“Don’t tell her I did that, okay?”

Spencer took a step toward the warlock, his eyes fixing on the roll of paper towels in the dispenser. Instead of the standard brownish-white paper of most rolls, Spencer saw a design printed on the paper towel. Intersecting lines, each labeled in miniscule writing, covered the roll.

The map wasn’t just hidden in the dispenser. The map was actually the roll of paper towels! One of the roads on the map was highlighted, surely marking the route they should travel to find the Aurans’ secret landfill.

Walter grabbed the paper-towel roll with both hands and pulled. With surprising ease, the roll came free. “Got it!” the warlock said, a victorious grin across his face.

Daisy dropped to her hands and knees. “These tiles are fascinating! They’re so . . . square!”

Spencer had just begun to wonder what Daisy was talking about when a wave of intense fatigue slammed into him. He staggered a few steps, trying to remain upright. Through the sleepiness, he heard Bernard shout a warning. Spencer’s eyes flicked once more to the empty paper-towel dispenser.

There was a hole in the wall. He hadn’t noticed it before because the roll of paper towels had blocked it. Now the way was open, and there was movement coming from within the dark hole.

Walter Jamison fired a stream of air freshener from his aerosol can just as the Toxites erupted from their entrapment. Spencer’s body was finally giving in to exhaustion when Walter’s vanilla-scented freshener wafted past his nose. The haze of Toxite fatigue cleared around him, leaving his mind fresh and alert.

An avalanche of angry Toxites poured out of the hole. Filths hissed, exposing their savage buckteeth. Grimes slithered in every direction along the wall, and a flock of Rubbishes cut through the air.

Rico Chavez may have given his life by releasing the first wave of angry Toxites, but the Aurans had set a double trap!

The bathroom was swarming with deadly creatures, an endless stream entering through the hole in the dispenser. Spencer felt a Grime sear his bare foot with its venomous grip. He kicked it away and leapt up, drawing a mop from his belt.

Spencer spun the mop handle, sending the strings forward in a wide attack. He jumped toward the dispenser, feeling the creatures bite and tear. A group of Rubbishes swooped down, seizing the mop handle in their talons. The weapon was jerked from Spencer’s grasp, leaving him vulnerable against the onslaught.

In a flash, Daisy was at his side. The girl blocked with her dustpan shield, giving Spencer time to lunge forward and grab the dispenser cover. Instantly, his arms were crawling with Grimes. A Filth leapt onto his chest, sharp claws digging as it raked downward.

Spencer cried out, heaving the plastic cover of the dispenser and slamming it closed. He felt the latch click and knew that the dispenser could not be opened again without Alan’s key.

Spencer threw himself against the wall, shaking free of the Toxites that still clung to him. Closing the dispenser had stopped the flow of creatures, but the bathroom was still under attack by those that had escaped.

Walter slid forward, plunging a Grime to the wall with a splatter of slime. Following Daisy’s example, Spencer drew his dustpan. As he twisted the handle, the metal fanned out, forming a circular shield. And just in time! Two Toxites pinged off his defense and fell dazed to the floor.

Spencer’s razorblade rang out as it extended from the small handle. With one swing of the blade, both monsters were gone.

“I feel like a sitting duck!” Bernard shouted, still pinned to his waist in the bathroom floor. The garbologist was blocking with his shield, but the Filths were swarming him in a spiky mass of dusty quills.

“Bern!” Walter threw himself forward. He failed to dodge, and Rubbish talons rent his bald head, leaving streaks of red.

Spencer had never fought with such focus before. In the past, he had always struggled against the Toxite breath. But the vanilla air freshener made him more deadly than ever. He hacked and sliced with his razorblade, carving a path across the room.

Without a twinge of distraction in her fight, Daisy was also more deadly than Spencer had ever seen her. She took up a defensive position beside Bernard and Walter.

At least Penny was safe, completely submerged in the floor. Spencer scanned the tiles for her breathing tube. One of the Grimes seemed to notice it at the same moment. The little monster scuttled forward, gripped the cardboard tube, and slid its slimy body inside.

Spencer couldn’t see the other end of the tube, but he knew where it led. The thought was horrific! The Grime was slithering down into Penny’s open mouth! She would be helpless against the attack.

Spencer raced for the breathing tube, but Daisy beat him there. Throwing aside her shield and plunger, Daisy dove. The wind was knocked from her lungs as she struck the floor. Sliding forward, she grabbed the final inch of the Grime’s tail and jerked it out of the cardboard tube. Daisy flung the pale creature across the bathroom and turned back to Penny’s breathing tube.

“That was too close,” she muttered, reaching into her janitorial belt. There was a silvery flash as Daisy ripped off a piece of Glopified duct tape. “This should do the trick.” With a look of success on her face, Daisy placed the piece of tape securely over the top of Penny’s tube.

“What are you doing?” Spencer shouted.

“I’m trying to keep the Grimes out!” Daisy replied.

“That’s her breathing tube!” Spencer said. “You’re keeping the air out!”

Daisy’s expression changed to sudden sheepishness and she ripped away the Glopified duct tape. “Don’t tell her I did that, okay?”

But Spencer didn’t have time to answer. There were still too many Toxites, and the air freshener was beginning to fade.

Daisy started giggling uncontrollably. “This tube is snoring!” She had her head twisted sideways, listening into Penny’s breathing tube.

“No!” Spencer shouted, mentally pushing past the Toxite breath. He clipped out his can of air freshener and released a long hiss.

“Vac dust!” Walter cried above the chaos. “Everyone use vac dust!”

Slipping his razorblade into the belt pouch, Spencer drew a large fist of vacuum dust. Daisy, crouching low over Penny’s tube, did the same.

“Now!” Walter shouted. Spencer, Daisy, Bernard, Alan, and Walter simultaneously released their Palm Blasts of vacuum dust. For a moment, the bathroom was hazy with gritty dust. Then the sound of suction resonated as the Toxites were pulled down against the tile floor.

As the action lulled, Walter quickly dropped to Alan’s side, using Glopified Windex to turn the tiles to glass. With precise blows, he used his razorblade sword to chip away until Alan was free.

Seeing the warlock’s method, Spencer and Daisy instantly went to work on Bernard. The garbologist pulled free of the ground just as the vacuum suction on the Toxites subsided.

The angry creatures were up and shrieking once more. But the Rebels quickly ducked into one of the bathroom stalls as the relocated Toxites made their way out of the secret bathroom, seeking open air and the brain waves of a younger school.

The Rebels stepped out of the stall, amazed at how quiet the bathroom now seemed. Daisy drew the orange healing spray from her belt and sprayed the top of Walter’s bald head. The bloody scratches fizzed as the healing spray took effect.

“How do we get Penny out?” Spencer asked as everyone huddled around her cardboard breathing tube.

“Same way we got out,” Alan said, drawing his Windex. “We just have to be careful or we might accidentally turn her to glass.”

“I don’t think she’d like that,” Daisy said.

“Did somebody grab the map?” Bernard asked.

“It’s over here,” Spencer crossed to where Walter had dropped the roll when the Toxites attacked. “A highlighted route is printed on the paper towel.” Spencer picked it up.

Walter squinted at the item in Spencer’s hands. “Looks like a standard roll: eight-inch width, six hundred feet long.”

“Whoa,” Bernard said. “You’re telling me that we’ve got to follow a six-hundred-foot map?”

Spencer peeled up the end and noticed something else. “Double sided.” He held out the paper towel so everyone could see that the map was printed on both sides.

“We’d better rescue Penny so we can get started,” Daisy said. “This might take a while.”

There was a sudden snarl and the sound of rubble grinding underfoot. The Rebel team whirled around to face the crumpled brick wall, fearful that the relocated Toxites were returning. But it was worse than that. Much worse.

A massive Extension Filth blocked the exit to the hallway. In the dim light from the bathroom, Spencer could see the rider as the beast lumbered into the secret bathroom.

Leslie Sharmelle.