The Glass Wall (Return of the Ancients Book 1) by Carmen Caine, Madison Adler

blonde woman in her early fifties. She wore a tailored pantsuit, a light brown suede jacket, and lugged a purse that was so big it might have actually been a suitcase. She approached us with a sour look etched on her thin, narrow face. Not promising, I thought. I wondered if she was just temporarily unhappy or if it was her permanent expression.
    I rose to shake her hand.
    “You must be Sydney,” she said, clasping my hand vigorously. “Betty’s been telling me all good things about you. I trust her judgment of character. The job is yours if you want it.”
    It was unexpected and fast. I wanted to tell them that Betty couldn’t judge character at all if she said good things about me, especially after last night, but I couldn’t disappoint her. She was obviously pleased.
    “Thank you,” I said, a little timidly. “I’ll try my best.”
    “Good then! Betty says you have special tickets to Jareth on Friday, so you can start Saturday instead. Be there at the shop at 10:00 a.m. sharp!” With a crisp nod, she left us.
    “Samantha is a wonderful person,” Betty assured me. “You’ll love working for her!”
    I wasn’t sure about that, but I knew that I didn’t want to see Jareth at all on Friday. I wondered how to tell Betty that when the band began to play. Then the stadium filled with cheering as the game started.
    Grace managed to play three times for a grand total of four minutes the entire game. All three times our team scored a point before she ended up with some kind of penalty and the referee forced her to kneel on the sidelines. The last time, the referees and coaches of both teams got into a roaring fight over her antics. I had to admit that even I, who thoroughly detested sports, found it very entertaining.
    On the ride home, Grace was in such high spirits that she forgot to treat me coldly over Rafael. I was relieved about that. I had discovered I didn’t like Grace giving me the cold shoulder.
    There was a large box on the porch when we got home.
    Betty read the label and smiled at Al. “All yours, honey.”
    “Give me a hand, Sydney.” Al’s lips split into a wide grin. “You’re going to love this one.”
    The box was heavy, and I helped him lug it into the living room and open it with a box cutter. White packing peanuts escaped in all directions as we lifted out a large Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
    “Oh, this isn’t your average Rudolph.” Al laughed at my puzzled expression.
    He tossed me an instruction booklet and I read aloud, “Rudolph the Undercover Reindeer.”
    Even though it was dark and rainy, we had fun setting Rudolph up in the lawn and testing him out. With a camera embedded in his nose and his head turning from side to side, we got a much wider picture range this time. The quality was also much better than the previous cameras had been. I wondered what Al would do when it recorded someone disappearing. The thought inspired me to escape to my room and dig out my science notebook. It needed updating.
    I sat on my bed, playing with Jerry and reading my notes. Then my eye caught on the name “Melody”. I sat up slowly, recalling Reese gripe at me about pushing her “Aunt Melody”. I knew it was a coincidence, but there had been so many of those lately. There had been the Equal, the mist, and now Melody. I wondered at what point I should start believing they were more than coincidences.
    Shaking my head and wondering if I was starting to turn into one of those crazy conspiracy theory people, I turned off my light and went to bed.
    I lay in the darkness, wondering if I should just go to that Jareth concert anyway. Maybe it hadn’t really been him on the porch on Halloween. I mean, why would Jareth care about the Mackenzies, or me? I didn’t have to use my VIP pass and go backstage with Grace. I could just hang out with Betty at the back and spy a little.
    The more I thought about it, the more I liked that plan.

 
    Chapter Ten - The Concert
     
     
    Ellison ended up