“Is that Denny?” Summer said, staring at a window near the door.

Nate turned and made brief eye contact with the bully. Nate, Summer, and Pigeon hurried to the window in time to see Denny running off. They shared a worried look.

“What was he up to?” Pigeon asked.

“I don’t know,” Nate muttered.

The three kids approached John Dart’s desk.

“What was that about?” Mr. Dart asked.

“One of the bullies working for Mrs. White was peeking in the window,” Nate reported. “Denny. Do you think he could have heard us?”

“No,” Mr. Dart said. “But it would make sense for Belinda to spy on you. I doubt he could have recognized me, but we’ll have to be careful.”

“This is Summer and Pigeon,” Nate said.

“The Japanese girl and the black kid,” Mr. Dart said. “I’m John Dart. Call me John if you like. What other leads do we have?”

“The other big one is a clue left by Hanaver Mills,” Nate said. “The House of Haag holds the key.”

“That is a big lead,” John said. “What do we know about the Haag family in Colson?”

“Mr. Stott said there are at least twenty Haags in town,” Nate said. “He’s been working on narrowing down the list.”

“Does Belinda know about the Haags?” John asked.

“No,” Pigeon said.

“So Sebastian knows about the Haags but lacks the map, while Belinda has the map but knows nothing about the Haag family,” John summarized.

“Right,” Nate said.

“What about henchmen?” John asked. “Who’s working for Sebastian?”

“All I know about is a weird mutant called the Flatman,” Nate said. “Mr. Stott called him an engineered apprentice.”

“I’ve heard of the Flatman,” John said. “Sebastian never worked with many associates. What about Belinda?”

“Obviously the dwarf,” Nate said. “She also has a fat guy who can spit orange jelly. And maybe a guy with a huge birthmark.”

“Engineered apprentices,” John said. “We call the fat guy a Gusher, or a Slopgut. He has a symbiotic relationship with the gel inside of him. He can expel it in order to entrap or smother victims. The man with the birthmark is a Fuse. Every Fuse has different magical specialties. Each time he calls on his power, the birthmark spreads. When the mark covers his entire body, he dies. Hence the name. I actually captured the Fuse a few days ago. He won’t talk, but at least he’s out of play. What else can you tell me?”

Summer, Nate, and Pigeon exchanged glances. “That’s about it,” Pigeon said.

“We still have some candy from both of them,” Nate said. “You might find us more useful than normal kids. We’ll do whatever it takes to get Trevor back.”

“I’ll be honest, I’m not much of a babysitter,” John said. “I’ve always liked the idea of children a lot more than the reality. But you three seem okay. I can definitely use your help to gather information. I’ll try my best to keep you out of harm’s way. Our first step will be to nab one of your bully friends and find out what he knows. I’ll need you to point them out to me at the first opportunity. For now, go back to your desks. I look forward to working with you.”

Nate returned to his seat.

Heather Nielson leaned over and whispered, “Is he as weird as he seems?”

“You can’t imagine.”

*****

Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade kids flocked to the lunch tables. Seagulls wheeled and plunged overhead. One of the few clouds in the sky moved in front of the hot sun, providing temporary shade.

Nate, Summer, and Pigeon waited at one side of the lunch area. Beside them John Dart took a long drink from a bottle of Dr. Pepper. They had failed to spot Denny, Eric, or Kyle during first recess, and had begun to worry the boys might have ditched school. Just because they had seen Denny earlier did not guarantee that he had stuck around.

“It’s convenient that you’re a substitute teacher,” Nate said, making conversation.

“I’m not,” John said.

“How’d you get in here?” Pigeon asked.

“This morning at around five I went to Miss Doulin’s house, tied her up, and shut her in a closet. She’ll be fine. I grabbed her keys, skipped talking to anybody in the office, and took over her class. Helps that most of the faculty and office staff are on white fudge.”

“There they are,” Pigeon said, pointing out Denny and Eric. They had hot-lunch trays, and settled down together at a table full of sixth graders.

“No sign of the third one?” John asked.

They waited a few minutes, but Kyle did not join the others.

“Which of those two has the weaker will?” John asked.

“Eric,” Summer said. “The kid sitting on the left. The other one, Denny, is pretty tough.”

“You three go have lunch in the classroom. Here’s the key.”

“What are you going to do?” Nate asked.

“You’ll see,” John said.

Nate, Summer, and Pigeon returned to the classroom. They pushed three desks together and ate their lunches.

“I’m grounded,” Nate said.

“Why?” Pigeon asked.

“In my fight with the Indian I trashed the house. Smashed my bookcase, shattered the window in my room, pulverized the sliding glass door. Fortunately I was sucking on an Ironhide. My parents somehow decided I’d had friends over and we had vandalized everything. I’m supposed to go directly home after school.”

“You got busted even with them on the fudge?” Pigeon asked, sounding a little nervous.

“Yeah, but they had it all wrong,” Nate said. “It took me wrestling a wooden Indian in front of my dad and doing severe damage to the house to even get noticed.”

John entered the room. “You kids want to leave school early?” He walked to the front of the room, leaning on his cane. He erased DON’T TAKE CANDY FROM STRANGERS! and replaced it with STUDY QUIETLY UNTIL I RETURN.

“You’re not returning,” Pigeon guessed.

“Not very likely,” John admitted. “Hurry up, I have Eric in the trunk.”

“You’re kidnapping him?” Summer asked.

“Don’t worry, I took away all of his candy,” John said. “Trust me, we’re doing the weasel a favor. We’ll take him home safe and sound when this is over.”