Chapter 42

“Stop the little brats!”

Spencer led the Monitors in a sprint across the damp trash. Daisy was at one side, Rho at the other. Min tugged awkwardly at his white wig, but Spencer knew the boy’s self-consciousness over it would end the moment they reached the battle.

The remaining Aurans and Monitors stayed close, their proximity adding to the confusion of who was really ageless and who was merely wigged.

Spencer held his breath as they reached the edge of the conflict. The fight waged brutally, the Rebel Janitors struggling against the seemingly endless waves of mounted Pluggers, Sweepers, and infantry BEM workers that poured out the crumpled front doors of the school.

Spencer’s pushbroom powered into the first enemy, a BEM woman with a razorblade. She went spiraling into the night sky, relieving one Rebel Janitor of the duel he’d been fighting.

The Monitors hurled their vacuum dust, their untrained tosses finding a mark only about half the time. A few of them tapped their brooms the moment they reached the battle, drifting backward and then sprinting to the safety of the pump house. Spencer didn’t blame them. The Witches hadn’t called the cease-fire yet, and the fighting wasn’t going to get any easier.

The group of Aurans and Monitors huddled tightly, the enemy bearing in on them from all sides. Daisy barely ducked under the bludgeoning, armored tail of a Filth. Spencer brought his pushbroom around and sent the Plugger rider sailing out of his saddle. Min tossed a Funnel Throw over Spencer’s shoulder, temporarily pinning the angry Toxite.

Spencer was just beginning to think that they’d made a terrible mistake, that the Witches either weren’t deceived or didn’t care what happened to the Dark Aurans, when suddenly Belzora’s voice crackled through the intercom.

“Spare the young ones!” There was a hint of desperation in her voice. “Do not touch the ones with the white hair!”

The instructions were very clear, causing the BEM attackers to immediately draw back.

“Phew,” Daisy said. “It’s about time.” Right then, Dez swooped low, dodging an attack from a Rubbish Plugger. His big wing flapped over Daisy’s head, the force of air blasting the wig right off her head.

“Sorry!” Dez called as he winged away. But the damage was irreparable. Daisy’s sandy-brown hair was clearly visible among the group of white heads.

“Wigs!” shouted one of the Sweepers. “They’re wearing wigs!” Instantly, the fight swarmed around them once more.

“Stand down!” Belzora shrieked through the intercom. “Of course they’re wearing wigs, you fools! The trick is knowing which three are the real boys.”

Spencer grinned, realizing that the Witches had no idea that the Dark Aurans had stayed behind. He took full advantage of the enemies’ confusion, pushing his white-haired group up the crumbling steps of Welcher Elementary School.

“I didn’t say to let them pass!” Belzora shrieked. “Stop the little brats! And do what you wish to those that have been de-wigged.”

Daisy became an instant target, despite the fact that she’d picked up her wig and was struggling to fit it over her hair once more. She had been revealed as an impostor, and was currently the only person in the group that the BEM had approval to attack.

Daisy was plucked out of the group like a flower, a Rubbish Sweeper snatching her up. She screamed, thrusting her razorblade through the man’s wing. The injury caused him to veer sharply, dropping the girl to the crowd of hands and weapons below.

Bookworm rose unexpectedly amidst the group of enemies. He caught the girl in his garbage arms, ducking his head as claws and blades slashed into his body, shredding garbage from his form.

Bookworm staggered several yards under the heavy assault, depositing Daisy at the edge of the fight. He collapsed momentarily and then re-formed with new trash, beating his chest to challenge anyone to touch the girl.

Across the chaotic battlefield, Daisy and Spencer locked eyes. He knew she didn’t want to abandon him, but the struggle had drawn her too far away to rejoin the Monitors. Spencer took a deep breath, silently wished her good luck, and then turned to enter the school.

It bothered him to be separated from Daisy. Somehow it made him feel alone, even though he was still surrounded by the Monitors and the Auran girls.

The walls around Welcher’s entrance were bubbling with soapsuds. Now that everything was wet from the rain, the surveillance suds were multiplying. Spencer reached up with his pushbroom, popping dozens as he passed inside. There was no way he could destroy them all, and the suds were likely to be the thing that would ruin their plan. If the Witches found out that the Dark Aurans were not with them, they would all be in danger, wig or no wig.

The entire building was bristling with enemies. Spencer saw two active squeegee portals where Sweepers and BEM workers came through as reinforcements. They bumped into the Monitors, pushing them back and slowing them down, all the while obeying the Witches’ orders not to hurt the kids.

Spencer’s group, however, was under no such mandate. They pressed against the enemy with full force, latex gloves helping them slip through clutching hands. Still, many caved under the fear, quickly using the bleach and making an invisible escape back to the pump house.

The interior of Welcher Elementary looked very different. The same second-grade art projects hung on the wall, but the hallways seemed wider somehow. Barricades had been set up, most of them comprised of school desks and chairs.

There was a new hallway that Spencer didn’t even recognize. He was momentarily disoriented in his own school, doubting the path he was taking toward the Glop source drinking fountain.

It was challenging to move through the school. Not only were the BEM Sweepers and Pluggers doing their best to stop Spencer’s group, but Welcher itself presented a new challenge. When the elementary school had been deposited in the landfill, it had landed on a hillside. The result was a gently sloped hallway that became rather slippery as Spencer and the Monitors tracked rainwater inside.

There were only about fifteen Monitors left. None of the Auran girls had fled, and they didn’t hold back in their aggression toward the BEM. Spencer and his group found themselves pinned behind a bunker at the doorway to a fifth-grade classroom. They were nearing the Glop source, but the result was a huge increase in security.

“We are at a major tactical disadvantage,” Min said, peering over the top of the bunker through his sweaty white bangs.

“No kidding,” Spencer said. He blindly threw a pinch of vacuum dust out into the hallway. There were so many enemies, it was impossible to miss.

Outside, there was a tremendous crack of thunder that rattled the walls. Through the window, Spencer saw a flash of lightning, bright enough to momentarily illuminate the dim classroom.

“Spencer!” It was Daisy’s voice, and it took him a moment to realize that it was coming from the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.

Keeping his head low behind the barricade, he unclipped the radio. “I’m here. Are you okay?”

“It’s bad!” she yelled. “Bad, bad, bad!”

“What’s bad, Daisy?” asked Spencer. “Talk to me!”

“General Clean escaped,” she said. “He turned on the pump and I can’t shut it off!”

“How?” Spencer cried. “I thought he was blind.”

“He was,” she answered. “But he turned himself into a Sweeper again!”

“That’s not possible,” Spencer muttered. “He’d need another potion.”

“The pen,” Daisy cried. “There wasn’t any ink in that pen he was twirling. It was full of Sweeper potion. He had it with him the whole time! Once he turned half-Grime, he just slipped through the bars of the rake cage and took out the guards.”

“Where’s Clean now?” Spencer asked, half afraid to hear the answer.

“That’s the worst part,” she said, her voice shaky through the walkie-talkie. “Did you see that lightning bolt?”

Spencer swallowed hard, the horrible truth dawning on him the moment before Daisy said it.

“General Clean just Panned the Dark Aurans!”