Chapter 9

“Some call me Dez.”

Rho steered the garbage truck off the canyon road and parked in a dirt pullout about a quarter mile from New Forest Academy’s entrance. Dez leapt from the cab and landed squarely on the road’s edge.

“Hurry up,” he said, squinting against the afternoon sun. “I’ve got some Witches to fool.” He checked his pocket to make sure the sandwich bag with the false nails was where it should be.

“We’re probably going to come across some Sweepers in there,” Spencer said, digging around in his janitorial belt. Vanilla air freshener would counteract the Toxite breath, but the scent might give them away. He found what he was hoping for, grateful that the Dark Aurans had been thorough in preparing the belts.

“Put on your mask,” Spencer told Daisy, stretching the elastic band of his dust mask around his head.

“You guys look like dorks every time you wear those,” Dez said. Spencer didn’t care how he looked. Any second now and he’d be invisible.

“When should we bleach?” Daisy asked, once she got her dust mask in place.

“Better do it now,” Rho said. “You don’t want to risk getting any closer while you’re visible.”

“The invisibility only lasts fifteen minutes,” Spencer pointed out. “By the time we walk to the Academy entrance, I don’t think we’ll have enough time.”

“Who says we’re walking?” Dez extended his wings.

Spencer checked his watch so he’d know what time his invisibility would expire. Then he realized that if the bleach worked, he wouldn’t be able to see his watch until it was too late.

“Help me spray them,” Rho called to Dez. “We don’t want the bleach to wear off on one of them before the other.”

Daisy handed her bleach bottle to Rho and Spencer gave his to Dez. He didn’t like the idea of the bully aiming anything at his face, but if Spencer bleached himself, he might miss a spot.

“You’ll probably want to close your eyes,” Rho said, which was more warning than Spencer got from Dez. Spencer managed to snap his eyes shut just as the first shot of bleach misted over his face. He heard Dez’s talon clicking against the trigger on the spray bottle and felt a slight tingling sensation on his skin.

“Whoa!” Dez remarked. “You actually look cool for once!”

Spencer dared to open his eyes as Dez was spraying down the rest of his body. He glanced at Daisy. She didn’t have a head! Her right arm had also disappeared, and Rho was thoroughly misting away.

Spencer watched his own arms and chest disappear. Looking down, all he saw were a pair of disembodied legs. Then those, too, vanished as Dez finished the job.

Spencer was completely invisible! He took a step forward, finding his movement to be no different from normal. He stomped one foot in the dirt, observing the impression that remained under him as he stood there.

“Sweet,” he muttered, his voice coming out like normal.

“Remember, just because you’re invisible doesn’t mean we can’t hear you,” Rho pointed out. “It’ll be a silent operation for the two of you.”

Spencer nodded, then realized that no one could see it. “Right,” he answered. Then, remembering part of the plan, he reached out and stole the bleach from Dez’s grasp.

“Hey!” the Sweeper protested. “Give it back!” He flailed his arms aimlessly in Spencer’s general direction, swiping for what must have looked like a floating bottle of bleach.

“I have to carry the bleach,” Spencer reminded him. “I’ll pass it to you after the nails have been delivered.”

“I knew that,” Dez said, folding his arms casually.

The bleach bottle was still visible in Spencer’s hand, a rather significant detail. He held it out, and Rho used hers to spray it down. The bottle disappeared in Spencer’s already invisible grip. Feeling with his other hand, Spencer found an empty loop on his belt and attached the bleach bottle.

“I’m going back to the landfill,” Rho said. “I’ll keep a squeegee portal open for you. Once you get the Witch’s hair, use your connecting squeegee and it’ll take you right back to me.”

“We’ll be fine,” Dez said. “I’ll give the fake nails to the Witches, turn myself invisible, and then run the view with you guys at the squeegee.”

“Run the view?” Daisy asked.

“It’s something people say when they’re meeting in a secret place,” Dez said, wearing an expression that was clearly aimed to make Daisy feel foolish.

Spencer rolled his invisible eyes, though no one could see them. “It’s rendezvous, Dez. Not run the view.”

“Whatever,” the Sweeper kid said.

“If for any reason you can’t make it through the squeegee opening,” Rho said, “the portal in the back of this garbage truck will be your backup plan.” She checked her wristwatch. “You should hurry.”

“Time to fly,” Dez said, holding out both arms to his invisible passengers.

“It’s like a group hug.” Daisy’s voice drifted out of nowhere as Spencer stepped into Dez’s reach.

“No,” said the Sweeper. “Don’t say that.”

They leapt into the air, and Spencer watched Rho climb up the side of the garbage truck and jump through the portal to the landfill.

They were alone—with only fifteen minutes of safety.

Dez cut through a stand of roadside trees and bore them over New Forest Academy’s outer parking lot. He swung around, depositing Spencer and Daisy next to the entrance sign.

WELCOME TO NEW FOREST ACADEMY

Home of the Overachievers

No sooner had Dez set them down than a cry went up from the Academy’s defensive wall. In the bright daylight, Spencer could clearly see half a dozen security-guard Sweepers staked out on top of the brick wall.

“Showtime,” Dez muttered. “Try to keep up.” He took off, running a few steps and then using his wings to glide. Spencer sprinted after him, hoping Daisy was doing the same, since he couldn’t see her.

By the time Dez was halfway to the Academy’s entrance, he was surrounded. Spencer pulled up short behind the enemy Sweepers, bumping into another invisible person at his side.

Good. Daisy had made it.

Eight Sweepers formed a ring around Dez. Spencer was grateful for the dust mask. Without it, he would surely be drowsy with two Filth guys at such close range. Glancing around, Spencer was grateful that General Clean was not among the greeting party.

Spencer took a deep breath. It was time for Dez to play his part.

Dez folded his big arms across his chest, not looking a bit intimidated by the fact that he was outnumbered. “Take me to your leader!” He laughed at himself. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

“What are you doing here?” asked one of the Filth Sweepers.

“I’ve got something for the Witches,” Dez answered.

“Let’s see it.”

“I don’t think so,” said Dez. “This is important stuff. I’m not giving it to you. I don’t even know your name.”

“I’m Hal. Who are you?”

“Some call me Dez. Others call me the Midnight Terror.”

Spencer rolled his eyes. He thought he heard Daisy snort beside him. Dez’s acting was way over the top.

“I’ve never seen you before,” said a Rubbish Sweeper. “I thought I’d met all of my kind.”

“I used to be a student here, but I’ve been gone for a while,” Dez said. “Ask any of the Academy teachers. They’ll vouch for me.”

“Where’ve you been?” asked Hal.

“I was undercover,” answered Dez. “With the Rebels.” It was silent for a moment, obvious that none of the Sweepers knew exactly what to do.

“I think he’s lying,” said a Grime woman.

“Only one way to find out,” Dez said, innocently holding out his hands. “Take me to your leader.”

Hal reached down to his belt and unclipped a Glopified walkie-talkie. The two-way radio had unlimited range, and Spencer wondered who might be on the other end.

The Sweeper took a deep breath and lifted the device to his chapped lips. But before he could press the button to speak, a woman’s voice crackled through the radio.

“Bring the boy to us.” The voice caused a shiver down Spencer’s spine. It was the voice of a Witch. He knew it. “His offer intrigues us.”

Hal swallowed hard and lowered the radio, staring at his comrades.

“How do they do that?” whispered the Grime woman.

Hal began to shrug as his radio sounded once more, the woman’s voice saying, “We have eyes everywhere.” The Witch’s answer was accompanied by a short cackle as Hal clipped the radio back onto his belt.

“Good,” Dez said, stepping forward. “Let’s go.”

The Grime woman moved swiftly to block his path as Hal produced a roll of duct tape from his baggy pockets. He tore off a long strip, but instead of binding Dez’s wrists, he stepped around and grabbed hold of a wing. Instinctively, the boy jerked free. “Nobody touches my wings.”

“You want to see the Witches or not?” Hal said.

Dez gritted his teeth and allowed his wings to be folded back. In a moment, Hal had taped the tips of his wings together, making it impossible for Dez to take flight.

An invisible Spencer and Daisy followed the group of Sweepers as they escorted Dez through the great gate of New Forest Academy and onto the school’s campus.

“We should call the General,” the Grime woman said quietly.

Hal shook his spiky head, bits of dust shaking out of his mousy hair. “General Clean’s at the prison site. He doesn’t like to be bothered when he’s interrogating the Rebels.”

They walked past the library and the fields in front of the rec center. Uniformed students bustled from building to building, arms laden with advanced textbooks. Was it really just earlier that school year that Spencer and Daisy had fled to the Academy seeking refuge?

Spencer brushed against an invisible person at his side. Among the hum of student activity, Daisy’s voice was barely a whisper in his ear.

“They look pretty studious for the last week of school,” she said. “Kids at Welcher sure don’t act like this.”

“They go year-round at the Academy,” Spencer whispered back. “No summer break for them.”

Only the brightest students were accepted into New Forest Academy. The school had been created by the BEM to raise a select generation of geniuses while everyone else was polluted by Toxite breath. There was an intense week of screening, and Spencer remembered the type of kids that were accepted. They were selfish and manipulative, each one willing to step on everyone else to get to the top. Spencer felt suddenly grateful for good old Welcher Elementary School.

They were headed to the main building. The Sweepers guided Dez up the stairs and through the front doors. Spencer barely slipped through before the door closed, and he could only hope that Daisy had done the same.

They wound through the hallway, the Sweepers politely saying “excuse us” to the Academy students. Spencer wondered how they looked to the common eye. The students couldn’t see the Toxite parts of the Sweepers. They probably looked like an ordinary group of adults leading a troublemaking Dez down the hallway.

They paused at the top of some stairs leading down into the janitorial closet. The place had once belonged to Slick, but he had been eaten by his own overgrown Grime. Perhaps the Witches had moved into Slick’s old office.

Hal looked at his Sweeper companions. “Lund, Wilson, Johnson. You’re with me.” Three of the Sweepers stepped forward, including the Grime woman. “The rest of you get back to your posts.”

Half the Sweepers moved off while Hal led Dez and the others down the dim stairwell. Spencer and Daisy followed as closely as they dared. Spencer tried to line up his footsteps with the Sweeper in front of him, minimizing the chance that he’d be overheard.

When the group reached the bottom of the stairs, Spencer was surprised to find Slick’s old office still unoccupied. There were boxes and racks of cleaning supplies, but no sign of the Witches.

Then Hal stepped over to a wooden pallet with a chain rising from the center. Spencer had a sinking feeling as he realized where they were going.

The hidden parking garage.