“Run!” Daisy screamed. The explosion was stretching across the roof of the school in less than a heartbeat. Spencer and Daisy sprinted away, wisps of chalk dust wrapping around their ankles like hungry ghosts.
Side by side, Spencer and Daisy slammed their brooms against the roof. The magic activated in their brooms, propelling them across the soccer field and over the fence. They landed clumsily in the meadow and scrambled back to their waiting carts.
The public school was enveloped in a milky haze. Tendrils of chalk dust spiraled heavenward, given an eerie illumination by the rising half moon. The explosion was subsiding, but the paralytic effect on the Toxites had been devastating.
“Phew!” Daisy swallowed hard. “That was close.”
But Spencer was shaking his head. “It didn’t kill them,” he said. “Walter said the chalk bombs wouldn’t kill the Toxites, only paralyze them for a day or so.”
“At least we stopped them,” said Daisy. She started to say something more, when out of nowhere a pushbroom pierced the air like a javelin and struck her in the side. Daisy screamed as she lost gravity, soaring out of sight over the dark field.
Spencer leapt onto his cart, cutting a hard turn as he shifted his weight. Where was the attacker? Where was Slick? Blindsided by a blast of vac dust, Spencer toppled from his cleaning cart. Suction force held him to the road as Slick coasted into view, his cart rack full of Glopified supplies.
“Glad you could join me out here,” the greasy janitor said. “Much more convenient. I was having a devil of a time figuring how to catch you without making a stir on campus. The other students are quite sensitive. Don’t want to ruin their education.”
Slick wheeled closer on his cart. Spencer strained against the vac dust. His hand reached out to the side of the road and closed around a heavy rock. But what use was a rock against Slick’s Glopified arsenal? Spencer could barely lift the rock, let alone throw it.
“Now that I’ve got you alone,” Slick said, “why don’t you tell me ’bout the package? That’s all the BEM really wants from you.” He rolled even closer, the cart’s wheels almost smashing Spencer’s arm. “Just tell old Slick what was in the package that Daddy sent.”
Heaving against the vac dust, Spencer lifted the rock and rolled it onto the back of Slick’s cart. The added weight caused a sudden shift in the balance, jerking the cleaning cart backward across the road.
Spencer jumped up as the vac dust subsided. Slick’s cart was spinning in tight, uncontrollable circles as the janitor tried to kick the heavy rock away and regain balance control.
Daisy appeared at Spencer’s side, shaken but unhurt. The pushbroom that Slick had used against her was still on the road, and she picked it up just as the janitor abandoned his out-of-control cart.
Slick came running toward the kids as his cart zoomed off in the opposite direction. Daisy leapt onto her cart, leveled the pushbroom, and charged like a jousting knight on horseback.
The flat bristles caught Slick under the chin and he flew off the ground. His feet clipped the top of the school’s chain-link fence, and the action sent him spinning head over heels through the dark night.
Without a moment’s delay, Spencer and Daisy were navigating their carts back through the bumpy field, desperate to reach the Academy before Slick had a chance to recover.
Without a doubt, Spencer and Daisy knew that Slick was an enemy. Their safety at the Academy was compromised. But where else could they go? They were many hours from home with no one to drive them. And Spencer didn’t think the cleaning carts would be too safe in freeway traffic.
“We need to get a message to Walter,” Spencer said as they sped up the road.
“A phone call?” Daisy asked. “Should I be sick again?” She gave another unconvincing moan that sounded like a frog throwing up.
“No,” Spencer said. “Slick will expect us to try a phone call. We need something different. I have Walter’s e-mail. We’ll tell him what happened to Roger Munroe. Tell him that Slick is working for the BEM.”
“Then what?” Daisy asked. “We’re still stuck at the Academy.”
“Walter will send help if he finds out we’re in trouble.” Spencer squinted against the cold. “All we have to do is stay alive.”
Chapter 25
“Can we start over?”
A ball bounced off the back of Spencer’s head.
“Ha ha!” Someone from the brown team laughed.
“Jail time for Doofus!” Dez shouted across the gym. Spencer glared as he crossed the dodgeball line and entered the brown team’s prison. Daisy was waiting for him at the back of the gym, anxiously observing the game.
Morning P.E. was supposed to be energizing and exciting. It was supposed to prepare the kids for a full day of classes. But things looked grim for the blue team. Only Min and Jenna remained. Jenna cowered near one of the corners, and Min seemed to be calculating the velocity of every ball thrown toward him.
Min hurled a ball at Spencer, intending for him to catch it and return to the game. Spencer reached up, but the soft ball passed over his head, his hands closing too slowly to grasp it. The ball rolled out the doorway and into the hall.
Stepping out of the gym, Spencer saw the ball under the drinking fountain. He was just bending down to grab it when a hand closed over his mouth and a rough arm shoved him against the wall.
Eyes watering with panic, Spencer twisted to see his captor. It was Slick. His filthy glasses pressed down on his hooked nose, and his greasy hair was matching every expectation of his nickname. His face was scratched, and a rash from the coarse pushbroom covered his neck.
“Spencer?” Daisy’s voice rang out from inside the gym. Of course she had noticed that he had been gone too long. Spencer tried to warn her, but Slick’s dirty hand was tight across his lips. Spencer tried not to think of the plentiful germs that were probably leaping off the janitor’s hand and onto his face.
“Move along,” Slick said into Spencer’s ear. The janitor pushed him down the hallway until they reached a janitorial closet. The door was partway open, so it was easy for Slick and Spencer to step inside. Spencer barely glimpsed Daisy coming out of the gym before the closet door closed, leaving Spencer and Slick alone in the dark space.
Slick bent close to the boy’s ear again. “Thought you could get away from me so easily? The BEM didn’t hire me to fail.”
Suddenly, the closet door jerked open. Daisy locked eyes with Spencer. Then she quickly stepped inside the closet and pulled the door shut again.
“Nice hiding spot,” she whispered in the dark. “Who are we hiding from?”
“Me,” said Slick.
Daisy jumped a full foot. She tried to push open the door, but Slick caught the handle.
“Spencer!” Daisy said. “Slick got you!” Spencer rolled his eyes. Luckily Daisy had arrived to point out the obvious. “I thought you were hiding out. I didn’t even see him in here!”
How could she have missed Slick? Spencer didn’t usually stand in dark closets with a hand clamped over his mouth. Now they were both trapped!
“Not another word from you, Missy,” Slick whispered, “or Zumbro gets hurt.”
Daisy held up her hands like she’d seen people do on TV. “Okay,” she said. Then she clamped her hands over her mouth. “Oops! I said a word! I didn’t mean to say that! Can we start over?”
The bell rang, officially ending P.E. All the teams started pouring out of the gyms and into the hallway, following Director Garcia’s directions to meet at the main building after dodgeball.
Spencer started to fidget. Help was only feet away. All he needed was a quick shout and someone would surely open the janitorial closet.
It was as if Slick had read Spencer’s mind. “Don’t even think ’bout screaming. Either of you.” His crackly voice was barely audible above the noise of the kids in the hall. “If you want to scream, we’ll save it for later. This closet’s full of Glopified supplies that will make you squeal.”
A
scream was certainly what they needed. But Slick seemed to be the only one allowed to speak. So how could Spencer get Slick to raise his voice above a whisper?
An idea came to Spencer. A horrible, disgusting idea. Spencer closed his eyes against the nasty task. Then he opened his mouth and bit down hard on one of Slick’s dirty fingers.
The janitor let out a wail and jerked his hand away. He blundered through the darkness, causing more of a ruckus as supplies crashed and fell.
Spencer started spitting and gagging. Desperate to sanitize his mouth, he grabbed his blue handkerchief and started wiping his tongue.
Daisy reached for the exit, but before she grabbed the handle, the closet was flooded with light from the hallway. Min stood with his hand on the door, Jenna at his elbow. Spencer and Daisy tumbled out of the closet.
“Sportsmanship,” said Min.
Spencer looked back into the closet for Slick. The janitor’s thick glasses had fallen among the rubble of supplies, but Slick was nowhere to be seen. Spencer squinted into the dimness. Was there another way out? A secret passage in the back of the closet?
“Frankly, I’m disappointed in you,” Min continued. “You must develop a better sense of sportsmanship. Do you expect to hide in a closet every time we lose a game of dodgeball?”
“We weren’t hiding ...” said Spencer.
“It was ...” said Daisy, pointing into the closet. But she couldn’t say Slick since the janitor had somehow managed to vanish.
“We heard you shout,” Jenna said to Daisy. “Are you okay?”
Slick might have been offended that his scream was mistaken for a girl’s, but the janitor was nowhere to be seen.
“We’re ... fine,” Spencer said. “Thanks for finding us.”
“As blue leader,” Min said, “I have to watch out for my team.” He strode up to Spencer, who stood clutching his handkerchief.
“The Academy isn’t a place for hide-and-seek, Spencer. You need to start thinking of how your actions will affect the group,” Min said. “Behavior like this jeopardizes everyone. And I cannot let that happen.” Min pulled the blue handkerchief out of Spencer’s hand and let it fall to the floor. “I’m requesting a team change for you, Spencer.”
Chapter 26
“You can sit right by me!”
The teacher suddenly stopped talking, and Spencer froze as he leaned over to whisper something to Daisy.
“I’m not going to ask again,” Mr. Lund said. “Lunchtime is over. You two need to stop talking or I will separate you.”
Spencer sat up rigidly, aware of everyone on the combined blue and red teams staring at him. If only Mr. Lund knew what he was talking about. It was so much more important than the afternoon history lesson the teacher was giving.
Spencer and Daisy had been deciding how to tell Director Garcia about Slick. The problem with the janitor had escalated much higher than an ominous warning from a dumpster prisoner. Slick had attacked them ... twice!
Mr. Lund resumed his lesson. Spencer glanced at Jenna, secretly hopeful that she might pass him a note to get his mind off the problems. But Jenna was paying attention to the teacher.
The classroom door opened and Mr. Lund stopped talking again. He was growing impatient with all these distractions until he saw that his boss, Director Garcia, stood in the doorway.
“Welcome, Director.” Mr. Lund gestured for Garcia to take command of the class.
“I’ll only be a moment,” Garcia said. “I’m here to make a change in the blue team.”
Spencer felt his heart thumping. He glanced over at Daisy, who sat biting her pencil. Min took a quick look over his shoulder at Spencer.
“An anonymous request has been made for Spencer Zumbro to leave the blue team,” said Garcia. “We don’t often get requests, and we rarely choose to honor them. But after much deliberation, the committee has decided that this one should pass.”
Spencer glared at the back of Min’s head. For as smart as that boy was, he sure didn’t know the kind of danger he was creating by separating Spencer and Daisy.
Director Garcia reached in his pocket and pulled out a new handkerchief. “Spencer, please come forward and claim your new team.”
The handkerchief dangled in Garcia’s hand, wrinkled and unappealing.
It was brown.
Spencer shuffled forward, turned in his blue cloth, and took the brown one. He was dead, for sure. If Slick didn’t get him, Dez and his gang certainly would. Spencer took one last look at his old teammates. Daisy’s eyes were saucers and it looked like she’d nibbled off half of her pencil. It was some consolation that Jenna had a frown on her face. But Min refused to make eye contact.
Spencer followed Garcia into the hallway. At least this would give him a moment alone with the director. Now was probably his best chance to talk about Slick. But as Garcia pulled the classroom door shut, Spencer froze.
Slick was standing near the drinking fountain, wiping the shiny metal with a rag. The greasy janitor held up a hand. Director Garcia took the gesture as a wave and greeted Slick with a nod. But Spencer knew what the janitor was really doing. Slick was showing off his bandaged finger. It was a discreet threat, but Spencer got the message. If he said a word to Garcia, Slick would be waiting for revenge.
“Good luck with your new team,” the director said, ushering Spencer into another classroom. Garcia poked his head inside just long enough to introduce Spencer as the newest brown team member.
Dez stood up, a huge grin on his face. “Old buddy! You can sit right by me!” The brown team members passed Spencer down the aisle until Dez took him by the shoulders and plopped him into a desk.
“Welcome to the team, Doofus,” Dez said as the teacher resumed the lesson. “Brown team is the toughest, baddest team ever!” Dez’s whisper was anything but quiet. “First of all, brown is a rockin’ awesome color! Just think about how many cool things are brown.”
“I’m not sure,” Spencer said. “Are you referring to mud or ...”
“Never mind.” Dez shrugged it off. “Let’s just say that being on the brown team will protect you from a lot of things—atomic wedgies, wet willies, spitwads—just to name a few. But that means you have to do what I say.” Dez made two fists and bumped them together. “Trust me. You don’t want to get on the brown team’s bad side. We’re not just a bunch of tough guys, you know. My team is smart, too.”
“Like what? They all know their times tables?” Spencer said.
Dez nodded gravely. “And division.”
Chapter 27
“This one’s got a virus.”
It was an hour after dinner, and Director Garcia had given all the recruits a bit of free time in the computer lab before lights-out. For Spencer, it was a much-needed break from his new team.
The whole dynamic of the brown team was different from the blues. It wasn’t a matter of brains. The brown team recruits were plenty smart. But they were conniving. Dez was having the time of his life, but Spencer could see what was really happening. The browns were using Dez: learning his tricks, keeping him around as a scapegoat. For now, they let Dez rule the roost. But if the need ever came up, Spencer had no doubt that the brown team could easily outfox the bully.
Dez didn’t like the brown group to sit apart. He’d forced Spencer to eat dinner with the browns. But when Spencer saw an open computer next to Daisy, he quietly slipped into the seat.
Escaping the browns wasn’t Spencer’s only motive for sitting next to Daisy. This was his chance, as good as any, to send an e-mail to Walter Jamison.
Spencer nudged Daisy to get her attention. She turned away from her computer to look at his. “Read through this,” Spencer said. “Tell me if you think I should add anything.”
Daisy scooted her chair closer, took control of his computer mouse, and began reading. Spencer stood up, looking around the computer lab to make sure that no one else was rubbernecking a peek at his e-mail.
Spencer took a few casual steps to block his computer from
view of the other students. Jenna watched him from the end of the table, a half smile on her face. They hadn’t seen each other for a few hours, and apparently, Jenna missed looking at him. Spencer accidentally made brief eye contact. Before Jenna could see his face redden, Spencer turned back to Daisy.
“It’s good,” Daisy said. “Send it.”
Spencer sat back down at his computer and gave the e-mail one final read.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Academy in danger
Dear Walter:
New Forest Academy is not safe! Roger Munroe is gone. He’s been replaced by a BEM worker named Slick. He tried to get us twice already, but we got away. Please send help from the Rebel Underground ASAP.
We still have our cleaning supplies, so we should be able to defend ourselves from Slick if we have to.
Spencer and Daisy
Spencer clicked the Send button and waited for confirmation. The Internet seemed painfully slow. Suddenly, a pop-up appeared on the screen.
MESSAGE FAILED. UNABLE TO SEND. BLOCKED DOMAIN.
“Daisy,” Spencer said. “Look.”
She glanced back at his computer. “What happened?” She took control of the mouse and hit the Send button. The same pop-up appeared. “Go get help,” she said, pointing toward the media specialist.
“Yeah, right!” Spencer whispered. “The first line I wrote says the Academy isn’t safe. We can’t let anyone see this.” He tried to send the e-mail a third time, but the pop-up multiplied.
“Why won’t it send?”
“The page is blocked,” Spencer mused. “Someone must not want us to send an e-mail to Walter.”
“I bet it was Slick,” Daisy said. “He used to be the Academy’s computer technician, remember?”
Spencer clicked on the computer’s menu and pulled up the control panel. “We’ve got to get through.” He browsed through tabs and folders, frantically looking for some kind of web filter.
The media specialist stood up, and Spencer hurriedly closed out. Did she know that he was trying to hack the system?
Janitors: Secrets of New Forest Academy Page 12