Clean-freak college student Dani Hashelheim never imagined she’d discover her latent magical ability in, of all places, a bathroom. But when she ducks into the ladies’ room at the library, she’s put in the crossfire between an elderly janitor and a ravenous muck-monster that emerges from the sink. Dani’s previously unknown power manifests in self-defense, and she floods and burns down the library—at the same time. Enter Ben, the janitor, who works for the Cleaners, a supernatural sanitation company that keeps reality tidy and safe...and a company Dani now works for as well, whether she wants to or not. This puts a significant crimp in her dream to attend med school and become a doctor. Nor is Ben happy, since it’s his duty to help Dani adapt to the job and learn to control her chaotic talent before it kills them both. Dani barely has time to try on her new company uniform before she and Ben are hunted down by a cult that wants to cleanse all life from the planet, and believes her power provides the means to do so. While fighting to survive the cult’s increasingly violent recruitment attempts, the pair must battle dust devils, navigate a maze of mystical sewers, face down trash golems—and scrub the occasional toilet.

After surviving employee orientation without destroying the city with her new powers, Dani is finally a bonafide Cleaner. Raring to get to work and save the world from Corruption, she’s given the critical assignment of...full-time tools training. After all, what good are magic mops or squeegees if she doesn’t know how to properly wield them against Scum? For now, she’s stuck in sparring matches where her pride is getting as bruised as her body. Ben, her janitor friend and mentor, is also struggling with being sidelined as a “consultant” after the loss of his powers. His only consolation is having gained information that could help solve the mystery of his wife’s death on a Sewer run gone horribly wrong—the same event that temporarily trashed his sanity. But when a maid goes berserk during a training session and tries to slaughter everyone with a feather duster, something is clearly afoul within the ranks of the Cleaners themselves. Company procedure brooks no compromise: Identify and quarantine the source of the Corruption at all costs. But who cleans the Cleaners? Especially when further enraged outbreaks seem to occur at random? As bodies begin to create quite the messy heap, it’s only a matter of time before the whole company is consumed by the madness—taking Dani and Ben down the drain with it.

In the aftermath of an emotion-manipulating virus that nearly wiped out the Cleaners, Dani has immersed herself in company work and training. After all, who has time for self-reflection when there are monsters to be mopped up? However, during one shift, she finds herself face-to-face with Sydney, the entropy wielding Scum able to turn anything to dust with a touch. He’s come to remind her of the deal she made so he’d spare a child’s life, and he’s not leaving until she upholds her side of the bargain—by going on a date with him. Ben, on the other hand, is dodging trouble of his own. Desperate to restore his powers, he’s submitted increasingly absurd ideas for doing so in the Employee Suggestion box, though he expects them to just be laughed off. When a concept gets unexpectedly approved for a trial run, it makes him a target for his coworkers, who are all-too-eager to put his theory to the test. Pity that it’s designed to leave him as miserable and paranoid as possible. Even as the two wage their private wars, strange forms of Corruption strike in the heart of Denver, transforming swaths of parks and neighborhoods into lifeless deserts and turning everything and everyone caught in the phenomena to sand. Scrambling to contain the situation, the Cleaners quickly target Sydney as the likeliest source of the disaster. While the entropy mage denies any involvement, his reputation is hardly spotless, and plenty of Cleaners are prepared to put him down at all costs. But after encountering another potential culprit, Dani finds herself inexplicably defending her would-be beau. As her own loyalties are called into question, she must still prepare to face her greatest challenge ever… Wearing a dress in public. “Action, intrigue and laugh-out-loud humor in an inventive and original world. A winner!” —Gail Z. Martin, author of Vendetta & The Chronicles of the Necromancer