Chapter 42

“Just flip the switch!”

By the time the story was finished, Marv, Spencer, and Daisy were seated on the lobby floor. Dez was doing aerial tricks around the spacious room, and Garth stood beside the weapons pile. Spencer didn’t like the way the BEM rep eyed the leaf blower, now that Hadley was convinced of its potential to get them out of the Dustbin.

“How much time left?” Marv asked.

Spencer checked his watch for the hundredth time. “Almost there,” he said. “Bookworm should have the Vortex in position within the next fifteen minutes.”

Marv looked over his shoulder. “What about you, Hadley? You coming with us?”

Spencer couldn’t believe the janitor was asking that question. All the while he’d been talking, Spencer had been trying to think of a way to ditch the BEM rep.

“Your plan will never succeed,” Garth Hadley said. “Your enemy has a reputation for cruelty. I know Reginald McClean. You can be sure that your Rebel friends are already dead.”

“Clean promised not to hurt them if I stayed away,” Spencer said.

Garth chuckled. “And he knew you wouldn’t stay away. He’s playing you, Spencer.”

The BEM rep closed his eyes and seemed to think about something else for a moment. It was unnerving, and Spencer tried to shake it by saying, “It doesn’t matter,” even though he could think of nothing that mattered more. “We’re coming out of the Vortex inside the Port-a-Potty, and we’re going down to the laboratory. If it’s too late for my dad and the others, then we’ll still have a shot at stealing Belzora and the nail.”

Of course, Spencer hadn’t told Marv and Garth about the Manualis Custodem. He had simply explained the Rebels’ need to collect all three warlock hammers. Mr. Clean’s tool was the last one. After that, Spencer really didn’t know what to do. If Walter didn’t make it, hopefully Min would finish his translation and give them some guidance.

Dez suddenly veered downward and landed beside Spencer. “Umm, are the ceiling vents supposed to hang open like that?” He pointed upward with one hooked finger.

Spencer and the others turned their gaze toward the ceiling, and what they saw was absolutely terrible.

The vents were dangling open, and toilet-paper mummies were climbing silently through. Already TPs covered the lobby ceiling, clinging upside down like white spiders. At every breached point, dust billowed into Garth’s fortress.

As soon as the TPs realized they had been spotted, they began dropping from the ceiling, rappelling on long strands of toilet paper from their hands.

“How did they get in?” Daisy screamed.

“The ventilation system failed,” Marv answered, grabbing a pair of One-Plys and knocking them together. “Dust is pouring back into the building.”

In the chaos, Spencer lost sight of the weapons pile. A One-Ply struck him, sending him skidding across the hard tile. His Glopified coveralls protected him from the fall, and Daisy helped Spencer to his feet. Marv and Dez stood just feet away. Spencer scanned the sea of toilet-paper figures, but one person was nowhere to be found.

“Garth!” Spencer shouted. “Where’s Garth Hadley?”

Dez leapt into the air, his bloodshot eyes darting around the lobby. “Can’t see him!” shouted Dez. “He’s gone!”

Spencer felt his stomach sink with despair. If Garth Hadley had gone missing, Spencer had a bad feeling that he’d taken the leaf blower with him. He had to reach the weapons pile in the middle of the lobby!

Spencer charged forward, slamming past a One-Ply and dodging the hungry streamers of a shouting Two-Ply. He dropped to his knees, sliding across the smooth tile between a TP’s legs. The weapons pile came into view and Spencer’s heart calmed. The leaf blower was just where he’d left it.

Spencer snatched up his janitorial belt and flung it across his middle, cinching the buckle tightly. His pushbroom shimmered into view and he sent a trio of One-Plys drifting weightlessly up to the lobby ceiling.

“Daisy!” Spencer shouted, sliding the girl’s belt across the tile. She strapped it on and drew a dustpan shield.

Spencer checked his watch again. They were still a few minutes ahead of schedule, but using the leaf blower to blast a pathway out of the Dustbin might be their only chance of survival. Besides, Garth had run off, and they could make a quick escape without him.

Spencer hefted the leaf blower in both hands, calling for his friends to give him some cover while he fired up the device. Marv was wielding a borrowed pushbroom, and Daisy used a mop. Even Dez rallied around Spencer, using his talons to shred the TPs.

Spencer stared at the leaf blower in his hands, realizing for the first time that he had no idea how to turn the thing on.

“It’s cordless electric!” Marv shouted. “Just flip the switch!”

Spencer suddenly noticed the orange on/off switch by his thumb, feeling a little embarrassed that he hadn’t seen it sooner.

“All right,” Spencer shouted. He swung the leaf blower, angling the nose upward so it would blast a stream into the sky. “Here it goes!”

Spencer slid the switch into the on position and waited for the stream of air to roar out, ripping them a way out of the Dustbin. Instead, the leaf blower began to shudder and buck. It was malfunctioning. That much was obvious.

Spencer was struggling to hold on to the leaf blower when, all at once, it disintegrated in his grasp. It happened so suddenly that Spencer didn’t even have time to call out in surprise. One moment, he was holding the blower, and the next moment it was gone.

Their only way home had just vanished into a cloud of useless particles.