Disney in Shadow (6 page)

F
INN STUDIED THE PAGE
in Jess’s diary while the buzz of conversation swirled around him and Amanda. The Frozen Marble enjoyed a rush of middle school students each afternoon, loading up on chocolate, doing homework, teasing, conversing, and generally annoying one another. Their table was near the back, but Finn kept one eye on the front door in case Luowski happened inside.

Finn had put a shout-out—a text—to the other Kingdom Keepers to join them if possible. They attended schools spread throughout Orlando, so Finn doubted that Philby would make it—he had the farthest to travel—though he thought Charlene and Maybeck might show up. To his surprise Philby was the first to arrive. He wore a ball cap pulled down tightly to hide his face, as did Finn. The celebrity thing had gone from exciting to annoying; neither of the boys wanted to endure a half hour of signing autographs or answering stupid questions.

“Hey,” Philby said, pulling over a chair and sitting down.

“Hey, yourself,” said Amanda.

Finn picked up a spark between the two and wondered if he was imagining things.

“You made it here quickly,” Finn said, suddenly questioning Philby’s motivation.

“Caught the right bus. What’s up?”

Finn slid Jess’s diary over to Philby. At the same moment Jess entered the shop. Finn was going to ask Amanda how Jess could possibly know they were there, but he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer—the “sisters” had an eerie connection and seemed to possess powers that had yet to be fully explained. But as it turned out, he was being overly dramatic.

“We can’t stay long,” Jess said. Thanks to Mrs. Nash, she and Amanda attended different schools. They met here each afternoon before heading home. She sat down and pulled her backpack into her lap. “Mrs. Nash grounded us, in case you didn’t hear.”

Amanda said, “We’ve got to stay at least a few minutes. Finn wants to talk to everyone.”

“About?” Jess looked over at Finn. She had an intensity about her that other girls didn’t have, a way of looking
through
you as if reading your thoughts. He was partly afraid of her, partly intrigued. Always curious. Her looks changed with her moods—today she was bright and cheerful, but that wasn’t always the case. Her skin shimmered, catching the light in an unusual way and making it appear translucent.

“You,” Finn answered. “This,” he said, indicating the diary. “Your encounter with security.”

Mention of that caused Philby’s head to snap to attention. Philby’s expertise was in all things technical—he was a computer nerd, electronics wizard, and all-around techno-geek. He also loved anything to do with security because security represented his chief nemesis.

As Amanda was about to explain their escapade in Epcot, Maybeck, Charlene, and Willa all arrived together. Maybeck ordered a double scoop of vanilla mixed with peaches and almond crunch. That forced everyone else to order something. A few minutes later, the group sat in a circle around the two café tables wolfing down their orders.

Amanda spoke between mouthfuls, detailing the events of their ordeal, Jess’s spacing out and the first sketch she’d made. Jess then explained her “nightmare” and the sketch that they all studied individually.

“It’s Wayne,” Amanda said.

“Has to be,” Philby agreed.

“What do we
do
about it?” asked the ever practical Maybeck.

“We help him,” said Charlene. All eyes fell on her. “What?” she inquired.

Willa said, “I mean I get that you’re a rally girl—the cheerleading and all that. Right? But since when are you so eager to dive into action?”

“I’ve changed,” Charlene said.

“I’d say so,” said Willa.

“The stilts. Everything we did at Animal Kingdom. I can do stuff that you guys can’t. Gymnastics, for instance.”

“No one’s questioning your contributions,” Willa said.

“But
I
was,” she said. “Look. I know that Disney hired me because of the way I look. Okay? Miss Middle School USA. I get it. I fit whatever they were looking for in a DHI the same way Maybeck does, and
all
of us really. But once this whole other thing got going, I had no idea what I was doing with all of you. You’re smart,” she said, looking at Finn, “or creative”—Maybeck—“or able to figure stuff out”—Philby—“or daring”—Willa—“and where was I supposed to fit into that? But AK changed all that. I’m a jock. I can fold myself in half, or do the limbo, or walk on stilts, or climb a climbing wall. Maybe I can’t climb as good as Philby, but I can still climb. I think I needed that. I needed to figure it out, whatever
it
is. And for me
it
is athletics. So now I’m…different, I guess. I’m kinda charged up about doing whatever it is we’re doing, and right now I think what we’re doing is trying to rescue Wayne. Right? I’m all over that.”

For a moment no one said anything. It was as if someone had paused the DVD player. No movement. They all stared at Charlene.

“Alrighty then,” Willa said, breaking the ice. “So how do we find Wayne?”

“I don’t mean to be hard on anyone,” said the ever-skeptical Maybeck, “but this drawing…he could be anywhere.”

“Check out his jacket,” said Finn.

Maybeck took the diary out of Charlene’s hands without asking. He leaned in close to the page. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“It’s a shield,” Willa said, leaning over Maybeck’s arm to look.

“It’s an EC shield,” Finn said. “An Epcot Center windbreaker. Old guys get cold. My grandpop shakes like a leaf when it dips below eighty.”

“Give me a break!” exclaimed Maybeck. “That logo is tiny! You can’t see a thing. It could be anything.”

Finn passed Maybeck his phone. “I went on eBay,” he said. “Check out the black stripes on the arms.” The image on the phone—an Epcot windbreaker for sale—matched what Jess had sketched exactly.

Maybeck said under his breath, “You’re dreaming.”

But he no longer sounded so sure of himself.

“The point is,” Finn said, “we won’t know until we find him. Okay? And what about those horses? They could be a carousel.”

“A carousel in a room?” Maybeck snapped cynically.

“We have to start somewhere,” Finn said. “Jess got…I don’t know…a
signal
…when she was at Epcot. Then she got more last night in a dream.”

“It’s some gibberish on a wall, some horses, and an old guy in a chair,” Maybeck complained.

“It’s a place to start,” said Charlene. “We have to start somewhere. Right? We wasted enough time in the Magic Kingdom these past couple weeks. What’s wrong with trying Epcot?”

“But our tickets—our passes—were pulled,” Amanda reminded them. “Every girl in Mrs. Nash’s house was given a year’s pass for free. But they took ours. And it’s not like we can afford to buy tickets.”

“Which is why I’m going to suggest something radical,” Finn said. “I’ve thought about this a lot, so before you go shooting it down”—this was aimed directly at Maybeck—“at least think about it a minute. Okay? Give it a chance.”

“That’s some setup,” said Philby.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy,” Finn said. “And I know that we can make all sorts of arguments against it, but I also know that when you look at it from every side, as I have, it makes total sense. It may seem random, but it’s not. I promise.”

He had everyone’s undivided attention, especially as he lowered his voice so that it wouldn’t carry.

“The point is, Jess will tell you that she hasn’t completed the sketch. Amanda said she saw her go into kind of a trance when they were in Epcot. I think that’s because she can feel Wayne there. She dreamed about him later, but the inspiration for that dream came from what had happened at Epcot. Now they’ve both been told they can’t go back in any of the parks. Security will be watching for them: they’re on the list. They certainly can’t get in with us, at night—because we aren’t exactly ourselves then, are we? As it is, we’re going to need to get our DHIs from MK over to Epcot. And even if we figured out a way to get Jess and Amanda inside the center with us, since they’re human, they could be caught. If we’re chased, we can zap the remote—cross back over and be in our beds at home—like we did the other night. They can’t do that.”

“Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” Philby asked.

“Do you see any other choice?” Finn asked him right back.

“Will someone clue me in?” said Charlene.

“Yeah, me too,” said Willa.

Maybeck sat up and stared across the table at Finn intently. If anyone was going to make a fuss, it was going to be Maybeck. He nodded slowly. “Okay, I get it. I see where you’re coming from.”

“Well, I don’t!” Charlene announced.

All eyes found Finn as a moment of expectation overcame them all. The buzz of the conversation in the room swirled around them. Spoons clinked against dishes. As the door came open, sounds of traffic out on the street could be heard.

Finn leaned forward, as did everyone else. For a moment they were in a tight huddle.

Finn said, “I think it’s time we turn Amanda and Jess into DHIs.”

T
HE MAGIC KINGDOM
closed at nine o’clock that night; Finn went to bed at nine-fifteen. So did Philby, Maybeck, Willa, and Charlene. Had their parents and guardians communicated, perhaps the plans of their children might have been revealed, perhaps someone would have stopped them. Instead, Finn said good night to his parents, who were currently caught up in an episode of
Survivor
, closed his bedroom door and, fully clothed, climbed between the sheets.

He’d long since learned that he couldn’t will himself asleep. If he tried to make it happen, he only prolonged his wakefulness. Philby had given him a book on self-hypnosis that included a series of relaxation techniques; Charlene had given every Kingdom Keeper
A New History of the Roman Empire
, a book so dense, so turgid, that no human being could read it for more than ten minutes without dozing off. Maybeck had recommended some songs to be downloaded to their iPods; he found them soothing and a gateway to sleep. Finn used a combination of all three: he listened to music while reading about the Romans and flexing his ankles and doing deep breathing exercises. He fell into a deep sleep ten minutes later.

* * *

The air smelled bitter, the result of the fireworks at the park’s closing. Finn found himself sitting on a low concrete retaining wall next to a life-size bronze statue of Mickey Mouse holding hands with Walt Disney. Beyond Walt and Mickey, Cinderella’s Castle was washed in a rich blue light, its spires stabbing the night sky. No matter how many times he visited, the magic here remained. For all the cynicism of his jealous friends at school who teased him about his now permanent connection to this place, he loved the Magic Kingdom and understood it would always be a part of him. “Fancy meeting you here.” Maybeck was sitting on the concrete walkway, his back against the metal fence. His eyes hid behind a pair of sunglasses. His dark clothing would help him blend in with the night and included a pair of black Converse basketball shoes. He looked cool, and that annoyed Finn. Maybeck couldn’t help himself—he was the kind of guy who didn’t ever try for cool, but always had it. Maybe it was the artist in him. Maybe it was that he didn’t have parents and he’d had to forge an identity for himself out of what his aunt offered. Maybe some kids understood stuff others didn’t and Maybeck was one of the ones who did. He had this
thing
about him, part attitude, part confidence, part selfish knuckleheadedness. Whatever it was, Finn would have given up a lot to understand it. To grasp it. There were times he disliked it, was revolted by it. There were other times, like now, when he coveted it.

“Have you seen the others?”

“That would be no,” Maybeck answered. He opened his hand and showed Finn that he’d retrieved the fob from the bushes where Finn had tossed it. Maybeck passed it to Finn, who pocketed it.

The Kingdom Keepers each had to hit a patch of deep sleep in order to cross over. They seldom all arrived at once, but instead appeared over ten to twenty minutes. Finn now carried the device that could alone return them to their beds. At some point he would hide it so that any of them could use it, in case he were captured. He couldn’t allow the remote to be captured along with him.

“Are you okay with this?” Finn asked. Maybeck had been an outspoken opponent of the idea in the ice cream parlor.

“It’s not that I don’t see your point. I do. I think, all things being equal, it would be good to have the sisters with us. Maybe we can’t find Wayne without Jess, like you said. Maybe that’s true. But…and it’s a big but…I think it’s too big a hassle to make it happen. Right? First we’ve got to record them somehow, then Philby has to upload the data. That’s a lot, in my opinion.”

“Jess only got part of the picture.”

“We don’t know that. I mean…I know what you’re saying, it’s like half drawn, but we don’t exactly know what’s real and what isn’t. We never have. Right? I’m supposed to believe this is real. You kidding me? A couple holograms talking to each other. Who knows, Whitman? Maybe you know what you’re doing. But maybe you don’t. In which case this is a big waste of time.”

He sounded so matter-of-fact, so convinced. Finn found it depressing. He looked around, hoping someone else—anyone—had arrived. The place was empty.

“We voted,” Finn reminded. He didn’t want Maybeck thinking he’d forced this on them.

“Yeah, yeah. And I was the minority. Imagine that.”

“You’re mad about it.”

“Not true. Chill. I’m along for the ride, dude. Baa baa black sheep, that’s me. I’m going along with you.”

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You know.”

“Point out that we’re different?” Maybeck asked.

“Make a deal out of it.”

“It’s me, Whitman. It’s like Philby and his brain, or Charlene being hot. I’m not saying that makes me special, but I’m different from the rest of you and I’m not going to dance around it as if it isn’t there. I’m African American. So what? Right? There’s good parts of that and bad parts of that, but I’m not going to pretend I’m white and I’m not going to not talk about it just to make you comfortable.”

“I’ll tell you something: I don’t think of you as African American. I don’t even see that part of you anymore. Maybe I’m supposed to, maybe it’s disrespectful not to, but I just see you as…Maybeck. Listen, there are kids at school…you know who I’m talking about. They try to be…cool. They make a big deal about listening to rap, wear the lowriders, talk ghetto talk. I hate that kind of stuff. They want to act like they’re something special. But then there’s you calling yourself a black sheep and making these little jabs and reminders like I owe you something for who you are, what you are—and I don’t get that. I just end up not knowing which is the real you.”

Maybeck eyed him. “So how cool am I?” he asked.

“Shut up,” Finn said, smiling.

“Ultracool, smokin’ cool, plain old cool?”

“Uncool,” Finn said. “Did you mishear me?”

“I heard you okay, Whitman.”

Philby arrived. He was lying down on the grass behind Maybeck. He spoke as if they were already in midconversation. “It’s a cryptogram.” He held a piece of paper in his hand. He waved it as he sat up. The edges of his image were sparking.

Finn was having the same problem: a strange static coming off him.

“What is?” Finn asked.

“The letters behind Wayne’s head are a cryptogram.”

“Is that supposed to be some sort of hypnosis?” asked Maybeck.

“A code,” Philby said.

“A letter code,” said Finn.

“Exactly.”

“An engram?” said Maybeck.

“Anagram?” Philby said, correcting him. “No. A cryptogram substitutes letters of the alphabet for one another. It’s like spy stuff. Tricky-to-solve stuff used by the CIA and people like that.”

“How tricky?” asked Finn.

“Seriously harsh,” said Philby. “And because it’s Wayne, I’m thinking it’ll be tough toenails. But if it’s for real, if it really is Wayne, and he somehow knew Jess would dream it—and I know you believe that, Finn, but I’m not so sure I do—then he’d make it solvable. At least I think he would. He’d know I’m on it. And he’d know I’d Google it and find sites that could help decipher it.”

Since Philby had been working with Wayne when Wayne had been captured, he blamed himself for it. He’d dragged around for the first couple of weeks after the event, only snapping out of it when Finn had suggested they start trying to find him by crossing over into the Magic Kingdom.

Philby had supported Finn’s call for the sisters to become DHIs because it promised to keep him busy. He acted impatient, picking at the grass behind Maybeck, sitting with the low metal fence between them. He was the first to spot Charlene and Willa. “All here,” he announced.

“How are we going to do this?” Maybeck asked.

The others gathered around, all five kids standing in front of the statue.

“You mean leave the park?” Willa asked.

“We’ve never done that before,” Maybeck reminded her. “Not as DHIs. We don’t even know if it’ll work.”

“There are DHI projectors in Hollywood Studios now,” Philby said. “They project
us
there as guides. It makes sense that we should be able to see ourselves, see each other, once we’re there. When we’re away from the projectors, I don’t know, it’s like when we’re inside the teepee, I think. We’re there, but we’re in shadow so we can’t be seen.”

“We’re invisible,” Maybeck said. “How cool is
that
?”

“Totally,” Philby said, agreeing. “But being invisible is not going all-clear the way Finn can. We’re still physically there…here…whatever. That’s why we can pick up sand and throw it. And if we can touch stuff, then stuff can touch us…”

“As in the Overtakers,” said Charlene.

“That’s my point,” Philby continued. “We’re still at risk. And we’ll be in Epcot, whether in projection shadow or not. Who knows if the Return—the remote button—is going to work anywhere but here? This is where Wayne brought us. This is where we were when he sent us back. Maybe the fob will work inside Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom or Epcot, but who knows until we try? We’ll bring it with us and try to Return from the Studios. And if we get separated, if we can’t all get back here to cross back over together…”

“Then whoever was stuck here would be stranded,” Willa said. “The Syndrome.”

The DHIs glowed slightly. More static sparked off Philby. It went away as he set the paper down. Finn set down the history book and his static stopped as well. Finn tucked Philby’s sheet into the book and showed the others that he was leaving the remote there as well. He hid them beneath a bush within reach of the path. He double-checked that everyone knew the location.

“Let’s face it,” Finn said, “there’s a lot more that we don’t understand than what we do. This stuff…we’re not going to figure out any of this stuff until we try.” He looked around at the others. “The buses and the monorail run until midnight. We can get from here to the Transportation Center, and from there to Hollywood Studios.”

“We need to get back as well,” Charlene reminded. “So we’ve got to be back here by midnight.”

“I would suggest we don’t touch anyone. We don’t bump into anyone. We don’t speak,” said Philby. “Chances are we won’t be able to tell who’s where or what’s going on once we’re outside the range of the projectors. So if we get split up by accident, we meet by the Kodak shop just inside the Hollywood gates. No one leaves there until we’re all there together.”

“Agreed,” said Finn.

The others nodded.

“I’m a little scared,” Willa said. “I’m not so sure I like this.”

“We’re all a little scared,” Finn said.

“Speak for yourself,” said Maybeck.