“I…we…all of us appreciate that,” Finn said.
“Is this a friend of yours, dear?” the mother asked skeptically.
“Oh, Mom…come on! These are the Kingdom Keepers. You know…? This is, like, the most awesome Kim Possible ever!”
Philby said, “We’re not actually part of—OWW!” Finn had elbowed him.
The girl pointed to the phone in Finn’s hand. “Read it!”
Finn read the message on the phone’s small screen:
Hand your phone to the nearest Kingdom Keeper! Press “OK” to continue.
Finn reread the message twice. Wayne’s reach inside the Parks never failed to amaze him.
Maybeck came over and read the screen. “What if when you push OK it sends our location to our other friends?”
“I kinda need my phone back,” the girl said.
Finn pushed OK. The screen changed.
Go to the KP cart in Norway. Tell them you’re my friend.—W
Press “OK” to continue.
Finn pressed OK.
Hand the phone back to the guest.
Press “OK” to continue.
Finn pushed OK and returned the girl’s phone to her. Before leaving she asked everyone to sign her Epcot map. Bounding with excitement, she left with her parents.
When they were alone again, Finn said, “We have to trust it. This is why we’re here.”
“It could just as easily be a trap,” Maybeck warned. “Wayne gave us all phones,” he reminded. “If he wanted to contact us, wouldn’t he just call us or text us? Am I missing something? Why bother with the Kim Possible thing?”
Charlene said, “We won’t know until we try.”
Willa said, “He is always paranoid about the OTs eavesdropping. When he puts us on a quest, it’s to tell us something that no one else could figure out.”
“I volunteer,” Charlene said, raising her hand. “I’ll do it.”
“Amanda and I could do it,” Jess said. “We aren’t Kingdom Keepers. We wouldn’t raise any suspicions.”
“She’s right,” Philby said.
“And if it’s a trap,” Finn said, “then they catch the wrong people and who knows what that means?”
Charlene said, “I thought you were the one trusting it?”
Busted.
“I said, ‘I volunteer,’ ” Charlene reminded.
“I’ll go with you,” Finn said.
“But if they catch you…We can’t let them catch you,” Amanda said.
Some suppressed smirks. It was the Amanda-and-Finn show. For all to see. Including Charlene, who looked away.
“Finn’s the only one of us that can all-clear with any consistency,” said Charlene.
“I know,” Amanda said. “I’ve seen him do it.”
With Greg Luowski, Finn recalled. He’d suckered Luowski into taking a swing at him, while Finn was briefly transformed into his hologram. No one had explained the science behind how Finn was able to briefly transform himself into pure light—what he and the others called all clear; he supposed it made him part Fairlie like Jess and Amanda.
He supposed that all clear was a state where mystical, metaphysical elements met the physical sciences. It worked two ways: Finn, as a mortal boy, could on occasion concentrate to where he suddenly turned into a hologram. It only lasted a short amount of time—his record was eighteen seconds—but in that state he could walk through walls or take a punch, because technically he didn’t exist as anything but light. The second way was more difficult for parents and even Wayne to understand: a hologram was nothing but light. When projected or crossed over into the Parks as DHIs, the kids were technically nothing but light. But fear removed their state of purity. If, as a DHI, one of them became afraid, that hologram lost a percentage of data, depending on the level of fear. That resulted in a DHI that was part mortal, part teenager, part hologram, and therefore vulnerable to being wounded or captured. Finn had perfected a kind of visualization—a train coming at him from down a dark tunnel—that helped him achieve all clear, pushed him into that state of invulnerable light. It was a useful, even necessary tool, and one he’d been coaching the others to learn how to do.
“And while you two are out playing games, what are we supposed to do?” Maybeck asked, clearly complaining. “I’m not hanging here. I’m not big on churches.”
“You’ll divide into groups—split up between Norway and Mexico on either side of us,” said Finn. “You watch for crash-test dummies. Text me if you see any. Charlene and I will do the Kim Possible quest and let you know what we find out. Amanda and Jess, stay with us to make us a bigger group. That way it’s less likely we get spotted as Keepers.”
Maybeck said, “You look so stupid, Whitman.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“At least he tried for some kind of disguise,” Willa said.
Philby said, “It’s a good plan. Let’s get going.”
Philby and Willa headed for China. After more discussion, Maybeck went by himself into Mexico.
An announcement filled the loud speakers: the fireworks were set to begin.
* * *
A wooden cart sat tucked into a dark corner of the terraced path between Norway and Mexico, pushed against an island of trees and bushes. The Cast Member attending the unmarked cart wore a Kim Possible Adventure T-shirt. Finn, Charlene, and the sisters approached the overweight man, waiting for a small boy and his father to return their Kim Possible phone.
“W sent us,” Finn told the Cast Member.
“Okay.” The man had a gruff voice, unexpected of a Cast Member.
“We’re here to do the adventure,” Charlene said.
“I was told you would have two initials for me,” he said to Finn. This had Wayne’s DNA all over it.
“K.K.”
“Can’t be too careful,” the guy said.
He rifled through some phones in the cart’s drawer and handed one to Finn.
He launched into a memorized explanation of the game. Finn and the other three listened intently. Didn’t miss a thing.
“Any questions?”
“I think we’ve got it,” Finn said, checking with his friends.
“Off you go. Return it here, please. I’d tell you to enjoy yourselves, but I’m not sure that’s appropriate.”
The phone’s screen told Finn to step away from the cart and to press OK.
The crowds for the fireworks clogged the pathway encircling the lake, forty people deep. The Park music charged the air with excitement.
Finn pressed OK.
The cartoon image on the screen of Kim Possible changed to a photograph of a tree. A written message read:
Go to this tree by the bakery café and press “OK.”
“Where is it?” Finn said, spinning around.
“There!” Amanda and Charlene said at the exact same moment, both pointing.
“Okay. But let’s not advertise,” Finn said.
The girls lowered their arms.
Once at the tree behind the café, Finn pushed OK.
The tree began speaking. Or at least it seemed so real that Charlene jumped back. Finn felt shivers run up his arms as an old man’s voice—a voice he knew to be Wayne’s—spoke to them from a speaker in the shrubs designed to look like a rock.
“We all need a waiter now and then,” said the voice. “Some can get a waiter’s attention faster than others. This can have disappointing results.”
As Finn slapped his pockets hoping to find a pen, he noticed Jess already scribbling on a piece of paper. Jess carried a pencil and paper whenever she was inside the Parks. She had previously had daytime “dreams” or visions of the future here while awake. She came prepared. Her uncanny ability to dream about future events had earned her a place as a Fairlie alongside “sister” Amanda. That power was corrupted and nearly harnessed by Maleficent, who’d put Jess under the effects of a horrible spell, which brought her together with Finn and the Keepers when Amanda had sought their help to free Jess o
f the spell. Now, the Keepers benefited from her unique ability; on more than one occasion the Keepers had used a Jess diary page to “see” an event before it happened. They’d learned to pay strict attention to anything she sketched.
The phone’s screen said to press BACK to hear the message a second time. Finn pressed the button. Jess continued writing.
“Got it,” she said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Charlene asked.
“We keep going. You know what he’s like,” Finn said.
The screen on the phone changed. An animated Kim Possible said, “Find a friend around front. Push OK and watch what he does.”
Again, a photo appeared. It showed two garden gnomes and some shrubs. They located the identical setting just inside the Norway plaza, past the Stave Church.
Finn pressed OK.
The gnome spun around, his backside facing them. Finn pressed OK and the garden sculpture pivoted to face them again. He triggered the phone to repeat the effect.
“Whoa!” Charlene exclaimed. “Way cool.”
“Please write it down,” Finn said to Jess.
Charlene leaned against him from one side; Amanda the other. A Finn sandwich.
A cartoon of a dorky kid appeared on-screen. He said that Kim Possible had identified a signal post and that she needed their help in locating it. If the enemy saw that signal, they were told, bad things might happen.
“Is that supposed to be some kind of code?” Charlene asked.
“Don’t know,” Finn said. But he was thinking, So many questions from her.
The camera offered another photograph. The four of them returned to behind the bakery. Jess, with her keen artistic eye, found the scenery that matched. She positioned them all with their backs to the bakery patio and pointed to their right where the building ended at a knot of rocks and foliage.
“Go ahead,” Charlene said. “Try it.”
Finn pressed OK.
Nothing happened.
“Try again,” she said.
“Up high,” Amanda said. She knew better than to point and attract attention. One by one the other kids saw it: a red, triangular flag popping up from behind a wrought iron lamppost each time Finn pushed BACK. The flag reappeared and sank.
“Better write it down,” he said, but Jess was already on it.
The Kim Possible character reappeared on the phone and told them how well they were doing and that they had one last clue to find.
Another picture.
Charlene spotted the location immediately: it was a rock face on the way back to the Kim Possible cart where they’d started.
The screen read: Push “OK” to have your picture taken.
“I don’t know about having your picture taken,” Amanda said.
“It’s telling us to do it,” Charlene pointed out. “We’ve done everything so far.”
Finn said softly, “Maybe it’s a way for Wayne to see that it’s really us. That we’re the ones on the adventure.”
“That makes sense,” Jess said. “It should probably be just you and Charlene in the picture.”
“Agreed,” Finn said. “You and Amanda keep an eye out, while Charlene and I do this.” His personal phone vibrated in his pocket. He read the text. It was from Maybeck.
CTDs on Segways headed this way.
“Crash-test dummies,” Finn said. “We need to hurry.” Finn texted back:
Diversion needed.
His phone buzzed back.
No prob
He and Charlene hurried out in front of the rocks and Finn pressed OK.
The cartoon character’s thin voice told him to face the lake and press OK again when he was ready to have his picture taken.
He had no idea what might happen. A trap door? A net falling from the trees? With everyone’s attention now focused on the lake, anything could happen to them and it would go unnoticed. If it was a trap, it had been cleverly planned. He and the others had walked right into it, eyes open.
His thumb hovered over the phone’s OK button.
He pushed OK.
A bright light flashed quickly from within the bushes.
Finn believed this to be part of the trick—to blind them while someone attempted to capture them. He bumped his shoulder against Charlene and reached down and grabbed her hand.
But no one came charging toward them. Finn spotted Amanda looking back at them, and immediately released Charlene’s hand.
Return the phone to get your photos.
Press “OK”
Finn pressed OK and was told what a great job he’d done for the Kim Possible team. How they couldn’t have done it without him.
Jess and Amanda joined them.
Amanda said, “Did you see Maybeck? He was running through the crowd, a pair of crash-test dummies after him.”
“Did they catch him?” Finn asked, anxiously.
She pointed. The CTDs stood well above the crowd on their Segways. But they were barely moving because of all the people. Maybeck had led them past Norway and had to be way ahead of them by now—a good job of creating a diversion.
Finn and the girls reached the Kim Possible cart.
The Cast Member greeted them. “Have a good quest?”
“I guess,” said Finn, returning the phone.
“Here’s your picture,” the man said, pointing out the snapshot pinned to a corkboard.
As all three girls stepped up to see it, the Cast Member blocked Finn from joining them and slipped something into Finn’s right hand. Slippery paper. Photos—Finn could tell by the texture. He stole a glance at the first of the photos but slid them into the only pocket in his absurd gym pants as the Cast Member shook his head, suggesting Finn wasn’t to share these.
The image on the photo hit him hard: the Evil Queen somewhere in DisneyQuest. She was standing in front of four students: two girls, Greg Luowski, and a boy wearing a striped T-shirt, whose face couldn’t be seen because of the Queen.
He’d only seen it for an instant, but there was no question in his mind of what he’d seen. The Queen was talking to the four kids and, more importantly, they were listening.
It hit him like a slap in the face. He had to show it to the others. He simply had to. But the Cast Member had warned him not to. Worse, he still didn’t know what was on the second photo. He needed a minute by himself.
“I gotta go to the bathroom,” he told the girls, as they turned from the posted photo.
“I don’t get it,” Charlene said. “So what if our picture was taken? What’s it mean?”
“This is yours,” the Cast Member said. “I hope you enjoyed your mission and will join us another time.”
Charlene accepted the photo, though unhappily. “Can’t you wait?” she asked Finn. “I don’t think we should split up just now.”
Sticking together was his rule. “Yeah, okay. I’ll text the others. We’ll meet at the ice cream place by the fountain. There are rest rooms near there.”
“Why meet? Why not just go home?” Charlene asked.
“The mission is over, so we’ve been given all the pieces,” Finn said. “We need to figure out what it means while it’s still fresh in our heads.”
“But those guys are out there buzzing around looking for us,” she said.
Finn already had his phone out and was sending a group text.
“Ice cream,” he said.
* * *
Maybeck was the last to reach the ice cream parlor. The other kids stood at the counter. The fireworks show continued, so they owned the place. Even so, they kept their voices low between greedy bites of mint chip, cookie dough, and royal fudge. If there was one thing the Keepers could agree on, it was eating vast amounts of ice cream.
Finn wasn’t sure the others noticed Jess sketching on a napkin as the discussion began with Maybeck’s heroic description of eluding the crash-test dummies.
“We need to figure out the Kim Possible mission,” Charlene said, still edgy.
Finn looked at her
differently now. He’d been to the bathroom, and he’d dragged Philby with him. There he’d taken out the two photos and, for the first time, taken a good look at both.
“That’s Sally Ringwald,” Finn said, naming a girl who went to Winter Park. “And that’s—”
“Luowski,” said Philby, who knew about the bully.
“Talking to the Evil Queen.”
“I don’t recognize the second girl—maybe Maybeck or Charlene knows her. What’s the other photo?” Philby asked, for Finn had kept it tucked below the first.
“Who knows if we can trust these pictures?” Finn said.
“Are you going to show it to me or not?”
“I just think we have to keep open minds.”
“Come on! You know me.”
Finn peeled away the first photo revealing the second.
The photo was actually two images divided by a black line. Both black-and-white, they appeared to be freeze-frame photographs taken from a Security video. On the left, it showed Charlene entering a rest room—time and date stamped as the night before while they’d been in DisneyQuest; to the right, was the Evil Queen entering the same doorway.
“Twenty seconds later,” Philby said. “Charlene was still in there.”
“We don’t know that,” Finn said.
“Of course she was! Who can pee and wash her hands in less than twenty seconds? She obviously met with the Evil Queen, just like these other kids.” Philby looked back and forth between the various shots. “The question is not whether she saw the Queen; the question is why haven’t we been told about it?”
“We can’t jump to conclusions.”
“Who’s jumping?” Philby said. “Number one: she’s been acting weird. Do you deny that?”
“No,” Finn said, unhappily.
“Number two: she’s been asking a ton of questions, just like a spy would.”
“I know.”
“Number three. She volunteered to do the Kim Possible thing with you. Now, I’m not saying she doesn’t volunteer to do stuff with us, but when she does it’s always—I mean always—something physical. Something gymnastic or athletic. That’s her talent. It’s not to solve a mystery. That’s Willa’s turf.”
Kingdom Keepers IV (9781423152521) Page 5
