A vacuum sound came from the driveway below. A puff of vac dust from one of the BEM men struck the bottom of the rising car. The suction force on the SUV jerked Spencer forward. He slammed into the windowsill and felt the jump rope dragging him over.

Just when Spencer thought he was going to swan dive onto the concrete driveway, Alice broke her panicky monologue, leapt forward, and grabbed his legs. Her eyes were closed with fear, but she pulled with all the desperation of an overly protective mother.

Mop strings, cast from below, whipped against the toy-room window and licked at the underside of the dangling SUV. But the car was too high for the mops to get a solid grip on such a large object.

The vac dust subsided, causing Alice and Spencer to stumble backward. The SUV grated against the last few feet of brick and came to rest at the base of the toy-room window. The top of the car was level with the windowsill, like a perilous balcony.

"Okay, Mom," Spencer said. "You're not going to like this, but I need you and Max to climb onto the roof of the car." To show that it was secure, Spencer picked up his luggage with one hand and tossed it onto the car. The SUV wobbled unconvincingly, but at least the plunger's grip was trustworthy.

Alice's face was white, her hands shaking. She swallowed hard and shook her head. This was going to take some serious convincing.

"Max," Spencer said. "Can you be brave and show Mom what to do?"

"No, Max," said Alice.

Spencer hated going against his mom like this, but it was their only chance of escape. "Max. I need you to climb out the window and lie down on top of the car."

His little brother pulled a face. "Are you trickin' me?"

"No, I'm serious. If you do it, I promise I'll give you all my leftover Halloween candy." It wasn't much, but the offer of candy settled it for Max.

The little boy ran to the windowsill, and Spencer boosted him with a knee. Alice gave a shriek as her youngest son crawled onto the top of the hanging vehicle.

That seemed to spur her motherly instincts. She raced to the window. Max was clinging tightly to the car, a mischievous smile on his face. "Spencer Alan Zumbro!" Alice shouted. "Are you out of your mind?"

Spencer heard shouting from the BEM workers below. One said, "They're climbing out the window!" Another called, "Get the brooms from the van!"

If the enemy had brooms, Spencer's advantage would be ruined. Spencer pointed at the pile of Glopified equipment. "Please, Mom. I need you to get all that stuff on top of the car."

More shouting from the driveway below.

"If we don't get out of here, they'll ... they'll ..." Would the BEM actually kill him if they had the chance?

"They'll what?" Alice shouted.

"They'll take me." He lowered his voice. "Just like they took Dad." Spencer didn't know for sure if the BEM was behind his father's disappearance, but he hoped the implication would be enough to spur his mom into action.

Alice's face was tight. Spencer knew the look. She was trying to hold back her temper. "You're going to be in so much trouble if we survive this!"

Alice grabbed the box of Glopified equipment and shoved it recklessly onto the roof of the car. Max giggled as the SUV teetered and grated against the house.

Spencer used his foot to scoot a broom within arm's reach. He'd need a broom in order for this plan to succeed. Spencer gestured to the rest of the pile. "Quick, Mom." He glanced at the BEM men below, already headed back from the van with Glopified brooms.

Muttering incoherently, Alice gathered up the load of mops and brooms. Then, closing her eyes against the height of the open window, Alice extended her arms and pushed the supplies onto the car. She cracked one eye open.

"I can't do this," Alice whispered, suddenly dizzy. "I can't climb out there."

"You've got to," Spencer urged. "It's the only way."

Max turned to the open window. "It's fun," he said. Then, to Alice's horror, the three-year-old stood up. Once she got over the urge to faint, Alice found the courage to climb onto the windowsill.

"Sit down, Max!" she said. "You sit down right now!"

Instead, the little guy took two shaky steps forward and reached a hand out for his mother. "Come on," he said. "It's okay out here."

Alice grabbed Max's hand and slid off the windowsill. The car shifted with her weight and Max toppled into her arms. Holding her son tightly, Alice went spread-eagle on her stomach, gripping the car top rack with white knuckles.

In the driveway below, the BEM workers were spreading out with their brooms, gauging the distance and angle of the flight that would get them to the window. Spencer knew he had one chance to get safely away. If he failed, it could cause immeasurable damage to property, not to mention serious injury to his mom and brother.

Holding the SUV easily with one hand on the rope, Spencer bent down and picked up the broom he'd scooted aside. He backed across the toy room, feeding the jump ropes through his hands as he went. He'd need lots of momentum for this to work.

Spencer had his back to the wall, the jump ropes stretching across the toy room and the SUV still dangling at the windowsill. Suddenly, two BEM workers soared into view on brooms, closing on the toy-room window from both sides. Spencer hefted the broom in his left hand and drew a deep breath.

He sprinted forward, kicking and scattering toys in his way. The jump rope went slack and the SUV plummeted toward the driveway. Spencer heard his mother scream as he vaulted through the open window and slammed the bristles of the broom against the sill.

Spencer shot forward like a bottle rocket, narrowly missing the airborne BEM workers and angling up and away from the house. The jump rope went taut and the SUV swung over the driveway, barely escaping mop strings from another BEM worker below.

Max was laughing, Alice was screaming, and Spencer breathed a sigh of relief. It worked! The Glopified toilet plunger had adjusted the car's weight so the broom was easily able to bear the load away.

They soared over the street and Spencer squinted against the light as the sun peered over the neighbor's roof. Eyes widening, Spencer realized that he'd breathed that sigh of relief too soon.

From his angle on the broom, Spencer would easily clear the roof of the house across the street. But the SUV, dangling so many feet below, was on a flight path straight for the neighbor's second-story window!

Spencer fought the urge to panic. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the three BEM workers from the driveway had struck their brooms and launched in pursuit of the escaping SUV.

Instinct told Spencer how to react. He swung the rope up, looping it over the flying broom. Using one hand, he began to pull frantically.

He seemed to be hoisting the car in slow motion. Despite the cold, Spencer's hands grew sweaty as the time to impact drew nearer.

Glancing down, he saw the SUV only feet away from the neighbor's house. Closing fast, the nearest BEM worker reached out, almost seizing the vehicle's b.u.mper.

Desperately, Spencer gave one final pull on the rope, as hard as he could. The dangling car lifted above the gutter, but not quite high enough.

The SUV tires squealed as they dragged along the roof's shingles, leaving four tracks of black rubber across the frosted rooftop. Spencer's broom jerked and he almost lost his grip. But the Glopified broom was powerful, and the toilet plunger was still working its magic on the payload.

The SUV bounced off the roof, cleared the peak of the house, and sailed freely over the neighbor's backyard. The pursuing BEM workers did not share the same fortune. The unalterable course of their brooms sent them slamming into the side of the neighbor's house. Spencer cringed at the sound of shattering gla.s.s; he could only a.s.sume that one of the BEM workers had sailed right into the neighbor's second-story bedroom. Flood Damage Cleanup & Repair was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

The ground dropped suddenly as the Zumbros' flying vehicle soared away from the steep slope of Hillside Estates. There were no obstacles now, just the open farm fields of small-town Welcher.

The Glopified broom gradually descended. The SUV touched down first, bouncing and skidding into a freshly harvested field of potatoes. The jump rope went tight, angling the broom into a nosedive. Spencer let go just before he hit the cold ground.

Spencer rose to his feet and dusted off his knees. In contrast to the rush of flying and the anxiety of their escape, it seemed peaceful and quiet in the middle of the potato field. Spencer couldn't have asked for a much better landing pad.

"Spencer?" his mom called from the top of the vehicle.

"I'm okay, Mom," he answered.

"Well, you better enjoy your last few moments of being okay, because as soon as I get down from here ..."

Chapter 14.

"Don't get all technical on me."

Alice actually calmed down a lot faster than Spencer thought she would. In no time, they had the car loaded and running. Spencer clipped on his seat belt as they drove through the b.u.mpy field of potatoes.

Max made some noise, strapped into his car seat, but other than that, the drive to Dez's was remarkably silent. The pa.s.senger side of the SUV was scratched terribly, the side mirror broken completely off. Spencer apologized again, but the look on his mom's face said she wasn't ready to accept it yet.

Spencer sighed. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe there had been a better way to escape than flying the SUV recklessly through Hillside Estates. His mom had shared a few ideas, but Spencer had quickly dismissed them. He'd taken on the situation alone, just like when he'd pulled the fire alarm, or rushed into the library to rescue Dez from the chalk bomb.

"This is it," Alice said, pulling the car into a tight parking lot.

"Dez lives here?" Spencer scanned the area in disbelief. It was a row of dingy, small apartments. Trash littered the parking lot; rust stains dripped down the walls. Paint peeled off the doors, like it was trying to get away. Rickety metal stairs led to a second floor of apartments.

Alice put her hand on the horn, but before she could honk, a door at the top of the stairs opened. Daisy came out, suitcase in hand. Her coat was zipped to her neck and she wore winter gloves. She reached the SUV and tossed in her suitcase as Dez appeared at the top of the stairs, pulling the apartment door shut.

"I'm glad you guys finally got here," Daisy said. "It was so hot in there."

Spencer saw that Daisy's hair was clinging to her forehead with sweat. "Why didn't you take off your coat?" Spencer asked.

Daisy lowered her voice. "There was nowhere to put it." She shuddered. "You would have died in there, Spencer."

Daisy glanced up the stairs to where Dez was struggling to lock the apartment door. She jumped into the SUV and started describing the apartment in fast-forward, trying to tell as much as possible before Dez reached the vehicle.

"The whole place smelled like the inside of a shoe, and there was garbage and stuff all over the floor, and it looked like n.o.body has ever tried to clean up. The TV was on, but it was playing a channel that I'm not supposed to watch, so I didn't, but I saw Dez's dad asleep on the couch. All he was wearing were little shorts-no shirt. All around him were empty cans. He must have been really thirsty, 'cause there were a lot of them. Then, all of a sudden, he just sat up-like a zombie coming out of the ground. He shouted five bad words and threw one of those c.o.ke cans across the room, hard as he could. Then, bam, back to sleep on the couch."

"Um," Alice said, "I don't think those were c.o.ke cans."

"Well, it didn't look like Sprite," said Daisy.

The car door suddenly opened as Dez reached the vehicle. It was like someone pressed a mute b.u.t.ton on Daisy. Her stream of commentary about Dez's home life ended instantly.

"What took you chumps so long?" Dez threw in his bag and climbed into the SUV.

"We flew!" Max said.

"Oh, seriously?" Dez moaned. "I have to sit by the little kid?"

"No, you don't have to," Alice said. "Spencer would be more than happy to strap you on top of the car, if you might like that better."

"No, thanks," Daisy said. "Too windy up there."

"Mom," Spencer begged, "I said I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Daisy asked.

Alice peeled out of the parking lot as Spencer tried to explain how they'd escaped from the BEM at Hillside Estates.

"You flew the car over your neighbor's house?" Daisy's eyes were wide when Spencer finished the story.

Dez rolled his eyes. "Come on, Gullible Gates," he said, bringing back his old nickname for Daisy. "Don't tell me you believe that junk." Dez suddenly reached up and pinched Spencer's arm.

"Ow!" Spencer jerked away. "Why would you do that?"

Dez shrugged. "This whole conversation about flying cars is so Twilight Zone ... I had to make sure I wasn't dreaming."

"Um ... don't you usually pinch yourself to see if you're dreaming?" Daisy asked.

"You think I'm dumb?" said Dez. "I don't want to hurt myself."

"Look," Spencer said, trying to regain control of the conversation. "No one's dreaming, and no one got hurt."

"What about me?" said Alice. "Deep wounds here, Spencer." She pointed to her head. "Serious emotional damage to your mother." Her face went tight again. "We all could have died."

"Wasn't there another way out?" Daisy said.

"I had a few ideas," Alice said. "Apparently they weren't risky enough for Spencer."

Spencer slumped against the pa.s.senger seat. The SUV filled with awkward silence. It was going to be a long drive to Colorado.

"Here." It was Dez who broke the silence. "I filled out that application you printed for me." He handed the Academy paperwork to Spencer. "Why'd they have to ask such hard questions?"

"Well, let's see ..." Spencer unfolded the papers. "Yep. You got your name right. Wait. Here's a tricky one. What is your birthday?"

"Hey! Stop looking at my answers!" Dez shouted. "Spencer's cheating!" He lunged for the application, but Spencer pulled away.

"I've still got to spray the signatures," Spencer said.

"Well, hurry up and do it."

Spencer unfolded his own application and looked at the list of signatures at the bottom. Most were so extravagant that they weren't even legible-big loops and indecipherable scribbles. They would have been impossible to forge by hand, but they didn't stand a chance against Walter's Glopified ink remover.

Spencer reached between the seats and grabbed the small bottle from the box of supplies. He pulled off the plastic cap and gave a few sprays onto the signatures. A fine mist settled, and the paper barely wrinkled from the moisture. The handwritten names seemed to absorb the Glopified spray.

Before it could dry, Spencer took Dez's application and pressed it tightly against the damp ink. When he peeled the papers apart, the original signatures looked untouched, but an identical copy had bled through onto Dez's page.

"So," Dez piped up. "What kind of stuff are we going to do at this sissy Academy?"

Alice glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "You're going to stay out of trouble and do what you're told."

"Oh, please," Dez said. "You're starting to sound like the mother I never had."