“They left us no choice.”

The landfill was rugged terrain. The deeper they hiked, the more things changed. Heat increased beyond the warmth of the Texas afternoon. The very earth seemed to radiate stifling waves of heat, and before long everyone was bathed in sweat. The smell increased with the heat, the only relief coming as a light wind whipped across the trash-heaped landscape.

They had separated into two groups. V and Rho stayed back with the Rebels, while the other eight Aurans hiked about an hour ahead, scouting for traps and enemies.

“Enemies?” Daisy had asked. “More Thingamajunks?”

“Or worse,” V had answered. Then she instructed everyone to meet by nightfall in a place called the Valley of Tires.

Spencer paused to tighten the straps on his backpack, feeling his water bottle glug sideways. His dad was suddenly there, hoisting up the pack in an attempt to be helpful.

“I got it, Dad.” Spencer stepped away and checked the buckle on his janitorial belt. He moved over to Daisy, annoyed at himself for ignoring his dad again. Maybe when this was all over he and his dad would see eye to eye.

V strode past, and Spencer looked again at the strange object she had brought from the building. It was an old-fashioned shovel. The long handle was wrapped in rawhide, and the wide end was made of shiny black metal, tapering to a dangerous point. She swung it over her shoulder and glanced out over the endless piles of trash before them.

“What’s with the shovel?” Spencer finally asked her as they began skirting along a deep, garbage-filled ravine.

V wiped the sweat from her forehead and hefted the item. “It’s called the Spade. We’ll need it to reach where we’re going.”

“We have to dig to get to the source?” Alan asked.

“If that’s the case, then shouldn’t we all have shovels?” Bernard pointed out.

“It’s not digging in the traditional way,” V answered. “Think of this whole landfill like a giant treadmill. Right now, we’re hiking across, from the southern gorge that you crossed this morning to a similar gorge on the north side. When we get there, it might look like we’re out of land. That’s when the Spade comes in.”

Spencer slipped on a piece of trash, but Penny caught his arm and steadied him. “I’m guessing the shovel’s Glopified?”

“When we reach the other gorge,” V said, “I’ll stick the Spade into the ground, and the whole landfill will rotate. Like someone started the treadmill. New ground will come up from below, and we’ll be carried back to the other side of the landfill, where we continue our journey.”

“I’ve never heard of a Glopified tool powerful enough to do something like that,” Penny said. “Where did it come from?”

“The boys,” V answered. “I don’t remember which one created it.”

The answer caused Spencer to pause in his tracks. “You mean the boy Aurans? They created the Spade? But I thought only warlocks could use Glop . . .”

“Those boys were special,” V said. “They had unique powers.”

Spencer felt all eyes boring down on him. He wanted to reveal it then, to tell V that he was an Auran. Maybe he had hidden powers that she could help him discover.

“You see,” Rho cut in, “all of us have the ability to see through the warlocks’ eyes when we touch bronze. That’s a standard power. It’s how we make raw Glop deliveries to the warlocks.”

“But the boys,” Alan pressed. “They had powers that the rest of you didn’t have?”

“Too much power,” V said. “That’s what got them into trouble. The boys weren’t like the rest of us. Their powers changed them. Their hearts were consumed by selfish darkness and evil. We called them the Dark Aurans, and eventually, they betrayed us.”

“What did they do?” Daisy asked.

“They got out of control,” said V. “They stopped us from making a very important decision.”

“How did they die?” Spencer finally asked.

“We destroyed them, of course,” V said, with remarkably little feeling. “They left us no choice.”

The Rebels fell completely silent, and Spencer was sure that each of his friends was renewing their pact not to reveal his identity as an Auran. But that wasn’t the only thing bothering him.

Spencer paused to drink from his water bottle. He let the distance widen between him and V, trying not to think too hard about the Dark Aurans. He had only minimal powers, not like the boys V was talking about. Being an Auran was hard enough. Being an evil Auran would be far worse.