Looking through the warlock’s eyes, Spencer saw Leslie Sharmelle dismounting her armored Filth. Half a dozen Pluggers were perched around the room, making any kind of escape impossible.
Leslie approached the Rebels with a plunger in hand. The extension cord stretched between her and the beast, its orange color matching her prison jumpsuit. She reached to her belt and unclipped a walkie-talkie. Lifting the device to her lips, she pressed the button.
“We have them, Mr. Clean,” Leslie said.
“Mr. Clean.” Bernard scoffed. “Kind of a cheesy name for the arch villain—”
Before he could finish, Leslie brought the wooden handle of her plunger across his face. Bernard slumped forward, blood on his cheek.
The walkie-talkie made some noise, and Spencer recognized the voice of the third warlock. “Eliminate them all.”
Leslie pressed down the button to respond, but Alan shouted, his voice carrying through the device. “Hey! Leslie made me an agreement! You’ve got me now, so let my friends go free.”
Mr. Clean’s voice came through again. “Leslie isn’t in a position to make agreements. Besides, there’s been a complication.”
“What complication?” Alan asked as Leslie pressed down the button.
“Leslie was supposed to stop you before you solved that thirteenth clue. I don’t like loose ends,” he said. “Your kid has the map to the landfill. And that’s a loose end.”
Alan grunted in frustration. He beckoned for Leslie, and she held the button on the radio once more. “Why don’t you do this yourself?” Alan taunted. “Why send Leslie? Too comfortable in your office to come down and get your hands dirty? Why don’t you show your face, coward?”
The response was laughter, so loud that the speakers crackled. “Once you are out of the equation, everyone will know my face.”
There was a flash of white light, and Spencer stumbled out into the hallway. He almost collapsed to the floor, but Daisy threw her arms around him for support. While he had been swept up in the vision, Daisy had Windexed the locker and shattered the doors.
Spencer groaned in pain as his bare feet scuffed across the floor. Looking down, he saw a streak of blood on the tile and felt the sting of broken glass in his heel. In no time, Daisy had him seated on the floor. She squinted one eye shut as she pulled out the glass fragment. Her orange healing spray misted over his foot, and Spencer felt the wound seal instantly.
“I just checked on Walter,” Spencer said. “Mr. Clean doesn’t want us getting away with the map.” He held out the paper-towel roll. “Leslie’s going to kill the others.”
“Everybody?”
Then Spencer realized who had been missing from his warlock vision. “Not everybody.”
It took longer than Spencer wanted to find the secret bathroom. The hallways were clear, which meant that the Pluggers were still in room 18 with Leslie. But there was no way of knowing how long that would last.
Spencer and Daisy entered through the broken brick wall. The hidden bathroom was a mess! Leslie’s Extension Filth had destroyed several stalls, and there were deep claw marks in the tile. But one thing remained untouched. In the middle of the bathroom, an inch of cardboard tube jutted up from the floor.
Penny was still under there.
It wouldn’t be easy to free Penny from the hard floor. Spencer remembered his dad’s warning. If they weren’t careful, the Windex might accidentally turn Penny to glass.
They started with a gentle mist. The floor shimmered in iridescence before turning transparent. Penny was lying several inches under the surface, her eyes closed tightly and her body stuck in a tensed position.
Spencer used his razorblade to smash out the first layer of glass. Then, with the Windex nozzle set to a fine stream, he and Daisy targeted the floor around Penny’s body.
Spencer had broken out a few more pieces when, suddenly, Penny’s hand burst free. She twisted sideways, the transparent floor around her cracking like ice. At last, she sat up and spat out the cardboard breathing tube.
“I was beginning to think that you guys had left me,” Penny said, shaking bits of tile from her short red hair.
“We did,” said Daisy. “But then we came back.”
Penny blew a chunk of floor from her nose and rose on shaky legs. “What happened? Where’s everyone else?”
“Leslie’s here,” Daisy explained. “And she’s got a gang of Pluggers with her. Their Extension Toxites are covered in armor!”
“They captured Walter, Bernard, and my dad,” Spencer said. “I hope you’ve got a plan, because I’m fresh out.”
Penny checked her janitorial belt. “I’ve been lying under the floor for the past half hour, brainstorming worst-case scenarios.” She nodded. “I’ve got a plan. But Bernard’s not going to like it.”
Chapter 27
“Rest in peace.”
Spencer and Daisy crept down the hallway, staying close to the wall. Spencer checked his watch and realized that Penny was probably in position by now.
“Are you sure this is the right wall?” Daisy asked.
Spencer held a finger to his lips and nodded. On the other side of that wall was room 18. Leslie and her gang of Pluggers were still brooding over the captives. If Spencer listened closely, he could hear Leslie’s voice demanding more answers from his dad.
“Ready?” Spencer whispered.
Daisy nodded and held up two bottles of Windex. Spencer drew his as well, noticing that all three bottles were nearly empty. They had turned so many walls to glass, Spencer was amazed they had any blue spray left.
Spencer glanced over his shoulder at their handiwork. Instead of solid brick, the wall across the hallway was transparent glass, giving him a clear view into an empty classroom. And his view did not stop there. The far wall of that classroom was also glass, as well as the wall after that, and the wall after that. Spencer and Daisy stood at the center of the high school, looking directly through a dozen glass walls and out into the parking lot.
A hundred yards away, vehicle headlights flashed, and Spencer knew that Penny was in position. Spencer nodded at Daisy, and they both opened fire on the last solid wall— the entrance to room 18.
The wall turned a magical blue, but Spencer didn’t even wait for it to become transparent. He grabbed Daisy’s arm, pulling her down the hallway and away from the glass walls.
There was a horrific crunching and crashing that grew louder with each passing second. A safe distance away, Spencer and Daisy flung themselves to the floor and covered their heads.
At the same moment, the garbage truck burst through the hallway and shattered the wall of room 18. Penny was gritting her teeth behind the wheel. Bernard’s truck was hammered, having just plowed through a dozen glass walls. The leg of a desk was wedged in the truck’s grill, and a broken bookshelf stuck through the windshield.
For added effect, Penny slammed on the truck horn, filling the hallway with an obnoxious blast of noise. She stepped on the brake, and the truck lurched to a halt. The front of the vehicle was embedded into room 18, leaving the body of the truck straddling the hallway.
All manner of chaotic noise was coming from the classroom. Toxites were shrieking and roaring while their BEM riders screamed commands. Spencer and Daisy sprinted back toward the action. If the plan worked, then Penny wouldn’t be parked in the hallway for long. Spencer and Daisy had to get on that truck before it departed!
Penny threw the garbage truck into reverse and stepped on the gas. The large vehicle heaved through the rubble and began a backward retreat. The cab was in the hallway now. Spencer and Daisy drew their brooms and flew forward. The passenger door swung open, and Spencer saw that Walter, Bernard, and his dad were already inside with Penny.
Alan reached out, pulling his son into the crowded cab. The paper-towel map tumbled from Spencer’s grasp and into Walter’s lap.
Daisy’s broom, only a split second behind Spencer’s, went off course as an Extension Rubbish swooped into the hallway. Daisy
collided with the side of the garbage truck, her broom getting pulled under the dangerous wheels and crushed to bits.
“Daisy!” Spencer leaned out the open door and grasped the girl’s hands. Her feet found the bottom step of the truck, and she dangled off balance for a moment.
Snarling and barking, an Extension Filth pounced from room 18. Leslie’s arms shot out, and she caught hold of Daisy’s long braid. Daisy screamed as her head whiplashed back. Spencer struggled to hold her with the garbage truck crawling backward.
One of Daisy’s hands slipped from Spencer’s. But instead of trying to hold on, Daisy reached back and drew something from the pouch of her janitorial belt.
Of all the weapons, Daisy chose that?
Baybee flashed into view, held by one leg like a war club. Daisy brought the doll down, slamming the plastic head into Leslie’s face. She struck again and again, battering back the substitute teacher with Mrs. Natcher’s hall pass.
At last, Leslie’s grip failed. Spencer yanked Daisy into the safety of the cab just as the passenger door snapped off against the wall.
Bernard pulled his leather aviator cap over his eyes, muttering in despair about the damage to his truck. Penny’s backward bulldoze was reckless. Desks, computers, filing cabinets . . . anything in the truck’s path was scattered or crushed. But still, Leslie and her gang of Pluggers were advancing faster than the garbage truck’s retreat.
“Wait a minute,” Spencer said, glancing at the hall pass in Daisy’s hands. “Why is Baybee’s diaper smoking?”
Daisy looked down, her eyes widening. A wisp of white dust was floating up from the doll’s cloth covering. But that wasn’t all. Baybee’s head was starting to expand, the plastic stretching tightly, like a balloon threatening to pop at any second.
“I think I forgot to take the chalkboard eraser out of her,” Daisy said.
“She’s gonna blow!” Spencer snatched the doll from Daisy’s hand. Without a moment’s hesitation, he hurled Baybee through the broken windshield of the garbage truck.
The doll sailed through the air on a final kamikaze mission. Baybee struck the armored face of Leslie’s Filth and exploded with a loud pop. The chalk dust, which had been billowing and brewing inside the hall pass, formed an immediate cloud that engulfed the oncoming Pluggers.
“Drive faster!” Walter shouted at his niece. The chalk cloud was sweeping toward them. Penny picked up the pace, and Bernard moaned in defeat.
Scraping and bumping, the garbage truck rolled into the parking lot. The white cloud spread into the open air, consuming the side of the school but giving Penny a moment to turn the garbage truck around. In no time, the vehicle was limping away from Alsbury High School forever.
Daisy turned to Spencer, her eyes unblinking since the doll’s demise. “You killed Baybee!”
Spencer shrugged unconvincingly. “She might have survived.”
Alan reached forward and plucked something off the truck’s dashboard. It was a severed doll’s leg, charred and smoldering. It must have shot back into the truck when Baybee exploded.
Daisy snatched the doll leg and held it close. “Rest in peace, Baybee. Rest in peace.”
Chapter 28
“So, that’s it?”
Penny paused in the parking lot, the damaged truck idling noisily.
“Which way do I go?” she asked.
Spencer glanced back at the high school. None of the Pluggers had emerged from the chalk explosion, but waiting for directions made him uncomfortable.
Walter had the paper-towel map resting on his knees. The warlock had unrolled a foot or two and was trying to make sense of the directions.
“If this is Alsbury High School,” he pointed at the map, “then we need to go left.” He dragged his finger along the highlighted route. Penny turned the wheel and pulled out.
“You’re supposed to stop for the crosswalk,” Daisy said. Penny shrugged as she drove over it. “Forget the crosswalks. Not many pedestrians out before dawn.”
Walter quickly counted the streets on the map. “In four blocks, you need to turn right.”
“Well,” Bernard said, emerging from under his cap. “You sound like a genuine GPS.”
Penny halted at the stop sign and followed her uncle’s directions. “What next?”
Walter traced the highlighted route, his eyebrows bushing together. “Hmm. The trail runs off the edge of the map.”
“So, that’s it?” Daisy asked.
“Six hundred feet of map and we’re there in four blocks?” Bernard pulled a face.
Walter unrolled another length of paper towel. “The route continues farther on,” he said. “But it seems like we’re missing a portion.”
Penny stopped at a red light. “Can’t we just skip ahead?”
“I don’t think so,” Alan said. “The Auran clues are hard to decipher, but once you figure them out, they’re usually quite specific. We might miss something important if we don’t follow the route.”
“There is no route,” Bernard said.
“What about the other side?” Spencer suggested. “It’s got to be double sided for a reason.”
Walter flipped over the paper towel and found another fragment of the highlighted route. “This side’s no better.”
“Wait a minute,” Alan said, his voice a dawning of realization. “You’ve got to fold it. Fold the paper towel so that the route on the front connects with the route on the back.”
The stoplight turned green, and Penny inched the truck through the intersection. Walter folded the paper on an angle and, sure enough, the routes from the front and back connected.
“TURN LEFT!” Walter and Alan shouted in unison. Penny slammed on the brakes and cranked the wheel, catching the curb as she redirected the garbage truck.
Alan and Walter worked together now, one unrolling the paper towels while the other folded to connect the highlighted route.
“Might as well get comfy, kids,” Bernard said, reclining in his seat. “Only about five hundred and ninety feet of map to go.”
Chapter 29
“Straight on till morning!”
Spencer didn’t remember falling asleep, but he awoke with the morning sunlight on his face. Wind came through the truck’s shattered windshield, but it hadn’t been enough to keep him awake.
Spencer wiggled his toes, warm in a new pair of shoes from the duffel bag. Bernard and Daisy were still snoring softly, but Penny was hunched over the steering wheel, her eyes looking hollow and sleep deprived. Walter and Alan looked no better.
The cab of the truck was full of paper towels. The map filled the space around their legs and covered everyone’s laps. Hundreds of folds and creases whipped in the wind as the two men continued to unroll and match the route.
“Merge into the left lane,” Walter muttered. The enthusiasm was gone from his voice. Spencer glanced at the Mickey Mouse clock on the dash. It was a little after six. They’d been following the map for over two hours.
Spencer looked at the roll in his dad’s hands. There wasn’t much paper left on the tube. They had to be getting close. Glancing through the broken windows, Spencer noticed that there was no sign of civilization anywhere.
“Where are we?” he finally asked. The last thing he remembered was a series of pointless turns through the suburbs of Austin. Now they were on a highway, moving at a decent speed.
“Somewhere in the Texas wilderness,” his dad answered. “After taking a tedious tour of schools in the Lone Star State.”
“What do you mean?” Spencer said.
“Dumb map led us in circles for a long time,” Penny answered. “I bet we drove past twenty schools.”
“Were we supposed to stop?” Spencer asked. “What if there was something at the schools that we were supposed to pick up?”
“We’re supposed to follow this map,” Walter said. “And in about ten more feet, we’ll know why.”
Penny suddenly let off the gas pedal, and the big truck gradually began to slow. “Wh
at are these yahoos up to?” she muttered, squinting at the road ahead. Walter, Spencer, and his dad looked up from the map.
There were two white vans parked broadside across the road ahead. They blocked both lanes of traffic and appeared to be in no hurry to move. Penny continued to slow down, and the change of pace awoke Bernard and Daisy.
“There hasn’t been a single car on this road,” Walter said, “and then two white vans decide to park in the middle?” He shook his bald head. “Everything about this is suspicious.”
Bernard dug through the unraveled paper towels and reached under the seat. He withdrew a pair of dusty binoculars and squinted his beady eyes through the lenses.
“Definitely BEM vans.” The garbologist passed the binoculars to Walter. “Dummies didn’t even bother to cover the Bureau seal.”
“Hold on,” Penny said, accelerating once more. “We’re bigger than they are. We’ll just bash through ’em.”
“I think not!” Bernard said. “You already bashed through a school. I’m not sure how much more bashing this baby can take!” He reached up and patted the dashboard.
“Can you swerve around them?” Daisy asked.
“The ditch is too deep,” Penny said. “We’ll roll.”
“Take a left!” Alan shouted, making a crease in the paper towel.
“There isn’t a road!” Penny yelled back.
“The map says to turn left!” Alan pointed ahead. “There! By that tree!”
Not far ahead, just yards from the BEM vans, Spencer saw a gnarled mesquite tree. Jutting off the side of the highway, narrow and inconspicuous in the tree’s shadow, was a dirt road. It didn’t seem to lead anywhere, and Spencer couldn’t help but question the map.
Penny had to slow down to make the tight corner. Even still, she grated against the mesquite tree, snapping off a few of the thinner branches.
Spencer glanced back at the white vans. The drivers were fumbling with the keys, desperate to overtake the garbage truck.