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?”
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
Eric tried not to seem too freaked out. “So if we see them…they’ll appear as kids like me?”
“No, they grow up with the Makers inside. But you can still tell. See, the Makers do something to the bodies. They make them perfect — too perfect. Their skin, their faces, their hair — everything. They also do something that makes the bodies last a lot longer than they should.”
That was far from the skinny, troll-like creatures Eric had dreamt about. “How much longer?”
Mr. Trouble paused. “We think centuries.”
“Centuries? Are you kidding?”
Mr. Trouble shook his head.
“Well, do you think we’re going to actually see any?”
“My plan is that we don’t.” He smiled and looked over at his sisters. “Fiona, Keira, you’re up.”
Without another word, the girls headed out the back door.
As soon as they were gone, Mr. Trouble led Eric and Maggie to the exit.
“What do you see?” he asked into his radio.
“The area right outside and all the way to the car appears clear,” Fiona answered.
“Excellent.” He looked at Eric and Maggie. “I’ll go first.”
He opened the door and climbed down the steps. When he reached the bottom he did a quick look around, then motioned for Eric and Maggie to come down.
“After you,” Eric said.
“Why? Are you scared?” Maggie asked.
“No, of course not.”
The left side of her mouth moved up in the hint of a weird smile before she started down the steps.
In the field beyond the plane, Eric could see one of the Trouble sisters nearing some trees, and the other one moving off to the left. It was too dark, though, to tell which was which.
“Eric, you want to join us?” Mr. Trouble called out.
Eric glanced down. Maggie and Mr. Trouble were both at the bottom looking up at him. He hurried down the steps.
“Uncle Carl? Uncle Colin? How are we looking?” Mr. Trouble asked.
“We can’t find any of them,” Uncle Colin responded. “It’s like they all disappeared.”
“They couldn’t have all disappeared,” Fiona whispered over the radio.
“Fiona, do you see any of them where you are?” Mr. Trouble asked.
“No,” she said. “But they’ve got to be out here somewhere, don’t—”
Keira cut her sister off. “I see one.”
“Where are you?” Mr. Trouble asked.
“In the woods to the right of the plane,” she replied. “He just came around the abandoned house and slipped into the trees.”
“Maker or surrogate?” Mr. Trouble asked.
“Surrogate, definitely. Too ugly to be a Maker.”
“I see one, too,” Fiona said. “Wait. No, two more.”
“Three just came around the house,” Keira reported. “They’re heading toward the barn.”
Mr. Trouble turned to Eric and Maggie. “We need to get to the car now.”
As they started to move, Fiona let out a short, surprised scream. It was quickly followed by the
“Fiona, are you all right?” Mr. Trouble asked.
There was a moan over the radio.
“Fiona?”
“I’m…I’m okay,” she said. “Sorry. He knocked me over.”
“Did you get him?”
“I hit him, but he didn’t go down.”
Eric could see Mr. Trouble frown. “You must have missed him, then.”
“No. I could see it hanging from him, but he kept going.”
“Who shot that?” Mr. Trouble asked.
