moved his arms around, they went all crazy for a moment, then fell to the ground together and disappeared.”
“I’m not so sure that’s a hundred percent correct,” Uncle Carl said.
“What do you mean?”
“Yes, they dropped to the ground after the boy swung his arms through the air, but didn’t you see? They were already starting to wobble before that. And a few weren’t hovering as high.”
Uncle Colin looked like he was thinking for a moment. “I believe you’re right. They did seem to have lost some energy by then. We should write this down.”
“Yes. Yes, we should,” Uncle Carl agreed.
The both started to turn away.
Mr. Trouble grabbed them again. “Hold on. We’ve got more important things to deal with than writing down your observations.”
“But we don’t want to forget,” Uncle Colin said.
“You won’t.” Mr. Trouble pointed at the video camera. “You’ve got everything recorded, including this conversation.”
“Oh, right.” Uncle Colin smiled. “We do, don’t we?”
“That was a good idea, the camera,” Uncle Carl said.
“It was, indeed,” his brother agreed.
“Focus!” Mr. Trouble yelled. He waited until everyone was looking at him before he went on. “I think we should probably assume there are more of those…things in the other two unopened drawers. I suggest we bag up the box and wait until we can open them in a more controlled environment back at home base.”
“I agree,” his mother said.
“Brilliant, Ronan,” Uncle Colin said. “That would definitely be for the best.” He turned to his brother. “Plastic wrap?”
Uncle Carl nodded, then moved to a storage cabinet a few feet away while Uncle Colin started removing the clamp that was holding the Maker’s box in place.
Just then, the door to the outside opened and Maggie and the Trouble sisters entered.
“What are you guys doing?” Keira asked.
“We got the box open,” Uncle Colin said, pausing momentarily in his work. “You should have seen it. Amazing!”
“You…you opened it without us?” Fiona was not pleased. “Why didn’t you wait?”
Maggie, who was looking much better than she had, asked, “What’s he talking about?”
“The box we found this afternoon,” Eric said. “Remember? The Maker’s box?”
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.
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.
Then another.
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
