Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (95 page)

“That was brave of you,
” Brandon said. “B
ut you
’d
only
have
slowed down the professional rescuers.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter
,” the girl
replied
.
“
Glory
wasn’t there anyway
.
It’s a mystery how she
ended up at the cemetery
.
”

“The whole thing is
bizarre
,”
Brandon
said. “It was pure luck the way the groundskeeper found h
er
.”

“Hello,” an
older-sounding
male voice interrupted the conversation
.
“
I just told your parents the good news. Your sister’s
core temperature is right where it should be now
.
And all
the
tests came back normal.”

“That’s what we’ve been waiting to hear,” said Brandon
.
“Thank you, doc
tor
.
”

“
There will be another
evaluation
when she wakes
, but for now I’m going to have to ask the both of you to wait outside
.”

“Dr. Hayhurst,”
said the girl
.
“
Glory
’s
been my best friend since the second grade
.
Please,
tell me she
’s
going to be okay
?
”

“Friend?
”
Dr. Hayhurst questioned
.
“You told me you were her sister.”

“Don’t worry,” Brandon said
.
“Olivia is practically family
.
Mom and Dad thought it would be a good idea to have her here.
”

Olivia?
T
he name was familiar and a pretty face flitted to mind, but it invoked unpleasant feelings
. If we’re such good friends, why do I want her to go away
?

“Okay then,” the doctor replied
.
“And don’t you
worry;
Glory is a strong
young lady
. She’s
going to be fine
—just fine
.
”

Brandon
leaned in so close to Glory that his breath war
med her ear.
“Hang tough, little
sis
. I love you.
”
Something soft and wet pressed against h
er
forehead, but only for a
mom
ent.
She
blindly swished
him
away like
a
bothersome
fly.
“
Don’t mess with me
,” s
he moaned,
unsure
if
s
he
had
thought the words or said them out loud.

“
She
’s on the verge of waking,” the doctor
said.
“Get your parents.”

Gradually, over the next
twenty-four
hours,
Glory
fully woke
.
After countless
medical and psychological exams
, and
hospital
personnel
coming in and out of
the
room, a beefy police officer with a broom mustache entered
her room
. Dad came in with him.
The
cop
was nice enough, so
Glory
didn’t know why his presence made h
er
so uneasy
.
When pressed as to what happened, try as
s
he might, the last days of h
er
life
were shrouded in dark shadows
.
Her m
emories were there
,
like a dog
on a leash
itching
to
jump over its
fence
, now i
f
s
he could
break free and make the jum
p.

Dad
and the
cop
brought
Glory
up to speed as
far as they were able
,
hoping
she could fill in the missing gaps of the last few days
.
She
tried, but ended up
rubbing her temples
i
n
frustration
.

“I
have
nothing
,
”
she said, totally
exhaust
ed
.

Glory
didn’t remember dozing off in the middle of the conversation, but woke to found the room empty of everyone except
her
parents
.
Dad
was sleeping in a recliner, head back, snoring
.
Mom
sat in a matching chair, chestnut hair drap
ed
over
her shoulders a
s she
flipped through a magazine.

Glory
stared at her, eyes wide, uncomprehending
.
Mom was
reading
Cooks Quarterly
.
She wetted a finger to turn the page. Why did watching Mom do something so ordinary make Glory want to let out an elated whoop?
It was only
M
om
, but something about her seemed different, mysterious
,
and totally
wonderful
.
A tidal wave of
warmth
coursed through
Glory’s body
.
The intensity threatened to let loos
e
in a flood of tears, so s
he
look
ed
away
from
Mom, choosing to focus
on the stripes of sunlight c
oming through the blinds
instead
.

She noticed the
poster
board hanging on the wall
. Someone must have put it there while she was sleeping. Actually, i
t was more like a
giant
Get Well
Car
d
. A
large
photo of the Sling Team
was glued at the center.
Names and well
wishes were written in different colored markers and ink
s
.
She squinted to make out the
words, and the
players’
faces
on the photo
, b
ut the poster hung too far away
.
The only part she could see clearly w
as
written in thick red marker at the top:

We miss you
.

Hope you’
re back in the game soon
!

Why had the Sling Team taken such an interest in her recovery? Weird, just like everything else since she woke up, the whole world seemed slightly out of
out of kilter.

The adults said that
s
he had been found in the cemetery covered with scratches,
cuts,
bruises
, a nasty bite on her forearms, plus
tiny burn holes that went through h
er
shoes
and
into skin
.
A
wicked
slice on her ankle needed stitches
.
Blood had oozed from all of h
er
bodily orifices. Everyone had expected the worst
, but
the baffled doctors
hadn’t found any
sign
of
internal
trauma
.
Except
the initial
hypo
thermia
,
she seemed healthy and unharmed
.

Glory
was incredulous of the whole story
. W
hy only yesterday
...
s
he was
...
s
he was
what
?
Feeling like the only outsider on an elaborate inside joke,
s
he
made two fists and pounded down on the bed rail, causing a terrific clang.