Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (29 page)

BOOK: Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series)
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Sh
e went outside to the barn
and
gathered items needed to implement
her
plan
.
Next stop was the junk
pile
at the edge of the woods
.
Sh
e came back inside
and headed upstairs
with two fishing poles, an
armload of nuts, bolts and gizmos galore
.
George
followed
her
to
the
bedroom sucking h
is
thumb the whole time
.

An hour later
,
s
he was finishing the job, standing on a chair,
while
tacking a blue tarp to the ceiling
.
C
ords
ran
through the hollow metal rings at
the tarp’s
edges. Another cord ran across the floor between the two beds
where she had
tied the
m together.

George
took h
is
thumb out of mouth. “What’s
d
at?”

“It’s a trap
.
See that string running across the floor—that’s called a tripwire
.
If unwanted
visitors
come in the middle of the night
,
they’ll walk right into it
.
And
when they do the tarp will fall right on top of them.”

“Ohhh,”
George
said
with interest.

“And see that fishing reel over there

and the one over there?

Sh
e pointed to the reels nailed on opposite walls and
George
nodded
.
“If they fight the tarp
,
the line will unravel, and the more they struggle, the more
e
ntangled
they’ll get
.
The plates, cans, bolts, and junk are my alert system
.
When the strings and wires are disturbed
,
the junk will clang together
,
making so much racket
we’ll
wake up before the intruders can sprinkle us with their dust
.
Then I’ll have proof Wybbils are real and I’m not crazy.

George
pulled
h
is
thumb out
of his mouth to say,

Ohhh,

and t
hen
he
plugged it back in.

Glory
finished tying strings to the handles of the closet and the door
.
By the time the room was rigged
,
the rest of her siblings had come home.
George
followed h
er
down the hall to
the
room he shared with
their
three
brothers
, w
here s
he
planned to set-up a
nother
trap
strictly
for George’s safety
.
Just as she
finished
,
a tremendous clang, then a rattle, came from h
er
bedroom, followed by more bangs, then a loud thud.

Uh-oh, somebody had prematurely triggered a trap
.

Glory
ran to h
er
room and stood in the doorway
.
The tarp was on the floor
with
a body struggling inside it
.
Other than being triggered too early, h
er
plan had worked like a charm
.
Awesome.
Fishing line was still zipping out as h
er
victim twisted and writhed inside the tarp
.

T
hinking it was
one of the twins,
she was about to be thoroughly amused
.
Then
s
he saw the pink house slippers and white legs bulging
with
purple veins sticking out the bottom
.
H
er
hands slapped both cheeks
.
She
had caught
Nana
!

Nana
looked like a giant drumstick gift-wrapped in reinforced plastic
. F
ishing line zipp
ed
around her winding tighter and tighter as she struggled
.

“Hold still,
Nana
!
I’ll get you out!”

“Mercy,”
Nana
’s muffled voice came from underneath the plastic
.
“Oh dear, I think I’m suffocating.”

Glory
ran downstairs to get a knife, passing
three
brothers and
her
sister on the way up
.
When
s
he returned with a steak knife
,
Patrice
and Brandon were on the floor next to
Nana
.
Brandon
was cutting a big hole into the plastic with scissors
.
When the circle of material opened up
Nana
’s
face appeared. She gasped for air
. H
er
upper lip and brow covered with beads of sweat.


Good gracious
,” she
said weakly.
“I was putting away clothes when everything turned blue. What on Tullah happened?”

“Glory happened,” Danny said. “Nuff said.”

“Are you hurt,
Nana
?
” Brandon
st
ead
ied
her as she tried to sit up. “
Should we call the paramedics?

“No need for that,” she said
.
“These old bones can still take a lickin
g
.”

“Gimme that,” said
Patrice
,
motioning for
Glory
’s
knife
.

“Good idea,” Randy quipped
.
“Demented
Glory
shouldn’t handl
e
sharp objects.”

“I’m so sorry,
Nana
,”
Glory
handed over the knife to
her sister
and hung back
.
“That was meant for the Wybbils.

The screen door slammed downstairs
.
Dad

s voice boomed from below
.
“What’s going on up there!”

Danny cupped his hand to his mouth
.
“Nothing
!
Just
Glory
trying to kill
Nana
!”

The others
chortled
.

Glory
scowled.

Dad
c
ame upstairs and looked around, not saying much, except
to
order
Glory
to take down
t
h
e
traps.

Da
ng
it!
She glanced worriedly in the direction of the mesa
.
That’s the end of Plan A
.
But there was no Plan B
.
Now
s
he’d never catch a
Wybbil
by the toe
and get a wish
.
W
orse than that, the
Alley
s were defenseless.

 

 

Chapter 11
 

 

 

The next day started the weekend
.
S
ound
s
of bickering
brothers
woke
Glory
.
Following her nose
,
she wandered to the kitchen where
most of the
family
flocked
like vultures
around a pan of
Nana
’s s
teaming-hot cinnamon
rolls
.

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