Kingdom Keepers: The Return Book Two: Legacy of Secrets (15 page)

Nick nodded, his thin lips grinning. “Very good.”

“Thank you,” Tim said.

If Nick had stood on his own shoulders he might have looked Tim in the eyes. As it was, it looked as if he was searching for a plane in a cloudless sky.

“Points of interest,” Nick said. “The handwriting. I’d like to know who thinks these incidents might connect to Hollingsworth, wouldn’t you? There must be ways to get handwriting samples from the Imagineers. Their autographs might be on the Internet. The stories,” he said, flipping through the headlines, “all deal with—”

“Problems,” Jess said. “But not all Disney problems. Only two. So, I mean, why bother?” She’d been quiet and withdrawn since arriving, arms crossed, face impassive. Somehow, her speaking up meant more to all of them. “Each article is about something going wrong. A library fire. A blackout. A trucker strike. A corrupt water union officer. In every case, it’s a problem. But, I mean, it’s a newspaper, and we all know newspapers deal only in problems.”

“Someone must have suspected Hollingsworth was involved in these particular problems,” Tim said, “or else why write his name at the top and file it away?”

“The lion spotted during the test run,” Nick said, simultaneously reading one of the articles. “That’s been in the rumor mill forever. He pooped by the edge of the water, and one of the boat operators smelled it. By the time she saw the thing, her boat had gone past, so they sent a Cast Member onto the island on foot. That’s when it got interesting. That Cast Member was treed for over an hour. Guys from the zoo showed up and trapped the lion in a net. I guess they didn’t have dart guns back then or something. It isn’t in the article that way, but that’s how I heard it went down.”

“Hollingsworth?”

“A zookeeper admitted he’d taken a bunch of money to transport the lion at night and report it missing the next morning. They never caught the guy who bribed him, but years later, Amery Hollingsworth Jr. took credit. He was full of himself, so who knows? Still, your source kept the article, and it’s in his pile, so maybe the Imagineers knew something the rest of you did not.”

“Interesting.”

“There was the Disney Railroad mishap,” Nick said. “This is like the first week of Disneyland. Coming into Main Street Station, the train suddenly tilted and nearly dumped all the guests. Luckily, a bunch of Cast Members caught it in time and got it back on the tracks. No one knew what caused it. I’m betting Hollingsworth.”

Amanda looked at Jess. Both knew what the other was thinking: Somehow, we’ve got to get messages to the DHIs.

“Whoever wrote his name on these articles,” Nick said in a suggestive tone, “either knew of or was trying to find a connection between each of these events and Disneyland, the company, or Hollingsworth. I’ll bet they tried to find a link to the Campaign of Darkness, what I call the Legacy of Secrets.” He sounded somewhat in awe of the idea. “And if that’s the case, then the Legacy is as big as or bigger than I thought. Their reach is longer, their numbers greater.” He paused. “But can that possibly be true?”

“Lost me,” Tim said.

“Please tell at least something about where you found these!” Nick said, clearly frustrated.

“They were filled with thousands of other documents and DSI research papers,” Emily said. “Students. Former Cast Members. Except for the student papers, a lot of the files down there seem to deal with old employee records.”

“Or maybe former Cast Members who posed problems for the company, like Hollingsworth.” Nick faced Tim in direct challenge. “I’ll bet you didn’t find anything more on him, did you?” Without waiting for an answer, he continued. “That’s because the real serious stuff on Hollingsworth and the Legacy is way too potent to be stashed away with a bunch of dusty old employment records. If anyone has access, it would be Joe Garlington or the boss man, Bruce Vaughn. Maybe Craig Russell. They’d have it locked down tight, or they might have destroyed it. And I don’t care how good friends you are with those guys, they’ll never tell you the dirt on Hollingsworth. Forget it.”

“No,” Amanda said. “I can confirm that. I’ve spoken to Joe, and he’s twitchy. He’s afraid of us poking around. I mentioned Hollingsworth and—”

“You what!?” Nick shouted angrily. “You can’t tell an Imagineer you know about Hollingsworth! Are you out of your mind? That’s like telling Luke that Darth Vader’s his dad—to his face!”

“You said Joe or Mr. Vaughn or Mr. Russell might know some of these secrets—if there are any.”

“Oh, there are, Amanda,” Nick said. “Plenty, I would imagine. What of it?”

“I was thinking how it would have helped Luke if he’d been inside Darth Vader’s mind,” she said.

“It would have freaked him out,” Tim said. “Are you kidding?”

Jess caught Amanda’s eye. Sisters being sisters, Jess knew instantly what Amanda was thinking. “Mattie?”

“It would save us so much time,” Amanda said, “to go right to the source.”

“Am I supposed to know what you’re talking about? Who’s Mattie?” Nick said.

“Shh! Someone’s out there,” whispered Emily, who’d been standing guard by the door. “I think I heard—”

Male voices carried through the sloping walls. At first, it sounded like a couple of boys trying to call a lost dog or cat. Then their words sharpened, cutting like little knives. “Come out, come out, wherever you are! We know you’re in there.” Oddly enough, they didn’t sound close. It was more like they were moving cone to cone, saying the same thing and hoping. “Naughty, naughty. Someone’s in trouble!”

Amanda and Jess gasped at the same instant. Amanda spoke urgently. “These guys are trouble. We need to get out of here!”

Nick pointed up. “This location wasn’t chosen at random. I picked the only one with a false ceiling in place.”

Amanda hadn’t noticed the four ladder rungs running up the tapered wall, because they had blue-and-white pennants hanging from them. She nodded.

“Water filtration system for the shaved ice,” Nick said. “Up you go!”

The girls went first, climbing the rungs and pushing open a square hatch well hidden by a cross-lattice of faux beams mounted onto the ceiling. Nick went next, then Tim, who lowered the hatch. Nick signaled Tim to hang from a piece of steel mounted near the top of the nose cone. The girls kept their feet on the steel crossties that supported the filtration machinery. Nick clung to the ladder, bent awkwardly in order to keep one eye on the crack left by the hatch.

A moment later, the door below opened. The intruders had keys! Tim swore under his breath. Nick held up three fingers; a fourth.

“I swear I heard a guy’s voice. Angrylike. Gave me the creeps,” a boy said.

“I’ll give your grill a remodel,” said a gruff kid. “That’ll take care of your creeps. Don’t waste my time.”

“It’s my time, too,” said the first kid.

“Shut up! You’re hurtin’ my head here.”

Tim felt something tickle his hand. The air in the small space was gray, a dim fog that made it difficult to see clearly. He brought his hand closer to his eyes. “Cripes!” he shouted. A spider, its hairy body the size of a penny. He shook his hand, lost his grip and slipped, banging into the nearly upside down Nick, who fell off the ladder in a crouched ball and crashed through the hatch. The flying spider landed on Amanda’s chest. Swatting, she lost her balance. Her right leg slipped off the steel beam and punched through the hung ceiling.

Tim followed Nick in a free fall through the hatch; he pushed off the wall to avoid hitting the smaller kid and propelled himself practically into the arms of one of the intruders. The Cast Member cursed and swung at Tim. Tim took a punch on the side of his neck and elbowed the boy, knocking the wind out of him. That didn’t sit well with his cohorts, who piled on instantly.

Nick joined in the brawl, throwing and taking punishing punches. Amanda yanked her leg out of the ceiling, fell off the beam, and rolled to the hatch. She went out headfirst, caught a grip, and inverted, landing on her feet.

Shock and adrenaline—raw anger—had given Amanda her first glimpse into her particular strength. As a kid, she’d slammed the door to her room without touching it. With time and careful practice, she’d gained the ability to control her newfound “power”—but instinct still ruled. Unchecked, her emotions could become a formidable weapon—as they did now.

She shoved her left palm at the boy about to pound Nick. The boy lifted off his feet and slammed into a stainless steel cabinet. Her right hand thrust out at Tim and another of the intruders, who were tangled up like wrestlers. The two boys went over like bowling pins. Amanda lifted a third boy into the air and out the door, where the fourth among them was already running away. Tim sank his knee into the gut of the big guy. He had buzz-cut blond hair and red freckles on his arms. The guy expelled a gush of breath and bent over sharply. Tim pushed him out the door.

That left only the boy Amanda had slammed into the wall. Seeing he was outnumbered, he started to run. But he tripped, falling hard. He rolled, raised up to his elbows—and was smacked down hard again.

It took Amanda a moment to realize Emily and her invisibility suit were responsible. She’d terrified the boy.

“You want to see magic?” Amanda said in a cold, cautionary voice. “Watch those cups.”

Invisible Emily caught on immediately. The stack of plastic cups separated, moved to the side, and re-stacked.

His voice dry and frightened, the boy pleaded. “I was only doing what I was told to do.” He was wiry, maybe nineteen, with a home kitchen haircut and spaghetti arms.

“By who?” Nick said. He grabbed the guy’s mobile phone and tossed it to Tim. “Who asked you?”

Three of the cups came off the stack and began moving in a circle—turned out Emily could juggle.

“Texts! I swear, it’s all done by texts. We’re paid by credit to Web site stores. I have no idea who it actually is.”

“Password?” Tim said, showing the guy his phone. Their hostage didn’t hesitate. He spit out his password. “You said, ‘We’re paid.’ Who is ‘we’?”

“I don’t know the other guys. For real, I don’t. A time and a place. That’s what we get texted. This time, they told us to find you guys and tune you up a little. Hurt you. Make you think about quitting. That’s all I got. I can agree or refuse. You refuse, sometimes you don’t get asked again. It’s mostly guys, but some chicks, too. Once or twice. Not that often.”

“You’ve never seen the others before?” Tim asked. “Not buying it.”

“Sure, I’ve done stuff before with one of those guys. They don’t overlap us very often, though. I think that’s part of it.”

“They?” Nick said. “Or he?”

Amanda had run out of patience. She addressed the guy with her outstretched, open palm, shoving him against the equipment and holding him there from five feet away. “Answer!” She pushed hard—so hard that it was clear to the others that the guy was having trouble breathing.

“Mandy!” Jess said in a cautionary tone. “Ease up a little.”

“I’m sick of this,” Amanda said, her arm trembling, her face losing color. “Pushing,” as she called it, exhausted her. “We don’t have time for idiots.”

“The things I’ve done…” the guy gushed, “were like, you know, sabotage. Vandalism, I guess you could call it. Always in the parks or the parking lots. Nothing to hurt the guests! Look, I’m a fan, a complete fan of everything Disney, right?”

“Ex-fan. Ex–Cast Member,” Amanda said, still pinning the guy. “You quit and you turn in the names of anyone you’ve worked with, or we’re coming after you.”

“Okay!” He must have said the word twenty times. At last, Amanda relaxed her hold. His face studiously calm though he was clearly impressed, Nick asked the boy to describe the sabotage and vandalism.

“Small stuff. Fry power outlets. Flatten tires. Mess with an attraction just enough to get it shut down for a day or two.”

“You came after us,” Nick said.

“Yeah. But that’s…I mean, that’s not normal. We were supposed to scare you off. Find out who you were and what you want.”

“Have you scared other kids off?” Jess again.

“Not exactly. There was a girl…this was a while ago. She was sneaking around the two parks. Lived inside Little Mermaid for a while. I was part of the team trying to keep track of her. But it wasn’t for long. We lost her.”

“Storey,” Amanda said. Her whole body hurt. She sagged back and propped herself up against the gear in the shop.

“Anything else outside the parks?” Tim said.

“No. I mean, not that we did.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tim asked.

The guy didn’t like the question. Nick repeated it. Amanda gathered her strength and pushed hard, just long enough to remind him. When she let go, he caught his breath and answered.

“It wasn’t an assignment. It was…there was one time, just the once, when the text I got wasn’t from a blocked number. Whoever sent it must have slipped up. I looked up the area code. It was four-one-oh. That’s Maryland. A part that includes—”

“Baltimore,” Jess said in a dry whisper. “Four-one-zero is Baltimore. Oh dear.” She looked a little gray.

“When you were outside I heard you say, ‘Naughty, naughty. Someone’s in trouble.’” Amanda sagged a little at the knees. She choked on the words. “Where did you learn that?”

The guy shook his head, horribly frightened.

Tim was busy with the mobile phone. “The owner of the phone is Jason Ewart.” The guy said nothing. “How did you become a Cast Member, Jason Ewart?”

“Whaddaya mean?”

An invisible Emily kicked him from behind. Unnerved, Jason Ewart started shaking all over.

“Never answer a question with a question,” Tim said. “Or bad things will happen to you. Do I need to ask again?”

“I know I look like a Cast Member,” Jason Ewart said. “Dressed like this and all.”

“And you’ve got the pin,” Nick said.

“That, too. Yeah. All this stuff came with the job. An ID card, too, that gets me through the employee gates.”

“From some guy you never met,” Tim said, clearly unconvinced.

“Or a woman. Yeah. I was just…I’m a fan, okay? Was a fan. I applied like four times to be a Cast Member. Always got turned down. Then I get this text asking me if I’d like to feel like a Cast Member, look like a Cast Member, have all the access of a Cast Member, but make better money.”