“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.”