“Now,” Walt Disney said, “how else can I help you?”
“Actually, sir, I think we’ll be leaving soon.”
THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, Jingles delivered a message to Jess and Amanda via the carousel.
You must be DHIs. Tomorrow, same time.
Convincing Joe to allow Jess and Amanda to cross over turned out to be easier than either of them would have guessed. He was surprisingly sympathetic and understanding.
“Security caught you on videotape when you took that note off Jingles’s mane,” Joe explained. “I saw firsthand how hard you worked, what an effort it took to get that note. I know how much this means to you. And I know the Keepers are somehow in a place the rest of us only dream of. I’m with Disney, girls. We’re hired to dream. I’ve been a dreamer since I was five. I want to believe in time travel! Whether it exists or not, I want it to be real. I’m willing to play along because I want to play along.”
His office was unusually quiet: he’d shut his door and switched off his phone.
“I think they’re going to send something,” Amanda said. “Philby must think it’s important that we’re DHIs when we receive it, or why ask for that detail?”
“Agreed,” Jess said.
“Once we’re DHIs,” Amanda said, “Jess and I go through the same procedure the Keepers did: the music in Walt’s apartment, King Arthur Carrousel, Jingles.”
“How can you possibly know those details?” Joe asked angrily.
“We know,” Amanda said.
“And do you have something for them?” Joe asked, raising an eyebrow.
“We do,” Jess said. “I’ve dreamed something I need to share. It’s supported, you might say, by a bunch of things we’ve learned in the past few days.”
“Can you share it with me?”
“I can, and I will, but not if you laugh or criticize us, or try to stop us because of it. I know that’s a lot, but we’re convinced, and we won’t allow you to talk us out of sharing our news.”
“I see.” Joe seemed to be fighting back a smile. “I can respect that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Do you know how we get our best ideas?” Joe asked. “By having lots of bad ones. And it isn’t enough to have an idea, you have to test it. You have to see if it will stand or fall. The Imagineers, the whole company lives by these rules. You’ve just become Imagineers, I think!”
“Amery Hollingsworth—”
“Junior, we call him,” Amanda added.
“Junior,” Jess continued, “picked up where his father left off. Barracks 14 is part of his new plan. He intends to use kids with extraordinary powers, kids like Mandy and me, kids he can influence, can brainwash, to help him destroy the parks. Disney itself, if possible. We were supposed to be part of that. Wayne found out about Barracks 14 somehow, and he got Amanda and me out. He helped us escape and brought us down to Orlando to help the Kingdom Keepers defeat the Overtakers. It was a plan. This whole thing was a plan from the very start. None of it was coincidence. Wayne knew exactly what he was doing.”
Jess took a deep breath and interlaced her fingers. You have the strength to continue, she told herself.
“Hollingsworth Senior had a similar plan. Something to do with the pieces of animated movies he stole. Always of the villains. Amanda, Tim, Emily, and a friend of ours, Nick, believe that Hollingsworth intended to animate those cells himself, but in a more black-magic kind of way.”
“A more Evil Queen kind of way,” Amanda added.
“That way,” Jess said, “he could create a team of his own special villains to rise up against the others. He’d make Ursula and Maleficent enemies. Such a divide would mean disagreement, divisiveness. Battles. Hollingsworth Senior intended to use the friction of villain against villain to strike a spark—the spark he needed to create the Overtakers. That friction, you might call it a legacy of secrets, would eventually strengthen the resolve of the villains. Once he had those Overtakers angry enough, he would direct that rage against the good Disney characters. That started the after-hours battles, the war, that’s raged for decades.”
“The war the Kingdom Keepers eventually won in Disneyland,” Amanda said. “At least we think they have.”
“But the Kingdom Keepers are back there now,” Joe said, leaning forward on his elbows. He seemed to be listening very closely. “They can stop that divide. They can stop Hollingsworth’s plans.”
“With the pen. It won’t be enough. Finding the pen is great, but that’s just a solution to one of the earliest battles the Keepers were involved in.”
“Hollingsworth hasn’t released the Barracks 14-ers yet,” Amanda said. “When he does, Disney will be up against children and kids like us. Maybe a hundred of them, all with skills and abilities that make magic look like child’s play.”
“Just like the Overtakers, the Barracks 14 kids never exist if the divide between the villains can be prevented,” Joe said softly. “Am I actually saying this? Am I supposed to go along with what you’re thinking?”
“That’s the same question the Keepers face every time they cross over. The same question I ask myself when I move something without touching it. Or when Jess’s dreams come true. ‘How can this be happening?’ But, what do you think, Mr. Garlington? Is any of this real?”
Amanda moved a penholder across Joe’s desk. He watched in amazement.
“At some point, the Keepers are going to figure out how to return,” Joe said. “They’re smart that way.”
“That’s just the thing,” Jess said. “You’ve put your finger on it!”
“We can’t let them,” Amanda said.
AT 2 A.M. AMANDA TURNED ON the music box in Walt’s apartment. She marveled at the lack of blue outline around her body—a result of the DHI upgrade. To look at her, to look at Jess, you saw two young women. There was no sense whatsoever that what you were looking at was only projected light.
Jess carried the coded note they intended to tape to Jingles’s neck. The girls hurried down the stairs and ran across an empty Disneyland, suddenly feeling gleeful and happy. They felt like princesses. They felt like heroines.
Arriving at the spinning King Arthur Carrousel, they saw Nick, Emily, and Tim, each positioned equidistant around the carousel’s circle.
“Nothing yet,” Tim said, “but it only started moving a few minutes ago.”
“Very interesting,” Nick called out in his dry way. In moments like these, he reminded Jess and Amanda of Philby.
Emily looked sleek and slim in her invisibility suit. They’d decided to have her wear it in case they faced any trouble from the associates of Jason Ewart.
After twelve minutes of anxious waiting, the carousel slowed and stopped. The group came together.
“It’s going to be tonight,” Amanda said. “I know it is.”
“I’ll restart it in case it won’t do that on its own,” Tim said. “Walt’s apartment, right?”
“Better that I do it,” Emily said. “In case it’s a trap. Maybe the plan is to separate you two.” Her eyes were on Amanda and Jess. “To kidnap one of you at Walt’s apartment, then move in on the other.”
“You’ll have to be careful, then,” Amanda said.
Emily reached down and switched on her suit. She disappeared. When she reappeared, she was grinning. “Won’t be easy catching me! See you in a few minutes.”
AN EXHAUSTED TIA DALMA, who had not slept for five nights, strained to reach out and take the hand of the looming figure swirling ephemerally before her. Part smoke, part colorful form, part human, part wraith, the green-skinned shape came and went.
“Stay,” Tia Dalma whispered. “Rise, and remain in the land of the living.”
The figure had grown to the size of a real woman, though she hid now within the smoke. Her fingers twitched as if desperate to grab hold.
Tia Dalma understood she had to come to her; there was no point in lunging out and trying to snag that glowing hand. All such efforts over the past twenty minutes ha
d failed.
“We need you,” Tia Dalma said. “We miss you, sister. You will be whole again. A dark fairy once more. You will be more powerful than ever before.” She inhaled deeply and called, “Rise and remain!”
The figure’s head moved as if she could hear. Not the words, exactly, but the voice. Or perhaps she sensed the presence of the living.
“Come to me. Remain with me. Your home is here.”
Again, the long green fingers twitched, seeking purchase.
“They are here, the Children of Light. They are gaining great power. We…need…you….”
A painful cry cracked the air. It might have been heard for miles around. It might not have left the station. The hand jutted out and found Tia Dalma’s.
The two women held hands and slowly, carefully, Tia Dalma drew the other through the small slit in time that had opened, delicately pulling her through unscathed.
THE CAROUSEL STILL DIDN’T MOVE. Positioned at compass points around the carousel’s circle, Amanda, Jess, Nick, and Tim waited for Emily to restart Walt’s music box from Walt’s apartment.
“What’s keeping her?” Jess mumbled to herself.
“I hope she’s all right,” Tim called out, his voice thin and tense.
“Same,” Amanda said.
A woman’s high, painful scream split the air. It came from somewhere nearby.
“What the heck was that?” called Nick. He suddenly looked young, and very scared.
“No idea,” answered Jess. “But I don’t like the possibilities.”
“Whatever happens,” Amanda said, “you and Nick keep back, Tim. Jess and I can’t be hurt as DHIs, and the software we’re running allows us to do all sorts of amazing stuff.”
“We’re kind of superhuman,” Jess said. “If there’s trouble, let us handle it.”
“I’m not real comfortable with that,” Tim said.
“I am!” Nick said, winning a laugh from both girls.
The first wave of attackers came from Mr. Toad’s Ride. The Three Little Pigs were not little. They looked like wild boars. They were followed moments later by a drooling wolf with intense, angry eyes.
Amanda pushed. The first of the pigs wiped out, but the next two continued charging. The new leader headed directly for Amanda. He lowered his head and rushed through her hologram, crashing into the carousel and knocking himself unconscious. Piggy number three backpedaled, fell, and did a convincing impression of a hockey puck before colliding into the brick wall outside the ride.
The carousel began moving. Quickly, it gained speed.
“It’s moving faster this time,” Tim shouted.
“Hopefully that’s a good thing,” Amanda said. They held their positions around the carousel, watching for any changes in Jingles, searching the dark for more Overtakers.
Three boys appeared—the same three thugs from the Cone Shack. No Jason Ewart.
“You’re out past your bedtime,” the lead boy said. An absurdly good-looking blond guy with a surprisingly gentle voice, he looked like a surfer.
“We’re going to have to punish you for that,” said the boy at his side. A skinny, dark-haired kid, his face pained, he looked like a poster child for runaways. Jess took note of him—he was the one who’d hurt you big-time and apologize later for overdoing it.
“Go easy,” Tim said. “Take a step back, pal.” He couldn’t help himself, Jess realized. He was going to make himself a part of this no matter what she and Amanda said.
“Tough boy?” Skinny taunted.
Jess kept her eye on the revolving carousel, mentally urging Jingles to deliver something.
Skinny went down hard, like a rug had been pulled out from under him.
Emily! Jess thought.
Though the surfer chuckled, he looked inwardly terrified. His arm was yanked invisibly up behind his back, his body forced to the asphalt. He cried out.
Skinny had eyes as wide as a five-year-old lost on Halloween night.
“You’ve seen our magic,” Amanda called out. She was at Jess’s side now. “Go, and we won’t hurt you.”
The third teen, younger and far more innocent looking with his kind blue eyes and boyish face, helped Skinny to his feet. Surfer dude tried to work the pain out of his shoulder as he joined them. The three boys put their backs together without any kind of signal, covering themselves from all directions. They waved their hands in the air, as if they expected to be battling something invisible.
A second later, the surfer connected, and Emily cried out. As she hit the asphalt, her right leg appeared—only her right leg, clad in a Mylar suit, the torn fiber-optic wires suddenly visible. Where the leg stood, alone, the invisibility suit began to spark and show flashes of Emily. The effect was chilling, like a specter or ghost.
“Run!” the surfer shouted. The other two needed no encouragement. The three scattered at full speed.
As they fled, two wraiths burst from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and soared into the night sky like smoke. Jess cried out, pointing upward.
“I see them!” Amanda said, her voice quavering.
“What…are…those…things?” Tim called out.
“Overtakers!” Jess’s limbs tingled. “Have to be!” She fought against the tug from her hologram’s all clear. She would not allow fear to corrupt her.
“How is that possible?” Amanda groaned, straining to keep an eye on the wraiths.
Emily’s suit failed completely, and she became fully visible again. At that moment, the two wraiths dove, skeletal arms at their sides, their bodies aimed directly for Amanda and Jess.
“Separate!” Amanda shouted. She needn’t have—Jess knew the danger of standing too close and making themselves an easy target. She was already moving away.
Amanda stood her ground as Jess hurried around the carousel counterclockwise. The wraiths fell, two rockets aimed right at her. Just as they split apart, Amanda pushed as hard as she could. The wraiths flipped over like they’d been hit by a hurricane wind, blown so high into the sky that they vanished in the dark.
“Guys!” Nick shouted. “Package delivered!”
Something rectangular was clinging to the neck of the Jingles carousel horse.
Tim bravely charged the one remaining pig. He kicked it in the snout. It squealed, turned, and ran. “Nick! I’ll cover you! Go for it!”
Nick jumped the rail and jogged alongside the moving carousel until his pace matched its speed. He leaped onto the spinning platform and ran clockwise, shortening the distance to Jingles.
“More…of them!” Jess shouted.
Overtakers emerged from all sides: snakes, a warthog, a pair of skeletons from Haunted Mansion.
It didn’t make sense, Jess thought. The Keepers had finished off the Overtakers. There had to be some explanation. But the wraiths…the Haunted Mansion skeletons…She strained for some kind of answer.
And there it was. There she was.
“Not…possible,” Jess muttered. “Mandy, look!”
The dark vision before her wasn’t like the villainess’s former self. It was like she’d been put back together by a five-year-old. Her shoulders slanted drastically to one side like the Hunchback; one of her legs was shorter than the other. Her eyes were not level on her face; in fact her head looked as if it had been sat on and squished. But her green skin and black clothing, with its purple lining, identified her clearly. Unmistakably.
The crippled Maleficent limped toward the carousel, her longer leg dragging roughly against the ground, a black raven perched on her shoulder, a staff in her left hand supporting her. Behind her, stepping like a bridesmaid, came Tia Dalma, the Creole witch doctor.
The apparition glowed green. She looked as if every step hurt, and moved like a female Frankenstein—something incorrectly, improperly reassembled and resurrected.
The approach of the creatures continued, unrelentingly.
“Nick, make it quick!” Tim said, his voice breaking in terror.
Nick reached for the package attached to
Jingles.
“WAIT!” Jess cried. “It has to be one of us!” She didn’t know if she’d dreamed this, or if seeing Maleficent had caused it, but she knew. “Hologram to hologram!” she called out, already up on the moving carousel. “I’ve got it!”
She met up with Nick and pulled the device from the neck of Jingles. The package had been cross-taped and was difficult to dislodge, but soon Jess had it in her hologram hands. The carousel spun. She ran to the edge. Nick followed. They jumped.
“I don’t think they want Tim or me,” Nick called out for all to hear. “I think we can hold them off for you.”
“Not how we roll!” Amanda called. “We go together. And now! We do not want to tangle with that thing.”
Working fast, Jess unwrapped the package. “It’s a phone and a note. From Philby!”
“We need to go now!” Amanda said. The wolf was slinking closer, nearing her hologram at a steady pace.
Maleficent continued her slow approach. She waved her staff; the wolf yipped and backed away from Amanda. Interesting, Amanda thought. The dark fairy wanted the girls for herself.
“Boys first!” Amanda called. “Then Jess and Emily. I’ll push and buy us time to get through the castle. Go!”
From the Keepers, Jess had learned the importance of working as a team and the role of leadership. In situations like this, you didn’t stop to argue. She ran toward the castle, Philby’s package in hand. The two boys got ahead of her. Emily was at her side.
Amanda pushed, hard. Maleficent arched her back but did not stumble. The raven blew off her shoulder and tried to fly, but tumbled. Amanda felt her strength tapped. First the wraiths, now Maleficent. She didn’t have it in her to run, to catch up with the others.
Jess looked desperately over her shoulder. An unsteady Maleficent fought to regain her balance. By the carousel, Amanda slouched. Jess stopped, the others halting with her, at the entrance to the castle tunnel.
Legacy of Secrets Page 24
