Maggie’s bed was against the wall opposite her window. The blanket-covered lump lying in the middle of it had to be her. The mood she’d been in, no way would she have let Fiona or Keira use it. They would be somewhere on the floor, in the darkest part of the room.
He bent at the waist. “Fiona,” he whispered.
No one stirred.
“Fiona,” he repeated, a little louder this time.
Still nothing.
He took a frustrated breath, then said, “Fiona,” in a voice loud enough to wake all three of them. No one stirred. Apparently, girls were heavy sleepers.
He lowered himself to his knees and crawled toward the center of the room. After a moment, he could just make out two shapes similar to the one on Maggie’s bed. Which was Fiona and which was Keira, he couldn’t tell, but it didn’t really matter.
He grabbed what he guessed was a foot on the lump closest to him and gave it a shake. “Hey.”
Nothing.
He shook it again, harder this time. “Hey, wake up.”
When that didn’t work, he switched to the other lump and repeated what he’d just done.
Not even a twitch.
What would they do if there was a fire? Just sleep through it? Come to think of it, this is a fire!
No longer concerned about being selective, he said, “Hey, you guys. Come on. I need you to wake up! One of those Maker robots…” he paused, searching for the right word, “…surrogates is outside right now. We’ve got do something. Hey, come on! Are you guys even listening to me?”
Apparently they weren’t. And apparently neither were Maggie’s parents, because Eric was pretty sure he’d been loud enough to wake them, too.
The annoyance he’d been feeling quickly changed to fear.
He crawled over to the bed.
“Hey, Maggie,” he said, pushing on her leg.
Same non-response.
He turned back to Fiona and Keira. They were breathing slowly and steadily, like they were in a deep sleep.
“Come on. Wake up!” He tugged Fiona’s shoulder, rolling her onto her back. It should have been more than enough to wake her, but her eyelids didn’t even flutter.
He was about to try the same with Keira when he heard the sniffing sound again. Peter was indeed coming around to the front yard.
Maybe he’s leaving.
Eric stepped gingerly over the girls and to the window. Carefully, he lifted the shade a couple of inches and looked out. Peter was standing on the front lawn fifteen feet away.
Not only was he not leaving, he wasn’t alone.
19
It took a moment before Eric recognized the man at Peter’s side. It was one of the gardeners from school who’d been helping Peter and the others try to kidnap Eric.
The two of them were facing the street, neither of them saying a word. Then, without warning, Peter’s head tilted back, his nose jutting into the air.
Snnnnniffffff.
Eric let go of the shade, just as Peter started to turn toward the house, and scrambled over to Fiona. “Please,” he said, rocking both of her shoulders. “Wake up.”
But waking up was definitely not happening.
He sat back. For the second time in twenty-four hours, he wished he had that stupid unicorn necklace. He could have signaled Mr. Trouble with it if it wasn’t still sitting in his room at home.
As he dropped his hand to the ground, feeling completely helpless, it knocked into Fiona’s book bag. He growled at it then grabbed it by the handles, intending to throw it across the room in frustration. But he stopped himself at the last second.
Maybe…
He set the bag in his lap and started feeling around inside. He found what he was looking for near the bottom. Fiona’s phone. She would have Mr. Trouble’s phone number.
He pushed one of the buttons and the display lit up. Only the screen that appeared wasn’t what he expected. There were five empty squares running across the center, and above the boxes were the words: Enter Security Code.
No!
Her phone was locked.
“Think, think,” he whispered. “What would she use for a code?”
The only things he could come up with were numerical versions of her brother’s, her sister’s, or her own name. They were each five characters long so they would fit. He tried Ronan first: 76626. Wrong Code. Fiona next: 34662. Wrong Code. Even as he was inputting Keira—53472—he knew he’d get the same response. But not only did he get Wrong Code, he also got Please Wait Three Minutes Before Trying Again.
Groaning, he dropped his chin to his chest.
Awesome. Just…awesome.
Then he glanced over at Keira. He’d never seen her use a cell phone, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have one.
He found her bag and searched through it. He found her phone in a side pocket. It was the same model as her sister’s, the only difference being Keira’s was bright red and Fiona’s was purple.
This time he wasn’t surprised when the screen that came up read: Enter Security Code.
He tried the numerical version of Ronan again, with the same result. He then input Keira, and was quickly informed of his wrong choice. He started to input Fiona, but hesitated before entering the last digit. No way either sister would use each other’s name as their pass code.
But if not Fiona, then what?
How was he supposed to know? He’d only met Keira a day and a half earlier. The only thing he knew about her was that she really liked Noriko’s Revenge.
There’s no way I’m going to be able to figure out—
He paused.
Noriko’s Revenge.
He erased Fiona’s name from the Enter Security Code screen. He typed in 62642 and hit enter. The security-code screen disappeared. And instead of being replaced by the Wrong Code message, he was greeted with a normal, active cell-phone screen.
He smiled. Manga. That had been the answer.
He located Keira’s address book and scrolled until he found an entry labeled “Ronan.”
He selected Ronan’s number then held the phone to his ear. After three rings he began to wonder if perhaps Mr. Trouble had fallen into a deep sleep, too.
But then the call connected and Mr. Trouble said in a tired voice, “Keira? Is something wrong?”
“It’s me. Eric.”
There was a pause. “Eric?”
“We’ve got a big problem.”
“Where’s Keira? Why are you using her phone?”
“She’s asleep. Fiona, too. I can’t wake them up. I’ve tried, but I can’t. And Peter Garr and one of those other Maker surrogates are outside.”
“They’re outside right now?”
“They were when I looked a minute ago.”
“Hold on.” Mr. Trouble put something over the phone, muffling his voice. “Uncle Carl? Uncle Carl, wake up, we’ve got a situation at the house.” There was a pause. “Uncle Carl? Uncle Carl! Great.” He groaned. “I should have expected this.” His voice came back clear again. “Eric, you still there?”
“Yes.”
“Listen to me very carefully. You need to get my sisters up, and then have one of them call me. I’ve got, uh, a similar situation here.”
“I’ve tried. They’re not waking up.”
“You have to figure some way. Your best bet is probably Fiona. That talisman you held yesterday might be what made you less affected by the…well, it doesn’t matter what. Since Fiona came in contact with it, too, it’s possible she might be able to snap out of it more easily than Keira.”