Chapter 40

“Quite demanding, isn’t he?”

At half past ten, Spencer Zumbro walked up the sidewalk toward the front door of Welcher Elementary School. Unlike the stormy weather brewing over the landfill, the Idaho night was clear and crisp.

The school looked a bit different since the Witches had remodeled. Spencer could see duct tape across the doors and windows. The walls looked like they had been freshly painted, surely similar to the paint Garth Hadley had used to lock Marv out when they were in the Dustbin. The whole school had been retrofitted into a defensible fortress. Seeing it firsthand, a nagging piece of Spencer’s mind doubted that they would ever get inside.

He had thought about rushing the building and using his spit sponge and left hand to de-Glopify some of the Witches’ defenses. But that was foolish. The enemy would be on him in a heartbeat, and any fortifications he managed to disarm, the Witches would instantly re-create with their wands.

Spencer paused at the bottom step, just ten feet from the front door. “Hey!” he shouted. “Tell the Witches I’m here to talk!” His heart was racing, but his voice actually came out with confidence.

It took only a second for his call to be answered. The intercom speakers positioned all around the exterior of the school crackled in reply. “We see you, dearie.”

Spencer swallowed hard. That was Ninfa’s voice. In Welcher’s dim front-door light, he saw a cluster of shimmering soapsuds just above the door.

“I’m here to negotiate!” shouted Spencer.

This time the answer through the intercom was laughter from all three Witches. “You want to close the Glop source,” Ninfa said. “Not going to happen.”

“Let me close the source,” Spencer said, “and in exchange, I’ll give you these.” He pulled the antique Glopified scissors from his belt and held them out so the Witches would have a clear view through the soapsuds.

After a moment of silence, Belzora’s voice came through the intercom. “You’re alone,” she said. “What’s to stop us from sending our Sweepers out to collect those scissors from your lifeless body?”

“I’m holding the most powerful tool in the history of Glop,” Spencer answered. “If anyone comes to the front door besides you, I start snipping.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” said Belzora. “If you damage the Glop source, you may never be able to close it.”

Sach had warned them of the same thing. Were it not for that risk, the Rebels might have snipped their way into Welcher. But the only hope they had of closing the source meant the Glop drinking fountain must remain intact.

“Maybe that’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Spencer said. To prove his point, he opened the scissors wide, angling the splayed blades directly at Welcher Elementary. He was committed now, remembering what had happened last time he closed the scissors, back in the Hoarder’s dwelling.

“Let’s not be hasty!” Belzora all but shouted through the intercom. “I will come out alone and we can talk about this.”

Alone? Spencer’s heart rate quickened. It would never work if Holga and Ninfa remained behind.

“No!” Spencer shouted. “I want the three of you together.”

“Quite demanding, isn’t he?” Holga’s voice said in the background.

“I don’t hand over the scissors until I see all three of your faces in the window,” Spencer negotiated. “Then you let me in to close the Glop source.”

The Witches would never hold up their end of the deal, and Spencer knew it. The moment he stepped foot inside Welcher, the Witches would take the scissors and finish him. But Spencer didn’t intend to keep his end of the deal either. He just needed to get the Witches away from their sink full of soapsuds. He had to give Dez a blind spot, even if it was only for thirty seconds.

“We accept your terms,” Ninfa said, her voice artificially sweet. “We will meet you at the front door in just a moment.”

The intercom clicked off, and Spencer fidgeted nervously on the sidewalk. He resisted the urge to look up, trusting that Dez was moving into position high above. He wanted to glance over his shoulder to the darkened street where Big Bertha was idling nearby.

Instead, Spencer faced forward, his eyes fixed on the reinforced glass of the front door. His hand was sweating, fingers still holding the Glopified scissors dangerously open.

In the dim light, Spencer saw a face press up to the glass. He recognized the wild hair of Belzora immediately. Flanking the Witch, Spencer saw Holga and Ninfa slip into view, beckoning with crooked fingers for him to approach.

With a wave of Belzora’s bronze wand, the school’s front door was unimagined, disintegrating to fine dust.

“No tricks, boy,” she called. “Bring us the scissors.”

“I’m afraid there’s been a change of plans,” Spencer said. “We’ll be taking the school by force.”

The Witches threw their heads back and cackled. “You’re going to need a bigger army!” Ninfa shrieked in hysteria.

“I’ve got one,” Spencer muttered. “It’s time to send you over to meet them.”

Crouching low, Spencer placed the open scissors against the sidewalk, angling the tips just slightly into the ground. Before the Witches could react, he snipped the blades together, cutting off the foundation of Welcher Elementary School. The thunderous rumble was like a terrible earthquake, and Spencer saw the entire school shift violently.

At the sound of Big Bertha’s diesel engine, Spencer whirled around to see the vehicle peeling down the street. Squealing, it veered into the school parking lot as Bernard pressed a button, engaging the new feature that he’d installed at Mr. Gates’s mechanic shop.

Glopfied Windex sprayed out the back of the garbage truck, misting half the parking lot and turning the ground to glass. Penny dangled nimbly off Big Bertha’s back bumper. She had duct taped a series of squeegees together, operating them all simultaneously by holding onto one handle. She dragged the long squeegee behind Big Bertha, ripping a massive sizzling portal into the glass parking lot.

Through the magic portal, Spencer saw the dark storm clouds of the landfill. He hoped everyone was ready, because this was it!

Dez dove out of the dark sky, a Glopified plunger in one hand. He did a touch-and-go, clamping the red suction cup onto the roof of Welcher Elementary. With the school’s broken foundation, there was nothing to stop the plunger from working its magic. Dez’s wings bore him upward as he easily lifted the entire school off the ground. Enemy Sweepers began swarming the roof, but Dez needed to carry the building only a short distance.

Turning the structure sideways in midair, Dez Rylie dropped Welcher Elementary School through the freshly squeegeed portal in the parking lot.

Spencer watched as the whole school vanished into the ground, sliding onto a perfectly prepared spot of the landfill.

Big Bertha swiveled around, and Penny brought her squeegee handle down to shatter the glass parking lot, eliminating any possible chance of a return journey.

Spencer stared at the spot where his school used to be. Now there was nothing left but a deep hole where the scissors had sliced. The entire school was gone, and with it, the Glop source. Spencer took a deep breath. It was a bold move to relocate Welcher Elementary. It also meant that today was indisputably the last day of school.

“Ha ha!” Dez laughed, landing on the ground beside Spencer. “Did you see that? I just picked up a school!” He flexed his biceps.

But Spencer wasn’t feeling the joys of victory yet. Moving Welcher Elementary was only the first step in their plan. The real battle was yet to come.

“We should hurry,” Penny said as Big Bertha screeched to a halt beside the boys. Bernard leapt out of the cab as Penny squeegeed a new, much smaller portal. The four of them stepped through, arriving safely among the Rebels just as the first bolt of lightning crackled over the landfill.

Spencer stared at the Broomstaff looming over the Rebel army. Then he turned to the hillside where Welcher Elementary School had just landed, the dust still settling around it.

Belzora had reforged the front door, and all of the newly created defenses were locking into place. The roof was crawling with Sweepers, and a gang of Pluggers had just been sent out along the sides of the school.

Spencer took a deep breath, remembering the war that Walter Jamison had predicted would occur between the Rebels and the BEM. Walter was right.

But tonight that war would end.