“Just like Camelot?”
Daisy took a few quick steps to catch up to Spencer. “Where’s Jenna taking us?” she whispered.
“It’s Rho,” he corrected. Then he answered her question with a shrug. “How should I know where we’re going?”
“I just thought maybe you’d have an idea,” Daisy said. “Since you’re one of them.”
“Shh,” Spencer said. Learning how much Jenna had kept secret from him at the Academy made Spencer want to keep his own secrets. He wondered if Rho suspected his powers. Whatever the case, it didn’t seem right to tell her that he was an Auran. The Rebels had agreed when the mission had started not to reveal Spencer’s abilities to anyone. He assumed they would keep that strategy going here. Alan had been adamant about it.
As they passed the pile of garbage that had exploded on them, Penny voiced the question they were all wondering.
“What was that . . . garbage thing?”
Rho glanced over her shoulder. “We call them Thingamajunks,” she said. “The landfill is full of them. There’s too much Glop in the trash here. It takes on a life of its own.”
“So,” Daisy said, “they’re bad guys?”
Rho laughed. “I’ve never met a Thingamajunk that didn’t want to eat me. They’re wild, untamable. Like animals.”
“How did you scare it off so easily?” Alan asked.
“Trash talk,” Rho said. “It’s the only thing they understand. I’ve spent years perfecting just the right insults for the right occasions. You can’t let them see any fear. You have to stand up and talk trash right in their faces. If you’re convincing enough, the Thingamajunks will usually back away without a fight.”
They followed Rho for several hundred yards before she turned away from the cliff’s edge and cut between two massive heaps of garbage. As the Rebels followed, jumping over decomposing lumps of trash, Spencer saw their destination.
It was a large cinderblock building, hidden from outside view by the heaps of garbage all around. Rho led them around the side of the building and onto a flat slab of concrete. Here, roughly a dozen dumpsters sat with lidless openings tilted skyward. Trash brimmed, overflowing the dumpsters and strewing the concrete pad with icky garbage.
“So the other Aurans are inside?” Alan gestured toward the building.
Rho shook her head, white hair swaying. “They’re out on assignments right now.” She stepped across the scattered garbage and approached the line of dumpsters. Rho reached around the side of the first bin, her hand grasping something out of sight. As she stepped away, she held a boxy walkie-talkie, its rubbery antennae standing straight from the top.
She pressed a button, lifted the device to her lips, and spoke. “This is Landfill, calling all Aurans. We have a Code One. I repeat, Code One. This is not a drill.”
As Rho spoke, the walkie-talkie hummed slightly, shimmering with a magical glow that could mean only one thing.
“That’s a Glopified radio,” said Alan. “Similar to the ones we were using before we found the package. It’s a simple device, but it has unlimited range.”
“What’s she thinking?” Daisy whispered. “Doesn’t she know we’re supposed to be off the grid?”
“I’m more concerned about Code One,” Penny said, still untrusting. “What do you think it means?”
“Relax.” Rho lowered the two-way radio. “By crossing that bridge, you’ve earned every right to be here. And believe me, we’re just as excited as you are. We’ve waited a long time for this day.”
Spencer had just opened his mouth to ask what that meant when movement from the nearest dumpster caught his eye. He staggered an involuntary step back, shocked by what appeared to be happening.
A hand thrust through the trash and gripped the rim of the dumpster. A head appeared next, with brilliant white hair to match Rho’s. It was another girl, and she didn’t appear to be distressed at all by the fact that she was climbing out of a dumpster.
The Rebel team spun around as, one by one, the Aurans emerged from the row of trash bins. They pulled themselves over the edge of the dumpsters and climbed onto the concrete pad.
Another girl followed. And then another. Within a minute, there were ten Aurans, Rho included, standing alongside the dumpsters. One detail seemed to unite their appearance—each had a head of silvery white hair. They wore the hair in a range of lengths and styles, but the distinctive feature made them easily recognizable.
“Ten girls,” Penny whispered.
It was sinking in for Spencer now. “Where are the three boys?”
One of the girls stepped forward. She was tall and slender, and her white hair flowed around her in incredibly long, thick waves. She studied the Rebels silently for a moment, her gaze a mixture of excitement and surprise.
“Welcome to the landfill.” She smiled broadly, her eyes lingering on Spencer for an extra moment. “My name is V. I’m sure you have questions, and you’ve definitely earned some answers. Let’s head inside where we can talk.”
The Aurans moved forward, opening a personnel door on the side of the building as V led the Rebels inside. After the midmorning sun, the building’s interior seemed dim. The group headed down a windowless hallway and around a corner. Finally, V directed them into a large room that had a vaulted ceiling pocked with skylights.
In the center of the space was a wooden table, vast and round, with thirteen carved chairs tucked around it. The Aurans quietly slipped into their seats, leaving three chairs conspicuously empty.
Bernard smirked as he touched the edge of the table. “Just like Camelot?”
V shrugged. “It worked for King Arthur.”
“Until Sir Lancelot came along,” Bernard pointed out.
V’s eyes dropped to the three empty chairs. “We’ve already had our share of Lancelots.”
The Rebels stood awkwardly behind the chairs until V gestured for them to take a seat. Clearly, there weren’t enough chairs for everyone, but Walter and Alan were the obvious choice. Spencer was surprised when the third chair was pulled out and Penny sat him down in it. Bernard, Penny, and Daisy stood behind them like bodyguards.
“Let’s have a proper introduction.” V placed her hand on the table. “I’m V, named for Virginia.”
The girl next to her placed a hand on the table. “I’m Jersey, named for New Jersey.”
The introductions proceeded in the same manner around the table. “I’m Lina, named for South Carolina.”
“I’m Netty, named for Connecticut.”
“I’m Yorkie, named for New York.”
“I’m Dela, named for Delaware.”
“I’m Sylva, named for Pennsylvania.”
“I’m Shirley, named for New Hampshire.”
“I’m Gia, named for Georgia.”
Then finally, Jenna spoke. “I’m Rho, named for Rhode Island.”
“Phew,” Bernard said. “That’s a lot of names. I hope there’s not a quiz at the end.”
Daisy nudged Spencer in the arm and whispered, “Does that make you Ida, named for Idaho?”
“As you can see,” V explained, “we get our names from the original thirteen colonies. A long time ago, those were the regions that we served. America has grown a bit. Now we’re all over the place.”
“What about the other three?” Spencer asked. He wasn’t quick enough to deduce which three colonies were missing, but Rho had said there were three boys.
The table grew somber at the question. The Aurans glanced furtively at one another. Then V answered. “Three hundred years is a long time to survive. The others are dead. There are only ten Aurans now.”
Spencer felt a pit in his stomach. The boys were dead? He wanted to find out more, but his dad was already moving the conversation forward.
“Thank you for welcoming us here,” Alan said. “My team has sacrificed a lot to reach you. But I believe it will all be worth it if we can stop what the BEM is doing.”
“Do you have a plan?” V asked.
Alan paused for only a moment, seeming to wonder if honesty was the right answer. Then he went ahead with the truth. “My old associate, Rod Grush, and I discovered that Toxites are being born out of Glop. If we can find the Glop source, and destroy it . . .” He trailed off, but V finished for him.
“Then you destroy all Toxites forever.”
The Auran girls were glancing at one another. Spencer looked to Rho, but she was studying her fingernails in thought.
“So,” Alan prompted. “Do you know where the source is?”
V took a moment to make eye contact with each girl. Then she slowly nodded her head. “We do.”
More silence. Then, “Will you take us there?”
Again, V nodded slowly. “We will take you to the Glop source,” she said deliberately. “And we will help you destroy it.”
Alan couldn’t hold back his grin. Spencer could see the joy and relief etched on every feature of his father’s face. This was the quest he’d started over two years ago. This was what Rod Grush had died for.
“It’s the least we can offer,” V said, “after all your efforts to solve the thirteen clues.”
“Where is the Glop source?” Walter asked.
“It’s here at the landfill. Quite far, though,” V said. “We’re looking at a two-day hike to get there.”
“Hiking through trash . . .” Bernard smiled. “Sounds thrilling!”
Thrilling wasn’t the word Spencer would have used, but he saw the importance. They had come a long way to learn about the Glop source. Now they would be there in two more days and a whole lot of trash.
“When do we leave?” Alan asked.
V smiled. “Right away.”