“Put that thing away!” Mandy said, taking a swipe at it.
“Calm down.” Matthew spread his arms between the Mandy and Clash. “There has to be a logical explanation for all of this. Let’s go over what happened.”
“I was stepping off the bus.” Olivia said, slowly turning around to survey the scene, eyes brimming with tears. “Now I’m here in some kind of cave, but I don’t understand how it happened.”
“Nerd boy and his loser girlfriend have drugged us,” Mandy accused. “That’s what’s happened.”
“We didn’t drug you.” Glory was still trying to process what had happened herself, so she struggled how to explain. “And I’m not Clash’s girlfriend. We’re friends and that’s it. He had nothing to do with this.”
“So you’re admitting that you do?” Mandy asked.
“I assure you it wasn’t intentional, but yes, I’m to blame. See, you’re standing in the Bamboozle.”
“Never heard of it,” Matthew said. “And I’ve been a lot of places.”
“The Bamboozle is the name of this structure—a place of testing. It’s on an island in the middle of a great ocean, one I guarantee none of you have ever visited until now.”
“Try me,” Matthew said.
“Okay, the ocean is called the Sea of Serenity.”
“There is no ocean by that name.”
“You’re right, not on Tullah, but broaden your horizons.”
“How can he go broader than the entire planet?” Clash asked.
“Think Wybb.”
“Wybb?” Matthew scratched near is ear. “Doesn’t sound familiar.
“Wybb?” Mandy asked.
“How far is Wybb from school?” Olivia asked.
“Infinity,” Glory said, staring ahead as she repeated what Needle had told her back on Tullah. “But through the Elboni we’re only a step away.”
“Oh, crap!” Clash said, looking at the others. “She means Wybb—as in the legendary world of the Wybbils.”
“She can’t expect us to believe that?” Olivia said, her customary superiority complex returned to replace the charity she had showed back on the bus.
“I don’t expect anything from you at all.” Glory said. “All I know is that the Wybbils brought me here because I took their Elboni Stone out of Queen’s Mesa.”
“Let me get straight.” Mandy stood with hands on hip. “You’re saying Wybbils are real, and we’re no longer on Tullah, but on the Wybbil world of Wybb, because you’ve stolen some stone of theirs?”
“Yes.”
“Stealing—now that’s something I believe.”
“So you believe me?”
“Doesn’t matter. Whether you’re lying or telling the truth—either way you’re insane.”
“Shut up for a minute.” Clash said, still filming everything with his Sliver. “Say it is true—explain to me why the Wybbils want this stone so badly.”
“They’re trying to feed me some sob story, saying the stone is like the greatest thing ever, it’s the source of all magic, their planet depends on it, without it everything will crumble, and other worlds will follow…blah, blah, blah. Personally, I think they’re lying—wouldn’t be the first time.”
The other kids looked at her as if she was trying to serve them a cow patty on a dinner plate. “I’m sorry. I know the whole thing must sound crazy…”
“Sounds crazy?” Mandy said. “It is crazy. You’re crazy.”
“We’re here though,” Olivia said, titling her head way back to look up at the stack rising out of the Bamboozle. “That much is hard to deny.”
“Where is here though?” Matthew asked.
“The Bamboozle, I already told you.”
“Quit with the games,” Matthew replied, slowly turning around to absorb the view. “I think we’re in a cavern.”
“That’s got to be it,” Olivia surmised. “Queen’s Mesa no doubt.”
“I know Queen’s Mesa well,” Clash said, looking around. “And this ain’t it.”
A rush of conversation ensued.
Glory sat patiently, letting them go over this recent change of circumstances with one another. They deserved that much. Unlike them, she had been slowly dragged into this new reality. Getting sucked in all at once must be even more overwhelming.
“We’re all on drugs,” Mandy said, pacing back and forth. “That’s the only explanation.”
“If only we were really on another planet,” Clash said wistfully. “How cool would that be?”
Matthew and Clash dug through their school bags, producing a pile of odds-and-ends. They tried to use a spoon and fork to dig their way out, but quickly gave up.
“Matthew,” Olivia said, plopping down at the edge of the circle of sunlight. “What about your slingboard?”
“What about it?”
They all glanced at the fish-shaped board on the ground. It lay near the spot where the green door used to be.
“Maybe you can use it to escape out the top of this place,” Mandy suggested.
He shook his head. “Even with the safety off, twenty feet is maximum clearance.”
“But I’ve seen you go higher than that out on the field.”
“Only if I have something to sling from—like a ramp, or a hill, or one of the tubes. This place is a big sphere. If I try to sling around the curve, the best I can hope for is perpetual loop. The worst— I get ricocheted into a wall head first.”
“Can’t you go straight up the chimney?” Olivia asked.
“Like I said, twenty feet is the highest it will go. That chimney’s a good hundred feet.”
“Can’t you at least try?” Mandy said, voice losing its hard edge, to break into scared little girl quivers. “I want to go home.”
“Okay, okay,” Matthew said. “Just don’t cry.”
He picked up the slingboard, opened a compartment at the bottom, and removed a long shiny T-bar. It snapped into place at the front of the board. A button on the T-shaped handlebars glowed blue, indicating all systems go. A push of a button near the right handle made the motor purr to life. Matthew stepped on the board. It rose waist-high to hover in place. A twist of the right handle grip, along with a slight lean of his body to the left, glided the slingboard around the perimeter.
“Sand is a tricky surface,” he explained from above. “So I’m letting the sling’s computer scan the terrain and make the necessary adjustments.”
Bringing the slingboard to the middle of the Bamboozle, Matthew ascended toward the tall stack at the center. The higher he went, the higher the pitch of the motor. About ten feet from the bottom of the Bamboozle’s stem the slingboard sputtered and refused to climb anymore.
Matthew kept flicking the controls until the high-pitched sound died.
Olivia let out a small scream. Glory slapped her own cheeks, knowing the board had stalled and was going down. The slingboard dropped like a rock, but at the last second it hummed back to life, sparing Matthew from a bone-crunching landing.
The board bounced on unseen anti-gravity bands, slinging Matthew toward a wall, but he deftly tilted the board upward.
“Hit the deck!” Clash warned.
The girls flattened themselves to the ground.
The wall pinged Matthew toward the opposite side of the Bamboozle, just over the girls’ heads, and then ponged him back again, repeating over and over. Clash narrowly missed a neck-breaking collision as Matthew’s board slinged violently from wall to wall. But he wasn’t captain of the Sling Team for nothing. Every time it appeared as if he’d hit the wall, he’d toe up the front end of the board, allowing the gravity repellers at the bottom of the board to do their thing. The momentum of each ping lessened each time and Matthew quickly gained control, finally circling gently to the ground, where he stomped on the back of the board, flipping it up into his waiting hand.
“That was some amazing slinging there, Matthew,” Glory said, totally impressed with his sling skills.
“Wow,” Clash said. “That wa
s like the coolest thing ever.”
Matthew tried to look humble, but Glory caught him grinning. He wiped off his glistening forehead with the back of his sleeve. “Sorry about that, ladies—Clash.” Matthew was the one who had risked his life to help them escape, yet he was the one apologizing. How debonair of him, Glory thought. “The problem with slingboards is that they’re made for wide open spaces. Confined areas or great heights are problematic. If only we could build a ramp.”
“With what?” Mandy hissed, brushing sand from her clothes. “You about killed us with that thing. Now we’re going to be stuck here all night. Maybe even longer.”
She took out her phone, madly pressing buttons. “Still no service. Piece of junk!” She threw it against the wall, breaking it into several pieces.”
Matthew put a hand on her shoulder, trying to give comfort, but she pulled away. “Don’t talk to me.”
His lips turned into a tight line and he stomped to the other side of the Bamboozle like an angry gorilla. Olivia wrapped an arm over his shoulder as he walked away. “She’s not mad at you, just the situation. Give her some space and she’ll cool off.”
“All she ever thinks about is herself…”
“Help!” Mandy shouted up into the tall stack where a tantalizing piece of blue sky showed. “I’ve been drugged against my will and kidnapped by lunatics. If you can hear me, call the police!”
Clash rolled his eyes. “I’d prefer jail over all the whining.”
Glory laughed through her nose.
Matthew ruffled through his bag and pulled out a paper sack—lunch.
He split a thick ham and cheese on rye into five parts. “I’m a vegetarian,” Olivia said hoarsely, pulling out just the ham and handing it back.
Clash passed around an apple, candy fireballs, and a bottle of soda for everybody to share. After a while, they ran out of ideas for escape and conversation. Sleep eventually took over.
When Glory woke the piece of sky at the top of the Bamboozle was velvety black and dotted with sparkling diamonds. The edges of the Bamboozle were lost in the darkest shades of night. Although she was sorry to have dragged the others here, their presence felt like a comfortable old blanket.
“You awake?” she heard Clash say.
“Yep.”
“So am I,” Matthew said from a few feet away. “Where are Olivia and Mandy?”
“They thought they were too good to nap with the rest of us, so they went off in their own corner,” Clash informed.
There were a few shuffling sounds, whispers coming from the dark, and the missing pair emerged from the shadows looking messy haired and frightened.
“What’s going on?” Olivia inquired.
“Still here, still tripping,” Glory said.
“You ought to know,” Mandy said. She took a seat next to Matthew. That’s right, Glory remembered, they two were dating. What he saw in her was hard to imagine.
“Tell me,” Matthew said. “How did this alleged thing with the Wybbils begin?”
“It started weeks ago,” Clash volunteered. “When Glory went to Queen’s Mesa without me. She came out of there all shaken up. Told me the Hoogula had chased her.
“I chalked it up to the Cold Crazies. Figured it would go away on its own, but when she was still obsessing over it a week later, making me look up stuff about Hoogalas, Wybbils, and Elbonies, I started getting worried.”
“Not Elbonies,” Glory corrected. “Elboni, in the singular. Although it’s hidden under many forms, there is only one in the whole universe. And on Harvest Day morning, I found it at the bottom of Queen’s Mesa.”
“You can’t be serious?” Matthew asked. “Legend says no Tullahn eye has ever seen the Elboni, so how would you even know?”
“I didn’t know it was the Elboni at first, but after a series of strange events I’m quite certain it is.”
“Clearly, Glory has schizophrenia,” Mandy said as if the question wasn’t even up for debate. “Which is one of the worst type of mental illnesses to have. It’s basically incurable. I know because my cousin…er, my cousin’s friend has it. He’s created this whole elaborate world in his mind, and he thinks it’s totally real. A lot of serial killer are schizoids, you know. It tends to run in families.”
“Narcissistic Personality Disorder runs in families too,” Glory said. “Your Uncle Ted seems to have it. As do you.”
“Screw you,” Mandy said. “Oh, wait, that’s your sister’s job—screwing people.”
Glory sprang from seated position to pin Mandy to the ground. She grabbed her bangs, using them like a handle, to bounce the back of her off the ground.
“Get off me, you heifer!”
Matthew pulled Glory off, which angered Clash. Despite the size-difference, Clash jumped on Matthew’s back to defend Glory.
“Stop it!” Olivia screamed through her tears. “Everybody—stop it! This is getting us nowhere!”
The emotional outburst got everybody’s attention. They slowly let go of one another.
“Let’s call a truce,” Olivia suggested. “Work together until we figure out a way to get out of this place. Then we can go back to hating each other.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Mandy said, adjusting her skirt.
“How about you, Glory?”
“Whatever it takes.” She looked at the bird, rubbing a piece of dirt off its pearly body, hoping it wouldn’t ruin her chance to procure a slice of the magic pie. She placed it to dry lips and blew. A low vibration like the foghorn on a lighthouse interrupted the silence of the night with a forlorn OOOOOOGAHHHH! The whole world seemed to shake at the sound of it.
Glory’s companions exchanged nervous glances.
“That was totally weird,” Olivia said. “What did you just do, Glory?”
“I called the Wybbils to come get you.”
“Nuh-uh,” said Clash. “Really?”
“I don’t like it,” Matthew added. “I’ve never heard a sound like that before. It sounded like…like…”
“Like something magic,” Clash said, grinning and rubbing her palms together. “Or something alien.”
“I wonder what the star riders will say when they see all of you.” Glory bit her lip, having second thoughts. “I hope they don’t hurt you or anything.”
“Maybe we should hide,” Olivia suggested. “At least until you feel things out with them.”
“That’s a good idea,” Many agreed. “That will give us the element of surprise when we jump them.”
“Jump them?” Glory said suddenly alarmed. “That’s a terrible idea. Even if we overpower them, then what? We’re in the middle of an ocean on Wybb. We can’t get home without them.”
“Look, look!” Olivia said, her voice shaking. Everybody followed her finger. A rectangular slit of light shined from the wall, and the red door reappeared.
“Uh-oh,” said Matthew.
“Whoa,” said Clash.
“Quiet everybody,” Glory ordered. “I’ll stay put. Everybody else to the shadows.”
Matthew stepped on the slingboard and offered a hand to Mandy. She took it and stepped on the back of the board, wrapping her arms around his waist, and the slingboard ascended, hovering fifteen feet or so above the action. Olivia and Clash scurried to the darkened edges of the Bamboozle, where they melted into the shadows.
Glory sat in the patch of moonlight, trying hard not to look at Matthew and Mandy hovering high overhead, or at Clash and Olivia who had glued themselves to the dark edges of the Bamboozle. She could hear the purr of the sling board, but with the red door opened the sound blended in with the buzz of insects and chattering animals.
Needle entered with the Nightburner glowing. She wanted so bad to see the expressions on her classmates’ faces, but didn’t dare. At the sight of his saggy jowls and disgusting worm-like beard, they must be freaking out about now. What a gratifying thought.
“Ye called?” Needle asked, his Wybbils companions, minus the pilot, coming in behind him, smiling
.
“Yes.”
“I see ye went through the green door, and surprisingly got back through it again without using the whistle.”
“Yes.”
“Only compassion opens the door from the other side,” Needle said. “That means there be hope for ye after all.” Bone said.
Glory thought about the bus incident, and to be honest, she hadn’t felt compassion for anybody on that bus, except maybe herself. Could it be the door wasn’t picky and compassion from any ole Tullahn do? Matthew and Clash, even Olivia, had displayed it in heroic amounts during the ordeal. It must have been they that brought her back through the door. That didn’t explain Mandy—she must have got pulled along by momentum.
“The question be,” Bone said. “Does the Tullahn have any compassion for the plight of Wybb?” His black bottle cap eyes looked down his large nose at her. “Are ye ready to negotiate?”
“Uh, not quite yet.” Now that she had called him here, she didn’t know if it was wise to reveal the presence of more Tullahns. “Uh, what would you do if an innocent Tullahn got dragged here by mistake?”
“There be no such thing as an innocent Tullahn.”
“Oh.” That didn’t sound promising. “Uh, how much time until Wybb’s magic fails?”
“Four days tops.”
“Then getting back the Elboni isn’t an emergency.”
“Not an emergency!” Bone picked her up by the collar, pulling her to his face and giving a shake. “The more the magic fades, the less dependable it becomes. Wybbils will die and may be dying right now as we wait for you to come to your senses.”
“Anybody else hear a high-pitched sound?” Needle said, massaging his ear.
“Don’t talk to me about sense,” Glory said. “Because if you had any, you’d waive Wybb’s senseless rules about wishes to save your planet.”
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.
Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) Page 18
