Kingdom Keepers Boxed Set

by Ridley Pearson

  “I remember this part,” Philby said. “This is where we go down the stairs in order to go back up.”

  “Are you sure?” Finn tested the “up” staircase: it was real. He thought Philby had it wrong.

  But Philby waved his hand across the step four steps above this first step, and then punched his hand right through the illusion—the stairs stopped midflight, nothing but a projected image. He led the way down a staircase and then back up a longer staircase, which would make it appear to anyone standing below as though the boys were walking upside down.

  “You two!” a low voice called out loudly. “Come down from there!”

  Finn caught sight of an upside-down Cast Member. He was dressed as a barbershop singer, in white pants, a red-and-white-striped shirt, and a straw hat: a Dapper Dan Cast Member.

  “Security,” Finn whispered to Philby. “I faced Dapper Dans just like him that time Amanda and I were here taking pictures of everyone’s DHIs. They were trying to catch me.”

  “You are not permitted in this area!” the man hollered. “Come down at once.”

  “I don’t think we should trust him.”

  They reached a third platform and ducked behind a false wall with two windows. “You think he’ll come after us?” Philby asked.

  Thunder cracked high above them.

  “I think there’s something going on here,” Finn answered. “The weather balloon, the monkeys, Amanda and Jez showing up for the first time in forever. And personally, I don’t trust anyone dressed up like he’s selling fried chicken. He could be anybody. That’s an easy costume to fake.”

  “So we ignore him?”

  Another crack of thunder. It was getting close.

  “Outrun him,” Finn said, “is probably more like it.”

  “And if we’re caught?” Philby said. “You ever read those contracts we signed? They’ll remove our DHIs from the server. They’ll replace us with other kids. We’ll no longer be Disney Hosts, no longer have the Gold Fastpasses. We’ll lose it all.” He hesitated. “All that for some weird balloon? You sure it’s worth it?”

  “You’re the one who saw it, not me. Listen, I’m not sure of anything,” Finn said. “You want to head down, I’m not going to stop you or anything.” He added, “But I’m going after that balloon, Security or no Security. Amanda was pointing at the castle, and that’s good enough for me.”

  “How could she possibly know anything about it?” Philby asked.

  “How can we possibly go to sleep at night and wake up as DHIs inside the Park? When was the last time any of this made sense?”

  Philby pursed his lips. He nodded. “Yeah, okay. You’re right. If they toss us, so what? We go down fighting.”

  “Exactly.” Finn peered around the edge of the wall.

  “What do you see?”

  The man in the straw hat was gone.

  “I think he’s coming after us.”

  MAYBECK DUCKED INSTINCTIVELY as the sky flashed, and, only moments later, thunder boomed and rolled in a long series of endless echoes. A few early raindrops splattered in huge globs onto the footpath, and the air smelled dusty and sweet—ozone—foretelling the electrical charge it carried.

  Charlene stiffened with the crack of thunder. “I…do…not…do…lightning,” she said.

  The Park guests scattered for cover, quickly emptying the paths.

  “Then forget what Finn said and come with me!” Willa said, taking Charlene by the hand. “The parade blocked Jez and Amanda from coming over the bridge. They’ll probably head past the Haunted Mansion and through Fantasyland to reach the castle. We’re going this way,” she said, pointing in the direction of Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel, “to cut them off. Maybeck, you go around past the Mansion. Hopefully, one of us finds them before we meet up somewhere near Peter Pan.”

  “See you in a minute,” Maybeck said.

  “It’s hard to see much, so pay attention,” she said. The swirling clouds had brought an early darkness.

  “Never fret. Eyes like a hawk,” said Maybeck.

  “What about the monkeys?” Charlene mumbled. “What if that was some kind of omen?”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” said Maybeck.

  They split up, Willa dragging Charlene by the arm. Maybeck jogged off.

  Park guests waved at Willa and Charlene. Some braved the increasingly steady rain to chase after them, calling for autographs. Willa pressed on.

  Charlene said, “We’re getting wet.”

  “That’s what usually happens with rain,” Willa said.

  “We can’t get wet!” she complained. “DHIs don’t get wet. The rain runs right through them. We can’t disappoint the kids like that!”

  “Are you worried about the kids, or your hair?”

  “Both, I guess.”

  “Okay. So let’s run faster.”

  AMANDA AND JEZ RAN THROUGH the light rain, dodging clusters of guests who were determined to stick it out and wait for the fireworks.

  “It’s not far now,” Amanda said, spotting the spires of Cinderella Castle.

  Jez didn’t answer.

  Amanda glanced back. It wasn’t like her sister to avoid a chance to make a snide comment. “Keep up! You’re falling behind,” she called out. Jez was a fast runner; it made no sense that she should lag. She seemed to be running at a steady pace, no faster, no slower, no matter what Amanda said or how fast she ran.

  The rain made the walkway more slippery. Amanda slowed and shortened her strides to avoid falling. When she looked back, Jez was still running at the same pace, the same stride. She apparently had magical footing—she didn’t slip.

  Amanda stopped and turned fully around and stared at her sister. How could she not slip even a little bit?

  Despite the falling rain, Jez’s shirt was…dry, her hair perfectly in place.

  What a princess, Amanda thought.

  But then she tensed.

  Jez’s feet landed on the wet walkway. No splash.

  “Jez? Stop! Answer me, Jez!” Amanda cried out.

  But Jez just kept on running toward her. The same perfect form and posture. The same perfect Jez.

  Jez finally did stop, though she remained several yards off, like a fearful animal.

  There was a reason her shirt and hair were both dry: the rain fell through her, hitting the walkway below.

  Amanda stepped forward, now only inches from her sister. The rain fell harder, soaking her own hair and shoulders. Jez remained dry.

  “Say something,” Amanda whispered.

  She reached out her arm and swung it from right to left, cutting her sister in half, her hand passing right through.

  A hologram. A DHI.

  “Where’s my sister?” Amanda managed to choke out, the drops of water now flowing down her cheeks having nothing to do with the rain. “What have you done to her?”

  “HE CAN’T POSSIBLY KNOW the way up here,” Finn whispered. “Only Wayne understands Escher’s Keep. He said so.” But he could hear the swishing of the man’s clothing as he climbed the upside-down staircase. He not only knew the way, he seemed to be quickly closing in on them.

  “I don’t think that actually matters right now,” Philby said. “We are going to be in some serious—” He gasped. “What are you doing, Finn?”

  Before him, Finn Whitman, the fourteen-year-old boy, transformed into a glowing version of himself with a slightly shorter haircut. He was now his DHI hologram.

  “Willa said she s-saw you do this.” Philby stuttered when nervous. “But I d-didn’t believe her.”

  “It’s not very stable. I can’t hold it for very long,” Finn said. “Go. Black tiles. Never two in a row. It’s the left staircase when you reach the other side. There’s the final invisible bridge and then the black hole. I’ll meet you there. Wait for me.”

  Philby waved his arm through Finn just to confirm what he’d seen him do. “But if you’re here as your DHI, then where’s the real you? Not back asleep in bed? And why can’t any o
f the rest of us do this when we’re awake?”

  “Philby, I don’t know. Maybeck said he’s had the same thing happen. Willa, once or twice. We can discuss this later, okay? For some reason, I’m able to will myself to cross over. I don’t understand it, but I don’t try to understand it. It just happens if I let it. Wrap your mind around that. It doesn’t last long, and it’s exhausting. So I’ll meet you in the black hole, and I’m going to need your help from there on.”

  “And you’re going to stay and…what?…fight this guy?”

  “Yeah, right,” Finn said sarcastically, his voice sounding a little bit different, like the buzzing of something electronic. “I’m going to make him wonder what he’s chasing. I’m going to freak him out of his shorts. If I’m lucky…well…let’s hope I’m lucky.” He waited only seconds. “GO!”

  Philby took off across the checkerboard floor, making sure the toes of his shoes landed only on the black squares, and never two black squares in the same horizontal row. It required a kind of dancing across and down the floor that made him look like a kid in Riverdance.

  Finn’s ability to cross over while awake had to do with achieving a kind of meditative state. If he focused on having no fear, no worries, he temporarily crossed over. He didn’t know the rules or how it worked, only that he could make it happen—though only inside the Magic Kingdom, where hologram projectors existed throughout the Park. He took a moment to test his ability, aware of its unpredictability and his lack of control over it. He grabbed for the nearby doorknob. His hand landed on it, and he was able to turn the doorknob. Then he pulled his hand away, closed his eyes briefly, and concentrated on just a single idea: light. He opened his eyes and reached for the doorknob once again. This time the doorknob passed through his hand. It sparkled and glowed as he swept his hand on through the doorjamb and back out.

  So far, he seemed to be in control of his hologram, but he knew from previous attempts that his hologram quickly deteriorated. A few minutes was all he had, until Finn, the fourteen-year-old boy, came back to replace the DHI.

  He stepped out of the way as he heard footsteps approaching. The man arrived at the platform. Finn hid behind him. The man was big, with thick, heavy legs and broad shoulders. He looked a little foolish in his red-and-white-striped jacket and straw hat. He studied the checkerboard floor like a person trying to remember the code, bringing his thick hand to his scrabbly chin in contemplation.

  “White or black? Odds or evens?” Finn said, startling the man.

  The man spun around, his face a knot of anger. “You’re not allowed here,” he said in a deep, dry voice. Incredibly quickly for his size, he jumped toward Finn and swiped at him, his hands passing right through the DHI, at which point he stood up in astonishment, looking at his own hands as if they’d betrayed him.

  “One wrong step, and you fall,” Finn said, darting past the man and out onto the checkerboard floor. He concentrated on the idea of light—pure light. A DHI weighed nothing, and only weight triggered the tiles in the floor. But he knew he couldn’t maintain this pure state for very long. He had to lure the man out onto the floor quickly. There wasn’t much time.

  He tried another tack. “I’m a Cast Member,” Finn said, “like you.”

  “I don’t care. You’re not allowed up there,” he said. By saying this he confirmed he knew about the penthouse—Walt Disney’s former apartment—the secret room Wayne had offered the DHIs as a place to hide.

  An Overtaker? Finn wondered. The group loyal to Maleficent, dedicated to changing the balance of power in the Parks.

  “I said you’re not allowed up there,” the man said.

  “White or black?” Finn said, his DHI standing on one of each.

  The pleasant warmth of the DHI gave way to a slight chill, and Finn knew the internal light was giving way to flesh and blood. He wished he understood how to control this transformation better, but that was for another time. He took advantage of his brief weightlessness and crossed the checkerboard floor to a platform that presented another three ascending staircases. He had one last trick left.

  The man stepped out onto the checkerboard, keeping his eyes on the squares. It was a long fall below—thirty feet or more, though the floor had been painted in perspective, which made it appear more like three hundred: a bottomless, rocky cavern. He took that in, and then, as he looked across at Finn, his face turned scarlet with anger.

  “You won’t talk your way out of this, son.” He stepped onto a black tile. Then another. He knew the pattern! Making sure he avoided any two black squares in the same horizontal line, he progressed cautiously but quickly across the floor.

  Finn felt the DHI fading. He’d managed to maintain it for a minute or more, but he suspected he weighed something now. Would he trip the sensors that opened the floor, or could he make it across?

  His plan was to run right through the man. He believed if he concentrated, he could summon his pure DHI for the fraction of a second it would take to pass through him. In doing so, he was certain to cause the intruder to misstep, which would send him plummeting. But Finn would have to move quickly to avoid being on the floor when it fell out and gave way.

  He stepped out onto two black squares. He could feel his weight on his feet. He was about equal parts boy and DHI. How much longer?

  The Dapper Dan stopped halfway, his face a scowl. Then something occurred to him, and he belched out a laugh. “Going to wrestle me, are you?” He grinned mischievously. “I’ll save you the trouble.” His right foot reached out for a white square.

  Finn had not considered that the fastest way for the man to catch Finn was to make Finn fall with him.

  Finn ran forward on the black tiles, simultaneously letting go of all fear. He felt the warmth return like a blast from a furnace. But well before he reached the other side—in fact, before he even reached his adversary—the floor went out from under him.

  The man fell, letting out a short scream as he was funneled into a red plastic chute.

  Finn was floating. The trapdoor had opened beneath him, but his DHI simply hovered. He was suspended ten feet above the evacuation chute, with only air beneath him.

  He felt the chill returning. He managed three steps toward the edge of the open pit and then fell. His fingers caught the lip of the hinged flooring, and his body smacked into the hanging trapdoor. Normally not good at pull-ups, he must have been partially DHI, because he managed to lift himself, hook a leg, and pull himself up. Seconds later, the trapdoor snapped back into position. He stayed on the black squares and recrossed.

  Middle staircase. Red door. He remembered this section well.

  He heard the Dapper Dan hit bottom and, seconds later, the sound of him climbing stairs again. Faster now. Ever more determined to apprehend Finn.

  Finn stepped forward into total darkness, a matter of extreme trust. The first time he’d followed Wayne in here, he’d nearly puked from fear. The black hole.

  He ran smack into Philby.

  “There’s no elevator,” Philby said.

  “What?”

  “No elevator. It’s not here.”

  “It has to be here,” Finn said.

  “No such luck, Sherlock.”

  “But that means—”

  “Somebody’s up there,” Philby said. “Already in the apartment. And what do you want to bet it’s not Wayne?”

  “There’s got to be another way up,” Finn said. “Fire stairs. Something for an emergency.”

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s pitch black. You don’t happen to have a flashlight on you, I suppose?”

  “Turn your back to me,” Finn said. He mustered his strength. Transforming into his DHI sapped his energy. He felt exhausted from having challenged the man just now, but knew he had to do this. He closed his eyes. He felt the warmth return. He couldn’t hold it for more than a few seconds. He came out of it, his legs weak, his head swooning.

  “Oh, man! How cool is that?” Philby said excitedly. “Hold on to my shirt, l
ightning bug. I saw some stairs over here.”

  Finn reached out and held on, as much to keep his balance as to stay with Philby. They reached a set of metal stairs, the handrail cool to the touch.

  “Going up,” said Philby.

  They started climbing the spiral stairs. Higher and higher.

  From below them came the heavy breathing of the man pursuing them.

  He’d already caught back up. He sounded incredibly close.

  MAYBECK PROVED HIMSELF the faster runner, arriving next to Amanda at nearly the same instant as Charlene and Willa despite having come the long way around. The rain was falling in punishing waves, and thunder was cracking menacingly overhead.

  Amanda, soaking wet, was on her knees, crying. Jez just stood there, the rain passing through her. It took Maybeck and the girls a few seconds to realize what Amanda already knew.

  “Oh, man,” said Maybeck. “How long ago did this happen?”

  Willa and Charlene helped Amanda to her feet. Everyone but Jez was now drenched. Charlene held her hands over her hair, as if that would do any good.

  “She didn’t keep up,” Amanda said. “I thought she was probably fiddling with her iPod—trying to protect it from the rain. She won’t stop messing with that thing. So I looked back, and…she was there.” She pointed to the DHI of her sister.

  “But how is that possible?” Willa asked. “Jez isn’t a DHI.”

  “She is now,” said Maybeck, contradicting. He ran his hand right through Jez’s body and out the other side.

  Some kids cheered and called out from the crowded area in front of Peter Pan’s Flight, where they stood protected from the rain.

  “Somebody did this,” Amanda said. “They programmed a DHI for her. But it’s not much of a program. She’s just…standing there.”

  “But why?” Maybeck said.

  “Who?” Willa said. “The Imagineers wouldn’t do this without Wayne telling us.”