was looking over his chest and out the window at Fiona. She was still fighting with the gardener, the bush between them keeping the man from getting full control of her.
Though they continued to hold Eric in the air Peter, Tommy and Kyle seemed to be frozen in place like they were waiting for something. That something was undoubtedly the moment the Trouble sisters were under full control. As soon as that happened, he knew the boys would start moving him out again.
He counted to three in his mind, then jerked up so that his hips quickly sagged toward the floor. He rolled to the right, freeing first his legs from Kyle’s grip and then his shoulders from Peter and Tommy’s.
With a
Pain shot up his right arm, but he ignored it as he scrambled across the floor toward the gun. He had definitely caught the three boys by surprise. They hadn’t even tried grabbing him until he’d fallen out of their grasps.
The gun only two feet in front of him, he reached out to grab it with his right hand, but his fingers remained curled in a tight fist, not moving. Apparently, it was the only part of his body he still hadn’t regained control of.
He switched hands, thrusting his left out, but just as he was about to latch onto the dart gun’s handle, someone grabbed his ankle and yanked him back. He looked around and saw Peter Garr grinning at him.
Eric kicked at the other boy’s hand and said, “Let me go!”
Peter’s grip loosened but he didn’t let go. As Eric kicked again, his left hand knocked against something on the floor. He looked. It was the misfired dart Fiona had shot. Hoping it would still work, he grabbed it, sat up, and jabbed it into Peter’s arm. Peter froze for a moment, then looked at Eric, surprised, before passing out on the floor.
Free now, Eric dove for the gun. Once it was in his hand, he moved it around so that all the others could see it. “Let my friends go and leave us alone,” he said.
Everyone stared at him, including the Trouble sisters.
“I said, let them go,” he repeated.
There was silence for a moment, then Vice Principal Rose said, “We’ll see you soon.”
One by one, Tommy, Kyle, the vice principal, and the gardener outside fell to the ground.
The second she was free, Fiona scrambled through the window. “What happened? Did it fall off of you?”
“Did what fall off of me?” Eric asked.
“You were frozen, weren’t you? You couldn’t move?”
“Well, yeah.” Then he remembered. “You mean this?”
He pried open the fingers on his right hand. In his palm was a gold ball, not much bigger than a bearing for a bicycle wheel. As he tossed it to her, he was suddenly able to move his fingers again.
“Watch out!” Keira shouted, scrambling backwards.
Fiona swung her arm out in an attempt to bat the sphere away, but missed.
It fell to the floor, bounced once, and then—
“This is just—”
— landed on her shoe.
Instantly, her voice was cut off and she froze in position.
“What is that?” Eric asked.
Instead of answering, Keira walked over to her sister and smiled. “I kind of like her like this, don’t you?”
“Don’t get too close!” Eric warned.
“Relax. It only works on one person at a time.”
In the distance, Eric could hear someone walking slowly down one of the hallways.
“We’ve got company,” he said.
Keira studied her sister for a moment longer then said, “Well, it was great while it lasted.”
She pulled a pair of tongs out of her bag and carefully used them to pick the gold ball off her sister’s foot.
“—great,” Fiona finished saying, glaring at her sister.
“Don’t look at me,” Keira said. “He’s the one who threw it at you.”
Fiona shivered like she’d just tasted something horrible and then stood up.
“At least it didn’t touch your skin,” Keira said, looking back at Eric. “There’s a sandwich bag in my backpack. Grab it for me.” When he didn’t move right away, she said, “Now would be good. Before whoever’s coming shows up.”
Eric shook himself, then found a bag with a half-eaten sandwich still inside. He held it out to her.
“Just the bag. Not the sandwich.”
He dumped the sandwich into Peter Garr’s lap and then handed the bag over.
In one smooth motion, Keira moved the tongs over the bag and dropped the ball inside. Once she sealed it, she smiled. “All done.”
Fiona frowned at Eric. “Why didn’t you use your emergency beacon?”
“I…I left it at home,” Eric said.
“You left it at home?” She was not happy.
“It was a
She covered her eyes with her hand.
“Hey, Eric,” Keira said. “Catch.” She tossed him the bag.
Unable to jump out of the way, he reached out, caught the bag by the upper edge, and then held it out at arm’s length.
“Relax,” Keira told him. “It can’t hurt you now.”
“But this bag is just thin plastic,” he countered.
“That’s all it takes.”
Whoever was walking toward them was getting closer.
“Time to leave,” Fiona whispered. She grabbed the dart Eric had poked Peter with, then moved over to the open window and climbed through.
Eric grabbed his bag from where Tommy had dropped it, stuffed the sealed gold ball inside, and went to the window. But before he could go through, Keira pushed past him.
“Girls first,” she said.
He glanced back at the other end of the corridor, knowing someone was going to come around the corner at any second.
“Come on, come on, come on,” he whispered to Keira.
The moment she was clear, he threw his leg over the windowsill, rolled through the opening, and dropped to the ground outside.
Just as he got to his knees, he heard Ms. Lindgren’s voice from inside. “What in the world is going on here? Vice Principal Rose? Is that you?”
Fiona tapped Eric on the arm and mouthed, “Let’s go.”
TROUBLE FAMILY SERVICES
TFS HISTORY
JEREMY TROUBLE (Mr. Trouble 1982–2010)
While taking an advanced flying class in Florida, Jeremy Trouble (b. 1959, St. Louis, MO) met instructor and Ireland native Deirdre Owens. They married a year later and six months after that Jeremy’s father William died, making Jeremy the new Mr. Trouble.
Jeremy continued the high level of service TFS had been known for, while also being a loving father to his three children: son Ronan, and daughters Fiona and Keira.
He was the first to give non-blood relatives active roles in the family business — his wife’s brothers, Colin and Carl Owens.
His life was tragically taken in 2010.
RONAN TROUBLE (Mr. Trouble 2010—present)
The current Mr. Trouble, Ronan Trouble (b. 1987, Santa Monica, CA), trained for many years under his father and has already completed many successful jobs. In addition to Ronan, the current Trouble Team includes: his
