Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn

by Ridley Pearson

  “I’m just saying we don’t have much time. I’m nodding out like every other minute. We fal asleep and we may stay asleep forever. That’s what Wayne said. I just want us to use our time

  efficiently, that’s al .” He studied the sheet. “For instance, who’s Rob?” In several places on the cluttered page Jez had written, Change Rob.

  “Rob Bernowski,” Amanda said. “From school.”

  “A friend? Boyfriend? Or what?” Philby asked.

  “A little of both, I think.”

  “And she wants to change him? And this is relevant to us, how?”

  “I don’t know. Sure, I guess. She put that into the journal in a bunch of places.” Amanda opened up the journal and flipped through several pages around the ones they had copied. “The

  way she writes it, it’s like she’s real y set on it.”

  “So are we supposed to talk to Rob about this?” Philby asked sarcastical y. “You think Rob

  has her?”

  Amanda glared at him.

  Finn asked, “What can it hurt to cal him? I don’t see why we don’t fol ow up on everything we

  can. Am I missing something? What if this is important, and we ignore it?”

  “That’s why you cal ed the meeting, isn’t it?” Philby asked. “I say we put it to a vote. We could

  spend al day chasing a bunch of meaningless ramblings, and we haven’t got al day. How much

  longer can we stay awake?” He yawned, and then Finn and Amanda yawned right along with him.

  “Stop it,” Finn said.

  “We’re out of time here,” Philby complained, “and we haven’t even started. I’m going to have

  to cal my mom at some point, or she’l have the cops out looking for me.”

  “We’l put it to a vote,” Finn agreed. “But in the meantime, we’re going to make a list of everything on this page and what it might mean, no matter how far out.” He addressed Philby.

  “We’l do it scientifical y.” He said this knowing it would appeal to him.

  “I can get behind that,” Philby said.

  Amanda looked over at Finn, her eyes red and shining behind tears she struggled to hold back. But her eyes also had a twinkle in them. She seemed to be thanking him. Finn reached out

  and took her clenched fist in his hand.

  “We’re going to find her,” he said.

  20

  MAYBECK APPROACHED the bat enclosure from the Maharajah Jungle Trek path. The enclosure was

  quite large, with colorful prayer flags strung between the facade of a fake building, rock wal s, and the large boxlike frame that supported a wal and roof of mesh netting. A three-stage viewing room had been built along the path. A ranger would be on duty once the Park opened at 9 AM, but for

  now it stood empty. Maybeck avoided the viewing room, just in case, staying outside, moving along the perimeter wal of the netting. He left the path and entered the jungle, keeping close to the enclosure’s netted wal .

  It was only then he saw the birds. His first reaction was one of astonishment. He thought it

  beautiful in a way—a thousand or more dark birds so crowded into the treetops that large branches bent under their weight. He thought how fortunate he was to see such a phenomenon—

  that it probably only happened in the early hours before guests arrived and scared away al but the most brazen of the wild creatures that had adopted the Animal Kingdom as their home.

  Then he noticed something strange about the birds: they al seemed to be looking right at him. He knew this was impossible, and yet…The thril of astonishment gave way to the electric jangle of raw nerves. They were looking right at him.

  Two things happened then: he spotted a door into the enclosure about ten yards farther into

  the jungle, and the first of the birds left their perches and flew toward him.

  He knew he shouldn’t panic. It was only birds, after al . But the way they surrounded him…the

  way the jungle went suddenly silent…the way the bats in the enclosure awakened with a start

  — nocturnal animals—a restless jittering as they hung from their perches sent a spike of terror through him. Birds flew in flocks, certainly. But they didn’t attack as a group. Did they?

  The birds attacked.

  It was as if someone had blotted out the sun. They came at him as a dark cloud of beating

  wings and unflinching black eyes. Their smal bird legs were aimed right at Maybeck. The birds

  came at him in such numbers that at first it was just plain scary—they landed on his head, his shoulders, his arms, his back. But then it went beyond scary—to dangerous—as the weight of them pushed him down. To an outside eye, it would have appeared as if thousands of birds had

  landed in the same spot of the jungle at once, but to Maybeck it meant a pitch-black flurry of wings and beaks and scratching claws. He fought them off one-handed—grabbing, poking, sweeping his arm, and knocking the birds away. But back they came.

  He knew he could not sustain the weight of the birds. The pecking.

  Now, crushed by the heaviness, feeling it might break him in two, Maybeck released the pil owcase to defend himself.

  A tiny hand reached out…

  A monkey hand! It snatched up the pil owcase, and the monkey took off running. As it did, the birds flew off. In a flutter of feathers, the sun reappeared, and Maybeck watched as the monkey,

  pil owcase in hand, hurried down the path.

  Maybeck took off after it.

  He looked himself over as he ran—not a scratch on him. If he were to tel anyone what had

  happened, they wouldn’t believe him. He had no proof whatsoever. A thousand birds attacked me! It would sound like a lame excuse for his having lost the pil owcase and the captive bat. He had original y thought Finn’s claim that the bat might be Maleficent was a bit of a stretch. But now he reconsidered. Birds didn’t organize like that, he reminded himself. Monkeys were known thieves, but what was a monkey doing loose inside the Animal Kingdom, even if the Park was not yet official y open? He had questions that needed answering.

  He ran as fast as he could.

  When the monkey stole off into the jungle, Maybeck fol owed.

  21

  WILLA CROSSED DISCOVERY ISLAND, feeling as if everyone were staring at her. Could they tel she

  was underage? She didn’t think she looked al that much younger than the other girls. The formality of the uniform helped her look older, adding a good three or four years to her fourteen. But what if they were staring because they recognized her face as that of a DHI? If caught, she could lose her family’s Gold Pass, as wel as her performance contract. She might no longer be one of the Kingdom Keepers. She kept her head down and wished she’d used more makeup at the costume

  warehouse. The ID badge Wayne had given her was clipped to her waist, helping to make her

  look official. With her eyes to the ground, she walked with her back straight and took determined

  strides, knowing the importance of body language.

  She had volunteered for what was probably the most dangerous assignment that Finn and

  Philby had come up with: to infiltrate and search the Kilimanjaro Safari grounds. The idea was a

  simple one: if someone was hiding Jez in the Animal Kingdom, why not stash her someplace where people were prohibited from going? When the Park was open, the safari teemed with hundreds of wild animals. People riding on the safari were restricted to the backs of the safari trucks with a driver/guide who pointed out animals and took guests on a “mission” to save a baby

  elephant from make-believe poachers. But, according to Philby’s research, throughout the safari

  grounds there were feeding stations, way points, and even some hidden gates offering backstage

  access. The Overtakers had once hidden Maybeck in a maintenance cage inside Space

  Mountain; it seemed possible, logical even, that they might hide Jez in a similarly impossible-t
o-

  access place. But if one of them got there before the animals were released…

  “It’s done in stages,” Philby had explained. “Thomson’s gazel es are pretty tame and

  harmless. Some aren’t even rounded up at night, but most of the other animals are. They’re fed

  and washed and doctored, if need be, after the Park closes to the public.”

  “But what about early morning?” Wil a had asked.

  “Before the Park opens, they return the animals in a specific order that offers the fewest problems. The trick for you is to get inside before eight AM.”

  Wil a didn’t wear a watch. She had no idea what time it was. That was an oversight. She was

  guessing it was between 6:30 and 7:00 AM, which gave her about an hour. But the later it was, the

  less time she had. She quickened her steps, off Discovery Island now, and headed toward the entrance to the Kilimanjaro Safari. A tremendous flock of black birds passed overhead—there must have been thousands of them. They streaked across the morning sky and were gone.

  “If you hurry, you can catch the last one.” She looked up. It was a cute guy wearing a uniform

  identical to her own. He stood below the sign for the Kilimanjaro Safari.

  “Ah…yeah,” Wil a said. But she tensed as she felt his eyes fol owing her. Did she look old

  enough to carry an ID badge?

  She walked quickly through the empty waiting area, turning and winding her way down to the

  loading dock, where one of the trucks was waiting. There was an older woman—she had to be

  nearly thirty—leaning forward from the front bench, coaching the driver. Wil a was the only passenger beside the instructor. It was obviously some kind of training run. The truck rumbled off down a path that wound through the jungle.

  Wil a cal ed out, “I’l be hopping off at Ituri Forest.”

  The instructor, without so much as looking back, lifted her arm and waved.

  Wil a heaved a sigh of relief and held on as the driver avoided puddles and recited some memorized lines into the radio, “communicating” with other rangers who were searching for the

  poachers. Wil a had taken the safari ride many times and enjoyed the story behind it as wel as the animal-watching. But the emptiness of the place at this hour gave her the shivers. The truck rounded a bend and slowed.

  “Is here al right?” the instructor cal ed back inquisitively. Suspiciously?

  The Ituri Forest, Wil a realized.

  “Fine!” She hopped the three feet down to the muddy ground, hoping the instructor wouldn’t

  see that she was wearing running shoes and not the required ranger boots. She slapped the side

  of the truck, and it lumbered off. The minute it was gone, she regretted getting off.

  Alone on the truck route, in the midst of a thick forest of bamboo and sea cane, Wil a spotted

  a pure white ibis as stil as a statue. The bird stood on one leg, perfectly balanced.

  She unfolded the map Philby had given her, tried to establish her position, and punched through the forest to her left, expecting to come across a feed station within the next thirty yards. It was tough going, the forest thick with vegetation.

  Had she looked behind her, she would have seen a lizard fol owing. It was five or six feet long,

  with a thin tail and little claws on its feet. Not so much a lizard—more like a Chinese dragon.

  22

  MAYBECK LOST GROUND to the smal, agile simian that moved through the jungle’s tight growth in a

  seamless, fluid motion. He wondered if the monkey was under Maleficent’s control. But if so, then

  why had it not been ordered to release the bat? His answer came as a slice of first light caught his eyes. Bats were nocturnal; it was sunrise. Releasing the bat was not an option.

  Maybeck had to get it back. He smashed into bamboo and rubber trees, baby banyans and

  mangrove. He sloshed through the flooded jungle floor, quickly gaining on the monkey.

  Maybeck’s progress registered on the monkey’s face as wide-eyed terror. It shrieked and exploded into a frenzy, briefly increasing its lead on Maybeck. But only briefly.

  Maybeck broke out of the jungle and felt something hard beneath his feet. He looked down:

  train tracks! The Wildlife Express Train was going through its morning test run. Maybeck jumped

  out of the way when he heard a blast from the train’s whistle. “You crazy?” the conductor shouted

  through the open window.

  He’d been spotted. As the train passed, he saw the conductor reaching for his radio.

  Not good.

  The train whistle pierced the morning air, sending a flock of sandhil cranes into the blue sky.

  Maybeck spotted the monkey. It had been crouched in the center of the birds. He closed the distance to ten yards, then five.

  The train had fol owed a long, sweeping curve of track but was now coming around and catching up to them. It reappeared to Maybeck’s right. The monkey changed directions, going straight for the train. Maybeck skidded to a stop, caught a toe, and went down hard.

  He looked up to see the monkey slip beneath a train car, the pil owcase in hand. Maybeck

  hurried to his feet and ran toward the train. The train conductor hung out of the locomotive, shouting at him. Maybeck squatted in time to see the monkey racing across a short distance of

  grass toward more jungle. There was no way Maybeck was about to crawl under a moving train.

  He waited it out impatiently. It seemed to move very slowly. Final y, Maybeck took off toward the

  end of the train and came around it, once again crossing the tracks.

  He found himself next to the Chakranadi Chicken Shop. He came to a halting stop, looked

  left…right… there! A flash of the white pil owcase was al he caught—just rounding a bend in the path. He took off, heading away from Flights of Wonder. Again, his size and speed overcame the

  monkey’s efforts.

  The monkey sensed its pursuer and skittered back and forth in a zigzag, chattering loudly. It

  crossed the path and shot straight up a dangling rope toward a concrete tower. It reached the turret, nearly thirty feet off the ground, and briefly disappeared. The next time Maybeck saw it, the monkey—stil carrying the pil owcase—hurried across a set of ropes toward a crumbling Asian temple encased in bamboo scaffolding. This was on an island surrounded by a narrow moat.

  Maybeck stopped at the concrete tower. The end of the rope the monkey had climbed was

  frayed as if it had been chewed through. He studied the layout, noticing that the rope bridges connected back to the temple, which meant that the monkeys weren’t supposed to be able to get

  down off the towers. The moat was meant to prevent their escape from the island. But the monkeys had managed to drop a rope that had yet to be spotted. By doing so, they’d given themselves an escape route.

  The monkey disappeared into the red brick temple, dragging the pil owcase behind it, and

  was gone.

  Maybeck, understanding the importance of acting quickly, rol ed up his pant legs, pul ed off

  his shoes, and waded into the murky water. A pair of ducks startled and splashed away to the other side of the temple, squawking and quacking.

  Maybeck felt the cold mud ooze between his toes. Bubbles rose to the surface al around him,

  giving off an unpleasant odor.

  He faced a wooden door with iron bars over its smal , square window. It was the only way into

  the temple that he could see.

  He arrived there in five giant steps and, sloshing out of the water, reached for the door’s handle.

  23

  WILLA CHECKED PHILBY’S MAP once more: he had marked the location of a feeding station—

  disguised as a large stump—at the edge of the savannah. Its proximity to a nighttime animal holding pen qualified it as a possible hiding place w
here Jez could be kept and never discovered.

  A clock ran off the seconds and minutes in her head—she had several such places to check before the animals were released.

  She pushed though the forest, fol owing the map, and reached the edge of the sprawling savannah: a flat plain of low grasses interspersed with trees and rocks and a few smal ponds, al

  of it surrounded by low rol ing hil s. It glistened in the first golden rays of dawn.

  There, quite some distance away, she saw a stump, thinking immediately that it couldn’t possibly be Philby’s stump because it looked so real. But the location was right, so she decided

  to have a look.

  The problem was, there was no way to sneak up toward a stump in the middle of a field without being seen. She had to cross a hundred yards in the open. Not that there was anyone to

  see her, but another training truck could come by at any minute. She decided rather than run out

  and look suspicious, she would walk casual y—just another day on the job. Hopeful y, the ranger

  uniform would do the rest.

  Then, taking in her surroundings, she happened to look back.

  At first, she thought it was an al igator. Terror gripped her: al igators ate people. It happened

  al the time in Florida. She’d heard they could run faster than humans, and when you saw one you

  didn’t want to run because it teased them into chasing you—and if they chased you, they considered you food. So she continued walking, though slightly faster than before. The stump—or

  fake stump—rose at least three feet off the ground. If she could only reach it in time…

  But then she looked again. It wasn’t an al igator after al , but a giant lizard, maybe six feet long. She’d studied Komodo dragons in school, and this looked pretty much exactly like one.