9
“Shhhhh. Wait a second.” Violet hushed Pablo and Daniel. “Do you hear that?”
The Makers listened closely. A faint rumbling could be heard in the distance.
“What’s that noise?” asked Daniel.
“No idea,” said Pablo.
“I’m not sure either,” said Violet. “But it sounds a bit like construction trucks.”
“That’s strange,” said Pablo.
“Let’s check it out,” suggested Daniel. “What if they’re digging?”
The Makers zoomed up the cliffs.
“Over there!” Violet pointed.
At the bottom of the other side of the cliff were several trucks and bulldozers. They moved along dirt paths between piles of large rock chunks and tall smooth walls of light gray rock.
“It looks like a quarry!” shouted Daniel.
“What’s a quarry?” Pablo and Violet asked.
“It’s a dig site. Like an open mine where rocks are removed from the ground,” Daniel explained. “I bet this is a marble quarry.”
“Marbles? Like the ones you use to play Jacks?” asked Violet.
Daniel giggled. “No, not that kind of marble. Marble is a type of metamorphic rock. It’s used to build fancy buildings.”
“Oh yeah!” Pablo exclaimed. “My mom always says her dream house will have marble countertops.”
“Let’s fly down there and see if we’re right. We need to hurry!” said Violet.
The Makers steered their jetpacks down into the dig site. It was loud, but they heard the sound they were hoping for:
“Yes!” They cheered and gave one another high fives.
Then Pablo yelled over the noise into his watch, “Maker Maze, rock ’n’ roll!”
After a few seconds, the spinning cube appeared at the top of the cliff. It shot down and landed in front of Violet, Pablo, and Daniel. The side facing them read melting.
“That’s easy!” said Pablo. “When metamorphic rock melts, it turns into magma.”
Daniel gulped. “Does that mean we have to go to the…” He paused and stared at his friends.
“The volcano,” said Violet with a wide smile. “Follow me!”
She shot back into the air and disappeared over the cliff.
“Don’t worry,” said Pablo. “Remember, this is all a hologram! Maker’s honor.” He held his three middle fingers down.
“Okay, let’s go!” shouted Daniel.
They both blasted into the air, leaving the dig site, trucks, and bulldozers behind. They rounded the top of the cliff and headed straight for the peak of the volcano where Violet was waiting for them.
Blup! Blup! Blup!
Lava bubbled from the volcano.
As soon as Pablo and Daniel arrived, the Maker Maze jingle sounded.
“We could have just landed on the ground, you know,” said Pablo. He eyed the volcano.
Blup!
Violet shrugged and smiled. “But this is where the magma is!”
“We’ve almost rolled all the way through the rock cycle,” said Daniel. He used his watch to call the cube. They saw it spin back up over the cliff and speed straight toward them.
Daniel’s eyes grew wide. “Is it going to stop?”
“I sure hope so,” Pablo replied.
The cube flew over the ocean and came to a sudden stop midair in front of the Makers.
“Cooling,” Violet read. “Magma cools off to make igneous rock, right?”
“Yup!” Pablo agreed.
“I’m sure we can find igneous rock back in the forest,” Daniel replied.
“Wait!” hollered Violet. “We don’t need to go all the way back there to find igneous rock!” She pointed to the base of the volcano. “Look at all those rocks! They have to be cooled magma.”
“You’re so right!” said Daniel. “I can’t believe I didn’t think about that.”
“Let’s hurry! Only twenty-five Maker Minutes left!” said Pablo.
The Makers landed at the base of the volcano near a large rock pile.
“Thank goodness!” Violet cried. “Let’s get back to the beach.”
“Great job, Makers! You rocked the rock cycle!” cheered Dr. Crisp as they arrived.
“Yeah, but now we need to get rolling,” said Pablo. “What’s next?”
“As promised, that’s up to Daniel.” Dr. Crisp pulled the Maker Manual from behind her back and handed it to Daniel.
Daniel giggled. “Well, I’ve always thought geodes were cool! Maybe the next level can be about them?”
The glittery golden book snapped open to a page that read:
Dr. Crisp swiped right on her watch. The beach, cliffs, volcano, and forest slid away. They were back in room eighteen. Suddenly, the ground started to shake.
