Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (34 page)

In the off chance these
were
real
elves, this was
like hitting the jackpot
.
It couldn’t hurt to ask for a few things.

“
I would like a Sliver Gaming System with graphics capabilities and
unlimited
data access
.
I’d also like a Ross & Wesson jacket
in lilac
.
I’d also like
Maiden’s Revenge
and
Space Raiders
, fourth edition
.
Now this wouldn’t be for just me, but for the whole family, a RECs would be awesome
.
And
I know some kids complain about getting underwear, but not me
.
Would you like me to write down the sizes?
Nevermind,
just get me a gift card
.
”

The list was longer, but
Glory
thought
s
he better not sound too greedy. H
er
requests hung in the air an uncomfortably long time
.

The man with the shor
test beard stared hard
at her
.
He was the one with the silver spike tucked into his hatband, but it wasn’t glowing like it had the first night
.
The length and color
reminded h
er
of one of
Nana
's knitting needles
.
Glory
named him Needle
.

Needle smiled, revealing red mottled gums and a row of pointed crooked teeth
.
Glory
suppressed a gag
.

“Have ye been a good
girl
?” Needle asked.

Clearing h
er
throat,
Glory
informed them,
“
I've been very good.
”
Saying that made h
er
feel childish and stupid, but what the he
ck
.

“
Liar
,”
Bone said, spittle flying
.
“
Ye've been very bad
—
snooping around Queen's
Mesa
and taking things that don’t belong to ye.
”

Glory
grimaced
.
How’d they find out
?

Needle held up a pair of sturdy all-terrain sneakers
.

“My shoes!”

“Yes,” Needle said, narrowing his eyes
.
“When ye were standing on
the
barn ladder I saw the bottom of your shoes. The soles are a perfect match with the footprints we saw at the caverns
the
day
the
Elboni
went missing
.”

“Ah,
when you said
this is the soul
.
I thought you were talking about my spirit or something. It all makes sense now
. You
stole my shoes to match up the soles with the footprints near the cavern.”

“Not stole
—
borrowed
,” Needle said, letting the shoes in his hands drop on the floor
.

“
Father Winter’s helpers
are
supposed to give things, not take them
,”
Glory
said, trying to trip them up
.
“
This
is
mighty odd behavior for elves.
”

“We GAVE you back the shoes,” Bone pointed
to the pair on the floor
.
“Now give us back our
Elboni
.
”

Glory
looked at their sharp teeth, and the long needle in Needle’s hatband, and the bone in Bone's hatband
.
Elves, my
butt
,
Glory
thought
.
But
s
he wasn’t about to argue
.
These men were Wybbils only pretending to be elves—but why?

“That hardly seems like a fair trade.”

Glory
gazed at their boots.
Catch a
Wybbil
by the toe,
rang through
the halls of her head
.
It was time to make a move, but it was three against one
.
The hairs on the back of h
er
neck prickled at the thought of a physical confrontation
.

“
Queen's
Mesa
be private proper
t
y,
”
said White Feather
.
“Didn’t ye see the sign?”

“Well, yeah,”
Glory
’s
voice was shaky
.
“
But the best rocks are there.
”

“Indeed,” Bone replied, his brow furrowing
.
“The greatest rock of all
resides
there
—
at least it
d
id
until you stole it.
”
Bone took a menacing step toward the bed, hands raised
.

Glory
cried out, thinking
he was going to strangle h
er
.
Needle stepped in front of his angry companion and Bone backed off.

“
Rock Collector
,” Needle said
softly
.
“
A very special
thing
be
missing from Queen’s Mesa and we have been sent here to retrieve it.”

“I don’t know anything about a special
thing
.”

“Quit playing games,
Tullah
n,” Bone said, his pink face turning red
.
“We know y
e
took
the
Elboni
Stone
so tell us wh
at you did with it.
”

“
Elboni
Stone?”
Glory
played
dumb
.
“Never heard of it. What does it look like?
”

“It looks perfect,” White Feather said
.
“Even a
Tullah
n could recognize that much.”

“Hmm,”
Glory
stalled, glancing down at their boots, wondering if
s
he should dare
.
“I’m trying to remember
.
Hu
ndreds
of stones
passed through my hands that day, but n
othing really stand
s
out.”

“Think hard,” Needled pleaded
.
“It’s very important.”

“Hmmm,”
Glory
tapped h
er
chin.
“I
did take a few from the cavern that day.
”

“Where be these rocks now?”

“
I can’t remember where I put all of them
.
But some
are
out in the garden.
”

"We checked
the
garden, fields, barn and house
.
Where else should we be looking?"

"I threw some into the stream."

Bone’s eyes widened, his mouth fell open
.
“What!”

“
Quiet,
”
White Feather admonished
.

“
Who ye be telling to be quiet!
”
Bone gave White Feather a push, which quickly turned into a shoving match and ended just as fast
.

As
Glory
watched their large feet scuffing over the floor, the words continued to play through h
er
head like a nursery rhyme
.
Catch a
Wybbil
by the toe and he has to give me whatever I want.

“
Tell us,
”
Needle said.
“
The stones ye be throwing into
the
stream, what did they look like?
”

“
They were flat and made superb skipping stones.
”

“
Where else did you drop them?
”

“
I dropped some in the cavern to light
en my load when the
Hoogula
was chasing
me.
”