Chapter 7

“They know I have a mysterious past.”

What?” everyone cried in unison.

“How are we supposed to get a hair from the Witches?” Spencer asked. “Run up and pluck one without them noticing?”

“Nobody’s even seen the Witches since they arrived,” Rho said. “They’ve locked themselves in a room at New Forest Academy, waiting for General Clean and his Sweepers to find the bronze nails. We’ll never get close enough to pluck a hair from their heads.”

“Maybe we don’t need to,” V said, standing up. She walked around the table until she stood behind Dez’s chair. Reaching behind him, she pulled a long white hair from the back of the chair. She held it out for everyone to see.

“Whoa!” Dez said. “Was that the hair on my back? I had no idea it was so long!”

“It’s not yours, Sweeper,” V said. “It’s mine. I’ve spent a lot of time sitting in these chairs. And what a Dark Auran boy may not know is rather obvious to a girl with long hair. It gets everywhere.”

She let the single white hair fall to the floor and returned to her seat.

“What are you suggesting?” Olin asked.

“If the Witches have locked themselves in a room at New Forest Academy for the last six weeks,” V said, “then I’m guessing that’s where we’ll find plenty of hair.”

“But the Witches aren’t going to leave,” Rho said. “The only reason they’d go out would be to get their wands.”

“Then perhaps we should give them what they want,” V said.

“No way!” Spencer shouted. Walter had died to keep those nails safe. Now V was suggesting that they offer them up? “Have you listened to anything we’ve said? If the Witches get those wands, the war is over for us.”

“Relax,” V said. “I’d never be such a fool to give them the real nails. But perhaps we could lure them out with some counterfeits.”

“Fake nails?” Rho said.

“No, they’re real,” Daisy said, holding out her fingernails for everyone to see.

“That’s not the kind of fake nails we’re talking about,” Spencer said.

“That might be crazy enough to work,” Aryl said, agreeing with V for the first time.

“The nails would have to be convincing,” Olin said. “And the moment the Witches throw them into the Glop source, they’ll know they’ve been tricked.”

“It won’t matter,” V said. “All we need is a few minutes. Just enough time to slip into their empty room, collect a hair for the Glop formula, and get out. The Witches will return to the Academy in a rage, but by that time, we’ll already be at Welcher, tossing the ingredients into the drinking fountain and closing the source.”

“I don’t know,” Spencer said. It sounded risky, and Spencer had a hard time trusting any plan that V might concoct.

“I like it,” Sach said. “It needs some work, but I like it.”

“How are we supposed to make perfect duplicates if we don’t even know where the real nails are?” Spencer pointed out.

In response, Aryl reached into his cloak and withdrew a small item pinched between his finger and thumb. As he placed it on the table, Spencer saw that it was one of the antique nails. Sach produced the next one, setting it on display before him. Olin’s eyes flicked cautiously around the room before he withdrew the final nail from his pocket.

Spencer felt a chill pass through him. He hadn’t seen the three bronze nails since the night Walter had died to protect them. It seemed careless to have them sitting in the open.

“Alan gave them to you?” Daisy said. In the aftermath of the Witches’ return, Spencer’s dad had taken the bronze nails. When he had returned, Alan had assured the Rebels that the nails were so well hidden that even he did not know where they were.

“Actually,” Sach said, “we got the nails from an old Thingamajunk named Bookworm.” He smiled at the look of surprise in Daisy’s eyes.

She turned to Spencer. “Your dad must have given the nails to Bookworm and told him to hide them.”

Spencer nodded. “That’s the only way my dad could get rid of them without knowing where they were hidden.”

“Your Thingamajunk is quite a remarkable creature,” Olin said. “He visited us independently, delivering one nail to each of us. Instead of hiding them in the landfill, we kept them close. You don’t let something as important as the Witches’ wands out of your sight.”

“Yet you seem to have let the scissors out of your sight.” V leaned forward and plucked Aryl’s nail off the table. Spencer tensed, but the Dark Aurans let her examine it, seeming to bite back a number of insults and accusations.

“Lots of intricacies,” V muttered, spinning the nail between her slender fingers. “It’s not going to be easy to forge something to look this old. It has centuries of character.”

“So do we,” Sach said. “The false nails will be convincing. I can promise you that.”

The answer seemed to satisfy V, and she set the nail carefully before Aryl once more. The word of the Dark Aurans seemed to carry a lot of weight. If Sach said they could deliver, V believed him.

“How do we expect to deliver these false nails to the Witches?” Spencer asked.

“We could leave them in an obvious place and hope they stumble upon them?” Rho suggested.

“That could take days—weeks,” said Aryl. “It’s time we don’t have.”

“Maybe we can put them in a box on their front porch and doorbell ditch,” Daisy said.

“I think that would seem a little suspicious,” Spencer said. “Besides, I don’t think the Witches will have a doorbell.”

“Fine,” Dez said, kicking his feet onto the table and reclining his chair. “I’ll do it.” Everyone turned to him, and he used his wings to shrug. “I’ll deliver the fake nails to the Witches.”

Spencer looked at the Sweeper suspiciously. “Why would you volunteer for that?”

“Duh,” Dez said. “So we can get the stupid hair and close the Glop source.”

Spencer shook his head. Dez was being a little too eager. “I don’t trust him. Besides, it’ll never work. People at the Academy know who you are.”

“That’s exactly why it’ll work, Doofus,” Dez said. “They know I have a mysterious past.”

“Traitorous past is more like it,” said Daisy. “You’ve double-crossed us so many times I got dizzy trying to figure out which side you were on.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Dez said. “It’s one of my great qualities.”

“Being two-faced is not a great quality, Dez,” Spencer pointed out.

“It is today,” he said. “I’ll show up at the Academy and they’ll see that I’m a Sweeper. I’ll tell them I betrayed you guys, stole the nails, and brought them to the Witches. They’ll totally let me in.”

Spencer wished Marv were still there to shut down Dez’s bad idea. Instead, the Dark Aurans embraced it.

“We can’t let you go alone,” Aryl said. “You’ll need backup in case something goes wrong.”

“Of course something will go wrong!” Spencer cried. “We’re talking about Dez!”

“Then it sounds like we’ll need someone to chaperone this little mission,” Olin said.

“I’ll go with him,” V volunteered. “No one was more disappointed by the Witches’ return than I was. If we’re going to hit them, I’d like to be there to witness it.”

Sach shook his head. “Your hair’s a bit of a giveaway,” he said. “Besides, the Witches know every single Auran. They made us into what we are.”

Spencer shrugged. “I can’t go with Dez either. The Witches will recognize me immediately. I was there when they returned.”

“I suppose that leaves Daisy,” said Rho, turning to her. “How would you like to be Dez’s date back to New Forest Academy?”

Dez moaned. Spencer looked at his wide-eyed classmate. Daisy swallowed hard. “My dad says I’m not old enough to date.”

“Think of it more like Dezmond’s bodyguard,” Aryl said.

“No way!” Dez yelled. “I don’t need a bodyguard. Check this out!” He leapt to his feet, conjuring up a belch from deep within his stomach. When it rumbled forth, he turned away from the table, spewing a stream of black dust across the room. “Do you think someone who can do that needs a bodyguard?” He sat back down in his chair as a coughing fit struck him. “Give me a drink.” Dez reached out for V’s mug of soda, but she moved it away protectively.

“We can’t let Daisy go in alone with him!” Spencer pleaded.

“Spencer’s right,” said V. “The Sweeper is too irresponsible. Perhaps a good disguise can get me into New Forest Academy.” She glanced at Rho, seated beside her. “It worked for Jenna.”

“It’s going to take more than a disguise to fool the Witches,” Aryl said. He turned to Sach and Olin. “We’d better make some spit sponges of our own, lads. We’ve got supplies to Glopify and false nails to forge. It’s going to be a long night.”

“What do you have in mind?” Rho asked.

Aryl leaned across the table. “I think I know how to send Daisy and Spencer with Dez.”

“It’ll never work,” Spencer reminded. “The Witches will spot me.”

Aryl shook his head. “Not this time. If my plan works, no one will spot you.”