After a self-conscious touch to the curved horns on her hat, she smoothed nonexistent wrinkles out of her billowing robes. The pendant that had transformed Lisa into her minion had morphed into a tall staff that she regally held in her right hand. At the top of the staff, the black raven now held a green, pulsating orb in its talons. “Is that better?”
“You’re…you’re Mal….” Unable to believe what was in front of his eyes, Peter could only stare.
“Yes, yes, I am known by many names. You may use that one. Or Nimue. Or Her Majesty. As you choose.” When she took a step closer to Peter, the boy backed away, one hand out in front of him as if to ward off the danger. “Why do you fear me? We made a deal. You just need to hold up your end of it.”
“Stay away from me! You...you can’t be here. You’re not real.”
A pale hand went to her throat in mock surprise. “Not real? I?” She made a pretense of pinching her arm. “Why, I feel real. Would you like to pinch me, too?”
Peter backed away from her outstretched arm until he smacked into the far wall. He was trapped. “Don’t touch me! I’ll…I’ll scream!”
“To whom?”
Peter’s mouth clamped shut. He knew she was right. He was alone.
When the boy fell silent, the black-tinted lips curled into smug smile. “That’s better, my pet. Now that you are finally being reasonable, we can get down to business. I want what is mine. The clues were simple enough—even for you.” Her extended hand now turned palm up. “Give it to me now.”
The wall pressing into his back, Peter couldn’t even move an inch. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have anything of yours.”
The hand in front of his face closed into a fist. As Peter tucked his head into his shoulder, expecting a blow, Nimue smirked as she returned to the center of the room. Ah, he is afraid of me. Good. He should be. “Oh, I’m not going to strike you, boy. But, I see you do need some….persuasion.”
Peter slowly opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn’t. The staff was pointed straight at him. As he frantically tried to find another way out of the room, the green light—the same one that had formerly seemed so friendly—now snaked out from the green sphere. It was twisted and spiked like lightning. When it struck Peter, it felt like tiny pinpricks over his whole body.
Surrounded by the green glow, Peter, unable to run, madly flailed his arms as he slowly rose from the ground. Knowing it was useless to scream, he could only watch as the thick beams in the ceiling got closer and closer.
“Now,” came the calm, deadly voice far below, “about my necklace….”
“I can use my security key get us into all the rooms in the Castle. I just don’t know exactly where to go.” Lance took the lead as they all hurried up the stairs in the Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough.
“There are lots of doors up on the third level, Uncle Lance. Most of them are in the Corridor of Goons. Peter and I saw them when we were looking around.”
“Thanks, Catie. That’ll help. If we have to, we can split up to check every room. Kimberly knows some storage areas where we might look, too.”
Alternately pounding on the doors and listening for some reply, and then opening the thicker ones, the anxious group made their way through the closed attraction.
At the top level, across from the window of animated Goons, Lance thought he heard a chuckle. Not sure if it was part of the attraction’s sound effects, he held up a hand for silence. As the others crowded around him, he pointed at one of the wooden doors. Built to look like a fortified castle gate, Lance inserted his master key into the small brass deadbolt. The door swung inward on silent hinges. The room smelled old and dank and an odd green mist swirled around their feet only to dissipate in the still air.
“Peter?” Kimberly pushed past her husband to enter the room.
“Mom!”
“Honey? Where are…oh my word!” Stopped dead in her tracks, she had followed the green light up to her son. She fought back a scream when she saw Peter dangling twenty feet above their heads. Seeing what was happening, Beth stayed back in the doorway to shield Catie.
“Let go of my son!” Adrenaline kicked in as Lance and Adam rushed at the woman. But, in their mad lunge forward, they were just as suddenly knocked to the ground by some unseen force.
The tall woman, dressed in her regal robes, slowly turned to face the angry group behind her. “My, my, what have we here?” As her attention turned away from Peter, the crackling arc that held him in its grip wavered, causing him to drop half the distance to the floor.
At the women’s combined scream, Nimue turned back to the boy. She was tiring, her power ebbing, but she would not let them see evidence of that fact. Peter rose again, still in her grip.
Helping Lance and Adam to their feet, they were all shocked and relieved to see Wolf suddenly appear in the open doorway.
Peter was the first to react. “Uncle….,” but he cut it off when he saw Wolf make a frantic motion for him to be quiet.
Eyes wide at the scene before him, Wolf instantly recognized who held Peter captive and knew what he needed to do. Quickly and silently he pulled Adam and his family from the room with instructions for them to wait in the castle courtyard. Then he vanished from sight.
Her concentration on keeping the boy aloft, unaware of what had just happened behind her, Nimue was pleased by Peter’s outburst. As the staff lowered, so did Peter until his feet finally touched the floor. “Ah, I see the boy has more intelligence than the father. You cry uncle, do you? You are wise to admit defeat.” She smiled as she studied her black fingernails. “This might have gotten…ugly.”
“Might have?” Kimberly couldn’t help herself as she and Lance rushed to Peter and she pulled the boy into her side. “You will not touch my son again.”
The sharp eyes swung toward Kimberly as if she was being seen for the first time. Kimberly was slowly scrutinized from head to toe, a look of disgust on Nimue’s face. “Lovely. Another blonde. Will I ever be rid of them?”
“You seem to forget that the blondes always win.”
Lance took Peter from Kimberly so he could feel all of his limbs. “Are you all right, Pete? Did she hurt you?”
“My, how insulting. Whyever would I hurt this delightful child?”
“You hung him from the ceiling!”
The same low, chilly chuckle he had heard before again came from her black-lined mouth. “Your son is the least of your worries. The boy has something that’s mine. I want it back and I want it now!” The woman raised her staff high in the air as if she was going to cast another spell, her lips now moving silently. Her powers almost exhausted, she would go to any length to get her property back.
“You’ll get nothing from the boy—no matter what you do.” Lance could feel his son squirm in his arms and knew Peter was about to say something. He doubted it would help, so he clamped his hand lightly over Peter’s mouth.
Her eyes flew open and the staff was lowered to the ground. The spell was forgotten for the moment as Nimue strode closer to the family. The green orb flashed and sparked in response to her anger. “We made a deal. He would get a clue search and I would get my necklace. Now I want to collect what is mine. He wouldn’t dare come without it!”
Pulling his dad’s hand away from his mouth, Peter squirmed out of his grasp so he could push past Kimberly. He waved his empty hands in front of Nimue. “See? I don’t have any stupid necklace! I don’t even know what you’re talking about! You…you made me ruin Walt’s picture!”
“You don’t know about it?” A brief look of confusion crossed the Evil Fairy’s face. “You must! Its…its aura, its essence, is all over you. Do not lie to me, boy.” A finger extended toward Peter as she attempted to probe his mind. There was no question, no doubt in my mind.I should have done this sooner. Her power getting weaker, she had to move closer.
As Nimue advanced, Kimberly shoved the agitated Peter behind her so Lance could hold onto him. When Wolf suddenly rea
ppeared in the doorway behind the witch, Kimberly forced her eyes to stay on Nimue. In Wolf’s hands was an ancient sword and it took all she had not to gape at the magnificent sight.
To give Wolf the time and distraction he might need, Kimberly yelled out at Nimue, “He isn’t lying to you, witch. Peter has never even seen that red diamond heart.” Closing the gap between them, her hands balled into fists, Kimberly stood nose-to-nose with the Evil Fairy. “He doesn’t know anything about it…but I do!”
Flashback – Disneyland – 2002
In the hidden room over the Silhouette Studio, Lance used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the heavy layer of dust off of the glass dome. Kneeling down, he and Kimberly looked inside. Hanging off of a Y-shaped brass stand was an antique-looking gold chain with a brilliant red, heart-shaped diamond that dangled several inches above its wooden base. The gem was backed by three small circlets of gold set in a very familiar shape. The simple, yet elegant setting looked to be very old. The chain itself was heavy, but it was still beautiful with its intricate woven gold. It connected to the pendant at the top of two golden ears and the framework was in the shape of a classic Mickey figure. Lance thought perhaps they were looking at the very first ‘Hidden Mickey.’
“This is incredible, Lance.” Kimberly could only whisper as she looked at the piece. “I’m almost afraid to touch it.”
“Let me lift the dome. Then we can see it better.” Lance put both hands around the glass sides and lifted straight up, careful not to hit the exquisite piece of jewelry. The glass covering was set aside on the table and forgotten.
The two of them simply stared at the large diamond. Now free of the dome, they could see the fiery gem without the distortion of the glass and dust. Catching the light in the room, dim as it was, rainbow sparkles shimmered off of the facets of the gem.
As if it might shatter at any moment, Lance gently took hold of the chain and slowly lifted the pendant off its stand. Letting it dangle at eye level, Kimberly was now better able to examine it.
As he turned the heavy piece back and forth, he noticed the gold setting and wondered out loud. “That looks like a Hidden Mickey you’d find in the Park. Do you think Walt had this made? Wow, this red diamond is huge! Have you ever seen anything like it?” The stone looked to be about an inch wide and an inch tall.
She shook her head as she was nearly speechless. Reaching out to touch the gemstone, she let the pendant lay flat in her hand as Lance held the chain, her fingers closing over the stone. “I’ve never even seen a red….” Her sentence was cut short. In a split second, Kimberly felt as if fireworks had gone off in her head. The bright light expanded, engulfed her, and was followed by a vision.
In that moment, Kimberly saw herself in a wedding dress. The scene instantly shifted to a beach surrounded by blue waters and swaying palm trees. Before she could blink, she was at Disneyland, holding hands with a young, beautiful blonde girl. Her own hair, she could see, was now gray as she walked arm in arm with someone…someone who had also been seen in all the other images.
That someone was Lance.
“Kimberly, Kimberly!” Lance’s worried voice sounded as if came from far away.
At the sound, her hand jerked and the diamond fell from her palm. She watched as it swayed back and forth on the chain dangling from Lance’s fingertips.
“You were saying something about the pendant and then you just stopped. Are you okay?”
Kimberly licked her dry lips as she thought about his question. “Yes.” If she sounded hesitant, well, there wasn’t much she could do about that. She reached out a tentative finger and touched the red diamond again. The vision instantly filled her mind again, picking up where it had left off with the unknown blonde child who looked to be around five years old. Her hand jerked back as if it was burned. Her eyes flew to Lance’s face, but she could only see concern there. He didn’t see it? It was so real…”Yes, I’m fine. I…I think I just got some dust in my eyes or something. Must have blanked out for a moment. Must be allergies with all this dust.”
For some reason, she was afraid to tell Lance what she thought she had just experienced. She needed some time to process all that had happened in her mind. “I think we need to leave.”
His worried look was replaced by an incredulous one. “What? But I want to look around.” His free arm motioned around the room filled with boxes and mementoes from Walt’s life. “Look! That box says Studio and that one says Disneyland. That one says Hats. We can’t leave yet.”
With a silent shake of her head, Kimberly found a small velvet box under the table where the pendant had been displayed. “Here, put the pendant in this.” She watched him let the pendant drop into the box, the chain spilling from his fingers link by link until it was all inside. Kimberly then snapped the lid with a decisive click. “This needs to come with us.” Before he could even reply, the box was slid into her jacket’s pocket.
As Lance looked around the room, he thought he understood what she meant, but wondered why she was acting so oddly. “You’re right, I guess. This isn’t our room. It’s Walt’s. There’s nothing in here we should disturb except this pendant. I think that’s what Walt wanted to reward us—well, whoever found it—with at the end of this quest.”
“Yes.” Kimberly was distracted, her mind still trying to grasp the visions she had just seen. While they had been just fleeting glimpses, they were the clearest ‘dreams’ she had ever had. They were so vivid, not abstract like her sleeping dreams. The whole episode had to have taken place in only a second or two of time. Yet, she felt as though she had seen a lifetime pass before her eyes…her lifetime.
“I think we should take the book Walt wrote and the pendant with us and leave the rest. We have the key. If we ever need to return, we can.” Lance picked up the glass dome and placed it over the now empty display.
Looking around the room one last time, Lance knew that sometime in his future, he would return to this room. As he glanced over at Kimberly, he could see her blonde hair glowing in the amber light. Lance came to another realization in that moment: He also knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with one woman.
And that woman was Kimberly.
Disneyland – Current Day
“Lance, take the boy down to the courtyard. He isn’t needed here any longer.”
All eyes in the room turned to the new speaker. Holding the sword upright in his hands, Wolf never took his eyes off the purple-robed figure. With his head, he motioned for Lance to do as he said. “Trust me, Lance. Go. I have this covered. Kimberly, I need you to come over here by me. Don’t block my arms.”
Quickly recovering from the shock, ignoring Lance and Peter as they hurried from the room, Nimue held out a welcoming hand. “Wolf. My pet. It is good to see you again.”
“Don’t speak to me that way. I was never your pet.”
Nimue gave an amused chuckle. “My, my, you’re still rather touchy about that, aren’t you? You made such a good pack leader.”
“That spell is broken, witch. You’ll never have that power over me again.”
“Meddling fairies. That may be true, but this beauty,” as she nodded her head toward the wide-eyed Kimberly, “will do just fine as your replacement.”
Kimberly gave a gasp and shrank back when she saw the staff point directly at her. Its head glowed and arced as a tendril of power suddenly leaped toward her.
Springing into action, moving faster than she could follow, Wolf jumped forward. With a loud swish, the blade of the sword sliced through the light, absorbing it. “Did you bring it?”
Kimberly barely heard his whisper. Eyes glued on the menacing green sphere, she could only nod.
“Bring it out and hold it up in front of you. You won’t be harmed.”
When the pendant dangled in front of Kimberly’s face, the glowing orb became dull as its bright color faded. Nimue gave a triumphant smile. “Ah, that’s more like it. That jewel is mine. I want it back.”
“Your words are weak,
just as you are.” Wolf aimed the tip of Wals’ ancient weapon at the Evil Fairy. The power bestowed upon it by the three Good Fairies many years ago still glowed on the blade. He could feel it hum against his palms as if it was eager for another battle. “You haven’t quite recovered from our first battle, have you?” A small, taunting smile came across his lips when she hesitated to answer. “I see you remember this sword. Its power still remains.”
She could feel the force emanating from the blade. It became a living, breathing thing all around her, sucking away even more of her power. Her breath labored, Nimue put on a brave face as she reached out for the red diamond. “I just want what’s mine. Let me have it and you all will live.”
Wolf chuckled low and deep. “You have no say in that, Nimue. You haven’t enough power to do as you say. I can see we’re quite safe.”
The eyes glaring at him narrowed. “Then lower your sword and we shall see.”
Wolf ignored her sarcastic request. “I have a question for you. Why?”
As if too heavy to hold it upright, the staff slowly lowered. “Why what, Wolf?”
“Why did you attack our mothers? Omah’s and mine? What possible outcome did you foresee?”
“Omah! What does she have to do with this?”
Wolf shushed Kimberly’s angry question. “Answer me, Nimue. Why did you attack them? You wanted us dead. That would have been the end result if we had just lived out our lives back then.”
There was a very unmajestic snort. “You really don’t get it, do you? My dear pet, I didn’t want either of you dead. I wanted you for my pack! Do you know how hard it is to get good minions these days? The forces of evil just aren’t what they used to be in the good old days.” Agitated now, Nimue paced back and forth, gesturing with her free hand. “You saw my men! Scraggly pack of idiots. What better followers could I have than the sons and daughters of powerful leaders! Chiefs and shamans and tsars and moguls. You would have been magnificent!”
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