Heroes of the Dustbin Read online

  “How long until he gets here?” Daisy asked.

  Rho shrugged. “Sweepers move fast. They were out in the subdivisions. Looked like they were heading into a place called Hillside Estates.”

  Spencer reeled, his heart thumping. He tucked his glowing hands close to his chest and staggered around the table.

  “Hillside Estates . . .” he muttered.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Rho.

  It was Daisy who answered, since Spencer seemed to be going into shock. “That’s where Spencer’s family lives!”

  Chapter 2

  “How do I look?”

  Spencer focused his shock and fear into something that might help. He needed to get home and warn his family! Perhaps it was already too late.

  “Squeegee.” Spencer pointed a glowing finger at a squeegee leaning up in the corner of the closet. “The other one’s at my house.”

  Marv picked it up. The big janitor would be familiar with this particular squeegee. He had opened a portal to the Zumbros’ house on many mornings when Spencer’s mom was running behind and didn’t want the kids to be late for school. Squeegees created an instant means of travel, but they only worked if someone swiped a matching squeegee at the desired destination.

  Next, Spencer pointed to an item on a dusty shelf. “Can somebody grab that walkie-talkie? My dad keeps his on channel 14.”

  Daisy grabbed the device and tuned it. She pressed the button and held it out for Spencer. He couldn’t touch it for fear of releasing the Aura power that still surrounded his hands.

  “Dad! Dad! Come in! I need you to use the squeegee and open a portal.” Spencer nodded to Marv, who dragged his squeegee across a tall mirror in the janitorial closet. The magic fizzed and hissed a bright green, but the connection wasn’t complete.

  “Dad! I repeat, use the squeegee and open a portal!”

  The radio went quiet in Daisy’s hand, and Spencer held his breath. Then an image flickered, cutting through the magical fizz on the mirror and linking the two destinations. Spencer exhaled as he saw the Zumbro toy room above the garage. The room looked like an absolute disaster . . . which was just the way it always looked.

  Spencer hurried to step through the portal, his shoe crunching on some scattered Legos. The magical entryway to his house had been formed in the large window above the driveway.

  Daisy entered right behind him, and when Rho stepped through, Spencer was suddenly a little embarrassed by the disastrous state of his house. Then he remembered that Rho lived in a landfill, and he decided she was probably used to messes.

  “Careful,” Marv muttered, hiking up his pants to step through the portal.

  “Hold back,” Rho ordered him, a hand outstretched as Spencer scanned the toy room. “We need someone in Welcher to keep the portal open. Just in case.”

  Marv grunted in protest, but he obeyed. Rho’s precautions were wise.

  The Zumbro house was perfectly quiet. It was strange that Spencer’s dad wasn’t standing in the toy room. Whoever had opened the portal appeared to have vanished, and suddenly, the whole scenario was starting to smell very much like a trap.

  Then Daisy squealed and Spencer whirled around in fear. But there was no danger. In fact, his friend seemed unusually happy.

  “Oooo, Spencer!” Daisy fell to her knees amidst the toys. “I had no idea you had such a huge collection of Barbies!”

  Spencer felt his face turn bright red. “They’re my sisters’!” he said, his voice a little more forceful than he meant it to be. “You can look at them later. Now’s not the time to get . . .” As he spoke, he realized what was happening. “. . . distracted.”

  He had scanned the toy room and found it safe. But there was one place he hadn’t checked. Spencer’s eyes turned up to the ceiling just as General Clean dropped from where he’d been clinging.

  “Look out!” Spencer yelled. He and Rho scrambled backward through the toys, but Daisy was so distracted by Clean’s potent Grime breath that she didn’t even glance up. She had moved on from the Barbies and was brushing the plastic hair of a toy dog.

  General Clean landed silently in front of the portal. Marv’s razorblade flashed through the opening, but the Sweeper tossed a pinch of vacuum dust into the janitorial closet, pinning the big man to the floor.

  Clean squared his broad shoulders, standing firmly before the portal. He was a hideous sight: half man and half Grime. His white lab coat was discolored from the yellowish slime oozing off his dark skin. His black hair had grown longer since Spencer had last seen him, and the tight curls seemed to hold a filmy goo. Clean’s eyes bulged, his snakelike tongue flicked out to taste the air, and a serpentine tail swished silently behind him.

  The Sweeper’s fingers were tipped with venomous suction pads, and one hand gripped a Glopified squeegee. Spencer swallowed hard, realizing that the item in General Clean’s grasp likely meant that the Sweeper had opened the portal. If that were true, then where was Spencer’s dad?

  “They’re gone,” said the Sweeper, his voice a low rumble.

  “Where?” Spencer demanded, his glowing hands clenched into angry fists of fire. If he could get close enough, a single touch from Spencer’s left hand might knock the Sweeper powers out of General Clean.

  As if anticipating such an attack, Clean reached into his lab coat and withdrew a dirty rag. Spencer felt a chill pass through him. That same rag had obliterated Walter Jamison, reducing the Rebel warlock to thin air.

  “Your family is safe for now,” General Clean said. “Safely out of the way. They tried to put up a fight, of course. But your little brothers and sisters came quite peacefully once your parents were unconscious.”

  “If you hurt them . . .” Spencer threatened, but his voice didn’t sound half as brave as he’d hoped.

  “Relax,” said Clean. “Nothing but green spray. They won’t remember a thing about it when they wake up.”

  “Spencer?” Daisy said, kneeling amidst the toys. She had a look of intense concentration on her face. “I know I’m supposed to be paying attention right now. But it’s kind of hard. So many dress-ups . . .” Losing her focus, Daisy dove headlong into a pile of costumes.

  “Let’s get to the point here,” said General Clean. “You tell me where the bronze nails are, and I’ll tell you where your family is.”

  Walter Jamison had died protecting those nails. If the Witches got them, they’d have nearly unlimited power through their wands. Rho gave Spencer a sideways glance. He was suddenly grateful that he hadn’t been trusted with that information.

  “I don’t know where they are.” If he had known, Spencer might have spilled the secret to save his family.

  “You,” Clean said, pointing a slimy finger at Rho. “Where are the nails?”

  “How should I know?” she retorted. “And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

  “Then the Zumbro family will rot with the rest of the Rebels,” said Clean. “Someone must know the location of the bronze nails. And if we need to, we will abduct every Rebel for questioning.”

  “How do I look?” Daisy shouted from across the toy room. She had a Dracula cape tied around her neck and a shiny tiara on her head. She was wearing giant red clown shoes and a big foam hand that said “WE’RE NUMBER ONE!”

  “I don’t usually make house calls,” General Clean said, ignoring Daisy. “But you paid a visit to my laboratory a month or two ago. I thought I should do the same.”

  With the squeegee slung casually over one shoulder, Clean reached with his other hand into the folds of his stained lab coat, stowing his deadly rag. When it withdrew, the pale suction bulbs on his fingertips were gripping a slender plastic jug.

  Spencer squinted at the label. It was drain clog remover. The liquid’s common purpose was familiar to him; it was a powerful chemical that would quickly dissolve anything clogging a drain. But Spencer had never come across a Glopified version.

  With a single sticky hand, the Sweeper managed to twist off the cap while still gripping the
jug. “You flood my house,” General Clean said, “I flood yours.” Then he paused, holding the drain cleaner outstretched. Clean glanced across the room at Daisy. “One more thing,” he said to Spencer and Rho. “When your distracted friend regains her senses, give her a message for me.” Clean’s Sweeper eyes fixed on Spencer. “My socks are warm and fuzzy.”

  General Clean upended the jug of drain clog remover and threw it down against the toy room floor.

  Chapter 3

  “Did he say anything to me?”

  General Clean was gone in an instant. He made a single leap, his Grimelike characteristics allowing his body to compress through the narrow crack under the door. He had vanished before anyone could blink. But Spencer’s attention was not on the fleeing Sweeper. It was on Clean’s final message.

  My socks are warm and fuzzy.

  It was a code phrase that Daisy used with her parents. It meant that something magical was afoot. It was supposed to be top secret. No one was aware that Mr. and Mrs. Gates knew about Glop and Toxites. It was the only thing that had protected them. But if Clean was using the Gateses’ secret code . . .

  Spencer couldn’t dwell on the thought for more than a second before his entire focus shifted to the spilled jug of drain cleaner in the center of the room. The thick yellowish liquid was chugging across the carpet without being absorbed. In fact, the very opposite seemed to be happening. The floor in the toy room was changing. It was as though the solid particles of the house were dissolving and liquefying.

  In no time, the center of the room was gone and Spencer was staring down into the garage below. But it didn’t stop there. The drain cleaner sloshed across the floor and began climbing a wall. Everything it touched instantly dissolved; the liquid ate through the house as if it were made of sugar. Soon the jug itself had melted away. But there was no stopping the destructive chemicals that had already spilled out.

  Across the room, Marv’s hairy arm thrust through the portal and seized Daisy, pulling her back into the safety of Welcher’s janitorial closet. Spencer and Rho had their backs to the opposite wall, watching the acid drain cleaner eat its way closer to the portal.

  “Looks like Clean dropped the squeegee over there.” Rho pointed to one of the last remaining sections of floor in the toy room. Before Spencer could say anything, she sprinted in front of him, leapt across the gap, and grabbed the squeegee.

  “Windex!” Rho shouted. Marv’s hand appeared again, this time tossing a blue spray bottle to Rho. There wasn’t much liquid, and Spencer didn’t know what she had in mind.

  The moment Marv’s hand was back inside, Rho kicked the window where Clean had opened the portal. Spencer gasped as bits of glass went flying and the portal vanished.

  “What are you doing?” Spencer cried. Smashing their only escape route didn’t seem like the brightest idea. Rho ignored him, stepping dangerously close to the edge. She took a deep breath, seeming to gauge the distance down to the garage. Then she leapt through the hole in the floor, landing with a clang on the dissolving roof of the automobile below.

  One of the house’s exterior walls had completely disappeared, exposing a blue early-June sky. Spencer couldn’t tell how far into the house the drain cleaner was spreading. Beyond the toy room, he saw that his parents’ bedroom was half-eaten. He assumed it would continue until the entire house was gone.

  The drain clog remover was almost to Spencer’s feet now. He turned his shoes sideways, balancing on the last ledge of solid floor.

  “Jump!” Rho shouted.

  Spencer looked down to see what Rho had done. Glopified Windex had turned a portion of the garage floor into a flat panel of glass. Rho had used the squeegee, reopening the portal to Welcher. As Spencer looked down, he could see Marv and Daisy, but they appeared to be standing sideways.

  Rho slipped through the portal. The floor of the garage became the wall of Welcher. Gravity shifted and she stood up.

  The thick drain cleaner was spilling down into the garage. Spencer knew he didn’t have much time. Tucking his glowing hands close to his chest, Spencer sized the jump. A bit of the floor gave out under his foot. His balance was thrown and he leapt awkwardly down.

  Spencer’s feet passed through the portal, but his shoulder clipped the edge, shattering the glass on the garage floor. His head slipped through just as the gateway closed. Spencer’s falling momentum carried him across the janitorial closet, and he tumbled against the hard floor, coming to a stop against the far wall. Miraculously, his hands still shone with the Aura. Despite all that had transpired, Spencer had managed not to touch anything.

  “What happened?” Marv asked, hoisting Spencer to his feet.

  “Clean got my family,” he answered. “But they’re still alive. The Witches are keeping them for questioning.”

  “What the heck?” Daisy said. “Why am I wearing this ridiculous outfit?” She lifted a foot, wiggling the giant red clown shoe.

  “You got a bit distracted in there,” Rho said.

  “Yeah.” Daisy nodded. “It was bad. I knew General Clean was there, but I just couldn’t focus. Did he say anything to me?”

  “Something odd,” Rho said. “I didn’t catch its meaning.” She glanced at Spencer for clarification, but he paled at the realization of what Clean’s nonsensical message to Daisy could mean.

  The Gateses might be in danger!

  Spencer stared at his friend, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell Daisy. He had to get to the Gates home and make sure everything was all right.

  “We have to go!” Spencer blurted. He darted through the doorway and up the stairs to the hallway. He didn’t wait for the others. He didn’t want to explain it in front of Daisy.

  Now a half hour after school dismissal, most of the students had already gone home, but a few still lingered near the front office. Spencer didn’t care if they saw his glowing hands. He had to get to Daisy’s house! Clean had already taken the Zumbros. Spencer wasn’t going to let him take the Gateses.

  He raced past the cafeteria, rounded a corner, and passed the drinking fountain outside Mrs. Natcher’s classroom. It was more than a regular drinking fountain, of course. It was the source of all Glop. Spencer and Walter had created it, and the Witches had surfaced from its depths.

  Spencer knew that the Witches were somehow watching over the Glop source from afar. Every time Marv approached the fountain, Sweepers arrived within seconds to stop him. But something about it didn’t seem right. The enemy Sweepers were quick to bat the janitor away from the Glop source, but they never once attempted to detain or abduct him.

  Against the adversity, Marv had succeeded in taping off the drinking fountain and covering it with a black garbage bag. An out-of-order sign, scrawled in the janitor’s awful handwriting, was tacked onto the top.

  These were simple precautions, aimed at keeping curious students away, as if the horrid sulfuric smell wafting from the source wouldn’t do that. On really quiet days in the classroom, like last week’s end-of-year math exam, Spencer could hear the gentle gurgle of the Glop as it roiled in the drinking fountain.

  Spencer didn’t pause to listen or smell now. Desperate to reach the exit at the end of the hallway, he was sprinting by Mrs. Natcher’s classroom when a sneakered foot thrust out of the doorway, tripping him.

  Spencer went down hard, tucking his glowing hands close to his chest and taking the fall on his shoulder. He slid a record distance across the hard floor, finally coming to a halt as his attacker stepped out of the classroom with a satisfied sneer.

  “Why are you in such a hurry, Doofus?” It was Dez, his leathery Sweeper wings tucked tightly across his back and his unnaturally muscular arms folded across his chest.

  Dez Rylie was the only Rebel Sweeper. The bully had taken a potion from New Forest Academy and turned himself half Rubbish. He could fly and belch dust, but none of his special abilities could prevent Alan Zumbro from insisting that he go back to school. So Dez was once again a full-time student at Welcher Elementary Schoo
l. His giant black wings looked out of place to Spencer and Daisy, but only people who had used pink soap would be able to see his Rubbish side. Dez looked perfectly ordinary to his classmates and teacher.

  Spencer groaned, but not out of pain from his fall—the Glopified coveralls had protected him. The groan was from sheer annoyance at running into Dez. Spencer didn’t even bother to give the Sweeper kid an answer. Dez was a nuisance, but he wasn’t a threat. They’d learned to work together—most of the time.

  On his feet once more, Spencer finally reached the door at the end of the hallway. He turned sideways and slammed against it. When the door didn’t budge, he gave it a solid kick.

  “Helloooo?” Dez said. “It has a doorknob.”

  “Yeah, well, I can’t really touch the doorknob right now,” Spencer said, extending his hands for Dez to see.

  “Whoa! You’re all glowy!”

  “Would you just open the door?” Spencer yelled.

  “No way,” Dez said. “What do you think I am, your servant?”

  Rho and Marv arrived, Daisy a few steps behind. She had ditched the clown shoes, tiara, and foam hand, but the Dracula cape was still tied around her neck.

  “Oh, no,” Daisy said when she saw who had joined them. “What’s Dez doing here?”

  “Not opening the door for Spencer,” Dez answered.

  “Why are you at school in the first place?” Daisy gestured all around them. “School’s out. You should go home.”

  “Mrs. Natcher made me stay after to take a test.”

  “Then why aren’t you taking the test?” Daisy asked.

  “Mrs. Natcher’s not the boss of me,” he said.

  “Where is she?” Daisy asked, peering back down the hallway toward the classroom.

  “Sleeping,” Dez answered. “I really like that green spray.”

  “You didn’t!” Daisy gasped. Green spray knocked people unconscious and erased a few minutes of memory leading up to the spraying. How Dez had come by a bottle, Spencer could only guess.