Chapter 6

6 The ocean, sand, sun, and mountains slid out of view. The Makers were standing in a large room. Their jetpacks and helmets had also disappeared. "I was hoping for another beach challenge," Pablo joked as he stretched his arms overhead. Violet and Skylar giggled. But Devin just stood next to his sister with his hands in his pockets. Dr. Crisp suddenly clapped her hands three times and said, "Okay, Makers! What time is it?" She cupped one hand around her ear.

"It's making time!" Violet and Pablo responded. "Bingo," said Dr. Crisp with two thumbs-up and a smile. The pages of the Maker Manual flipped again to one with a picture of a weather vane. Below the picture was a list of instructions. "In this level," Dr. Crisp continued, "you're going to learn about wind. Another very important part of weather! But before we do that, you'll need to make a weather vane!" Dr. Crisp started pulling supplies from her bag. She removed some paper plates, a large straw, a pencil, scissors, a pin, construction paper, and a ball of clay. "Oh yay!" said Skylar. "We've made these before, right, Devin?" She gave her brother a nudge with her elbow. "This will definitely be fun." Devin nodded with a half-smile. "Are you sure you're okay?" asked Pablo. "You can tell us if something is wrong. We're your friends!"

"I said I was fine," replied Devin. He crossed his arms. "Let's just… do this." Violet looked at Pablo and shrugged. Dr. Crisp closed her backpack and tossed it toward a corner of the large room. Then she turned toward the Makers with her hands around her mouth. She shouted, "READY! SET! MAKE!" The group huddled around the Maker Manual. "Okay, first we need to cut slits at the end of this straw," said Violet. She reached for the pair of scissors. "Then we need to cut a small arrowhead for the front," added Pablo. "And a larger one for the tail." He pointed to an outline in the Maker Manual. "Got it!" replied Violet. "Let's make the base," Skylar said to her brother, grabbing two paper plates. "Okay," he agreed. Devin took the modeling clay and flattened it using his hands. Then he

smushed it in between the two plates Skylar was holding. "The base is done!" Skylar called out. Violet and Pablo worked together to slide the front and tail arrows into the slits in the straw. "We have the top! Let's put them together," Pablo replied. "You all are blowing right through this!" cheered Dr. Crisp. She puffed up her cheeks with

air and then pushed it out with her hands. The Makers laughed. Even Devin. "Okay, it says that next we have to stick the pencil into the plates through the clay," said Violet as she looked over the instructions. Pablo grabbed the pencil and jammed it point down through the plates. "Now we need to use the pin to connect the vane to the pencil's eraser." When they finished, the Maker Maze jingle echoed throughout the room. "Flippin' funnel clouds! You all finished fast!" hollered Dr. Crisp. Violet went to give double high fives to everyone… except Devin shook his head. "Oh, Devin, come on!" Violet insisted. "Why did you come if you didn't want to have fun!"

"Hey!" said Skylar. Her forehead wrinkled as she said, "Leave him alone. He doesn't have to high-five if he doesn't want to." "Skylar's right, Violet," said Pablo. "No. Violet's right," Devin said. "I'm not sure why I came." His chest sunk and he lowered his head. "I'm just going to sit over here." Dr. Crisp frowned and removed the pencil from her ear. She used it to scratch her chin before asking, "Did I miss something? Is everyone okay?" Skylar looked at her brother, who was leaning against the wall. She paused before saying, "Devin will be okay. I think he needs some space."