Enter the Janitor (The Cleaners) (Volume 1)

by Josh Vogt

  “That’s not fair, Ben. Setting bones and performing surgery isn’t the same as hunting down monsters and scrubbing mystical toilets.”

  His brows rose. “Ain’t it? Corruption’s just another disease muckin’ up the place. You got the power to clean some of it away and keep a lot of other folks from worryin’ about it. No matter whatcha do, you’re gonna have lotsa lives in your hands. Being the smart girl you are, you’re gonna do the best you can, but sooner or later, someone’ll bite it—and there ain’t nothin’ you’ll be able to do. Either it’ll be old age or a truck smackin’ ’em down in the middle of the street. Sometimes folks just give up and let go.

  “You can’t make folks choose to live safe. You can’t squeeze life into the box you built for it. Look at us here, right now. You think I scheduled this into my calendar to build up some extra vacation time?”

  “Oh, so we get vacation days, but not overtime pay?”

  His brow rose. “Who toldja that?”

  “Patty … she … just before …” Dani waved a hand randomly, not able to complete the sentence.

  Ben’s demeanor softened, but lost none of the conviction. “Blame’s a nasty game to start playin’. It can go on forever. You blame yourself now. Sure. But how far back you gonna go? Is Patty’s death my fault ’cause I didn’t get us out of the Recycling Bin? Destin’s for tossin’ you my way as an apprentice? Your parents’ for givin’ birth to you? See where I’m goin’?”

  She scowled. She hated how pat he made it sound when the twin vipers of regret and self-pity twisted inside her. She hadn’t even known Patty for more than a few hours, and on opposite teams for most of that time. How could her death hit so hard?

  “You are so full of crap,” she said. “Telling me all this when you aren’t even over your wife’s death.”

  She expected him to snipe back. She wanted the attack, a way to battle out the tension building within her. Instead, he closed his eyes and his shoulders drooped.

  “You got that right,” he said. “I ain’t over it. Plenty of excuses I could use. I never got the chance to say goodbye. No body. No funeral. I got stuck in quarantine most of it, gettin’ poked and prodded.” His eyes opened, glistening slightly. “But I ain’t there now, if you notice. I picked my mop and bucket back up and went to work again. Maybe if there’d been some closure, I coulda let it go, but I ain’t ever had that kinda luck.” He stood, joints clicking to match his winces. “The truth is, I don’t wantcha to give up ’cause I need you with me.”

  She stared up at him. “Why? I’ve been nothing but trouble since you got stuck with me.”

  “I can’t do this on my own, Dani. And you’re the only one I trust here.”

  “What about Stewart?”

  Ben bumped a shoulder. “That codger will do what he has to to get through this, but he’ll scamper at the first chance. I need someone I can depend on.”

  Dani rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to pacify the emotions head-butting each other in her stomach.

  “Promise this isn’t about me being a stand-in for Karen.”

  “Hate to wound you, kiddo, but don’t imagine for a second that you’d ever replace her.” He offered a hand. “Whaddya say? Help this old fart finish the job?”

  Dani gripped it and hauled herself up.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Ben led Dani out of the cave and over to where Sydney and Stewart sat on a mound of black rock. Twenty feet behind them, another smaller pile stood where they’d buried Patty.

  Ben glanced at Dani as they approached. Her features still twisted every so often, moving to the verge of tears and then back. Sydney looked questioningly to Dani, and she shook her head. To Ben’s surprise, the entropy mage appeared truly saddened that she didn’t desire his comfort.

  Stewart rose and snapped a salute. “What’s the plan, boyo? Please tell me we’re gonna be movin’. M’butt’s gone numb sittin’ on this heap, watchin’ a whole lotta nothin’ go by.”

  While Dani had been recovering, Ben had been thinking through the situation, taking stock of all that happened, their limited resources, and where they needed to go from here. It felt like raking through mud for precious gems, but he’d unearthed a few gleams of hope; so long as they turned out to be pearls, and not bits of tinfoil, they might stand a chance.

  “I got a feelin’ that we ain’t got much time before Destin finds the hybrid,” he said. “The moment he lays a hand on it, ain’t nobody gonna be able to face him down.”

  Dani hugged herself and shivered. “Then can you get us out of here so we can stop him?”

  He raised a finger. “Wrong question. The right one is: do we wanna get outta here?”

  “Yes,” they chorused.

  “Good thing this ain’t a democracy.” Ben waved aside their grumbles and pointed at Dani. “You did a better job than you mighta thought in gettin’ us outta the Recycling Center.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He paced a few steps away and then turned so he could eye them all at once. “Stirred my noggin a bit while you were restin’ up. And I figured we’re right where we need to be. Or close enough.”

  Sydney sat up straighter. “I believe I see what you’re saying.”

  Ben nodded. “Where else is the hybrid gonna be safe but here in the Gutters? Ain’t no native life, and barely anythin’ skips between the realms all that often. It’s neutral ground, so it ain’t gonna react to Pure or Corrupt energies in any tellin’ way. And the hybrid’s gonna be mostly cut off from our world.”

  “Except for when it’s trying to kill us,” Dani groused.

  “Now, don’t be blamin’ it,” Ben said. “No more than you’d blame a baby for screamin’ when it’s hungry or poopin’ its diaper full.”

  “Yeah, but infants don’t conjure demons to smother me.”

  “So it’s a baby on magical steroids. Ain’t no reason to hold a grudge.”

  “Even assuming it’s somewhere in this realm,” Sydney said, “how do we find it? How do we search through an infinite number of dead worlds for a single godling? It could take lifetimes to visit each one, even if we had the ability.”

  Ben grinned. “We don’t gotta search. We get it to come to us.”

  Dani glared. “This better not be where you say I get used as bait.”

  “Naw. You’re the net.”

  A roll of her eyes. “Wonderful. I’m the net. Why do I get that dubious honor?”

  “You’re stronger than any of us. There are still enough elements around that respond to your power, an advantage the hybrid ain’t gonna have. It’s gotta draw straight from itself for any energy; figurin’ how long it’s been doin’ that already, its tummy is probably growlin’ for power. That’s how we’re gonna get its attention—offer it a source of energy to feed on.”

  “What source?” Dani frowned when he tapped his chest. “Wait. Why you? How does that work?”

  “Think about it,” he said. “We know one thing for sure: the hybrid’s been drawn to you and me, yeah?” He pointed her way. “Filth said her child took a fancy to you ’cause you’re both newborns, so to say. But I got a couple other bits in my favor. First off, I got both Pure,” he raised his infected arm, “and Corrupt energies inside me. They ain’t exactly gettin’ along, but I still match its dual-nature enough to snag its attention. Plus, I got a trump card.”

  He explained how Filth had invested some of her power into his infested arm. “I think she just wanted to strengthen me, but her taint sweetens the deal. Every babe knows its mother’s smell, so …” He paused, lips pursed. “Well, just think of me as a big ol’ bottle of mother’s milk.”

  Their faces screwed up.

  “Did not need that mental image,” Dani said. “But if you’re some supernatural nursemaid, why hasn’t it arrived yet? If it’s here, it should’ve sensed you and shown up.”

  Ben frowned. “Been thinkin’ about that too. Best I can figure, the energies and Filth’s taint ain’t stro
ng enough.”

  “So how do we make them stronger?” she asked.

  Ben faced Sydney and smiled. After a few seconds, comprehension dawned on the mage’s face, but he crossed his arms in refusal.

  “No, Janitor. You will not ask that of me.”

  Dani frowned. “What? Say it, already. I hate feeling like I’m the only here who isn’t telepathic. Or is that something else you’ve been keeping secret?”

  “The easiest way is gonna be weakening my body until it can’t resist the Ravishing no longer,” Ben said. “The more it gets a hold on me, the more it oughta magnify the Corrupt energies. Make ’em powerful enough to hook our prize and reel it in.”

  Alarm sparked through her eyes. “But … won’t that … kill you?”

  “Not if Sydney does his job right. I ain’t askin’ him to turn me into dust. I gotta stay alive for this to work, but I’m gonna be weaker than a crippled kitten, sure for shootin’. That’s why you gotta be the front-woman. I ain’t gonna be much help.” He turned back to the mage, who had turned subtly away as if to deflect Ben’s words. “C’mon, Sydney. You can finally get your hands on me and do some real damage.”

  “Not this way, Benjamin. It isn’t …”

  “It ain’t what?”

  Sydney looked aside and rubbed his brow. “Honorable.”

  Dani snorted. “Since when do you believe in honor?”

  “Despite your preconceived notions on how I operate, I maintain several strict rules of conduct. One of them is to never facilitate suicides. Do you know how many people, once they learn of my ability, come begging to be erased from their miserable existences? It is incredibly tiresome.”

  Stewart coughed and raised a hand. “Beggin’ pardons, but I’s seein’ a few problems with your plan.”

  Ben nodded for him to go ahead. Stewart shuffled in place and adjusted the garbage bag thrown over one shoulder.

  “As I’m seein’, you’s needin’ him,” he pointed to Sydney, “to gets you on death’s bed so the muck takes over, right? Raise a big enough stink and Filth’s kid comes a-sniffin’.”

  “Yup.”

  “Then how’s he gonna do it if’n he ain’t got no power here? None of his fancy hand wavin’ works in this place.”

  “That’s the one knot I ain’t untangled yet.” Ben nodded to where Dani had scratched the X in the dirt. “We gotta figure out how to open the intersection. If we link this world and ours, Sydney can go all jazz-hands on me and everythin’ hops from there.” He eyed each of them in turn. “Any ideas?”

  While Sydney and Stewart frowned at each other, Dani came up and grabbed Ben’s good arm. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?”

  She dragged him away until they were out of voice range of the others. Then she squared off with him and her eyes glittered with contained anger.

  “Get a burr stuck under your saddle?” he asked.

  “Ben, I don’t like this.”

  “It’s the best chance we got.”

  “But you’ll die!”

  “Mebbe. Mebbe not. It ain’t the way I planned to go out either, princess, but few folks really get the choice of how or when.”

  She made fists. “Why? Why are you willing to throw yourself away for this monster? It’s tried to kill us. It’s not even human! It’s done nothing to deserve this kind of sacrifice from you.”

  He lowered his head. Truth was, he’d been arguing similarly against himself earlier, when the first outline of his plan took shape. But underneath it all lay the convictions that got him involved with the Cleaners from the very beginning. The same ones Karen had shared, and that the two of them had fought so hard to uphold.

  “Dani, this hybrid ain’t a monster. Sure, it’s got plenty of potential to be, but so did you when your power kicked into gear.” She winced. “It ain’t some fresh power source to be tapped into, neither. That’s the way Destin sees it, and I’d like to think I’m a far cry from him. It deserves a chance to live, just like any of us.”

  “So do you!”

  He smiled sadly. “I’ve had my life, princess. I admit, it was a bit shorter than I woulda guessed, but there’ve been a few bright spots along the way. I took this job knowin’ it was gonna be the death of me someday. If that’s what it takes to finish this, then I’m ready. Might as well make it count, eh?”

  Tears welled in her eyes. Fearing any outpouring of emotion on her end, which might release the ones he held tightly under control, he drew her into a hug and made his voice gruff.

  “Hey, don’t start missin’ me already, kiddo. I ain’t dead yet.”

  He held her as she silently quaked in his arms. In the distance, Sydney and Stewart had turned their backs to them and conferred with animated gestures.

  “You can do this, Dani,” he said. “If I ain’t there at the end, I’m countin’ on you to be. You gotta promise me that much.”

  After a few more sniffles, she backed up, wiping her face and nodding. Ben grinned, unable to help himself. The earth of this world had stained all their hands and much of their clothes by now, and when she rubbed at her tears, it left dark streaks across her cheeks and beneath her eyes.

  She looked suspiciously at his sudden change of mood, then noticed her black hands. Her responding grin was weak, but at least present.

  “We’re a sight, aren’t we?” She puffed a laugh. “What I wouldn’t give for a hot bath right now. Does HQ have any whirlpool saunas? You know, the ones with bubble jets?”

  Ben started to join in the laughter, then froze. Dani’s humor faded.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He ran over to the cairn and began flinging obsidian fragments aside. A few sharp edges made shallow cuts on his fingers and palms, but he didn’t slow down.

  Dani cried out behind him. “What’re you doing?”

  After tossing another handful of rocks aside, Patty’s blood-spattered jumpsuit became visible. They’d cleaned her up as much as possible and Ben took care not to disturb her remains more than he had to. Brushing aside pebbles and black dust, he found her breast pocket and zipped it open. A quick search retrieved the item he’d hoped to find, and he spent another minute restoring the cairn before returning to his companions.

  As he walked up, the three eyed him as if he’d just stepped out of a septic tank. He held up the small bar of soap he’d retrieved.

  “We’re gonna blow a bubble.”

  ***

  Chapter Thirty-five

  They exchanged worried looks.

  As if volunteering, Sydney stepped forward. “Being in this business for as long as I have, it pains me to ask: are you serious?”

  “Thanks,” Dani said. “I’m tired of being that person.”

  “If you work with soapy water most of your life, you’re gonna get pretty good at blowin’ bubbles,” Ben said, tossing the bar from one hand to the other. “You oughta see some of the illusions the window-watchers whip up with a simple film. But that ain’t what I got in mind. The realms don’t rightly mix it up with each other, but they do bump shoulders, like a buncha balloons rubbin’ against one another. We’re inside one, so all we gotta do is punch through to the one we came from.”

  Dani’s brows scrunched. “But if you poke a hole in a balloon, it pops.”

  “Look, the metaphor ain’t perfect, a’ight? Just go with it.”

  Ben snatched at the water collar on Sydney’s neck, drawing the liquid back to himself. An invisible tension left the entropy mage, who breathed in relief.

  “Thank you,” he said, scratching furiously at the nape of his neck. “I’ve had this itch for hours.”

  Ben displayed the water in one hand, the soap in the other. “We poke a hole through the intersection and slap a film over the breach. Goin’ with the whole balloon setup, figure that this realm is pretty much deflated, while ours is stuffed full of air. You’re gonna get an imbalance, eh? Part of our world oughta spill out over here and make a sorta bubble of life where Sydney’s powers’ll start workin’ again. H
e does what needs doin’ and we snag ourselves a hybrid.”

  Stewart squinched a craggy eye. “Wot’s to keep this hybrid-thingy from slippin’ right out through the hole we’s makin’? Ain’t that what we’s tryin’ to stop inna first place?”

  “Soon as it sticks its head up,” Ben said, “Dani stuns the hybrid however she can, you hit it with your best bindin’ spell, and we …” He indicated Sydney and himself. “We hope for the best.”

  Sydney sighed as he tugged his lapels straight. “Now this is a plan that fills me with confidence.”

  Ignoring him, Ben pointed at the trash mage. “Stewart, you help in preppin’ the bubble and trap. You got a lot more know-how in settin’ boundaries and containment spells than any of us combined.”

  “That’s a tough one to pull,” Dani said, “considering I have no experience whatsoever.”

  “Oi. Watch that tongue, lass.”

  Dani stuck hers out. “Bite me.”

  Sydney looked put out that he didn’t have anything to occupy himself with while the others bustled about. He sat back on the rubble heap while Ben and Stewart drew out the dimensions of the intended bubble in the dirt, forming a circle with Dani’s X set on the circumference.

  Stewart etched glyphs along the rest of the border. Some of these focused on connecting the intersection to a stable and safe location in their world. Others created the basis for the containment spell. It took him a solid hour, and he finished with a design of three arrows forming the corners of a triangle, set on the opposite side of the circle to the X. When he stepped back with a satisfied nod, Ben surveyed the large circle, at least fifty feet in diameter.

  “Looks solid enough.” Honestly, half of what Stewart had etched into the ground went beyond his comprehension. Summoning and binding never were his strengths, but what he understood appeared workable. He held an arm out as Dani leaned in. “Careful. Don’t wanna mess up the squiggly lines. Any one of them gets broken, and everythin’s gonna bust up in our faces.”

  She took several careful steps back. “Um, Ben?”