Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (80 page)

Glory
pointed
J
ason’s
way
.
“
H
e’s from my world. We gotta help him!”

“
His fate
be
set
in stone
,”
Bone said
.
“
Nothing we do can
save h
im
now.
”

J
ason
wedged h
is
legs and arms between the
window
frame, fighting the inevitable
.
Limbs flailing,
he f
ell through the air
.
As he tumbled toward the lake, the glow of the fire illuminated h
is
porcelain skin
and
wavy
brown
hair
.
Glory
picked out h
is
screams among thousand
s.
He
landed with
a tremendous splash into the sea of fire
.

Glory
stood on the cliff where the hot win
d blew,
a lump of sorrow in her throat, lis
tening
as t
he voice
that had
sang so beautifully grew hoarse, wa
i
ling in pain
.
Trying to shut out the sound,
Glory
covered h
er
ears and turned away
.

But Bone pried h
er
hands away
, forcing her to listen and watch,
saying,
“H
is
fate will be your fate if ye don’t return what ye’ve stolen.”

The
singer
splashed about in a frenzy as lava roasted h
is
once gorgeous
body
.
Glory
wanted to jump in and save
J
ason
,
but
no
flesh could survive the boiling sea,
so
s
he
trembled
for him
instead
, watching
him
morph into
a
hideous
creature
. The
singer
began to curse in ways Glory had ne
v
er known possible, outdoing
Dad
by a long shot
.
H
is
limbs shriveled into lumpy fins
. His
body turned into a blackened misshapen
lump of
coal. How he continued to live, to exist in any form at all,
Glory
didn’t know
.

J
ason
Belway is no prize compared to you,
Glory
Alley
,
the
Weinling
sang
for her ears only.
But he’ll do for now
.
Her
eyes darted to the curling waves of orange
.
The
Weinling
was out there
. U
nder the sea
.
Watching
.
Waiting
.
Hungry.

The feeling of dread became
heavier
as
s
he glanced all around
, seeing
nothing
.
“We gotta get of here.
”
But the Wybbils seemed unconcerned
.

A huge whirlpool began to form across the tide
.
The circling lava moved toward the shore
.
With a tremendous splash, a mountain of a monster rose up out of the fiery sea
.
A great wave washed over the shore
.
If
Glory
hadn’t been high on a cliff,
s
he’d have been carried away
.
The monster’s head was that of a dragon and its body was coiled like a snake
.
Hundreds of other sea creatures were trying to swim away from it.

Glory
’s
teeth clenched as fear
tightened in her chest.
Indeed, the
Weinling
was worse than a hundred
Hoogula
s. Like the sea, the dragon was made of fire
.
W
hen it opened its mouth, steam came out
.
R
ows of
crystal
teeth glistened like frozen icicles
—
impossible
.
Its tongue was a spiked whip, which it used to wrap around the
famous
singer from the indigo world
.

The
Weinling
lifted
Jason
into its mouth and began to chew
.
The sound of b
reaking bones
rent the air.

Glory
could no longer see the
star from her indigo world, b
ut
she
heard h
is
cries
.
“Misery
!
Misery!” he wailed. “Put me back into the fire!”

The
Weinling
’s laughter shook the land
.
Glory
thought
s
anity might slip away and slowly
became aware she
was standing on the cliff
...
alone
.
H
er
head jerked from side to side, but there was no sig
n
of anybody, except the terrible
Weinling
.

The
Wybbil
s
wre gone. S
o was Needle’s
reassuring
light
.
She hadn’t realized how much she’d come to rely on
them.
She
screamed
, “Come back!”

T
he monster’s head swiv
eled and looked directly at her.
“Oh, crap.”

The
Weinling
’s eerie
s
ong
grew louder and lovlier.
Do not be deceived by appearances. I am your best last best hope for happiness
.
Never want for anything again. Money will be
an
obstacle
no more
.
Designer clothes, t
he Sliver and all the accessories that go with it are yours for the taking. Want for nothing
.
You’ll grow strong
and beautiful in mind and body
.
All the
girls
will
want to be your friend.
My wit and charm, I lend to you freely
.
The
boys
will hang on your every word
, falling at your feet
.
The whole world will admire you a
nd
all
I ask for
in return is one small thing—a small token of your affection
.

Maybe the
Weinling
wasn’t as bad as he looked
.
To have
nice clothes
, and the respect of h
er
siblings and classmates, plus looks on top of all that
.

“Name it,
Weinling
.”

Kneel before me
and I will rescue you from this place.

That sounded easy enough and
Glory
wa
s about
to
do it
, but something at
her
core
stubbornly
resisted
.
The
Weinling
’s song got louder.

The
Wybbil
s don’t care about you or your problems
.
Their planet hangs in your hands, yet they treat you like a dog, leading you about on a leash, beating you like a bad puppy
.
Don’t you realize the power you wield over them
?
They fear
you, but foolishly cling to their rule book instead of giving you what you want
.
One little wish—how hard can that be
?
Stingy, greedy, murderous Wybbils have the nerve to call you such when they’re the ones who’d let your whole family die
rather than give you what you want
—what you
need
.
Imagine the sweet taste of revenge when their planet turns into a cold rock in the middle of space.