Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn

by Ridley Pearson

  He took the hose and sprinted toward the large apes who were dragging his friend across

  the pavement. He fought his way through the thick crowd, which was actual y laughing and cheering.

  Maybeck gave the hose one last tug, but he’d reached its limit. It would extend no farther.

  He squeezed the handle and shot a burst of water at the lion. The water pressed right through

  the animal.

  A DHI!

  Next, Maybeck aimed the hose at the nearest orangutan, hitting him squarely in the head. The

  ape was real. It let go of Finn to block the water streaming toward its face.

  Again, the audience let out a cry of approval, clapping and hol ering.

  The ape shot a glance at Maybeck as if to chal enge him, then quickly seemed to reconsider,

  and turned back toward Finn.

  Maybeck blasted the other ape.

  Finn broke loose just as the gardener jumped onto Maybeck from behind, wresting the hose

  from his grip.

  Finn scrambled to his feet, slipped on the wet blacktop, and went down hard. Both

  orangutans rushed him, and Finn rol ed out of the way, causing the two apes to col ide. He got to

  his feet and took off toward Maybeck, who knocked the gardener aside, opening a smal hole in

  the crowd, which Finn charged through.

  The two took off at a ful sprint, the orangutans fol owing, their backs hunched, their teeth bared.

  Finn glanced over his shoulder, but it slowed him.

  “Don’t look back!” Amanda said into his ear. “I’ve got you. The Lion King show is running! You

  can lose them in there!”

  “This way!” Finn shouted at Maybeck, who had heard Amanda as wel .

  They angled slightly toward the large, open pavilion, where a flash of bright color and loud African music confirmed the show was underway.

  “They’re gaining on you,” Amanda warned. “Zigzag!”

  Finn and Maybeck immediately cut left and right, right and left, in random patterns. Rather than run straight and intercept them, the orangutans fol owed their paths exactly, and the boys, having the longer strides, increased their leads.

  “It’s working!” Amanda cheered them on.

  Together the boys burst into the show already in progress. Four sets of wooden bleachers

  rose from a theater-in-the-round, at the center of which were colorful y dressed acrobats performing on a giant trampoline, with trapeze artists spinning overhead.

  As Finn slowed, Maybeck didn’t hesitate for a second. Perhaps it was the result of forward

  momentum, perhaps because the Lion King stage set blocked their way; but Maybeck ran right up

  a ramp, hit the trampoline, and vaulted his way through the air and across to the other side. He

  tucked into a somersault, rol ed to standing, and went running down the opposing ramp—right out

  of the pavilion.

  Trying to avoid a col ision with the ramp, Finn skidded and tucked his legs under him as if

  sliding into home plate. He braced himself to be crushed into the side of the stage, only to fly through the fabric skirt that surrounded it and find himself under the movable stage platform and the giant trampoline at its center. He crawled toward the other side, looking back to see two orangutans right behind him.

  He glanced overhead. The trampoline’s fabric stretched toward the concrete floor as the acrobatic show continued above him. Whenever anyone hit the trampoline, the fabric stretched so

  low that Finn had to lie flat; he couldn’t squat without the risk of being crushed. Watching the orangutans approach, he suddenly saw his situation not as a threat but an opportunity: he could

  use the trampoline to his advantage.

  Doubting that he and Maybeck could outrun the two apes, Finn turned and took a stand. The

  apes were faster and stronger than he, but Finn had the edge in intel igence. He remained directly under the pulsating trampoline, now turning to face the two apes, who immediately slowed with this chal enge.

  Finn egged on the apes, drawing them toward him, while keeping an eye on the pattern of the

  stretched trampoline fabric. There were currently four performers on the trampoline. The pattern of jumps was: the four corners; the center; the four corners.

  Finn bel y-crawled to the right. The nearest ape took the bait, turning to intercept him. The trampoline suddenly caved in over the ape’s head, stretching toward the ground. The ape, caught

  between the trampoline and the concrete, was crushed by the weight of the acrobat. The ape was

  flattened. It cried out sharply, rol ed away, and took off at a run in the opposite direction.

  The trampoline came down immediately in front of the other ape, and that proved enough motivation. This one took off as wel , fol owing his buddy. Finn rol ed and crawled out the other side and then sprinted for the sunlight outside the pavilion.

  Maybeck had waited for him. Maybeck, who never thought of anyone but himself.

  They took off running before either said a word, but as they reached ful stride, Finn, the slower of the two, managed to pul even with Maybeck, though only briefly.

  “Thanks,” Finn cal ed out to Maybeck. “I think we now know what happened to Philby!”

  “The water shot right through the lion,” Maybeck said. “It was a DHL”

  “Maleficent’s building an army,” Finn told him. “An army of animals,” he added. Maybeck flashed him a suspicious and disbelieving look. “Wayne told me,” Finn said.

  Finn turned and led Maybeck toward the Park entrance, stil at a ful run.

  “Where are you going?” Maybeck huffed.

  “The button,” Finn said. “The remote control. We can’t free Wil a and Philby without the button.”

  43

  HAVING WITNESSED THE ENCOUNTER with the, Amanda kept a close eye on Finn and Maybeck as

  they headed toward the Park entrance. She had a good understanding of the camera system by

  now, enabling her to guide the boys and check the area both in front and behind for any sign of

  Overtakers.

  A family waited behind Amanda to use her AnimalCam. Among them was an obnoxious boy

  who heckled her. She wondered what would happen if she were forced to surrender her viewing

  station, when the person to use it next realized they had access to every security camera in the

  Park. Again, the boy raised his voice.

  “You don’t own it, you know! Give it a rest.”

  The outburst won the attention of a Cast Member, who then headed toward her. Amanda

  quickly reset the viewing menu to match what was offered by the three other AnimalCam stations,

  but if the next user happened to scrol down…

  The little boy jeered at Amanda as he stepped up to the station, which worked in her favor:

  his mother took away his “privilege” of using the AnimalCam, al owing Amanda to retake her place.

  She caught his reflection in the Plexiglas that protected the AnimalCam’s television monitor.

  She spun around sharply, getting a better look at the boy’s arm.

  The boy snapped at her, “Take a picture, it’l last longer.”

  “Your…tattoo…” Amanda muttered.

  “What about it?” the boy asked.

  “May I?” She took a tentative step closer.

  The boy tried to step away and deny her, but his mother blocked him, suddenly Amanda’s

  al y.

  Amanda reached into her back pocket and withdrew the photocopied page from Jez’s diary.

  Amanda held the photocopy up to the light and peered through the paper to reverse the image.

  It was a match, a near-perfect sketch of the tattoo: a goril a on crutches with a yel ow bandage

  on its right foot. On the boy’s arm, “Help Care for Wildlife” was written across the top and

  �
�Disney’s Animal Kingdom” at the bottom. But Jez’s version offered only the image, not the words.

  Amanda had mistaken the figure in the sketch for a man.

  “Where’d you get this?” she asked.

  The mother answered, not the boy. “Here,” she said, pointing toward the large windows at the

  far end of the area that looked in on a veterinarian suite and several laboratories where animals

  were housed or cared for. “They give them out if you take the private tour. The keepers.”

  This won an overwrought reaction from Amanda, who was thinking: Kingdom Keepers.

  “The animal keepers,” the woman clarified.

  “Ohhh…”

  “My husband is a consultant to Disney. They gave Preston and me a private tour, earlier.

  Real y incredible, if you can arrange it.”

  “It was awesome,” said Preston, his mood suddenly pleasant.

  Boys!

  “At the end of the tour, the tattoo was one of the keepsakes they gave him,” the mother explained.

  “Backstage,” Amanda mumbled, her mind whirring as she calculated how to get herself a

  private tour. Jez had been back there in her dreams. She felt certain of it.

  Then she reconsidered her situation: she had an Animal Kingdom Cast Member pass in her

  pocket.

  What was to stop her from going back there?

  44

  INSIDE THE ANIMAL KINGDOM’S main entrance, in the large central courtyard where Park guests

  gathered, stood a talking recycling bin. A metal box standing about four feet high, it looked like a U.S. Postal Service box painted green. It was currently surrounded by several smal boys and a

  pair of curious girls, amazed that when they asked it a question, the box could answer them.

  Finn and Maybeck slowed and approached the recycling bin cautiously, not wanting to draw

  attention to themselves.

  “Find a newspaper,” Finn said to Maybeck.

  “What?”

  “Split up. We’ve got to find something recyclable. The trash cans make the most sense.”

  “You want to Dumpster-dive the trash cans for something recyclable?”

  “Exactly. A newspaper. Soda can. Plastic water bottle. Doesn’t matter. I need an excuse to

  open the flap and put my hand inside. I hadn’t figured on it being so popular.”

  “FEEEEEED MEEEEEE,” the can was saying to the giggling children. “Do you recycle at

  home?”

  The kids were getting a kick out of the talking can, their amused parents standing back and

  watching.

  The boys split up, and shortly thereafter, Maybeck returned with an empty water bottle.

  “Perfect,” Finn said, taking hold of the bottle.

  Suddenly, the bin turned sharply toward Finn. The younger kids jumped back, fol owed by a

  vol ey of laughter.

  “FEEEEEED MEEEEEE,” the can repeated, now aiming directly at Finn.

  Finn had no doubt that Wayne had arranged this somehow.

  “Eleven o’clock,” Maybeck whispered at Finn.

  Finn careful y looked slightly to his left and identified a casual y dressed man wearing sunglasses and a pair of headphones. He carried what looked like a radio in his hands, but Finn

  recognized it as the remote control device that was steering the box. This man was also listening

  and speaking through the moving box. His sunglasses prevented Finn from knowing where he was

  looking, but Finn believed the man was very much aware of the task at hand.

  Finn hoisted the water bottle.

  The box said, “Did you know that recycled water bottles are made into Park benches, picnic

  tables, and car parts?”

  “I did not,” Finn answered.

  “Are you going to feed me or not?” the box asked.

  “Feed it!” one of the little kids said boldly.

  “Do it!” chimed in another.

  Finn knew how to play this. He approached the box warily, the water bottle extended as an

  offering. He reached into the bin. Then he lurched forward, as if the box were trying to swal ow him.

  As the kids recoiled in a mixture of laughter and screams, Finn ran his hand along the roof of the box and bumped into something hard. He took hold of it and pul ed. Some tape came loose, and

  he now had the remote in hand. He cupped it in his fist, drew his arm back out of the bin dramatical y and gestured wildly, pocketing the device.

  “Yum, yum!” said the recycle bin. “More! I want more!”

  “I’m afraid that’s al ,” said Finn, backing up and moving away. The bin spun toward the other

  children, drawing their attention and making it easier for Finn to slip away.

  He glanced over at the man secretly control ing the bin and thought he saw a slight nod of

  acknowledgment.

  His DS beeped and he checked the chat room.

  angelface13: they’re almost through the moving ice.

  Finn: we’re on our way. we did a little recycling.

  45

  HAVING HANDED OFF THE REMOTE control device Charlene, who stood watch outside the bat enclosure, Finn and Maybeck rode a Disney bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

  Charlene would, once again, use her stilts and camouflage to approach the backstage area

  behind the enclosure. This time, she would circle around, rather than enter the enclosure, avoiding the scrutiny of the Park visitors. Once she established herself atop the wal near the two cages and the ice truck, she would notify Finn on the DS.

  The boys had to discover where the real Wil a and Philby were being kept and be on hand to

  get them out of the hotel once they awakened. Charlene was to trigger the remote, canceling their

  DHI state.

  They entered the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby, and both boys gasped. Finn had never seen

  such a place. It felt as if he’d stepped into Africa itself: the vast floor and the columns were crafted from a dark, unusual wood; the lobby furniture was covered in brown-and-white animal skins; giant

  chandeliers made of spears and shields hung from the ceiling. African music played, the rhythm

  enchanting. The bel hops wore brown safari outfits. The lobby stretched two hundred feet or more,

  leading to stairs and giant windows that looked out onto an African savannah, where Finn could

  see two giraffes and several wildebeests.

  Upon seeing al of this, Maybeck hissed a bad word.

  There were people everywhere. Some occupied the sumptuous furniture; others mil ed about,

  heading this way or that. The clatter and hum of people eating and talking wafted up from a lower

  level to the right. A few people waited in line at the registration desk to the left. But al around, there was a feeling of excitement and mystery as families and staff came and went. Into this walked two boys, one in a Park worker’s coveral s, the other in shorts and a T-shirt.

  No one paid them the slightest bit of attention.

  “We’re invisible,” Finn said softly.

  “I hear you,” Maybeck agreed.

  Finn rarely found a place inside Disney World where he was not self-conscious about being a

  DHI actor, where he didn’t feel the weight of eyes trained on him wondering if he was him, the Disney host from the Magic Kingdom. Yet here, in the wondrous lobby of this magnificent lodge,

  he felt transported across the oceans to another continent, one far away from Mickey and Minnie

  and the person he had become.

  “Any ideas?” Maybeck asked.

  “We can’t exactly ask someone if they’ve seen a boy and a girl,” Finn said, having already

  walked past a few dozen boys and girls, most in the company of their parents, but not al .

  “No.”

  “If I could get on to VMK, Wayne migh
t be able to look up what rooms have been checked

  into in the past few hours, but there would be too many to count.”

  “Yup.”

  “Not much help.”

  “Nope.”

  “So, do you have any bright ideas?” Finn asked. The two boys passed a smal study, like a

  private library, on their left, and they continued down a long corridor of hotel rooms.

  “We can’t exactly go knocking on every door,” Maybeck said.

  “You think?” Finn stepped aside and al owed a family coming toward them to pass. “I was

  hoping for something more constructive.”

  “I’ve got nothing,” Maybeck said.

  “I noticed.”

  “We could divide and conquer,” Maybeck suggested. “I could take the upstairs or the other

  side of the hotel.”

  The lodge was fashioned in a giant Y, with the lobby in the stem, and the rooms stretching out

  into both wings of the V at the top of the stem. The V stuck out into a savannah, and the long corridors periodical y offered viewing stations on either side, where al kinds of wildlife could be seen, from birds that stood four feet high to zebras and Thomson’s gazel es.

  “We could stay in touch by DS,” Maybeck continued.

  Finn stopped and grabbed Maybeck by the arm. “That’s it!” he whispered harshly.

  “It is?”

  “The DSs,” Finn said. “When a DS gets a new message, it beeps.”

  “So?”

  “So…if we keep texting, and if one of us is near the door to their room when it beeps, then

  we’l hear it and know which room they’re in.”

  “Sweet,” said Maybeck.

  “But what if they’re being guarded? The guards wil just turn off the DS.”

  “They weren’t guarding you that time at Space Mountain.”

  “True.”

  “Why guard someone who’s asleep and can’t wake up? Kind of a waste, don’t you think?”

  Finn thought about how he would do it. “You’d put them on the bed, pul the drapes, put a DO NOT

  DISTURB sign on the door, and leave them.”

  “Okay! Makes sense,” Maybeck said. “Then we start with rooms that have DO NOT DISTURB

  signs on the doors. At four o’clock in the afternoon, how many rooms can that be?”