follow
ed
her deeper into the woods.

Limping along,
she
ignor
ed
her friend’s
confused
and irritated
inquiries
as to why they were leaving the mesa when their intent was to explore it
.
Feeling hot and shivery at the same time
she tore off her headgear and flung it into the brambles.

“I’m done with spelunking!” she vowed in disgust, tears of frustration working their way to the surface
.
Leaves crunched beneath her feet. Breaths
came in jagged spasm
.
“If I never go back to Queen’s Mesa again it’ll be too soon!”

“What?!
”
Clash
threw up his palms
.
“Don’t tell me you went to the pool without me!”

“Be glad you didn’t go,” Glory said, brushing away a tear
.
“It was awful!”

“Are you hurt?”

“N-n-no.”
Glory’s chest spasmed as she fought to gain control.

“Then I’m really
honked off
.
We’ve been planning this for weeks
.
And I’m ready to spelunk.”

“I’m never going back
.
The
Hoogula
is for real.”

“
Now I know you’re just trying to be funny.”

Glory hugged herself. Her teeth chattered uncontrollable.

“
Oh, blood
y gut bucket,
you have the Cold Crazies!
”
Clash flipped open h
is Sliver and studied the screen
to do
a search.
“That’s what you get for going without me. That was a really foolish thing to do.”

“
You don’t understand.
It was real
.
Everything was
totally
real.
Now
no
thing
is
the same
.
I can feel it
.
Something’s
different
.
Something important.”

“You’re babbling
and not making any sense
.
”
Clash
held out h
is
screen for Glory to read
.
“
That’s a classic symptom—see.
Cold Crazies, yep
, that’s what’s real.
”
He took off his camouflage jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

“I’m not cold and I’m not crazy!
” Glory shoved the Sliver
out of her face
, but kept the jacket.
T
here’s something alive
in
there
and it tried to kill me
.
”

“If you’re not cold it’s worse than I thought.
”
Clash studied h
is
screen some more, tip of tongue sticking out the corner of h
is
mouth
.
“
People about to freeze to death
often
feel warm
.
They
sometimes
take off
all
their clothes
.
It’s called paradoxical undressing
.
Are you feeling the urge to take off your
clothes, Glory?
”

“Yes,
” Glory said between clenched teeth
. F
ingers splayed she made a move toward Clash
.
“
I feel
the urge to take off
my right sock and
strangl
e
you
with it!
”

“Whoa there, Glo.”
Clash
was shorter and weighed less than Glory. She could
easily take him down.
He wisely
backed away a step
, holding up
t
he fishing pole like a sword
.
“I know it’s
the
Cold Crazies
talking, so
I forgive you, but if you take another step forward
,
I
’ll
whip you with this thing.”

“This conversation tires me,” Glory said, feeling all weird and tingly inside her chest
.

The rock
.

Maybe she ought to let Clash see it, proving everything
.

But
what if it
failed to spark
again
?
Unable to bear it if her best friend doubted its magic
,
she lost the nerve.
“Stay away from the mesa.
”
Glory ran backward a little ways
.
“Sorry about everything.
”
With that
,
she darted into the trees.

“You’re not well
!
” He cupped a hand to his mouth, calling after her. “A
t least let me walk you home
!
”

“Don’t follow me.”

“But
...
”

Her friend’s voice echoed through the old trees, calling her name, and after a while sounded no more
.

The unseasonable warm air caught a nip as the sun disappeared behind the clouds
.
Glory ran deep into a thicket, over a creek,
and
into a small clearing.
Ditching Clash like that made her feel bad, but the need to be alone with her new
find
took precedence
.

Her fingers were still frozen tight around the flashlight. After peeling them away, she crouched on the ground next to her backpack
.
What if the rock had been a figment of her imagination
?
If the mystical experience turned out to be the w
ork of the cold crazies
,
she’d feel
relieved
—yes
?
On second thought
—
no.