Here Comes Mr. Trouble

11

The same dinged-up sedan from the night before was waiting at the curb in front of the school. Mother Trouble was sitting behind the wheel this time and, much to Eric’s surprise, Maggie was sitting in the back.

Fiona got in up front while Eric and Keira squeezed into the rear seat with Maggie. As soon as the doors were shut, Mother Trouble hit the gas and they raced away from the school.

“What are you doing here?” Eric asked Maggie.

Fiona answered before Maggie could speak. “My brother was worried she might be targeted if you suddenly disappeared from school by coming with us. They know she’s your best friend so she’d be an obvious way to get to you. Like it or not, you’ve involved her in your troubles. Now we have to keep an eye on both of you.”

Maggie looked like she was doing everything she could to hold back her anger. “I was just going to the bathroom and they kidnapped me! Eric, we’re supposed to be in history right now, turning in our report. I swear, if we get an F, I’m going to…” The next sound out of her mouth was a frustrated growl.

“What?” Keira asked. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d love to hear what you’d do.”

“Ugh!” Maggie said, then turned to the window and crossed her arms.

After a few moments of silence, Mother Trouble asked, “Problems getting him out?”

“You could say that,” Fiona said.

“Maker attack,” Keira said.

Fiona shot her a look.

“What?” Keira said. “That’s what it was, and it’s not like these two don’t already know.”

Their mother pressed her lips tightly together.

Fiona glanced at her mom. “Ronan already told them about the Makers. He shouldn’t have done that.”

Her mother glanced over and then back at the road. “He’s under a lot of stress. It’s always hard when a new Mr. Trouble takes over.”

“He’s been in charge for over a year now,” Fiona argued.

“And it may take him another year before he feels completely comfortable. Your job is to support him, not give him a hard time. And we all know this particular case is turning out to be a little more involved than we expected.”

Fiona frowned.

“So,” Eric said after a few moments of silence, “are you saying that Peter and Tommy and Kyle are Makers?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Fiona said.

Maggie turned back from the window and looked at Eric. “What happened?”

He took a deep breath, then told her about Peter and his friends, the gold ball, and their escape.

As soon as he finished, Maggie leaned back against the seat, her eyes staring at an invisible point somewhere in the distance. He had seen the look before. She was in major think mode. Based on past experience, it could easily go on for several minutes. He asked Fiona, “What did you mean when you said ‘a little more complicated than that’?”

She looked back at him through the gap between the two front seats. “I mean your friends aren’t Makers.”

“Wait,” he said. “They’re not my friends. And, yes, they can be jerks most of the time. But the way they’ve been acting lately, especially just now, that’s not normal even for them. Something’s got to be wrong with them. Did you hear the way they sounded when they talked?”

“Monotone?” Keira suggested.

“Yes,” Eric said, his eyes widening. “Did they talk to you when you tried to stop them earlier?”

“No, but it’s standard.”

Eric stared at her for a second, then said in a voice much too loud for the car, “Standard for what? Robots in a science fiction movie?”

The silence that followed stretched for nearly half a minute. Finally, Eric said, “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Mother Trouble told him. “You shouldn’t be sorry. You have a lot on your mind.” She looked at him through the rearview mirror. “You’re worried about her, aren’t you? Your mother?”

The mention of his mom caught him by surprise. He was worried about her, every second of the day. He knew she couldn’t have gone on a business trip. Wherever she was, he had this dreadful feeling it had to do with him.

“Yes. I’m worried,” he whispered.

“Of course you are,” Mother Trouble said. “I’ll bet your mom would be proud of the fact you’re doing everything you can to bring her back. If you stay strong, you will see her again.”

“Are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be.”

He knew that wasn’t a guarantee, but it did make him feel a bit better.

Mother Trouble glanced at Fiona. “I think you should tell him.”

“I think we should wait,” Fiona whispered back.

But Eric’s hearing was better than most. “Wait for what?”

She huffed out a breath, then twisted in her seat again and looked directly at him. “Until we’re sure of what we’re dealing with.”

“Honey,” Mother Trouble said. “I’m pretty sure we know what we’re dealing with.”

“But it’s still just a guess,” Fiona said. “That’s not the way Dad taught us to do things.”

“Your father’s not in charge anymore. Your brother is. You need to remember that.”

Silence once again fell over the car, but this time it seemed different than before. Eric could feel the tension between the three Trouble family members. It was like Fiona had crossed a line she wasn’t supposed to.

Finally, Fiona said, “Mom…I’m…I’m…”

“Sweetheart,” Mother Trouble said. “I’m the one who’s sorry. If you feel like you should wait, then you should wait. I’d forgotten for a moment that you’re the team leader. That means it’s your decision, not mine.”

Fiona’s silence let everyone know that waiting was what they were going to do. But Eric had reached the point where he didn’t care what she thought was best. He wanted answers. As he leaned forward to tell her just that, Maggie grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. When he looked at her, she shook her head.

“Not now,” she mouthed.

She glanced past him at Keira, then up at Fiona. Eric followed her gaze.

Keira had turned so that she was looking out the window like she wanted to be anywhere else but there. And Fiona had tilted her head down and was staring at her lap. It was obvious to Eric that whatever they were thinking about had nothing to do with his problems. Maybe his questions could wait a little longer.

After ten minutes, the still-silent car pulled up next to the Lady Candice. At first, no one moved. Finally, Fiona and her mother looked at each other.

Mother Trouble smiled. “It’s okay, dear. Like I said, you didn’t say anything wrong.”

Fiona seemed to be holding off a tear as she tried to smile back.

Her mother reached out and touched Fiona’s cheek, then turned to the back seat. “All right. Let’s go. There’s work to be done.”

Once outside, Eric whispered to Maggie, “What exactly was that all about?”

She looked at him as if he were stupid, then shook her head and said nothing.

A noise from inside the plane preceded Mr. Trouble’s appearance in the doorway. “Ah, good, you’re here,” he said. “Everyone safe, I assume?”

Fiona wiped a hand across her cheek and said to the others, “Wait here.”

She strode with purpose over to the ladder and climbed up. The moment she reached the doorway, she started talking to her brother. Every few seconds, he would look past her toward Eric and Maggie, the expression on his face growing more and more serious each time.

When Fiona was through, Mr. Trouble patted her on the back and moved so she could pass inside. Once she was out of sight, he clapped his hands together and said, “All right, then. Mom, I think we need you up here for an XK-eleven.”

“I thought as much,” Mother Trouble said, heading toward the plane.

“Eric? Maggie? Keira will take you to the workshop.”

“Follow me,” Keira said.

She led them around to the very back of the aircraft, then opened a small metal panel. Inside was a touch screen that came to life when she brushed a fingertip across it.

“Stand clear,” she said.

As she touched the screen again, an electric motor began whirling somewhere just inside the craft. Almost immediately, a large section of the back of the plane lowered all the way to the ground like a drawbridge. Mounted on the other side of the section were stairs that led up the ramp into the Lady Candice.

“Hello!” Uncle Colin called down from the top of the ramp. As before, he was wearing his bright white lab coat. “Come in, come in.”

Eric shared a look with Maggie, then shrugged and headed up the ramp. Maggie followed behind, with Keira bringing up the rear.

As soon as Eric neared the top, Uncle Colin said, “I’m so happy you’re still with us.” With that, he turned and opened the door behind him. “Now, everyone inside.”

The room they were led into was larger than Eric expected. It took up what he guessed to be about a third of the plane. It was windowless and grew wider and taller going forward as it followed the shape of the fuselage. It was also filled with some of the oddest items Eric had ever seen on an airplane, either in person or in the movies.

Along each wall was a waist-high workbench complete with vices and clamps to hold things in place. Little sets of drawers containing who-knew-what ran along the back of the opposing benches, while tools hung on the wall above, held in place by plastic snaps. Under the benches were cabinets with clear plastic doors.

On the floor in front of each workbench were odd-looking metal tracks. They were made even odder by the wooden stools — one per side — attached to them. Eric figured they were designed so a person could sit on the stool and move from end to end as they worked without falling over.

On the walls that didn’t have hanging tools above the workbenches were dozens of electrical panels and devices. There were also several television monitors suspended from the ceiling on poles that seemed to allow the screens to be moved up out of the way or down into view as needed.

The wall at the other end of the room, opposite the door, was a floor-to-ceiling dry-erase board covered with notes, calculations, and a few anime character drawings. Keira’s contribution, no doubt.

Uncle Carl was sitting on one of the stools, fiddling with the dial of a device mounted to the wall in front of him. On the device’s four-by-four-inch screen were several yellow lines, their positions changing each time Uncle Carl turned the dial.

“Sit, sit,” Uncle Colin said.

Eric looked around. There was only the one empty stool. He motioned for Maggie to take it but she shook her head.

“It’s okay. You can have it,” he said.

“No. I don’t want it.”

“Just sit.”

“I said no.”

“What’s the problem?” Uncle Colin asked. Then his eyebrows shot up in realization. “Right. Of course. Only one. You’d think my math skills would be better than that. So, Eric, you should be the one to sit. You are the one we’re here for, after all.”

“It’s okay. I can stand.”

Uncle Colin seemed momentarily flustered. “Sure. You could stand. If that’s really what you’d like. But, um…” he hesitated. “It would be easier for me to put the scanner on your head if you were sitting down.”

“Scanner?” Maggie asked.

Eric looked alarmed. “What scanner?”

“Just your typical scanner. Well, with a few customized adjustments, of course.”

“What are you scanning me for?”

“Naturally, we need to test to see how much effect they’ve had on you.”

Eric had a million more questions but Keira said, “They used a talisman on him this afternoon.”

Uncle Colin jerked back as if he’d been shocked by a live wire. “Carl, did you hear that?”

Uncle Carl was still focused on his dial. “Hear what?”

“They…they used a talisman on him.”

Uncle Carl whirled around on the stool, a look of shock on his face. “What color?”

“Gold,” Keira said.

The two uncles stared at her for a moment, then put their heads together and whispered back and forth. When they pulled apart, Uncle Carl said, “Are you sure it was gold?”

“Show him,” Keira told Eric.

Carefully, he removed the sandwich bag from his backpack and held it out to the two uncles.

They immediately moved in for a closer look, their eyes only a few inches from the ball.

“Definitely gold,” Uncle Carl said.

“Definitely,” Uncle Colin agreed. “Spherical.”

“Yes,” Uncle Carl said, as if he were hoping it hadn’t been.

Without looking away, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ruler that had two sliding arms sticking from it. He placed one arm against the gold ball and slid the other arm until it was snug to the opposite side.

“Point-seven-five centimeters,” he read from the ruler.

“Are you sure?” Uncle Colin asked, surprised. “Did you take the thickness of the plastic bag into consideration?”

“Yes, yes. I took it into consideration.”

“That’s too big,” Uncle Colin said.

“Apparently not,” Uncle Carl said.

“You think that’s surprising,” Keira said. “Eric was able to move while he was still holding it.”

Both brothers instantly froze in place, staring at her.

Finally, Uncle Colin opened his mouth. “Wha…wha…what did you say?”

“You tell them,” she said to Eric.

“Uh, well, I couldn’t do anything at first except what they wanted me to do. Then, while everyone was fighting, my finger moved. I thought that if I could move a finger, I should be able to move everything.” He shrugged. “I guess whatever this thing is…a talisman, did you call it? I guess it must have run out of power.”

“My dear boy,” Uncle Carl said. “Talismans don’t ‘run out of power.’”

Uncle Colin leaned toward him. “You were…moving and holding the talisman?”

“Well, it was in my hand. The only thing I couldn’t do was open my fingers to let go of it.”

Uncle Collin looked at him for a moment, then looked at Uncle Carl, then back at Eric.

“My,” he said. “My, my, my, my, my, my. I believe, Carl, this is a first.”

“I believe you’re right,” his brother said.

Eric didn’t really care what it was. He shook the bag with the talisman in it. “Do I have to hold this thing all day or are you going to take it?”

“What?” Uncle Colin asked. “Oh, yes. Of course, of course.”

He pulled a rubber glove out of his pocket, put it on, then very gingerly took the bag from Eric. As he carried it over to the workbench, Uncle Carl pulled a container out of the storage cabinet and they put the ball inside. Once they’d sealed the container, they whispered to each other again.

Finally, they looked back at Eric, Uncle Colin wearing a large, forced smile on his face. “All right. Everything’s fine here. Nothing to worry about.” If possible, the smile grew wider. “Okay, the scanner, then.”

“Yes. The scanner,” Uncle Carl said, moving quickly to the other side of the workshop.

Uncle Colin put an arm around Eric’s shoulders and guided him to the stool. “If you’ll just sit here, it will make things much, much easier.” He glanced quickly at Keira then said in a voice he probably thought was quieter than it was, “When did he come in contact with…it?”

Keira shrugged. “I don’t know. Twenty or thirty minutes ago.”

“Which was it?” Uncle Carl asked. From the cabinet, he’d removed a plastic case that looked big enough to hold a bowling ball and was in the process of opening it on the workbench. “Twenty minutes or thirty minutes?”

“I don’t know,” Keira repeated. “We were a little too busy freeing him to check the time.”

“You should always check,” Uncle Carl said. “How many times have we told you that?”

“Uh, never,” she said.

“That can’t be true,” Uncle Colin said.

“Oh, believe me. It’s true.”

Uncle Colin smiled at Eric again and pushed him down on the stool. Then, without looking back at Keira, he said, “Well, you now know for next time. It could help you save someone’s life.”

“What?” Eric said, pushing himself to his feet.

“Oh, not you,” Uncle Colin said, gently forcing him back down. “You’re going to be fine. Just fine.” As he turned away, he added, “Hopefully, of course. Now where’s the scanner?”

“Hopefully?” Eric said.