Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (79 page)

“This would be the perfect setting for a scary movie
. Or
a nightmare,”
Glory
said
trying to control her mounting fear by acting nonchalant
.
“What side of the
Elboni
is this world on?”

“The
Wein
be
not a world,
but
a state of existence
,
”
said White Feather.

“I beg to differ,” said
Bone
.

“Not again?
”
Needle
rolled his eyes and came between the other two
Wybbil
s
.
“Let’s
be done with this
trip
as
soon
possible.”

Needle took
Glory
’s
hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze
.
But it was no comfort
.
Needle’s hand was shaking almost as much as h
er
own.

Glory
’s
puppy
pajamas were soak
ed
with sweat
beneath her coat
.
She fanned her coat tails trying to stir up a breeze
.
As they walked along the moaning grew louder
.
“What’s that sound?”
Glory
asked
, not wanting to go further
.
It
remind
ed
her
of the
sound
Dad
made after
Mom
died,
a cry of despair and mourning,
but like thousands of people doing it
all at once.

They moved along over a flat bed of black rock until coming to a cliff. Below the ridge stretched an ocean of glowing orange lava
.
Glory
felt dizzy looking at
molten rock lap
ping the shore below.
Broken pieces of stones lay at h
er
feet
.
In this insane place
,
at least there was something familiar and comforting
. S
he knelt down on one knee to take a stone for h
er
collection
.
Needle slapped it out of h
er
hand.

“Take nothing from this world,
Rock Collector
.”

“Why not?”

“Trust me on this.”

Glory
grumbled and watched the orange sea stretch out over endless nothingness
.
Black shapes moved beneath the surface.
She
could almost swear that large fish were swimming in the fiery sea.

“Where are we now?”

“The
Weinling
’s feeding ground,” Bone said.

Despite the heat
,
ic
e water
t
raveled her veins.
The pressure in the air suddenly increased, causing h
er
ears to hurt
.
At the same time gravity pulled with such intensity,
s
he thought
her
bones might c
rack
.

“Hard to breath,” she said holding her chest
.

The Wybbils gave her a sidelong glance, apparently not suffering the same affliction.

Glory
became
aware of an
invisible
presence
hover
ing
near
.
D
ark,
oppressive
—
a
deep knowing, sure and dreadful
—
filled h
er
mind
:
As
a
spider
sense
the smallest vibration along his web, t
he
Weinling
knows I’m here
.
Sh
e took a step back and wanted to run, but the
Wybbils
held h
er
fast
.

Portions of the sea bubbled and hissed
.
Gazing over the boiling ooze,
s
he said weakly
.
“How can anything live in there?”

“Perhaps
live
is the wrong word,” Bone corrected
.
“Most of
the
creatures in the
Wein
are disembodied—at least for now
.
These be
the
essences of those who in their last breath,
chose evil over goodness
.
Their
mortal
carcasses remain on the worlds where they fell,
while
the
ir
essences slip
ped here,
into the
Wein
, where their true twisted and
brutish
natures
be
revealed
.
Watch.”

Glory
tried to listen, but a mournful melody invad
ed
h
er
mind
.
What are you doing here,
Tullah
n
?
A voice, charming and frightening at the same time, sang
:
Why have you gone through so much trouble for you
r
brothers and sisters who do nothing but torment you
?
Why do you risk your life for the father who beats you
?

“Do you hear that
—
that
m-
music?
”
Glory
’s
voice quivered.

“There’s no music here, Crazy
Tullah
n,” Bone said and pointed toward the sky
.

An e
ndless number of windows floated in space as far as the eye could see
.
The horizon looked like a city made of skyscrapers full of windows, except there was no mortar, steel or brick
.
Just windows
hanging in empty space. 
“
Wicked.”
Glory
marveled, yet
she
felt more afraid than
s
he had the entire journey.Some windows opened like trap doors, revealing rectangles of light where shadows of people danced
.
O
r were they thrashing and clawing
?
Like dry autumn leaves falling from the branches of thousands of trees, creatures of all shapes and sizes fell out of windows toward the fires below.

“The windows open from worlds across the entire universe,” White Feather said
.

“I want to go home,”
s
he squeaked.

The voice sang
some more
,
W
h
y do you want to stay with a family that doesn’t love you
?

Glory
said out loud, “They do love me.”

“Come again?
”
said Bone, scratching his head
.

Why go through the
star riders
for a wish, when the magic of the
Elboni
is at your fingertips
?
All beings are One in the
Elboni
, and the
Elboni
is One with all beings
.
That makes us gods—you and I
.
So, dear
girl
, bow down before me, and I will bow down to your heart’s most intimate desires.

She
licked h
er dry
lips because the words tasted like candy.

Bone shook h
er
by the arm and the voice went away. “There
be
nothing to smile about here,
Tullah
n
.
So wipe that grin off your silly face.
It’s disturbing.
”

“Aye,” said White Feather. “Dis
t
urbing.”

Bone was right
.
Glory
fought
the fuzz
clouding
h
er
brain and took note one of the windows in the sky
.
A
m
an through the glass appeared to be
Tullah
n
.
Holy S
chm
oly, he looked just like
J
ason
Belway
, the
most famous pop star
in all of
Tullah
.