“Everyone knows the answer.”

Wow,” Daisy said, staring through the glass wall at the hidden bathroom. She turned to Bernard. “How’d you know it was there?”

“The trash can told me,” answered the garbologist.

Penny scoffed. “Which is another way of saying that you made a lucky guess.”

“The middle of the hallway is an unlikely place for a garbage can, which means someone put it there for a special purpose,” Bernard explained. “The paint, dripping down the can and pooling on the floor, must have dried before anyone had a chance to clean it up, which means that the job was done in a hurry. Probably during the middle of the night, so as to not block student walkways in the hall. Lastly, there are dried bits of mortar in the bottom of the trash can, which means that someone stood here.” Bernard moved in front of the glass wall. “And they scraped their trowel into the garbage can while repairing this wall.”

“You’re amazing!” Daisy gawked.

Bernard closed his eyes and smiled. “And you’re a sweetheart.”

“Why would Rico Chavez repair this wall?” Spencer asked, never taking his eyes from the hidden bathroom.

“No,” Alan said. “Rico didn’t repair the wall. He probably got curious and blew it open. But since he didn’t retrieve the map, the Aurans had to hide the paper-towel dispenser again by patching the wall.”

“Well,” Penny cut in, “we can stand here and hypothesize about which little piggy built this brick wall, but that’s not going to help us get to that dispenser.”

“Penny’s right.” Walter checked his watch. “We need to get in there.”

Without further discussion, Penny drew a pushbroom from her belt. She twirled it around like a fighting staff and then thrust it against the formerly brick wall. The sound caused everyone to cringe as huge fragments of glass shattered to the floor.

Then it was utterly quiet. The distinctive smell of a public bathroom wafted through the open passageway. Spencer wrinkled his nose.

Penny stepped across the broken entryway. Her hand hovered at her side, ready to draw the best weapon from her belt. Alan and Walter were less than a step behind her, glass crunching under the soles of their shoes.

Spencer glanced at Daisy. She was nervously chewing her pinkie nail, eyes unblinking. Bernard put a hand on her shoulder and ushered her in alongside Spencer.

The team stood huddled in the bathroom’s secret entrance. Alan had his arms out, holding everyone back as he silently studied the area for traps.

“I’m guessing this is where the Toxites were trapped,” Alan said.

“So Rico Chavez got suspicious about what was behind the wall,” Walter hypothesized. “When he broke it open, the Toxites saw their chance for escape, and poor Rico couldn’t get out of the way fast enough.”

“We can thank him later,” Bernard said. “Those Toxites would be coming out on us right now if it weren’t for Rico.”

“How can we thank him later?” Daisy muttered. “He’s dead.”

Spencer peered around Walter and shuddered at the state of the restroom. It was an unusually long bathroom, with about twenty stalls on either side, metal doors tightly closed. Sloppy graffiti covered the ceiling and walls in streaks of red and black. Most of it looked like meaningless lines and scribbles, hardened drips of paint hanging like stalactites.

“There’s something seriously wrong with this bathroom,” Spencer said after a quick survey.

“Very observant,” Bernard muttered. “Do you think it has something to do with the lovely artwork?”

Then Spencer realized why it felt so off. “There aren’t any sinks!” He balled his hands into fists, making a mental commitment not to touch anything. What kind of bathroom didn’t have sinks? How were people supposed to wash their hands?

“I don’t like the look of that,” Alan said, drawing a Glopified flashlight from his belt. The flashlight would shine brightly to reveal any magical item in the room.

Spencer and Daisy squeezed through the group of adults as Alan flicked the switch. A white beam shot from his flashlight, illuminating an object in the center of the bathroom.

It was a yellow cone. The words Caution: Wet Floor were clearly visible above the symbol of a man slipping. And, judging by the flashlight’s attention, this caution cone was definitely Glopified. Then the light beam skipped from the cone to the back wall, illuminating the dispenser. The light seemed to taunt Alan, so easily reaching his end goal.

He flicked off the flashlight and clipped it back into his belt. “Probably some kind of defensive barrier.” Alan gestured to the caution cone.

“So what does it do?” asked Bernard.

“It warns you.” Everyone turned to Daisy. She shrugged like it was obvious. “Don’t slip on the wet floor.”

“Our best chance is to approach slowly,” Alan said, getting right back to business. “I’ll try to move or disable it.”

“Let me do it.” Penny stepped past him. “If something happens to me, at least we won’t lose the team leader.”

Alan shook his head. “I’m the only one with experience in disabling Auran traps.”

“Relax,” Penny said, taking a cautious step toward the cone. “You can coach me from the sidelines.”

Penny moved painstakingly slowly, carefully reaching out a foot to probe each step. Her breathing was steady while everyone else in the bathroom seemed to stop breathing altogether. Alan couldn’t help but inch forward, giving occasional words of encouragement.

Penny was about halfway there when Daisy spoke up, her voice echoing loudly after so much silence.

“Why did the Toxites cross the road?”

Walter and Bernard glanced at the girl, giving her less than a second before turning their attention back to Penny’s perilous approach.

Spencer rolled his eyes. “Seriously?” He turned to her. “Now’s not a great time for jokes, Daisy.”

“I’m not joking.” She pointed to the nearest bathroom stall. “I’m reading.”

Written in sloppy paint at the top of the stall door was the joke.

Q: Why did the Toxites cross the road?

“Well?” Daisy said. “Why did they? What do you think?”

“That’s a dumb joke,” Spencer muttered. “Everyone knows the answer.” Somewhat bothered by the cryptic writing on the stall, Spencer turned back to check Penny’s progress. She had arrived at the yellow cone and stood motionless before it.

“Okay! Stop right there!” Alan called. “Whatever you do, don’t go past the cone!” In his anxiety, Alan had crept forward until he stood about halfway between Penny and the rest of the team. “I need you to inspect the base,” he instructed. “See if the cone is somehow anchored to the floor.” Penny lifted her foot to take another delicate step.

“Whoa!” Alan shouted. “Freeze! Don’t move!”

Penny paused, one foot in the air. A clumsier person might have tipped forward, but not Penny. She was the state champion on the balance beam. Standing like a flamingo in the middle of the bathroom was no trouble at all. But as Penny cast a glance over her shoulder to hear Alan’s instructions, she wavered.

It was as though the floor became wildly slippery. Penny’s arms shot out for balance, but it wasn’t enough. With a shout of disbelief, she went into an uncontrollable fall. Her feet jerked out, passing the caution cone as she went down on her backside.

As soon as Penny’s feet broke the invisible barrier, the caution cone released a ripple of magic. Daisy grabbed Spencer’s sleeve as he shielded his face from the blast. When he lowered his hands, Spencer saw what had happened.

The floor around the caution cone had changed. It didn’t make sense, but Penny was buried in it! The floor, totally solid only seconds ago, had swallowed Penny to the waist. She squirmed in its grasp, sending ripples across the tile and liquefying everything in its wake.

“Get back!” Alan shouted, waving his arms at the rest of the team. When Alan didn’t follow, Spencer looked down. His dad had also been caught in the wet quicksand floor. Alan’s feet were completely out of sight, and the tiles were creeping slowly up his shins.

Bernard tried reaching out for him, but Alan shook his head. “It’s spreading!” he shouted. Walter pulled Spencer and Daisy back against the graffiti-covered stall door.

Daisy was breathing heavily. “They weren’t kidding about the wet floor.”

“Get a broom!” Alan was holding still, but the tiles were almost to his knees now. Bernard instantly clipped out a broom and extended the handle toward Alan.

“Not for me.” Alan waved off the broom. “I need you to fly to the dispenser. I’ll throw you the key once you get over there. Get the map and get out before this whole room sinks.”

“Righto, chief,” Bernard said. He took aim and tapped his bristles against the floor. The broom pulled him at an upward angle, barely clearing Alan’s head. But he hadn’t even reached the caution cone when his broom suddenly changed course.

He shouted, the broom pitching downward as though drawn in by the caution cone. Bernard landed with a squelch between Alan and Penny, his broom sticking into the wet floor uselessly. Bernard’s rubber boots instantly disappeared as the garbologist sank thigh-deep into the liquefied tiles.

“At least it was a soft landing!” Bernard forced a grin.

With only her neck and head above the floor, Penny had stopped thrashing. Spencer felt a rush of urgency. If they didn’t reach the dispenser soon, she’d be gone. They had to get to the other side!

Then it hit him. “The joke, Daisy! The joke!”

She whirled around to read the writing on the stall door behind them. “Why did the Toxites cross the road?”

“To get to the other side!” Spencer answered. “We have to get to the other side of the bathroom!”

The rippling liquid floor was almost to their feet. The only safe path was a retreat back into the hallway.

“We’re trying!” Walter said. “I don’t see how a joke is going to help you reach the dispenser.”

“Not that side,” Spencer said. “We’ve got to get over there!” He pointed, not to the far wall with the dispenser, but across the bathroom to the opposite stall. The joke’s answer was crudely painted.

A: To get to the other side

“There’s got to be something over there,” Spencer said. “Something in that stall that will help get us out of here!”

“There’s no time!” Alan said. “You have to leave or we’ll all be trapped.”

“I have to get over there—” Spencer said, but his dad cut him off.

“It’s a joke, Spence! A dumb joke! It’s not going to save anybody!”

It was silent for a moment, and then Walter spoke softly at Spencer’s side. “I think your father’s right. We need to regroup in the hallway.”

Spencer quickly bent down and untied his shoelaces. “Come on, Daisy.” She stepped forward, always a willing accomplice to Spencer’s half-baked plans.

Spencer drew his toilet plunger and handed it to Daisy. “You know,” he said to Walter, “you would have helped me if it weren’t for my dad.” Then he pulled up his shirt and turned his bare back to Daisy.

“Plunge me.”

“Are you sure?” Daisy said. “I thought you hated these things.”

“Just do it! If I think about it too long I’m going to get grossed out.” Instantly, he felt the rubber suction cup clamp onto his back. “Now throw me as hard as you can!”

Alan shouted something in protest. Walter reached out for him. But Daisy obeyed. She pulled back and hurled Spencer across the bathroom, detaching the plunger with a twist of the handle.

An involuntary shout left his lips as he sailed through the air. His cry was cut short as he slammed into the stall door, giving him an instant headache. He slid down the door, feeling his feet squish into the quicksand floor.

“Sorry!” Daisy shouted. “You said as hard as I could!”

The liquefied tiles were swallowing his shoes. The loose laces gave him one extra second to slide out before his shoes were completely overtaken by the wet floor. He threw his weight against the stall door, but it wouldn’t budge. Spencer felt his feet sink deeper into the floor, and he was grateful to be wearing tall socks.

“Use the Windex!” Bernard shouted. The garbologist was anchored at the waist, but twisted around to watch the action.

In a flash, the blue bottle was unclipped from his belt. Spencer gave a spray, watching part of the metal door turn to glass. When the transition was complete, Spencer slammed his elbow through the glass, popping out the lock on the inside.

The door swung open. Spencer tugged free of his sunken socks and stepped onto the solid tile in the stall.

It looked like any bathroom stall: a single toilet and a roll of TP. Spencer scanned the walls for more writing, hoping desperately for some instructions on how to save his friends. What if his dad were right? What if it was nothing more than a dumb joke?

Then his eyes fell to the ceramic toilet seat, and he saw the writing. Four words were scribbled out in the same hand that had painted the joke.

Flow shot toy lit

Spencer stared unblinking at the gibberish phrase. He muttered the words aloud, but couldn’t make sense of them. “Flow shot toy lit.”

“Penny!” Bernard’s voice rang through the bathroom. “She’s going under!”

Spencer felt a surge of panic take him. This was the strangest riddle he’d ever seen. Toy? In the bathroom stall? He dropped to his knees but couldn’t see anything that would help.

Maybe the others knew something he didn’t. Scrambling onto his bare feet, Spencer shouted the four words. “Flow shot toy lit!”

“What was that?” Walter called back.

“Flow shot toy lit!” Spencer strung the words together in desperation.

“You’re speaking mumbo-jumbo, kid!” Bernard shouted.

There was a moment of silence, and Spencer feared he would never solve it soon enough to save Penny.

Then Daisy burst out, her voice an excited squeal. “Flush a toilet! It’s a Mad Gab! Flush a toilet!”

Spencer looked once more at the words on the seat. He mumbled them aloud, “Flow shot toy lit.” He heard it clearly now and was upset that he hadn’t realized it sooner.

“What are you waiting for?” Daisy shrieked, her voice echoing in the restroom. “Flush it!”

So that was exactly what he did.