Chapter 38

“What are we up against?”

There weren’t enough chairs around the conference table. Spencer and Daisy were lucky to be seated, having been among the first to arrive at the meeting.

They had returned with the Glopified scissors just after noon. Alan had taken General Clean back with them, securely confined in a rake cage and carried over Bookworm’s shoulder. The man didn’t speak a word after regaining consciousness, but sat with his back to the bars, knees against his chest. The sleeve of his filthy lab coat concealed the stump of an arm. And now the ex-Sweeper was completely blind, a side effect of losing his Grime half.

Spencer glanced around the conference room at those who had been trusted to attend the meeting. Beside him were Daisy, Marv, Penny, Bernard, and Alan, representing the Rebels. Spencer considered all he’d been through with them over the last year. He would put his neck on the line for any one of them, and knew they’d do the same for him.

Bookworm hunkered in the corner, and Spencer wondered if the Thingamajunk could do anything more crucial than what he’d already done in defeating the Hoarder and helping them find the scissors.

Dez was there, of course. Although he didn’t care for meetings, the Sweeper kid refused to be left out of anything. He was perched above the table on a high-up truss near the vaulted ceiling.

Rho and the other Auran girls were also there, some seated and some preferring to stand. They had sent Rebel reinforcements to defend the gorge, though they reported that the attacking Pluggers had mostly dwindled off.

They only waited for the Dark Aurans. In their typical mysterious fashion, Olin and Aryl had not been seen since the expedition had returned from the Hoarder’s dwelling over an hour ago. Sach had set out to find them.

Spencer glanced at the clock on the wall. If the three boys didn’t show up soon, the meeting would have to start without them, though it would be hard for it to do so since they had such a critical part to play.

“I don’t like the idea of holding General Clean in our building,” said Gia, her white dreadlocks tied loosely back.

“I don’t like the idea of holding him anywhere,” muttered Penny. “The man doesn’t deserve to be alive.” She had been furious at Alan for bring Clean back to the Auran building. Spencer couldn’t blame her, knowing how painful it must be for her to see the man who had killed her uncle.

Marv grunted in agreement with Penny. “I say toss him into the burning gorge, cage and all.”

Alan held up his hand. “We have two strong Rebel guards watching Clean’s cage. He’s powerless and trapped.”

“What if he turns back into a Sweeper?” Daisy asked.

“He doesn’t have another Glop potion,” Alan answered. “We searched him while he was unconscious. The only thing in his lab coat was an old pen.”

“Not very threatening,” Bernard commented. “Unless he plans to write his way out of that rake cage.”

“One shifty move, and I finish him,” Marv threatened.

“We all have to stand ready to finish him,” Alan admitted. “I killed him once. And I’ll do it again if I have to. But I have to believe that he might change. He was a good man once.”

Spencer knew that many of the Rebels disapproved of his dad’s mercy toward Rod Grush. Spencer himself didn’t know how to feel about it. Clean deserved a punishment, and Alan insisted that he would get it . . . just not today.

Today, there were plans to make and nations to save. If only the Dark Aurans would show up!

Finally, the door opened and Olin, Sach, and Aryl entered, faces glistening from the heat of the afternoon.

“Sorry about the holdup,” Olin said, seating himself in the single remaining chair. The other two stood behind him, Aryl leaning against the high wooden back of the seat. Spencer noticed that he had the third and final Vortex vacuum bag tucked under one arm.

“That’s how you’re getting back to the Dustbin?” Marv asked, gesturing to the bag.

“First things first,” Sach said. “We can’t worry about the Dustbin and the nests until the Glop source is closed.”

Penny nodded. “Sounds like it’s time for a trip to Welcher Elementary School.”

“That was the holdup,” said Olin. “We were just there.”

“You closed the source?” Alan asked.

Olin shook his head. “We couldn’t get within spitting distance of the source,” he continued. “Welcher Elementary has been . . . how shall I say this?” He tapped his chin. “Remodeled.”

“It was pretty old,” Bernard said. “Definitely didn’t meet fire code.”

“Did they put in a swimming pool?” Daisy asked. “I hope they put in a swimming pool.”

“Not that kind of remodel, I’m afraid,” said Aryl. “The Witches know our hand. They assume we’re narrowing in on the scissors. Maybe they know we already have them.”

“They’re beefing up security at Welcher,” Olin said. “There’s nothing stopping them now that they have their wands.”

“What are we up against?” Penny asked.

“Reinforced walls, made to repel Glopified attacks,” Aryl explained. “Alarms, traps, barricades . . . they’ve even added on new hallways to make it harder to reach the Glop fountain.”

“How did they manage it?” Alan asked. “Welcher’s a public school—in a neighborhood!”

“The BEM went in just after school let out,” Sach explained. “They evacuated the building, claiming there was some sort of dangerous gas leak.”

“The Bureau even blocked off the nearest roads and evacuated the closest houses,” Olin said. “The neighbors weren’t happy, but the BEM told them there was potential for the whole block to ignite.”

“Once the area was cleared out,” said Aryl, “the structural changes happened quite quickly. With their wands, the Witches could form additions to the school in the blink of an eye.”

“Now they’ve moved an army inside,” Olin said. “The place is crawling with BEM fighters, Sweepers, and Pluggers.”

“I hope they’re gone by tomorrow,” Daisy said.

“What’s so special about tomorrow?” Dez asked from his perch.

“It’s the last day of school,” she reminded him.

“The BEM doesn’t look like it’s packing up,” Sach said. “Quite the opposite, actually. Looks like the Witches moved their surveillance sink into one of the classrooms. They’ve got soapsuds watching every inch of that school.”

“So,” Penny cut in. “Assuming we can even get to the Glop source, how exactly are we supposed to close it?”

Sach pointed at Rho to take over.

“The Glop source will close if we mix the right formula,” Rho said. “We’ve already gathered the ingredients. We just have to get close enough to throw everything in.”

“Lots of stuff?” Bernard asked.

Rho recited the ingredients from the list the Dark Aurans had given her. “Eye of Grime, tooth of Filth, beak of Rubbish, bristles of a broom, a drop of Auran blood, and the hair of a Witch.”

“We’ve got the last ingredient,” Daisy said. She produced the pink hairbrush that they’d stolen from the Witches’ apartment. “Plenty of hairs stuck in here,” she said, placing it on the table.

“Okay,” said Alan. “What happens after we close the source?”

“Then it’s time to destroy the Toxites,” Olin said with a smirk. Accomplishing that task would be especially meaningful to the Dark Aurans now that they knew they had unintentionally helped create the creatures.

“This is a Vortex,” Aryl said, holding out the vacuum bag he’d been carrying. “The smallest rip in the bag will cause everything nearby to get sucked into the Dustbin.”

“Yeah,” Marv muttered. “Figured that one out.”

“This time,” Olin said, “that’s exactly what we want to happen. Sach, Aryl, and myself will get pulled into the Dustbin with the scissors. Once we’ve landed, we’ll make our way to the heart of the Instigators’ fortress and cut the brain stem, destroying the nests.”

“What kind of opposition do you expect?” Penny asked.

“Lots of TPs,” Marv answered. “Garth Hadley made several attempts to infiltrate the Instigators’ fortress. TPs stopped him every time.”

“But we have an advantage,” Sach said. “The Instigators aren’t there anymore. Since the Witches are in this world now, they’ll have a much harder time maintaining active elements in the Dustbin.”

“So the fortress might not even be there?” Daisy asked.

“Creations in the Dustbin will exist as long as the mind holding them together is alive,” Olin said. Spencer remembered Garth Hadley’s fortress dissolving when the man died. Without his mind, the creations just couldn’t hold together.

“Fortress is a stable element,” Marv said. “Easier to maintain. Moving parts are tricky.”

“So as long as the Witches don’t end up back in the Dustbin,” Spencer said, “the TPs shouldn’t be much of a problem?”

“Right,” said Aryl. “They’ll be slow as tar, if they’re there at all.”

“It’s been a long time since the Dark Aurans were in the Dustbin,” Rho pointed out. “You sure you’ll know the way?”

“It’s hard to miss,” Spencer said. “Just follow the big glowing beam of magic.”

“There are three nests,” Sach said. “Each one is releasing a steady flow of energy. About twenty feet up, the beams twist together into a brain stem, and that’s where we need to strike.”

“You think the scissors are strong enough to cut the stem?” Penny asked.

“They’re pretty powerful,” Spencer testified. “I cut the Hoarder’s dwelling in half just by closing them. We can probably snip the brain stem from a distance.”

“The scissors are strong,” Aryl agreed, “but we can’t take any chances with the brain stem. Whoever cuts the beam will have to be right there, closing the blades directly around the stem.”

“But none of that can happen until we close the Glop source in Welcher,” Rho reminded them.

“How many fighters does the BEM have guarding the school?” asked Penny.

“From the looks of it,” Olin said, “there are about five hundred. But the Witches have set up squeegee portals all throughout the school. They can call in reinforcements in less than a minute.”

Penny mused for a second. “We have about a thousand Rebels ready for combat.”

“And we have Thingamajunks.” Daisy turned to Bookworm. “How many are willing to help us fight?”

Bookworm flashed all ten of his fingers twice. Twenty Thingamajunks had been so impressed with Bookworm’s victory that he’d convinced them to aid the Rebels in a fight.

“Will the Thingamajunks leave the landfill?” Bernard asked the trash figure in the corner.

Bookworm shook his head and frowned. Apparently, their newfound loyalty to Bookworm was limited to the landfill they called home.

“If the Thingamajunks won’t leave the landfill,” Rho said, “then they won’t be much help in closing the source.”

“A thousand Rebels,” Penny mused. “We might be able to take the school in a quick blitz.”

“Won’t work,” said Marv. “Mobilizing a thousand troops will draw attention. BEM will see us coming and call reinforcements. They’ll shut us down before we even have a chance to surround the school.”

“We missed our chance,” said one of the Auran girls from the back of the room. “We should have moved to close the source the moment we got the Witch’s hair.”

“They had their wands by then,” Aryl said. “The Witches were already moving into Welcher to protect the source.”

“Seems funny,” Daisy said. “We finally make it to the end and we can’t even get back into our school.”

“Yeah,” said Dez from his perch. “I spend most of my time trying to get out of school.”

“So, what’s our plan?” Penny pressed.

“We don’t have a plan,” Alan stated.

Spencer looked around the conference room. Even with all their heads combined, they couldn’t come up with a decent plan to attack Welcher. Marv was right; an all-out blitz would result in too many Rebel casualties.

“You know who could probably come up with a great plan?” Daisy said. Everyone turned to her. “Min Lee.”

At the mention of the genius boy, Dez groaned from the rafters. “Not the know-it-all again . . .”

“Who’s Min Lee?” asked one of the Aurans.

“He’s a friend of ours,” Spencer answered.

“Does he happen to be a tactician?” Bernard asked.

Daisy shrugged. “I know he plays a lot of online strategy games.”

Unclipping his walkie-talkie, Spencer tuned in to channel 28, the usual frequency he used to reach Min. Lifting the device, he pressed the button and spoke. “Min? Are you there? I hope you’re not at your cello lesson, because we need you now more than ever.”

Quicker than Spencer expected, Min’s voice replied through the walkie-talkie. “At your service.”

“We need to get inside Welcher, but the BEM has taken over,” Spencer explained. “We have about a thousand Rebels willing to fight and a group of Thingamajunks that are on our side but won’t leave the landfill.”

“Hmmm,” Min said. Spencer could imagine him stroking his smooth chin. “You won’t likely succeed if you fight by the BEM’s terms. You need to bring the fight to you.”

“That’s not an option,” Spencer said. “We’re trying to get to the Glop source. It’s a drinking fountain in the hallway of the school.”

“So, the source can’t move?” Min clarified.

“Not unless all of Welcher Elementary School moves with it,” Spencer said.

It was silent for a moment, and then Min replied, “Now, that would be interesting, wouldn’t it?”