Maggie stared at him, stepped around Fiona, and looked over at the workbench.
When she saw the box, she said, “You opened it?” Though her voice was probably the calmest Eric had ever heard it, he got the sense that she was nearly as upset as Fiona.
“I’m sorry,” Uncle Colin said, “but science waits for no one.”
Maggie led the other girls over to the workbench. She reached out, her fingers hovering over the frame of the box, but she didn’t touch it.
“You wouldn’t believe what was in there,” Eric said. “Remember the key I lost last week?” He held up the key. “It was in one of the drawers. One of my swim medals was there, too. And a coin my uncle gave me. And an eraser.”
Maggie moved her hand over the opening for drawer number one. “You shouldn’t have opened it,” she said, still calm. “It wasn’t yours.”
“It is now,” Uncle Carl told her as he set a large roll of plastic wrap next to the box. “Now step back.”
Everyone but Uncle Carl and Uncle Colin moved away from the Maker’s box. The two uncles then started wrapping it in plastic.
“They shouldn’t do that,” Maggie whispered.
“What’s wrong with you?” Eric asked. “Your headache?”
She looked at him. “I feel fine. They just shouldn’t have taken that. It’s not theirs.”
Eric shrugged, and figured Maggie must still be upset about waking up in the car and not in her bed.
Bwamp. Bwamp-bwamp. Bwamp. Bwamp-bwamp.
Eric looked over his shoulder. “What’s that?”
“An alarm,” Mr. Trouble said.
He and Uncle Colin rushed to a monitor at the far end of the workbench where the noise seemed to be coming from. Eric and the others followed.
“Well?” Mr. Trouble asked.
Uncle Colin pushed a couple of buttons on an instrument mounted to the wall, then looked up at the big monitor. There was some distortion and Eric got the distinct impression the image was rewinding. When it started playing forward again, the picture looked the same as before: a quiet field turned green by the night-vision camera.
Suddenly, the shape of a man entered the frame from the right and walked quickly across the monitor, disappearing four seconds later on the left.
Bwamp. Bwamp-bwamp. The alarm sounded on another monitor.
Then another. Bwamp. Bwamp-bwamp.
Then another. And another.
Soon alarms rang out from all the monitors.
Uncle Colin turned to face the others. “They’re here.”
26
“Fiona, dart guns,” Mr. Trouble said. “Uncle Colin, goggles.”
Fiona sprinted to a padlocked metal cabinet near the door and started inputting the combination.
Uncle Colin, though, seemed unsure what to do. “Night vision or Maker vision?”
“It would sure be nice if they were both,” Mr. Trouble said.
“Right. Well, uh, we’ll get on that when we get back home to the lab.”
“Night vision, then, and hurry.”
Now with a sense of purpose, Uncle Colin moved quickly to one of the cabinets under the workbench and pulled it open.
“Uncle Carl, Keira, communication gear for everyone,” Mr. Trouble ordered.
They nodded and headed for a different cabinet.
“Mom, you’re in the cockpit,” Mr. Trouble said. “Even if you don’t hear my signal, if you get the slightest sense that someone’s trying to get in, take off.”
Mother Trouble looked at Eric and Maggie. “Isn’t he precious when he takes charge?”
“Mom, now.”
“On my way, dear.”
She headed to the dry-erase wall and pushed in on one spot. A whole panel popped out, revealing a ladder that went up a few feet to a door that Eric guessed opened into the long hallway where the bedrooms were.
“Catch,” Keira said.
She tossed something to her brother and then to Eric and Maggie. They looked like wireless headsets for cell phones, complete with an elaborate loop that would hold them tight to the ear.
Eric fumbled with his for a moment before getting it in place.
“There’s a button on the back,” Mr. Trouble said. “Push that and you should be up and running.”
Eric pushed the button. Suddenly every noise in the room screamed into his ear. He ripped the whole thing off and rubbed the side of his head.
“There’s a volume control on top,” Mr. Trouble explained. “They’re supposed to be turned down after every use, but sometimes,” he shot Uncle Carl a look, “they aren’t.”
Eric adjusted the volume and warily put the headset back on. As promised, it was much better this time.
“You and Maggie will stick with me,” Mr. Trouble told him.
“What are we going to do?” Eric asked.
“The others are going to draw the attention of our new guests, while the three of us head for the car and get out of here. Maggie, are you having trouble with that?”
Maggie was still holding her earpiece in her hand. “No.” She hooked the device over her ear. “There. Better?”
Great, Eric thought. Now was not the time for Maggie to be pumping out the attitude.
Fiona rushed over carrying several dart guns. She gave one to her brother then nodded toward Eric and Maggie. “What about them?”
Mr. Trouble thought for a moment then shook his head. “Let’s not.”
“Yeah,” Fiona said. “They might just shoot themselves.”
“Or one of us,” Keira threw in.
Uncle Colin began handing out goggles. “Don’t put them over your eyes until you’re outside,” he told Eric and Maggie.
Mr. Trouble glanced at the monitors. “The way to the car’s still clear so we should get a move on it now. Fiona, Keira, you know your job?”
“Yep,” Keira said, checking her dart gun.
Fiona nodded, looking ready for action.
“Uncle Colin, Uncle Carl, you’re on the monitors,” Mr. Trouble said. “Keep us informed of anything going on.”
Both men nodded.
“Okay, everyone. One last thing. I think we should assume that there aren’t just surrogates out there.” There was a sudden stillness in the room. “The Makers must be worried that Eric is slipping through their grasp, so I have a feeling they’re trying a big push. If you see a Maker, run. Don’t try to fight them, or capture them, or even talk to them. Just deal with the surrogates. Am I clear?”
Keira nodded. “They’re the last things I want to see.”
“Fiona?” Mr. Trouble asked. “You heard me, right? No heroics.”
“I heard you,” she said.
“That’s not exactly a confirmation of my order.”
“Was it an order?”
“Yes. It was.”
She gritted her teeth then gave him a single terse nod. “Fine.”
That seemed to be good enough for Mr. Trouble. He turned to Eric and Maggie. “You guys ready?”
“How will we even know if a real Maker’s around?” Eric asked. “We’re not going to be wearing the right goggles.”
“True. We wouldn’t see them the way my uncles did a few minutes ago, but what we might see are the bodies they possess.” He took a breath and looked at Eric, his face more serious than ever. “See, that’s what they want you for. They need your body. The only way they can increase their numbers is to possess kids like you.”
“You mean because of the marker in my skin,” Eric said.
Mr. Trouble nodded. “To possess you, they need you at your lowest point. So they beat you down, make you think you’re going crazy, that everything’s hopeless, then they take you.”
Eric stared at him. “What…what would happen to me if they did?”
“I can’t tell you for sure, but my guess is that the you you know, the things that make you who you are…they’d all be gone. Only your body would be left.”