Here Comes Mr. Trouble

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.”

“Okay,” Eric said, unconvinced. “But she hasn’t shown any signs of snapping out of it yet.”

“Just try,” Mr. Trouble said. “As soon as I get Uncle Carl going, we’ll be on our way. Can you handle it on your own for now?”

“Uh…um…sure. I guess. Just hurry, okay?”

“Keep this phone on you. If I don’t hear from you guys first, I’ll call as soon as I get there.”

After he hung up, Eric started to stuff the phone into his pants pocket but realized he was still in the pajamas his father had brought over. He tried tucking the cell in his waistband but that didn’t work either. He’d have to carry it.

He crawled back over to Fiona. He’d already tried talking to her and shaking her so this time he slapped her on the cheek, not hard, just enough that she should have felt it. Should have, but didn’t.

He pulled her eyelids back, thinking that might do something. No luck.

What then?

Water? He’d seen people use it in movies to wake someone up. It was worth a try.

Jumping up to get some from the kitchen, he took a quick step toward the door and tripped over Keira’s foot.

“Whoa!” he yelled, reaching out to grab the bed to keep from falling to the floor.

As he did, the cell phone slipped from his hand and thudded onto the carpet. When it hit, its display screen flashed on, lighting the foot he’d just stumbled over.

He reached down and picked up the phone, hoping he hadn’t damaged it. It still seemed to be operating okay so he started for the door again. But then he paused. He hit a button on the phone, bringing the screen back to life. Maybe he didn’t need water at all.

He knelt next to Fiona and pulled her eyelid back once more. This time, he shined the light from the phone directly into her eye.

For the first three seconds there was no reaction. Then she blinked, or tried to, since he was holding her eyelid open. She attempted to do it again, the muscles around her eye fighting with Eric’s finger.

Another few seconds and she started to twist her head from side to side, weakly at first, then stronger with each swing. Her closed eyelid started to flutter, and she let out a low, irritated groan.

“Wha…what…”

She continued to try to close her eye, but Eric wasn’t letting go. He knew if he did, Fiona would slip back into her deep sleep the moment that eye shut.

“What…what’s that…light?”

“Fiona, wake up,” he said.

“Turnoutthelight. Letmesleep.”

“You need to wake up,” Eric said. “You can’t sleep now. Come on, Fiona. Please!”

Her fluttering eye opened for a second, closed, then opened again.

“Eric?”

“Yes!” he shouted, smiling. “Good. You are awake, right?”

“Yeah,” she said with some effort. “What’s going on? What are you doing in here?”

He let go of her eyelid and moved the phone away. “I’m waking you up.”

“Why?”

“Because we’ve got problems.”

That got her attention. She put her hand out to push herself up, but slipped and banged her elbow against the floor.

“Ow!” she yelled.

“You need to call your brother.”

She looked at him, still wincing in pain. “My brother? Why?”

“Peter Garr’s outside with another surrogate. I think they’ve done something that makes it hard for anyone to wake up. It took me forever to get you to open your eyes.”

Fiona blinked, then looked at the other two girls, their sleep suspiciously undisturbed by the conversation she and Eric were having.

“Here,” he said, holding the phone out to her. “I called him when none of you would wake up. He’s on his way, but said if I was able to get you awake, he wanted you to call.”

She punched a code into the phone, then frowned, and punched it in again. When it didn’t work a second time, she flipped it over. “This isn’t mine.”

“Oh, yours is over here.” Eric crawled over to where he’d left her cell then tossed it to her.

A few seconds later, she was holding it to her ear. “Ronan?…Yeah…what?…Are you sure?” She listened for a while, a couple of times shooting a look at Eric. “Okay, we’ll be ready.”

After she hung up, she slapped her cheeks and opened her mouth wide, stretching her face. Finally, she let out a big exhale and pushed herself to her feet.

“Okay,” she said. “Show me where they are.”