“Why?” Wanda asked.
“They haven’t found her yet,” Tobias said. “Iris Glass. That’s who they’re looking for, right? My guess is they’re emptying the homes in order to better search for her.” Tobias withdrew some ingredients from his satchel. “They’re getting desperate.”
“Or they’re closing in,” Priss suggested.
Wanda scanned the roads, taking in the faces of the Blotched prisoners, searching for Gordy. If she saw him, she would need to control her emotions. That was the only way she would be in the right mind to save him.
“If he has been taken,” Yosuke said, prying the curtain from Wanda’s fingers, “we’ll get him back. I promise.”
“Unless he’s already been ExSponged,” Wanda replied, her voice cracking. She didn’t want to think about it, but the possibility existed. If something horrible had happened to Gordy . . .
“Dad wouldn’t do that,” Priss said. “He would never hurt Gordy.”
“Do you think he can control these Scourges?” Wanda looked away from the window. “There’s a reason we Banished them all. They did horrible things.”
“Yes, and they deserved their punishment,” Yosuke agreed. “But they have not found Gordy yet.”
“How can you be certain?” Wanda demanded, gazing into her old trainer’s eyes.
Yosuke sighed. “He is a skilled boy, Wanda. I spoke with him, and I could tell he is sharp enough to avoid capture. Do you not feel that too?”
“I do,” Wanda finally conceded.
“Me too,” Priss added.
Tobias grunted from the floor. “A lot of good we’ll do if we don’t take down that ward and bring the fight to these nasties. Help me get a fire going, Priss. It’s time to forecast some weather.”
Wisps of smoke drifted away from Tobias’s cauldron as he began concocting. Tobias had worn a permanent scowl since the Scourges had burned his property to ash. He was out for vengeance, and Wanda was glad he was on her side.
The Jarqil Candles outside the house flickered and then went out all at once, blanketing the room in darkness. Yosuke reached for the blinds, but Priss stopped him.
“Back away from the window,” Priss whispered, shoulders tense.
Clumsy footsteps rushed up to the opposite side of the front door, followed by the sound of heavy breathing.
“Keep me covered as best as you can,” Tobias whispered. He removed the cork from a bottle with his teeth and dumped an amber-colored syrup into his cauldron, releasing the potent fragrances of rainwater and ozone. Everyone in the room held a weapon, their sights aimed at the target.
The knob twisted, and the door opened.
The poor man didn’t stand a chance.
Wanda’s Spinnerak Net struck him first, splattering against his collarbone. The man yelped and then released a whooshing gasp as the webs whirled him round and round like a top spinning out of control. When he finally collapsed in a heap, liquid from half a dozen concoctions from thrown bottles stained the doorway. Vines wriggled and snapped, and blue Torpor Tonic pooled on the floor by the welcome mat.
Wanda’s eyes narrowed. The intruder certainly hadn’t acted like a stealthy Scourge creeping into Spider’s house. He’d been nervous and uncertain, and he wasn’t clutching a single potion for combat. Sensing a trap, Wanda nudged the unconscious man with her shoe, and her fears were confirmed when she saw the message inked across his forehead.
Welcome home, Spider!
The man wasn’t a Scourge; he probably wasn’t even an Elixirist. Just some poor Blotched citizen sent to check the house.
“Decoy!” Wanda shouted. “Get back!”
A Polish Fire Rocket screeched, and a blinding orb of orange flames flew over Wanda’s shoulder, smashing against the far wall of the living room. Several of Spider’s paintings went up in a blaze of scorching heat.
Wanda saw figures cloaked in shadows approaching the house. She barely had time to leap back before another barrage of vials shot through the doorway. Two of Yosuke’s men shouted as they were both thrown through the back wall of flames and into the next room.
The remaining Elixirists dove behind the couch, while Yosuke heaved an end table through the front window and sprayed Funnel Formula out the opening. Cyclone winds erupted in the front yard, and several Scourges shouted in surprise.
“This party has certainly attracted a fine group of visitors! Don’t think I don’t see you, Cedman Oldricker!” Yosuke announced, throwing another handful of potions at the enemy. “The Antipodes will be welcoming you back by the end of this night! Ah, and there’s my good friend, Steffan Musk! What sort of goodies have you brought in that wretched eye socket of yours?”
“He’s having too much fun,” Priss said to Wanda, nodding at Yosuke before flinging a Vintreet Trap out the front door. The bottle struck a wild-haired female Scourge in the back as she ran for cover, gobbling her up in a mass of green vines.
The ground split like overripe fruit, swallowing sections of the tattered carpet into the cracks and shifting the walls.
“Terramoto Tonic!” Wanda warned, leaping over the expanding crevice.
Tobias muttered something under his breath and shattered a test tube next to his workstation. A wall of fluorescent-yellow slime emerged from the broken glass, filling up the cracks beneath his cauldron and expanding to shield him. Several more bottles bounced harmlessly off the rubbery substance. Wanda and Priss leaped to the ground and took cover behind Tobias’s homemade barrier.
“This particular draught needs time to percolate, my friends!” Tobias huffed in exasperation, gesturing to his cauldron. “One misstep and she’ll turn nuclear!” Judging by the array of ingredients next to the smoldering concoction, it appeared Tobias still had multiple steps remaining to his masterpiece.
“What exactly do you want us to do about it?” Wanda fired back. They were under attack by a dozen heavily armed Scourges. Word would reach the others fast, and soon everyone in the city would know that more than just Spider had returned home for the evening.
Tobias rolled his eyes. “Weren’t you once B.R.E.W.’s Lead Investigator? Hmm? And you—” He whirled on Priss. “Aren’t you, oh, I don’t know, Priscilla Rook? Take care of them and give me time to brew!”
Wanda smirked at Priss. Tobias had a point. She had taken down plenty of hardened criminals in her day, and Priss’s reputation in battle was legendary.
“Any ideas?” Wanda asked her sister.
Priss poked her head above Tobias’s barricade to check the perimeter. “I have a few,” she said, ducking as a Booming Ball struck the outer wall, carving out a beach-ball-sized hole in the ceiling and raining insulation down upon their heads.
Wanda’s eyes widened as a two-foot-tall creature suddenly barreled down the stairs, hissing as it hightailed past her and into the kitchen like a miniature, fur-covered man in a footrace. “That must be Nipsy.”
“Yeah, Spider’s never going to forgive us,” Priss said. A smile suddenly cracked her hardened façade, and she winked at Wanda. “Do you remember Uzbekistan?”
Wanda shook her head fondly. “No way I could ever forget that.” She dug into one of the compartments of her satchel and found the vials hidden beneath a smattering of packaged ingredients. “It just so happens I brought along a couple tubes of Purista and a hearty dose of Miedo Tonic.”
“Just like old times, eh?” Priss asked, grinning.
Wanda cupped a hand over her mouth and shouted, “Hey, Master Nakamura!”
“Yes, my dear?” Yosuke replied. Sweat covered the old man’s face, and he was breathing heavily, but he looked to be having the time of his life.
“Care to lay down some covering fire for a couple of old friends?”
“It would be my pleasure!” Yosuke said, offering her a quick bow. “I must warn you, though—a few of our enemies have suddenly vanished.”
>
“It’s the Silt,” Wanda said. “That’s not going to make this easy.”
“No, it will not, but we will do our best to keep their attention averted.” Yosuke barked orders to the remaining Elixirists, and they joined him at the window.
Eyes locked on Priscilla and grasping bottles in both hands, Wanda readied herself to lunge. Then, as Yosuke and his followers unleashed chaos upon the Scourges, the two sisters raced for the front door and out into battle.
At one point in her life, Zelda had been one of the most revered Elixirists in all of B.R.E.W. Now, thanks to Gordy, she was nothing more than a poorly constructed kite flapping in the wind behind Estelle.
After stunning her with a Torpor Tonic and breaking her out of her tree prison, Gordy had wrapped Zelda with a Spinnerak Net and doused her with Heliudrops. Being exposed to so many potions at once was dangerous, but Gordy figured it was better than being ExSponged.
As Estelle puttered along the main road less than a mile from Gordy’s cul-de-sac, she began to purr for the fiftieth time.
“Seriously,” Sasha said. “What’s wrong with her?”
Before he could answer, the scooter suddenly bucked off both Gordy and Sasha, and they tumbled through the air, landing roughly on the asphalt.
“Is she trying to kill us?” Sasha snapped, rubbing her elbow.
Estelle reared back on her wheel like a wild stallion. Above her, still floating like a blimp from the Heliudrops, Zelda struggled against her bindings.
Gordy approached Estelle cautiously, trying not to startle the spooked machine. “Calm down! What’s wrong?”
A latch broke free on the underside of Estelle’s seat, and the cushion opened, revealing a secret compartment. Inside was Bolter’s specially modified telephone. The one that could make phone calls underwater and into Forbidden Zones. The one now vibrating, the ringtone sounding like a purring cat.
On the twelfth ring, Gordy plucked the phone from the compartment and answered it. “Hello?”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Bolter’s voice echoed through the receiver as though the speaker mode had been engaged. “It’s about time you answered!”
“Bolter? Where are you?” Gordy asked.
“Up,” Bolter answered matter-of-factly.
Gordy looked up. “Where?” All he could see were clouds and the faint, quivering haze of the force field.
“About nine thousand feet above the town.”
“In a helicopter?”
Bolter hummed to himself. “More or less.”
“How are you calling me?” Gordy shook his head. “The ward has shut off all power.”
“My boy, that phone will always ring no matter what. But it’s a worthless feature if someone, namely you, refuses to pick up.”
“I didn’t know there was a phone,” Gordy explained. “It just sounded like purring.”
Bolter chuckled. “And how has Estelle been treating you? No, no, no! No time for chitchat. Don’t distract me, Gordy. I need to know your exact location.”
Gordy frowned. How was he the one distracting Bolter? “I’m at the house.”
“Who’s house?”
“My house.”
Garbled static filled the receiver.
“Bolter?” Gordy feared he had lost him.
“You’ve been hiding out in your own home?” Bolter clarified. “I must say, that’s ingenious. No one would think to look for you there. It’s too obvious! Now, listen carefully. A nasty war is about to begin. Your mother and the Stained Squad have entered the infected area and are about to engage the Scourges. They should have the ward down in no time. More Elixirists will pour in, the battle will ensue, and it will become very hazardous in and around your neighborhood.”
Gordy had a lot of questions about his mother, but he didn’t have time to ask any of them because Bolter kept spewing out information. There was the sound of whirring turbines, and Bolter suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs.
Gordy pulled the phone away from his ear. “What was that?”
Bolter cleared his throat. “No reason to be alarmed. Just a 747, I think. They banked wide and to the right. Barely missed me. I’m quite fine, but I suspect I will now be labeled as a UFO. As I was saying, trust no one. There are Scourges everywhere. They are searching for someone of great importance, but they will attack you without hesitation.”
“I know,” Gordy said. “They’re looking for Iris Glass. She’s with us at my house.”
“She’s what? How did you . . .” Bolter grumbled something under his breath. “Never mind. Who’s this us you speak of?”
“Max, Adilene, and Sasha,” Gordy answered.
“Sasha Brexil?” Bolter chirped. “That horrible girl?”
Gordy glanced at Sasha, who scowled, and he shrugged an apology.
“Well, I’m certainly impressed, and I should have room for all of you. I definitely don’t want to leave anyone behind. Now, be out on the front lawn in exactly forty-five minutes or as soon as you see your mother’s signal.”
“Okay,” Gordy agreed. “What signal?”
“The power surge, of course,” Bolter answered with a laugh.
“Where are you taking us?” Gordy asked.
Static, followed by more awkward humming. “I’m taking you to be with your father and siblings. You can stay with them until the Stained Squad mops up these infernal Scourges.” Bolter grunted and then gasped. “I’ve got to go! Evasive maneuvering!”
The line went dead, and Gordy examined the special phone in amazement. No matter how oddly the Elixirist acted, Bolter made wonderful tools. Latching down the seat, Gordy climbed onto Estelle. “Come on. Bolter’s coming to pick us up and take us somewhere safe.”
Sasha stood her ground. “What about Mezzarix and the Vessel?”
Gordy knew how she felt. All he really wanted to do was stand by his mother’s side in battle. Those Scourges didn’t stand a chance now that Gordy’s mom was in charge. “Right now, we need to get Mrs. Glass out of the city. That’s the most important thing.” The two of them had to look past their own desires and do what was right. Gordy patted the seat. “I promise—we’ll help your mom once we rescue the Vessel.”
Reluctantly, Sasha climbed on the scooter and gripped Gordy’s waist as Estelle lurched forward, speeding toward the house.
Dead insects littered the driveway, crunching under Estelle’s wheels. Gordy could see where bugs had gobbled a path straight through the protective ward. Leaving the engine running, he leaped from the scooter and ran into the house.
The first body Gordy found belonged to Yeltzin. The enormous Russian was sprawled unconscious next to the couch, his rubbery legs stretched out in a full-on split as though his knees and hips had been magically removed. Gordy glanced worriedly at Sasha and then raced into the kitchen.
Sitting on the floor, Adilene had her back pressed against the wall, a wet rag held to her forehead. Iris Glass sat in a chair, sobbing softly, while Max stood in the corner, a potion vial in his hand. His eyes were locked upon the two figures at his feet: Esmeralda Faustus, lying on her back, and Carlisle Bimini, squatting on top of her.
“Max?” Gordy blurted.
“Dude!” Max shouted, looking up. “I just poured Giraffe Guts into Esmeralda’s mouth.” He held up the bottle. “It’s not going to kill her, is it? She looks pretty messed up.”
Gordy shook his head in bafflement as he sidestepped Carlisle. Esmeralda lay deathly still, arms and legs stretched out, as rigid as if she had been made of wood. Only her face moved, contorting into a variety of odd expressions one right after another, some of them funny, some frightening.
“Giraffe Guts?” Gordy reached for the empty bottle.
“What are they doing here?” Sasha asked.
“It was crazy!” Max’s voice rose in excitement. “There I was, jus
t taking a nap, when all of a sudden I heard a boom and a crash, and I opened my eyes to see this nut”—he pointed at Esmeralda—“cackling and wielding that wand-thing like a lightsaber. She went right after Iris, so I started throwing things. I made a mess. Then that moron”—he nodded at Yeltzin—“tried to slap the Figure Four Death Lock on me, but I still had a couple of tricks up my sleeve. Zapped him with Jackjoint Juice! It’s so wicked!”
“Okay, but what about Carlisle?” None of this explained what the old man was doing there.
“I was getting to that!” Max yelled impatiently. “Right when things were about to explode, Carlisle came rushing in from out of nowhere and just laid Esmeralda out like a linebacker. And then I poured Giraffe Guts into her mouth.”
Gordy read the label on the bottle, deciphering Iris’s scribbled handwriting. “This says Girning Glop.”
“Yeah, okay, what does that mean?” Was that actual concern in Max’s voice?
Gordy wasn’t sure. Maybe it was some fancy weaponized potion used by the B.R.E.W. elite. Whatever the case, Girning Glop had completely incapacitated Esmeralda.
“I’ve never killed anyone before,” Max muttered. “I feel different already.”
“And you called me the dramatic one?” Sasha asked.
Gordy stepped next to Carlisle. “You saved my friends?”
The old man kept his gaze fixed on the floor, but he held a familiar bottle in his bony fingers. It was empty except for a couple drops of dark-blue Silt. Carlisle must have been saving those final sips for an emergency, but Gordy never suspected he’d come rushing to their aid.
“Our ghost,” Iris sniffled, her head bowed. “He had been hiding all this time. If only he’d have shown up just a moment earlier.”
Gordy moved around to the front of Iris’s chair. “What happened?”
Her eyes bloodshot, Iris had wadded tissues piled in her lap. “It’s all over, child.” She sobbed through wet tears. “I’ve been ExSponged.”
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