Hidden Mickey Adventures 1

by Nancy Temple Rodrigue

  Wolf had to jump back or his arm would have been ripped open by the broken glass. He bit back a curse as the car sped down the street, narrowly missing several parked cars as it vanished around the corner.

  “I hope he misses the sharp curve and hurtles off the edge of the mountain,” Peter spat out when he ran over next to his deliverer.

  “Mis eya.” Me, too. Still under the effects of adrenaline and disgust, Wolf forgot to switch back to English.

  “How did you know?” Peter was curious when they finally turned to go back to the house. “Is Mom all right?”

  “She hit the panic button in the…the, uh, office.” Wolf wasn’t sure, at this point, how much the boy knew. “I was just coming in when I saw Raven take you out the front door.”

  Peter smiled up at him. “You missed.” He referred to the rock Wolf had thrown at Todd.

  “Hmm, I know. Never happened before. Let’s not tell your dad.”

  Peter suddenly stopped walking. It took a couple of steps before Wolf realized the boy wasn’t beside him. “Uncle Wolf?” He looked up at his friend with watery eyes, but he wouldn’t let himself cry. “Philámayaye.” Thank you.

  Wolf put a comforting arm around Peter’s narrow shoulders and pulled him in for a tight hug. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re all right. Your mom was so mad she was spitting nails.”

  “There’s some things I’ve been doing that you don’t know about,” Peter slowly told him. “I found something Walt Disney left behind and this Todd guy somehow found out about it. He…he stole one of my clues.”

  Wolf hesitated for a long minute before he answered. It really wasn’t his place. It was up to Lance and Kimberly to tell the boy about the Guardians and the clues. But, Todd was on his security force. “I know,” the warrior admitted. “I actually know everything you found. But, we’ll have to talk about that later. Let me ask you this, though. Did Raven get the keys?”

  A look of surprise quickly passed over Peter’s expressive face. Uncle Wolf never ceased to amaze him. Of course Uncle Wolf knew. All of the questions that began to tumble through Peter’s mind would have to wait. “No,” was his answer. “Well, I don’t think so. I got kinda nervous about them because I think they’re really important, so I moved them to a new hiding place a couple of nights ago.” Stopping for a moment, he had to admit, “I didn’t check, though. Should we go look to see if they’re still there? Yeah, probably.” Peter answered his own question and fell silent again. “Do you know where they fit?”

  “Yes. But that’s for you to figure out.”

  Peter gave a deep sigh. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  Wolf gave the boy a friendly slap on his shoulder as they walked up the driveway, dodging a red croquet ball that went skidding past them. “We’d better go tell your mom you’re okay. She must be frantic by now.”

  “Then are you going after Todd?” Peter was hopeful, the light of revenge shining in his eyes as he started at Wolf.

  Wolf gave a low growl deep in his chest. “No, much as I’d like to. But, I do know where he’ll go next.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “The same place you will be.”

  “That ought to be fun,” the boy mumbled as his mom and dad came running from the house, relief plastered over their faces.

  Wolf gave a slight smile. He wasn’t sure which thing the boy referred to—his parents or the next encounter with Todd.

  Either way, Wolf would be there—and the boy would be safe.

  Wolf was on guard at the door to Lance’s study. When any of the unsuspecting partiers came looking for Lance or Kimberly they were simply told, “Go away.” And, since it was Wolf, they did.

  Once Kimberly and Lance realized Peter was not hurt and that Todd got away, the high emotions began to settle. Not wanting to alarm or alert any of the security force that something was amiss, at Wolf’s suggestion, the three family members retreated from prying eyes into the privacy of the study.

  “Mom! Quit hovering. I’m fine, I promise.” Peter held back from telling them the knife had pricked his side and was sore. Even though he had been badly shaken, after his parents’ long, heartfelt hug out on the driveway, he was done with the smothering.

  Kimberly had to remind herself that he was thirteen and not five years old. The mom in her backed off and she sat on the other leather sofa. Her hands might not be able to touch him, but her eyes still examined every inch of her son that showed.

  Seeing her look, Peter sighed. “Mom! I’m fine. He…he didn’t cut me.” His voice caught in spite of himself. He had been terrified. After clearing his throat, his voice was steadier. “He didn’t hurt me. My arms are bruised, but that’s all.”

  Seeing the red marks on his son’s arm, Lance became furious again. “I’ll…I’ll find that dirty…and…I’ll….” Lance paced the room, unable to put his anger into proper words. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

  “Honey, please sit.” Kimberly patted the sofa next to her with a little more force than was necessary. “I know how you feel. I could rip his arms out of his sockets and stuff them down his throat, but that doesn’t help right now. We need to discuss this rationally.”

  Now perched on the edge of his desk, Lance crossed his arms in front of his chest. His ranting stopped, but his eyes still snapped in fury. “I know. You’re right.” Calmer, he looked out the window but didn’t seeing any of the partying that was still in full swing. They had decided to let everyone continue to enjoy themselves outside, not dragging anyone in on their private matter. “But I can’t just do nothing. How did he know about the…the room upstairs, Wolf?”

  After a quick glance into the hallway, Wolf didn’t see anyone else likely to interrupt them. Clicking the door shut, he turned to the three pairs of eyes staring at him. “I don’t know.” He looked at Peter to gauge his readiness for disclosure. “Peter? Do you agree this is the time to talk?”

  Nodding mutely, Peter stood. “I need to get a couple of things from my room. I’ll be right back.”

  Even though the threat was no longer in their house, Kimberly hated to see him leave the safety of the room. She reached out a hand, but pulled it back and looked miserably at Lance. Understanding, he told her quietly, “It’s okay now. Let him go.”

  Everyone but Wolf was surprised at the items Peter set out in front of them on the massive mahogany desktop. Wolf, relieved to see both of the two brass keys amongst the other items, hung back and just observed. His part would come later.

  The anger forgotten for the moment, Lance held up the animation cel of Mickey Mouse. “This is in pristine condition. And signed by Walt.” His eyes fell on the yellow-edged notepaper that held the message from Walt and the individual clues. From his own past experiences, he immediately recognized them for what they were. With his fingertips resting on the edge of one of the clues, he had a question for Peter. “Why didn’t you come to us when you found this letter?”

  “Because you wouldn’t understand.”

  “Wouldn’t understand what, honey?” Kimberly kept her voice soft even though her heart had sped up once she saw the familiar notepaper.

  “That this was something Michael and I needed to do together.”

  “Michael?” both parents repeated in shock, instantly looking at Wolf. “Michael is in this, too? Where is he!?”

  Wolf held up a calming hand when it looked like Kimberly and Lance were going to rush out of the room to look for their other sons. “He’s fine. He just carried that puppy past the window again. Don’t know what he’s going to do when the dog outweighs him….” Looking at Peter for an okay, the boy gave him a brief nod. “Michael was with Peter when they pulled this, the first letter, out of the Golden Horseshoe.” Confused looks crossed the parents’ faces. “You were all there that day. It was Michael who inadvertently found the hiding place. He and Peter went back once they got you and Andrew to go somewhere else.” Wolf looked away from them for a moment, a small smile on his face as he thought ba
ck. “I remember when Walt knocked that hole in the wall. He was pretty mad. But, like Walt, he found a way to turn it to his advantage and made it one of his hiding places.”

  “You mean, like the Tiki Room and the Mutoscope thing?” Peter was confused by Wolf’s words. From the way he talked, Wolf made it sound much bigger somehow than what he knew about.

  The curious look in the boy’s eyes was obvious, but Wolf didn’t want to go there just yet. “Yeah, something like that.”

  Seeing that the story was in danger of getting sidetracked, Lance brought the discussion back around to Peter’s discovery. “So after you found the letter, I take it you found something in the Tiki Room and a…what did you call it? Mute something?”

  “Mutoscope, Dad. It’s that machine in the Penny Arcade that plays an old-time movie when you turn the crank. This one was Charlie Chaplin and was about a baker….” He drifted off when he saw that his dad wasn’t interested in the actual movie. “Anyway, when we put in enough pennies, the movie changed to one showing Walt in the Tiki room and pointing at a face on the side wall.” He looked over at Wolf, a frown on his face. “That was the first time I saw that Todd guy. In the Tiki Room. He came over to help when the cast member caught us getting into the tiki. But, I didn’t see him when we rode the Lilly Belle.”

  “That doesn’t mean he wasn’t there, watching somehow.”

  Catching Peter’s last reference, Kimberly spoke up. “Wait a minute. The Lilly Belle was part of this? Is that why we rode it that day? I always wondered why that came up all of a sudden.” She glanced suspiciously at Wolf, her green eyes narrowed as she tried to figure it all out. The capsule in the Lilly Belle hadn’t been indicated on the holographic map in the War Room, but she couldn’t bring that up yet. “And you set it up. How long did you know what they were doing?”

  Wolf gave her an unconcerned shrug. “I didn’t figure it out until I saw Catie pull the capsule from one of the sofas and give it to Peter.”

  “Catie?” both parents echoed in surprise. “She’s in on this, too?”

  Peter slapped his forehead. “Catie! I forgot about Catie. She’s been waiting for me to show her the Gold Pass thing Todd stole.”

  “What Gold Pass?” Lance moved around Peter’s papers on his desk but didn’t see one.

  “Todd found it under…in my hiding place.” Peter made his answer vague. “You know what a Gold Pass is?” He sounded somewhere between surprised and impressed.

  Lance simply nodded and ignored the explanation Peter seemed to expect. He wasn’t concerned about the Pass right now. Looking at Wolf, he had something more important on his mind. “Should we bring in Adam and Beth? Is Catie in danger, too?”

  Wolf slowly shook his head. “From what’s happened, I think Raven is just concentrating on Peter right now.” He caught the distressed look that came over Kimberly’s face at his meaning. “He’ll be fine, Kimberly. I’m sure of that.”

  Peter cleared his throat. And, just as suddenly as he did, all eyes in the room turned expectedly to him. If he had been standing, he would have taken a step backward. “Umm, Catie was with me when Todd grabbed us coming out of Club 33 the second time.” When an angry look flooded his dad’s face again, he hurried with his explanation. “There was a clue on the bottom of the harpsichord and we had to get back in. I pretended to be you and the woman at the desk let us right in.”

  Lance ignored the smiling look Kimberly gave him. “What do you mean Todd grabbed you? Literally or figuratively? I mean, did he really grab you?”

  Peter nodded. “Yeah. Well, he dragged me by my backpack into the Court of Angels.” He left out the part about his head being repeatedly banged against the wall. His dad was already mad enough. “He didn’t touch Catie. When he was about to take us backstage to hide us somewhere, that’s when I shoved him and we got away. I went to Pirates where Aunt Beth was working and got on the ride right away. When I saw that Todd had followed me, I knew Catie was safe. I was afraid he would catch up to me on the ride, so I, uh, jumped off the ride.” The last words were mumbled. He dropped his eyes as he fully expected to get in trouble for jumping out of the Pirate boat and going backstage.

  “Yeah, right at the blue tunnel.” Lance nodded as he thought it all over.

  “How do you know that?”

  Lance’s eyes turned back to the boy. “Oh, I just know the spot, that’s all.” Peter received a secret smile. Lance turned back to Wolf before Peter could ask him any more about it. “Maybe we should go get Adam and Beth and let them know what’s going on.”

  Kimberly and Wolf both nodded their agreement. It was Wolf who quickly left the room to get the other set of parents.

  Peter thought silence was his best defense right then. He didn’t want to inadvertently start something he didn’t need to. Seeing a group of kids run screaming past the window, he gave a small sigh. Now that the immediate danger was over, he’d rather be out playing with them than continuing this interrogation.

  Within minutes, Wolf came back with the family in tow. Catie was all smiles when she saw Peter. That smile faded, however, when she spotted the clues and treasures they had found lined up on Uncle Lance’s desk. About to ask him where he had been, she clamped her mouth shut. Sensing the tension in the room, she remained silent and waited to hear what was going on as she sat down next to Peter on the sofa.

  Getting Lance’s okay, Wolf gave a brief run-down on all that had happened since Peter had left Catie earlier that afternoon. He also told Beth and Adam a little about the treasure hunt the two kids were on. Both Peter and Catie were surprised by the lack of shock they would have expected to see on Adam and Beth.

  “Honey, why didn’t you tell us?” was Beth’s first question to her daughter. “You know you can tell us anything. Maybe we could have helped prevent some of this.”

  “Because I thought you wouldn’t understand what it was like,” Catie mumbled, looking down.

  “That’s what Peter said, too,” Kimberly told Beth with a private smile.

  The five adults seemed to be conversing with each other without actually speaking out loud. After about two minutes of silent communication, Lance turned to the two kids who were warily watching. He was amused when they shrank away from him. He could tell they expected to be in big trouble.

  “First off,” he began, “we’re glad both of you are all right but we’re also understandably upset you’ve been manhandled and threatened. That will be dealt with later. By us,” Lance added as he looked at Wolf. “Second,” he held up two fingers and gave them an unexpected bright smile, “we understand much better than you think. Because,” he paused dramatically, causing the two kids to unconsciously lean forward in their seats, “we all, briefly including Wolf here, we all have been involved in something quite similar to what you two have been doing.”

  He let that sink in for a couple of minutes. Peter and Catie looked at each other, confused. Peter took the lead. “What do you mean? When?”

  Lance went over to Catie’s parents and put a fond hand on their shoulders. “Adam, Beth and myself found ourselves immersed in what we considered to be one of Walt’s first Hidden Mickey quests, gosh, what was it? Twelve? Thirteen years ago?”

  “It was before we were married.” Beth looked over at Adam. “Fifteen years? Has it really been that long?”

  “And then your dad and I found another clue that put us on a different quest right after that.” Kimberly took Lance’s hand when he went over to join her. “That’s where we fell in love and got married shortly after.”

  “Ah.” Catie smiled and sighed. “That’s so romantic.”

  Peter looked at her like she was crazy. “Romantic? Getting shoved around and having your head banged against a wall? What’s romantic about that!?”

  “What head banging?”

  “Who banged who against a wall?”

  “What are they talking about?”

  “Did you leave out something that we need to know about?”

  “Oops,” P
eter mumbled when the conversation suddenly veered back to his painful adventure with Todd.

  Wolf stepped in, glad the ramifications of the previous quests were glossed over. There were some things they didn’t want the kids to know about just yet—some things even Adam and Beth didn’t know about. Holding up a quieting hand, he stopped the barrage of questions. “Todd, as of this minute one of my ex-security men,” he quickly explained for Adam and Beth’s benefit, “somehow followed the kids and got a little rough with Peter. We’re still not sure how he got to know as much as he apparently does. It was as if he followed Peter everywhere he went, or, somehow listened in on all his conversations.”

  “Then that has to be the security guy who followed Peter into Pirates that day.” Beth frowned as she thought back. “Todd something-or-other. I knew there was something about him I didn’t like. What I don’t get is how he could’ve been here at the party all day and I didn’t see him.”

  Wolf gave a small growl. He blamed himself for part of this mess. “There seems to be a lot about the man we didn’t know. He appears to be pretty adept at staying in the background, out of sight.”

  Beth shook her head, frustrated that she hadn’t spotted him. Getting back to her original train of thought, she added, “When he came to the unloading dock in Pirates, he had Peter’s backpack but wouldn’t hand it over. Then, when enough time had passed to make it obvious that Peter had jumped from the ride, he left.”

  “At the blue tunnel?” Adam turned to Peter, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  “How come everyone knows about that tunnel?” Peter looked absolutely baffled.

  “Yeah, that’s where I figured he went when he didn’t come back.” Beth nodded to Adam as they all ignored Peter’s frustrated question.

  Peter looked at Catie and shook his head in disbelief. The one part that he really expected to get in trouble for they weren’t concerned about at all. Parents. Can’t ever figure them out.