Chapter 3

3 The shaking suddenly stopped. Violet, Pablo, and the twins glanced around the room. Mr. Eng was frozen while bent over a table explaining the worksheet to a group of students. Another group of students was frozen making funny shadows on the wall with their flashlight. Everyone was still except them and the tornado machine! "Hey, look over there!" Skylar pointed. The gray box was glowing inside a ring of purple light. And there was a tornado spinning inside!

WHOOOOOOSH! BIZZAP! WHOOOOOOSH! BIZZAP! The fan's spinning blades were pulling the edges of the portal downward. "I think I liked going through the microscope better," said Skylar. She gulped as she tugged on her ear. Pablo rubbed his hands together. "Ready?" he asked his friends. Violet was the first to stand up. "Let's do this!" Skylar also stood up and grabbed her brother's hand. "Come on, this will be fun! Maybe it will cheer you up." WHOOOOOOSH! BIZZAP! WHOOOOOOSH! BIZZAP! "It's like the fan is going to suck the portal into the tornado!" said Skylar as they walked up to the gray box.

"Maybe…we should hurry," said Pablo. "Before it does suck up the portal. Then we won't be able to get to the Maker Maze!" Pablo leaned toward the glowing ring of light. But nothing happened. "Huh," said Violet. She bit her lip. "Maybe we need to open it?" She reached for a small knob on the clear door. The door suddenly flew open! The

wind from the tornado machine gushed into the classroom. Worksheets flew everywhere! "Here we go!" shouted Pablo. Violet, Pablo, Skylar, and Devin held hands as they were sucked into the portal. BIZZAP! After falling for a few moments, they blew into the Maker Maze. Plastic buckets dotted the floor of the main lab. There were long tables that held flasks of color-ful bubbling liquid and strange plants that wiggled, jiggled, and danced. Robots were zooming between the lab tables and quickly covering all the equipment with plastic sheets. "What happened here?" asked Violet as she stood up. "It looks like a storm came through here, too," said Devin. He dipped his toe in a puddle on the floor. "My hair's getting wet! It's going to get so frizzy!" Violet complained as she tried to cover

her head. Water was leaking everywhere from the Maker Maze ceiling! "Maybe this will help!" boomed a voice from behind. It was Dr. Crisp! She wore her normal white lab coat and bright purple pants. But this time she also wore yellow rain boots and a yellow umbrella hat! "Sorry for the mess," said Dr. Crisp. "We had a little accident with the storm simulator. It got a bit…too real. But don't worry! This will all be cleaned up in no time!" She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. The Maze robots were fixing the ceiling and mopping the floor.

"Anywho!" said Dr. Crisp with a clap of her hands. She pulled the glittery Maker Manual out from under her lab coat. "Can't get this beauty wet! She'll start to get all frizzy." "Like my hair!" said Violet. Then she paused and said, "Wait a minute. How can a book get frizzy?" Dr. Crisp tapped her fingers on the golden cover. "Trust me," she said, shaking her head.