[Janitors 03] Curse of the Broomstaff (14 page)

Bernard parked the garbage truck next to a dumpster. The headlights turned off, plunging the parking area into darkness. The school looked very old, the main entrance framed in a weathered stone archway. A twenty-four-hour security light flickered above the front doors, giving the whole place the appearance of a haunted mansion rather than a high school.

Penny popped open the truck door, and everyone filed outside. The weather was strange to Spencer. They had traveled far enough south that the air seemed unseasonably warm. It was like winter was behind them. Spencer didn’t even need a jacket.

“What’s the plan?” Spencer asked as everyone started gearing up.

“Simple,” said Alan. “We find the paper-towel dispenser and get out alive.”

The answer made Spencer feel like he’d asked a dumb question. Of course he knew that part of the plan. Instead of making a comeback, Spencer focused on strapping down his janitorial belt.

“We stay together,” answered Walter. “Search the bathrooms until we find it.”

“No.” Everyone turned to Alan. “If the Aurans were trying to hide this dispenser, then the bathroom’s too obvious. It won’t be out in the open. Remember, we’ve got the key, which means that the dispenser hasn’t been opened for at least twenty years—since Rico Chavez.”

“And who knows if Rico even made it that far,” Walter added.

“So where do we look?” Bernard said, locking the doors to the garbage truck.

Penny, who had been stretching her legs and doing a few simple gymnastic warm-ups, gave another idea. “Let’s just get inside and see what we find. I hate standing around like this.”

As Penny led the team across the parking lot, Spencer turned back, searching for Daisy. She had fallen behind the others, struggling to keep up while trying to jam something into her janitorial belt.

“Are you okay?” Spencer asked, letting the team pass ahead.

“Yeah,” she said, barely glancing up at him. “It just won’t fit in this pouch.”

“What won’t fit?”

Daisy gave up on the belt with a sigh. She turned to show Spencer what she was working on. He almost laughed when he saw it in Daisy’s outstretched hand.

“You’re bringing
Baybee?
” Spencer cried.

She gave him a look like her decision was obvious. “We’re going into another school. We might need a hall pass.”

“It’s the middle of the night, Daisy! No one’s checking hall passes! Besides, Baybee’s a . . . baby. I thought we’d been over this!”

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and glinting in the flickering light from the school’s entryway. “This isn’t Welcher Elementary School,” she said.

Spencer nodded slowly. “That’s exactly what I’m trying to say.”

“I’m scared, Spencer.” Her voice was soft. “Running around strange hallways in dark schools isn’t really my thing.” She held up Baybee. “But when I’m carrying Mrs. Natcher’s hall pass, at least
something
makes me feel like I’m home.”

Spencer reached out and plucked Baybee from her grasp. “We’ll be okay, Daisy.” He tucked back the doll’s arms and legs. “I stuffed a gigantic Grime into a belt pouch once,” he said. “I’m pretty sure we can fit a baby doll.”

The look of fear on Daisy’s face melted a bit, and she turned so Spencer could slide Baybee into the pouch.

Just as the doll’s head tucked out of sight, Alan’s voice sounded behind Spencer. “What are you doing?” His dad grabbed him by the elbow. “Don’t you know how dangerous it is to fall behind?” Walter, Penny, and Bernard were already crowded around the school’s front door.

“What if something happened to you?” Alan continued, hauling his son toward the others. Daisy jogged to keep up. “Being on this mission means you stay with the team. Got it?”

Spencer pulled away. He didn’t have to answer. He was tired of his dad bossing him around, acting like Spencer had never done anything dangerous before.

Penny was crouched in front of the school door with her bottle of Windex. She adjusted the nozzle and gave a small, concentrated spray directly at the lock. The wet area shimmered with a magical blue light.

The rest of the team stepped back to give her some room as she extended a long razorblade. With great precision, Penny thrust the sharp tip forward, shattering the glass lock and popping the door open.

In a moment, they were inside Alsbury High School, moving carefully down the hallway. Spencer reached for his razorblade. He didn’t open it, but he felt safer with the weapon resting in his sweaty palm.

Bernard stopped suddenly, Spencer and Daisy almost bumping into him. The garbologist had his headlamp downturned, the light illuminating part of the hard floor in the middle of the hallway.

“Pst! I think I found something!” Bernard whispered. Walter and Alan crowded around. Penny reluctantly gave up the lead, doubling back to see what Bernard was so excited about.

Bernard pointed a finger to a brownish stain on the floor.

“Is it dried blood?” Daisy’s voice was small in the large hallway.

“Looks like an old paint spill,” Walter answered.

“Big whoop,” Penny shrugged. “A paint spill.”

“It’s not the spill, so much as the
shape
of the spill, that matters,” said Bernard. “It’s a perfect semicircle. Soda pop makes this shape when it runs down the side of a garbage can and pools on the floor.”

“What does that have to do with the paper-towel dispenser?” Alan asked.

“It’s the middle of the hallway,” Bernard said. “Not a logical place to put a trash can.” He cast his headlamp down the hallway, spotlighting every garbage can within range. Then he raced off, inspecting each one from top to bottom.

Spencer was mostly grossed out as Bernard ran his hands along the garbage cans. But Daisy seemed wholly curious by the garbologist’s methods.

In a flash, Bernard was back, carrying a large trash can. He set it down carefully, adjusting it over the crescent of dried paint. “Aha!” He raised a victorious fist. “Perfect match!” Spencer could see a dried drip of matching brown paint on the side of the garbage can.

“What does this have to do with the paper-towel dispenser?” Alan asked again, this time with a hint of impatience in his voice.

“I don’t know yet,” Bernard said, yanking the plastic liner out of the can. “I’m just reading the trash.” Then he threw down the sack of garbage and dove headfirst into the empty trash can. Daisy giggled, but Spencer had to look away. Walter checked his watch.

“Seriously?” Penny said, stomping her foot impatiently. “Can we just go on without him? I thought we were looking for a towel dispenser, not Oscar the Grouch.”

“Look no further!” Bernard called, emerging from the trash can. He straightened his duct-tape tie and cleared his throat. “I’m fairly certain that we’ll find the dispenser behind this brick wall.” He pointed across the hallway.

Penny laughed out loud. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard since high school!”

“We’re in a high school,” Daisy pointed out.

Bernard drew his bottle of Windex, twisted the nozzle for maximum spray, and began misting the brick wall. The hallway was momentarily illuminated in a sapphire glow. Then the iridescence faded as the brick wall turned entirely to glass.

On the other side of the transparent wall, Spencer saw a hidden, narrow bathroom. There were stalls on both sides, the metal doors securely closed. An old lightbulb cast the secret bathroom in a yellowish haze. And mounted on the far wall, looking isolated and innocent, was the paper-towel dispenser.

W
ow,” Daisy said, staring through the glass wall at the hidden bathroom. She turned to Bernard. “How’d you know it was there?”

“The trash can told me,” answered the garbologist.

Penny scoffed. “Which is another way of saying that you made a lucky guess.”

“The middle of the hallway is an unlikely place for a garbage can, which means someone put it there for a special purpose,” Bernard explained. “The paint, dripping down the can and pooling on the floor, must have dried before anyone had a chance to clean it up, which means that the job was done in a hurry. Probably during the middle of the night, so as to not block student walkways in the hall. Lastly, there are dried bits of mortar in the bottom of the trashcan, which means that someone stood here,” Bernard moved in front of the glass wall, “and scraped their trowel into the garbage can while repairing this wall.”

“You’re amazing!” Daisy gawked.

Bernard closed his eyes and smiled. “And you’re a sweetheart.”

“Why would Rico Chavez repair this wall?” Spencer asked, never taking his eyes from the hidden bathroom.

“No,” Alan said. “Rico didn’t repair the wall. He probably got curious and blew it open. But since he didn’t retrieve the map, the Aurans had to hide the paper-towel dispenser again by patching the wall.”

“Well,” Penny cut in, “we can stand here and hypothesize about which little piggy built this brick wall, but that’s not going to help us get to that dispenser.”

“Penny’s right.” Walter checked his watch again. “We need to get in there.”

Without further discussion, Penny drew a pushbroom from her belt. She twirled it around like a fighting staff and then thrust it against the formerly brick wall. The sound caused everyone to cringe as huge fragments of glass shattered to the floor.

Then it was utterly quiet. The distinctive smell of a public bathroom wafted through the open passageway. Spencer wrinkled his nose.

Penny stepped across the broken entryway. Her hand hovered at her side, ready to draw the best weapon from her belt. Alan and Walter were less than a step behind her, glass crunching under the soles of their shoes.

Spencer glanced at Daisy. She was nervously chewing her pinkie nail, eyes unblinking. Bernard put a hand on her shoulder and ushered her in alongside Spencer.

The team stood huddled in the bathroom’s secret entrance. Alan had his arms out, holding everyone back as he silently studied the area for traps.

“I’m guessing this is where the Toxites were trapped,” Alan said.

“So Rico Chavez got suspicious about what was behind the wall,” Walter hypothesized. “When he broke it open, the Toxites saw their chance for escape, and poor Rico couldn’t get out of the way fast enough.”

“We can thank him later,” Bernard said. “Those Toxites would be coming out on us right now if it weren’t for Rico.”

“How can we thank him later?” Daisy muttered. “He’s dead.”

Spencer peered around Walter and shuddered at the state of the restroom. It was an unusually long bathroom, with about twenty stalls on either side, metal doors tightly closed. Sloppy graffiti covered the ceiling and walls in streaks of red and black. Most of it looked like meaningless lines and scribbles, hardened drips of paint hanging like stalactites.

“There’s something seriously wrong with this bathroom,” Spencer said after a quick survey.

“Very observant,” Bernard muttered. “Do you think it has something to do with the lovely artwork?”

Then Spencer realized why it felt so off. “There aren’t any sinks!” He balled his hands into fists, making a mental commitment not to touch anything. What kind of bathroom didn’t have sinks? How were people supposed to wash their hands?

“I don’t like the look of that,” Alan said, drawing a Glopified flashlight from his belt. The flashlight would shine brightly to reveal any magical item in the room.

Spencer and Daisy squeezed through the group of adults as Alan flicked the switch. A white beam shot from his flashlight, illuminating an object in the center of the bathroom.

It was a yellow cone. The words
Caution: Wet Floor
were clearly visible above the symbol of a man slipping. And, judging by the flashlight’s attention, this caution cone was definitely Glopified. Then the light beam skipped from the cone to the back wall, illuminating the dispenser. The light seemed to taunt Alan, so easily reaching his end goal.

He flicked off the flashlight and clipped it back into his belt. “Probably some kind of defensive barrier.” Alan gestured to the caution cone.

“So what does it do?” asked Bernard.

“It warns you.” Everyone turned to Daisy. She shrugged like it was obvious. “Don’t slip on the wet floor.”

“Our best chance is to approach slowly,” Alan said, getting right back to business. “I’ll try to move or disable it.”

“Let me do it.” Penny stepped past him. “If something happens to me, at least we won’t lose the team leader.”

Alan shook his head. “I’m the only one with experience in disabling Auran traps.”

“Relax,” Penny said, taking a cautious step toward the cone. “You can coach me from the sidelines.”

Penny moved painstakingly slowly, carefully reaching out a foot to probe each step. Her breathing was steady while everyone else in the bathroom seemed to stop breathing altogether. Alan couldn’t help but inch forward, giving occasional words of encouragement.

Penny was about halfway there when Daisy spoke up, her voice echoing loudly after so much silence.

“Why did the Toxites cross the road?”

Walter and Bernard glanced at the girl, giving her less than a second before turning their attention back to Penny’s perilous approach.

Spencer rolled his eyes. “Seriously?” He turned to her. “Now’s not a great time for jokes, Daisy.”

“I’m not joking.” She pointed to the nearest bathroom stall. “I’m reading.”

Written in sloppy paint at the top of the stall door was the joke.

Q: Why did the Toxites cross the road?

“Well?” Daisy said. “Why did they? What do you think?”

“That’s a dumb joke,” Spencer muttered. “Everyone knows the answer.” Somewhat bothered by the cryptic writing on the stall, Spencer turned back to check Penny’s progress. She had arrived at the yellow cone and stood motionless before it.

“Okay! Stop right there!” Alan called. “Whatever you do, don’t go past the cone!” In his anxiety, Alan had crept forward until he stood about halfway between Penny and the rest of the team. “I need you to inspect the base,” he instructed. “See if the cone is somehow anchored to the floor.” Penny lifted her foot to take another delicate step.