KK02 - Disney at Dawn

by Ridley Pearson

  “The stairs are the apartment’s fire escape,” said Philby. “Makes sense.” But why lock a fire escape from the outside? Finn wondered silently.

  He groped in the dark and touched another door in front of them and opened it a crack. The closet led into the apartment’s small bedroom, the shiny bedspread a hideous shade of grass green. The air smelled stale and dusty. The boys slipped into the bedroom. It felt unbearably warm.

  Heavy footsteps clomped up the stairs.

  “Hurry!” Finn hissed. He and Philby rushed out of the closet, shut its door and, working together, slid the bed to block it. At the very least they had bought themselves a few seconds.

  They hurried to the bedroom door, and Finn put his ear to it.

  “Anything?” Philby asked, one eye nervously on the blocked closet behind them.

  “It sounds like someone mumbling.” Finn opened the door carefully and then quietly stepped through. Philby followed. They were in a small hallway with a view into a larger living room. The decor might have once been called modern. Now it looked slightly cheesy.

  Finn angled his head around the corner to get a better view into the living room. Then he jerked back.

  Maleficent—the most powerful of the Disney fairies and Finn’s greatest enemy—stood by the apartment window. Amanda had somehow known! Maleficent had enormous evil powers, including the ability to conjure spells with nothing more than incantations. Finn had once seen her transfigure a trash bag into a rat. She had demonstrated powers of fire and electricity, conjuring a cage of glowing “wires” around him. Her one weakness was temperature—she could only conjure when cold, which helped explain her being jailed in an apartment kept so warm. He doubted she was at her full powers, given the warmth of the apartment, but that could change in an instant. She had her back to them, and her dark robe hung to the floor. Now Finn understood what he’d heard: Maleficent was chanting while facing the open window. It was blocked on the outside by a heavy iron grate—like a jail cell.

  Casting a spell? Finn wondered.

  His legs shook with fear. The last he’d known, she’d been locked in a jail cell in the catacombs beneath Pirates of the Caribbean. What was she doing here?

  She stepped away from the window but continued chanting. Through the window, the sky darkened. The storm roared as lightning flashed and thunder cracked. Finn tensed with the next lightning strike: a tremendous flash was followed instantly by a crack and boom. Was she summoning the lightning? Another loud crack. A bolt of electricity struck the iron grate. It glowed red hot, and then sparks flew. The iron grate melted and fell open, the window no longer blocked. The evening’s cool breeze blew through.

  Maleficent climbed up onto the sill. The crowd cheered from below.

  Color filled the sky—the fireworks display had begun.

  “Stop!” he shouted.

  She turned. “YOU!”

  It was no trap. Their being here clearly surprised her.

  Her red eyes locked on to his. Her green, hideous skin scrunched tightly around her eyes. If looks could kill…he thought.

  Finn stepped back, afraid. The cool air… Three loud bangs of thunder mixed with the fireworks, making a war zone out of the sky. A fiery backdrop played out behind the green creature standing in the window.

  She glanced back at him one more time and then climbed outside.

  Finn and Philby hurried to the smoldering window opening and looked out.

  Maleficent was climbing the castle wall, her cape swirling in the wind. She moved like an insect.

  He looked down and gasped. They had to be a hundred feet up.

  “I’m not going out there!” Finn said.

  “The stairs!” Philby said.

  With every second she would be cooling off, regaining her powers. The boys hurried back to the bedroom, determined to follow her. The Dapper Dan was pounding on the closet door from the other side.

  “Ready?” Finn said, his hands against the bed frame.

  Philby, selected as a DHI in large part for his brainpower, did not need to hear what Finn had in mind. He knew intuitively.

  “One…two…”

  On three the boys shoved the bed out of the way. The door flew open.

  The Dapper Dan, who’d been pushing hard on the closet door, fell through and tumbled down onto the carpet. Finn and Philby ducked into the closet, hurried out the emergency door, and threw the bolt before the Dapper Dan had climbed to his feet. They had trapped him inside.

  They hesitated on the landing.

  “Up or down?” Finn asked Philby, the challenge obvious to both boys.

  Philby looked down the stairs, knowing this meant safety. Then he looked at Finn. “If she gets free, we’ll never be safe again,” he said.

  “Up!” the two boys said in unison.

  The boys climbed the dark staircase, slowly at first, but then, holding the rail, Finn picked up the pace.

  As they neared the top, the sound of the crowd grew louder. The stairs ended in a small stone chamber with an open window.

  It took only seconds for Finn’s eyes to adjust. There was a young woman tied up in the corner. She had wings, and for a moment he thought she, too, was an Overtaker. Then he recognized her as Tinker Bell. She was a Cast Member, in costume.

  Maleficent stood in the open window, her robe fluttering, the fireworks flashing colors in the sky beyond her. Now Finn saw the metal wire secured to the wall.

  “Silly boys!” Maleficent said in a raspy voice. “The end is near.”

  She jumped.

  Finn ran to the window.

  But she hadn’t fallen. Instead, she flew off, away from them.

  She could fly!

  But then Finn understood: near the conclusion of the fireworks show, Tinker Bell flew from the castle. Tinker Bell was actually a Cast Member riding a zip line from the castle onto a roof in Tomorrowland. But on this night, it wasn’t Tinker Bell riding the zip line.

  Maleficent let out a bloodcurdling screech—to the delight of the crowd—as she rode the wire high in the sky. She grew smaller and smaller.

  The crowd went crazy with cheers and screams.

  Her hideous screech rang in the air until swallowed by the next thumping blast of fireworks—the grand finale—that joined the rippling of thunder echoing off the Florida landscape like the aftereffect of a bomb exploding.

  9

  THE LIGHTNING STRIKE that hit Cinderella Castle charged the night sky with intense light as fire rained down. The bolt of lightning had grounded out on the thin wire holding the weather balloon. Next, the lights went out in a large area encircling the castle, including the street lamps surrounding the Hub, most of Liberty Square, and as far away as Tomorrowland. Spotlights that normally lit the sky went black, leaving the colorful glow of the fireworks’ grand finale.

  Then something—or someone—flew out toward Tomorrowland, and it was quite obviously not Tinker Bell. The caped figure was chased by a ball of swirling orange flame. A chorus of cheers arose. No one was exactly sure what they’d just witnessed, but whatever it was, it was amazing.

  Willa and the others heard the cheer. Only moments later a swirl of rumor reached them: a witch had flown from the castle. Maybeck said a few words that would have gotten him detention in school.

  “Which witch?” Charlene wondered aloud.

  “Three guesses,” said Amanda.

  The three others looked at her sharply.

  “Finn!” Charlene muttered, her worry hanging in the air.

  “What do we do now?” Willa gasped.

  “You’ve got to tell us what you know,” Maybeck demanded of Amanda.

  “It’s Jez that saw this coming, not me,” Amanda said.

  “Saw what coming?” he asked.

  “Trouble.”

  “You already said that. You gotta give us more.”

  “I told you: Jez is different.”

  “She’s your sister!” he complained.

  “Yeah,” she said, sounding apolo
getic. “Kind of. I guess you could say I’m a little different as well.”

  “Different how?”

  “Just…different.”

  “She’s not on trial,” Willa complained to Maybeck. “She and Jez came to warn us!” She addressed Amanda. “What did Jez think was going to happen?”

  “She saw things. She wrote them down—drew things—in her journal. Kept track of them—dreams mostly. And daydreams. But…” She cut herself off and looked at each of the others searchingly. “The really creepy part is she showed me a sketch she made of lightning striking the castle. She knew it was going to happen, and I think she knew that Finn was going to be inside.”

  “You owe us an explanation,” Maybeck said impatiently.

  “And you’ll have it,” Amanda agreed. She glanced around—a number of guests were braving the rain to get a better look at the castle. “But not here. Not now. You have to help Finn. He’s in danger. More danger than from just the lightning. It’s the Overtakers. They did this. They’re responsible. Jez…I have to find Jez. They’re afraid of her…powers. She can stop this by warning you and others, but not if they control her.”

  “Stop what?” Maybeck asked.

  “I wish I knew.”

  “The lightning?” Willa asked. “We’re a little late, if that’s the case.”

  “It was more than that,” Amanda said. “Listen, I’ve got to find Jez. You all need to help Finn and Philby. They’re in danger. Jez saw that coming. That was what she was trying to prevent.”

  “Okay,” Maybeck said, “enough chit-chat. Let’s get going. Amanda and I are going to head back to look for Jez while you two check out the castle and find Finn and Philby.”

  “With the power out, they’ll close the Park,” Willa warned. “They’re not going to let us run around for long. And if they recognize us, they’re not going to want us in the Park at all.”

  “Well, then, pull up your hood. Mess up your hair. We gotta do this,” Maybeck said. “If they close the Park, we’ll IM and figure this out.” He grabbed Amanda’s arm and tugged. She hesitated, then moved with him.

  They took off at a run.

  “Everyone IM at midnight,” he yelled over his shoulder.

  Charlene and Willa headed for the castle, which was shrouded in darkness and a veil of smoke left over from both the fireworks and the lightning strike.

  Behind them, they left the sputtering hologram of Jez, who, as another series of street lamps flickered and failed in the spreading blackout, sputtered and went dark.

  Gone, just like the real Jez.

  Some kids cheered from under awnings. Rain continued to fall.

  One of them shouted, “The Kingdom Keepers rule!”

  Willa winced at hearing the nickname that a local newspaper had adopted for the kids and their DHIs. She felt a chill down her spine and a pain in her stomach. They weren’t superheroes; they were teen models mixed up in some confused technology that no one fully understood—not even the people who’d invented it.

  She’d gotten a good look at the thing flying. She hadn’t mentioned what she’d seen to the others, because who would have believed it?

  But she knew what she’d seen—whom she’d seen—and the chill was replaced with a spasm of terror.

  Maleficent had escaped. Jez had been turned into a DHI.

  To think that those two events were some kind of freak coincidence and unrelated was just plain wrong.

  10

  IT SOUNDED LIKE DOZENS of footsteps were hurrying up the spiral staircase as Finn and Philby rushed to untie the woman dressed up as Tinker Bell. Finn got the tape off her mouth.

  “Are you all right?”

  She looked terrified. “Who…what… was that?”

  Philby said, “Finn, we’re cooked.”

  The approaching footsteps were noticeably closer. They were either security guards or Overtakers. Either way spelled disaster for the boys.

  “Who’s coming?” the Tinker Bell woman asked.

  “We don’t know.”

  “I’m not sticking around to find out,” she said.

  The boys looked paralyzed.

  She said, “Harnesses,” pointing to the wall. “They’re rescue harnesses, in case I get stuck out there.” She hesitated only a second before grabbing one. “Put them on!”

  She helped both boys into the harnesses and double-checked them for safety. “Have you ever ridden a zip line?”

  Finn shook his head.

  Philby said, “In camp once.”

  “Same thing,” she said. “I’m going to go first.” She clipped a pulley to the guy wire. “That way I can catch you two as you arrive on the other end. Ready?”

  Whoever was coming up the spiral stairs was moving fast.

  “See you down there,” she said. With that, she jumped.

  Finn watched as she zoomed away, into the dark of the night. She disappeared.

  “I am not going out that window,” Finn declared.

  “Listen,” Philby said, “we have two choices: we can get busted and blamed for everything that just happened, or we can go out that window.”

  “You’re insane.”

  The sounds coming up the stairs grew even louder.

  Philby grunted and pushed Finn toward the window. “You’re first,” he said.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Those guys are going to be here in about two seconds.”

  “What if it doesn’t support us?

  “This is Disney. The thing will probably support a tank.”

  “What if Tinker Bell doesn’t catch us?”

  “My advice? Don’t look down.”

  Philby tested the pulley and pushed Finn.

  Finn felt a blistering wind on his face.

  He was…flying. It was, for an instant, the coolest thing he’d ever done. He was zooming down the wire, high above the grass and the water, headed for the lights of Tomorrowland.

  The whine of the pulley rose to a high-pitched whir. Philby was behind him now. Down, down, down they raced. Then the wire leveled off, and their speed decreased. They were headed above a set of rooftops. Finn caught sight of the MONSTERS, INC. COMEDY CLUB sign to his left. With the wire more level, they continued to slow.

  Tinker Bell caught them at the far end, in front of a set of pads. She unhooked the pulleys and helped them both out of the harnesses.

  Finn looked back to see several men huddled in the tower they’d just left.

  “Nice timing,” Finn said. Seeing how far they had traveled, his knees went weak. “That was not a smart thing to do.”

  “It was incredibly stupid!” Philby agreed. He looked at Finn sheepishly. “But man, was that fun!”

  Tinker Bell led them down a very steep metal staircase and into an alley. A moment later, she’d showed them how to reenter the Park. They hurried toward the Hub.

  “FINN!” He heard his name shouted from far away. It took him a moment to see in the glow of a few emergency lights what Philby saw first: two figures up near the castle. Girls.

  “It’s Willa and Charlene,” Finn said.

  “How can you be sure?” Philby said, squinting.

  “Trust me. It’s them.”

  The boys ran toward the girls, circled carefully, and hid on the other side of a stone wall, waiting. They squatted down and caught their breath.

  Finn dared to raise an eye above the wall: he saw a pair of Cast Members that he took to be security guards, searching the crowd.

  “They’re looking for us,” he told Philby. “Might be Overtakers. Might just be Disney Security.”

  “We’ll get across the Hub and catch up to the girls. We’re just two kids now among all the others.”

  It was true: the rain had stopped and the crowds had returned. An announcement was repeated several times, apologizing for the fact that the Park would close early due to the weather. Cinderella Castle had been roped off.

  Finn nodded his agreement.

  The two boys crossed the busy
Hub outside of the castle. As they reached its center a number of lights came back on, and the look and feel of the castle was restored. Some firemen were packing up.

  And there, looking down on them from the castle plaza, were Charlene and Willa.

  The girls looked terrified.

  11

  AT TWO MINUTES BEFORE MIDNIGHT, as Finn was preparing to IM with Philby, Maybeck, and the others, his messaging window showed an unexpected visitor. The Instant Messaging program was only connected to people on his buddy list, so the appearance of this uninvited visitor was somewhat surprising, unsettling, and even alarming. His parents made a big deal out of how unsafe the Internet could be, how stalkers often trolled for kids by pretending to be kids themselves. And while he thought his parents overdid their warnings, he knew that stuff happened. The appearance of the uninvited guest made him wonder if it was happening to him.

  I’m from the firehouse.

  Finn’s breath caught. Wayne lived above the fire-house in the Magic Kingdom. Could this possibly be Wayne? His Wayne? He’d been missing for a long time now.

  WAYNE? Finn typed. But nothing appeared in the IM window. It was as if the program was blocking that name from being written, the way some Web sites prevented the use of certain words. He considered how to work around the problem. Then he typed again.

  W…A…Y…N…E…?

  you always were the clever one. my name was supposed to be blocked, but separating the letters! brilliant!

  Finn wasn’t convinced it was Wayne on the other end of this written conversation. He could be an imposter.

  Finn typed: you have something I found, but you kept.

  it’s magical, what is it?

  He anxiously awaited the answer. This question, he felt, would determine if it was in fact Wayne.

  uncle wait’s pen

  Finn cursed at the screen, not meaning to. It really was Wayne. No one but he and the other DHIs knew that answer.

  An unusual feeling overcame Finn. For months he’d wondered if Wayne had died or been captured by the Overtakers. Thrilled to now reconnect with him, he let his fingers hover over the keyboard.

  Where to start?

  A Disney old-timer and former Imagineer, Wayne knew more about Disney World than any living person. He had once counted Walt Disney himself as a personal friend. A legend in Disney circles, his name often appeared on blogs.