He took in the light, the battery, and the solar panel outside the window. He saw no light in the
hal way. He’d seen no other lights from the street.
“We are. Stay there.” She went to a closet and put on a robe. She sat down on the edge of
her bed and pointed to a rickety chair at the desk.
Finn moved the chair closer.
“It’s two in the morning,” she said. “Just for the record.”
The air from the open window was cool. The curtains danced at the sides. Amanda stood
and closed the window. “Whoa!” she said. “Check it out!”
It took Finn a moment to spot the bat hanging upside down from the eaves above the window.
It was big, though Finn didn’t want to appear scared by a bat. It had a blue iridescence to its black wings, tucked at its sides. It looked dangerous.
“Creepy,” he said.
“There are a lot of bats here,” she said. “I think they live in the attic. Though that’s the biggest one I’ve seen, by far.”
She pul ed the curtains, shuddered, and sat back down on the bed. “They make the weirdest
sounds at night. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping.”
“Flying rodents. Never been a big fan. I’m not one of those guys with rats for pets. No thanks.”
“I’ve never had a pet.”
“Seriously?”
“We moved around a lot.” She blushed and looked away; he wondered what that was about.
“You remember Wayne?” he asked.
Her eyes went wide. “I thought he’d disappeared.”
“Yeah, So did I.” Finn went on to explain his encounter with Wayne, and then the meeting that
had fol owed. Amanda interrupted several times, clarifying the connection between Jez’s
disappearance, her DHI being seen at the Magic Kingdom, and the possibility that the DHI server
had been cloned.
She sat for several long minutes with her head in her hands, her hair cascading over her forearms and forming a veil she hid behind.
“I’m going to trust you,” she said.
Finn felt a shiver. He looked up at the bat, a long, dark silhouette seen through the translucent
curtains. “Okay,” he said.
“I can trust you, right?”
“Right.”
“Because I’m not supposed to tel anyone.”
He didn’t say anything, but she had every cel in his body focused on her.
“Most people, they would never believe it. And that’s a good thing. It’s better if people don’t believe it. It’s safer for everyone. There’s some saying about hiding behind ignorance, isn’t there?
There should be, if there isn’t. Am I rambling?”
“Sort of.”
“Nervous.”
“It’s just me.”
She came up from under the veil of hair and met Finn’s eyes. Hers were close to tears, shining like marbles. “You, of al people, might understand. You and the others. I can’t think of anyone else. Maybe you won’t believe—and that’s okay,” she said, reaching out and touching his
knee. “I won’t be mad or anything.”
“I can’t believe it if I never hear what it is,” he said, a little impatiently.
She nodded, her eyes apologetic. “Jez and I are different,” she said.
“I know that,” he said quickly. “You’re very different.”
“No…I don’t mean from each other. I think it might be better if you just listen. No offense or
anything, but this is kind of hard to explain.”
He nodded, thinking he shouldn’t speak.
She saw this and giggled. Covered her mouth. Looked as if she might cry. When she spoke,
it was very softly.
“I guess the only way to explain this is just to say it.”
Works for me, he thought, but didn’t say so.
“We’re Fairlies.”
“You mean: fairies?”
“No. Fairlies. As in, fairly human. It was supposedly a joke a long, long time ago, but it stuck.
Fairlies. Go figure. We’re not witches or fairies, or anything like that. We’re just kids with…unusual abilities.”
“Such as?”
“I’m not al owed to say. Sorry. Rules, you know?”
“You and Jez are sisters?”
“Sort of, I guess. Not exactly. We’re both orphans. Al Fairlies are orphans. My parents drowned. Jez’s went on this trip to South America and never came back. They think pirates— real pirates—got them. She and I were raised in the same foster home. That’s why I cal her my sister.
Fairlies display certain qualities at a very young age: spoon-benders, mind readers, clairvoyants.
There was a boy who could set fire to things by just looking at them. Very strange. But real. Jez dreamed the trouble here in the Parks. This was way before you guys were hired to be the models
for the DHIs. She and I…we kind of ran away. Not recommended, I might add.”
Finn understood the solar panels then: there were no parents. Jez and Amanda lived by themselves.
“The day we got here, Maleficent put a spel on Jez or bewitched her or something. Jez didn’t
even recognize me. Then you and the DHIs came along. Somehow, you released her right before
Maleficent was captured. I wanted to go back after that, to the foster home, but Jez had more dreams. She keeps them in a diary, a journal,” she explained.
“So, she can dream the future?” Finn asked skeptical y.
“Believe whatever you want to,” Amanda said, “or not. I believe the Overtakers have taken Jez prisoner to prevent her from interfering with whatever they have planned.”
Finn’s skin crawled. He felt slightly sick to his stomach.
She stared at Finn long and hard, her eyes fiery pinpricks. “I can’t expect you to believe any of
this. Asking that is probably too much. I hope you do someday. I hope this makes us better friends, not worse. I’m trusting you in ways I’ve never trusted anyone.” She paused. Her breathing was labored, her skin flushed. Finn felt as if he might explode with anticipation.
“And your powers?” he asked.
“Sorry,” she said squinting. “Can’t say. Not now. Not yet, anyway.”
“You and Jez are squatting. Here, in this house, this church. Whatever it once was. The solar
power.” He pointed.
Amanda eyed Finn cautiously. “You’re not going to tel .”
“I’ve got bigger secrets than this, believe me.”
“It was closed up. Abandoned. We always enter by the back. We’re very careful. Only once
have I used the front door, and that’s when you and your mother dropped me off here. I wasn’t even sure it could open.”
“And the neighbors?”
“What neighbors? It’s stores and stuff. No one’s ever said anything. It’s only been a couple of
months. The water’s on. It’s cold; no hot water, but it works. We shower at school. The toilets work.”
“This is way cool.”
“It’s not great, but it’s what was available. We had to think fast.”
“Don’t Fairlies have money?” he asked.
“If you’re going to tease me, we’re done here.”
“Can’t take a joke?”
“Not about that. And yes, I have an after-school job. But right now, I think we both could use
some sleep.” She yawned.
“No! We can’t sleep,” he said. “Wayne says if any of us—the DHIs—go to sleep, we might get
trapped the way Maybeck did last time. He said the only way to protect ourselves is to find Jez,
get her to safety, and then find and crash the second server.” He let this sink in. “We need your
help. That is, only if you want to.”
“Of course I want to.”
He liked the idea of her being involved. She was t
he most unusual girl he’d ever met. He wondered what powers she might have and why she wouldn’t tel him about them. “You were going
to join us on IM,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, wel …my computer access is through our local library. A little late for that.”
“So what about her journal? Can I see it? Maybe she left clues or something. We don’t know
what we’re looking for, and it’s a huge park. We’re al real tired, and we haven’t started. We don’t know for sure she’s in the Animal Kingdom. Wayne thinks so, but no one knows for sure. I don’t
know if you can help, but—”
“Absolutely. I absolutely want to help if I can.”
She took off, out the bedroom and down the dark hal . A light popped on in the next room,
casting a trapezoid of light against the far wal , where a mural of a woman’s stern face had been
painted. She seemed to be looking at Finn. He ducked back into Amanda’s room.
She returned, clutching a leather journal. Reluctantly, she passed it to Finn. “This is private
stuff, remember?”
Finn nodded and flipped through the pages. The diary was fil ed with writing, drawings, sketches. Clippings and photographs had been pasted, paper-clipped, and stapled to the pages.
Fortunes from fortune cookies. Ticket stubs.
In the upper-right-hand corner of a page crowded with sketches was a drawing of a castle
being struck by lightning. Finn pointed to it. “Okay,” he said. “Now I believe.”
13
FINN CLIMBED BACK UP the fire rope to his bedroom window, while below him, barely seen, Amanda
waited for him, straddling his mother’s mountain bike, which he’d loaned her.
His mission was to get hold of his father’s BlackBerry; to make sure his parents didn’t worry
about him or question where he’d gone; and to borrow his little sister’s DS for Amanda, who didn’t own one.
He reached his parents’ bedroom on tiptoe and quietly opened the door. His mother was snoring; his father lay on his side facing the window. The clock on his mother’s end table read 4:08 AM.
He found his father’s dresser in the dark and patted around, searching for his BlackBerry. On
Saturdays, his father only took his phone if he went on an extended errand. Finn could only hope
that his father had no such errands planned. If he did, and he looked for his phone, he wasn’t going to find it.
He returned to his mother’s side of the bed and quietly turned the clock so that it faced away
from the bed, where it couldn’t be read by his mother. Then he gently shook her awake. She was a
heavy sleeper, and he was counting on her not coming ful y awake.
“Mom…”
Her eyes squinted open, saw him, and then shut again.
“Finn,” she complained.
“It’s just after six,” he lied, wishing he didn’t have to. “I’m going on my bike over to the skate park. Might go to Blizzard Beach later. I’l cal .”
“Don’t forget sunscreen.” She opened her eyes a little more and looked for the clock, but she
made no effort to turn it around. This he’d been counting on.
“I’l cal ,” he repeated.
There was precedent here: early Saturday morning rides at the skate park were part of his
routine. Bikes weren’t al owed in the half pipe after 9 AM on weekends. He often got up early and
returned for a late breakfast. By adding the bit about Blizzard Beach—a favorite among his friends
—he’d bought himself the rest of the day.
“Take your father’s phone,” she said, rol ing over.
“Ah…okay,” he said, his hand tapping his pocket.
He put away the fire-escape rope and left the house by the back door, joining Amanda and
climbing onto his bike.
“How’d it go?” she asked.
“Worked out great. I’m good to go for the rest of the day.”
“Your parents let you leave the house at four in the morning?”
“Not exactly. But we’re cool.”
Had he looked overhead he might have felt otherwise: hanging upside down from the gutter
of his house, the large bat with the blue tint on its wings dropped free and flew away. Flapping
frantical y, it circled just above the two bikes as they sped off down the empty street, red safety lights flashing in the dark.
14
THE FOOD-SERVICE STEP VAN had double tires in the back and mud flaps that carried silhouettes of
silver mouse ears on their black rubber.
The man behind the wheel had florid cheeks, blue eyes, and bushy eyebrows. He spoke in a
deep voice to Finn, who pul ed the passenger door open.
“Everyone in back. Find places to hide in case they check back there.” He popped open his
door. “It’l be pitch black in there once I pul that door down, so hurry!”
Finn rushed the others into the back. They climbed up into a refrigerated area of cardboard
boxes fil ed with fresh fruits and vegetables stacked onto wooden pal ets and strapped to the wal s. Each stack offered a place to hide behind. The kids doubled up. Charlene and Wil a hid
behind a tower of raspberry and strawberry flats. Maybeck and Philby ducked behind the lettuce,
leaving Finn and Amanda to press into a smal space behind six stacked boxes of carrots.
“Okay,” the driver said. “That’s good. Stay like that. Al set?”
The door came down hard, with a bang of finality. It was dark as a cave inside. The refrigerator unit up near the cab wheezed loudly as it blew an icy wind, freezing them.
“Dang…” Maybeck said. “This is how I always imagined prison.”
“What if one of us is afraid of the dark?” Charlene asked timidly.
“Then she should hold on to Wil a, Charlene,” said Maybeck.
“I didn’t say it was me!” Charlene said.
“Right,” said Maybeck.
The truck grumbled and groaned as it lurched around a series of corners toward the back
side of the Animal Kingdom. Pretty soon its brakes squealed to a stop. Finn and the others had
been in the same situation before—at the reinforced, militarylike security gates at the back of the Magic Kingdom. He could picture the guards outside. Supplies and merchandise and employees
came through these entrances. The driver’s credentials were checked, manifests and work schedules cross-referenced. The kids heard some talking through the shel , though the words were indiscernible. Then a single thump. The Dapper Dan had elbowed the back wal of the cab, trying to warn his passengers.
“I dropped my purse,” Charlene announced in a harsh whisper. “I can’t find it! I can’t find my
purse.”
Finn knew that if Security saw a purse, they would probably climb up into the back of the truck
to retrieve it. And if so, then they’d spot the kids.
“I can’t see!” she hissed again.
Sounds of the door hardware rattled at the back of the truck. The back door was definitely
about to be lifted.
“My purse…” Charlene moaned.
Finn stepped out from behind the stack of carrots. Amanda reached out to stop him, but she
was too late.
He felt around the floor. Nothing. Then he remembered his father’s BlackBerry. He pul ed it out of his pocket and hit a button on the keypad, and the screen came to life like a flashlight.
Charlene’s arm shot out from behind a stack of boxes, and she grabbed hold of her purse. It
vanished.
The door rol ed open a crack. Finn shoved the BlackBerry into his pocket, snuffing its light.
His knees didn’t flex. He didn’t move. He just stood there. Light flooded into the back of the truck.
He turned, but it
was too late. The door continued up.
In an instant everything changed: he was suddenly pasted to the ceiling—floating—hidden by
the rol ing door, which was carried on tracks like a garage door.
“Clear,” one of the Security guys announced.
Finn sank toward the truck bed. From the light of the BlackBerry he saw Amanda facing him,
her arm extended. As her arm fel , so did Finn.
The back door clattered shut and the clunk of hardware confirmed they were locked inside
again.
“You did that!” he said, accusing Amanda.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” she whispered.
“You saved us,” he said.
“That was way cool, Finn,” said Maybeck. “You mind tel ing me how you did that?”
Amanda whispered warmly into Finn’s ear. “No…not yet.”
Finn said into the dark: “Ah…I could show you, but I’d have to kil you.”
Maybeck chuckled.
“I want some, too,” added Philby.
“Later, dudes,” said Finn.
Again, he felt Amanda’s breath warm against his neck as she whispered softly, “Thank you.”
He wanted to say something, but his voice had gone dry, and he couldn’t get a word out.
15
A MOMENT AFTER the truck finaly puled to a stop, the Dapper Dan climbed up inside and then
lowered the garagelike door behind himself, leaving it open just enough to admit some light from
the nearby light poles.
“This is as far as I go with the truck. Finn gave each of you an assignment, as I understand it.”
“I’ve got a pretty good handle on the tech side of the Park,” Philby said. “There are cameras
al over the place, some for Security, some for the Park visitors. Basical y, we won’t be alone wherever we go. But there’s a very cool element to this I think we should consider.” He glanced
around at the group. Charlene was trying to wipe a smudge off her clothes, but everyone else was
paying strict attention to him. “Out at Conservation Station—which everyone in the Park cal s ‘CS,’
by the way—is a bank of camera monitors that are interactive. Visitors can actual y move and zoom the cameras, searching for animals and that kind of thing. But I think they give us a real good opportunity to monitor what’s going on.”
Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn Page 7
