Kingdom Keepers: The Return Book Two: Legacy of Secrets (34 page)

Finn handed the great man his pen. “I believe this is yours.”

“You’ve worked so hard to find it,” the man said. “Why don’t we fill it up with ink and give it to you? There will still be plenty left over for me.”

“How did you find us, sir?” Willa blurted.

“I was paying a surprise visit to the boy, Wayne. Great promise, that boy. He interests me very much. I found him in a dreadful state, and he told me quite a story. When he mentioned my Lilly Belle, I had to listen all the more carefully.”

He stopped, scrutinizing the Keepers, and then stepped forward. “May I?”

Finn wasn’t sure what he was asking, but who was going to turn down Walt Disney? “Yes, sir.”

Walt waved his hand through each of their bodies. “Extraordinary! So impressive! I can see a big spooky house with people just like you gathered around a dining room table. The guests would love it! Are you dead?”

“No, sir. More like an illusion.”

“Well, I understand illusion!”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m Willa!”

“Terry Maybeck.”

“Charlene!”

“Philby!”

Finn hadn’t realized the others had drawn so close.

“Pleased to meet you all. In the short time we had together, Wayne tried his best to explain who you are and what you need. I close my mind to nothing, you see. I admire Einstein greatly.”

“Our having the pen is important to the future of the company,” Philby said. “Let’s put it that way.”

“That I can understand. Thank you, son.”

“If it isn’t too much trouble, sir, could we put some ink in the pen as you suggested, enough so it won’t dry out for a very long time?”

“This ink doesn’t dry out, Finn. This ink isn’t like any ink you’ve ever used.”

“I believe that, sir! I’ve seen it in action. What we need…what the
future
needs…is for your pen, the one with your name engraved on it, and some of the special ink, to be placed in the cup holder in your office.”

“My office? What do you know about my office?”

“On the sixtieth anniversary of Disneyland, sir, your office, your exact office, is going to be moved from a museum in Florida back to where it is now in the studios. People from all over the world will come to walk through it.”

“You must be joking? Florida? How would my office get all the way to Florida?”

“You’ll have to work that out yourself,” Philby said. “I imagine Wayne might have something to do with it, sir.”

“Well.” Walt Disney rocked back on his heels and smiled. “With Wayne’s help, I’ll do as you ask.”

Finn swelled with pride over being a Kingdom Keeper.

“You won’t regret it,” Philby said.

“I’m not sure I’ll have a chance to admire or regret it, young man. But I’m inclined to believe the lot of you. And good grief, if Amery Hollingsworth’s involved, I want to make sure I do nothing to help him in any way.”

“You’ve got to protect the pen and the ink,” Charlene said urgently. “None of us want to stop you from all the great things you’re going to do, sir. But that ink, in the wrong hands…If you can keep Hollingsworth from getting hold of it, there’s a good chance he never accomplishes what he’s trying to accomplish.”

“Which is?”

“It’s a little unbelievable, honestly.”

“Try me.”

Charlene gathered her composure. “That man wants to divide your villains, to turn them against your good characters.”

The sun lit up more of Walt Disney’s famous face. The mustache, his pleasant smile, and his kind eyes came into view. For a moment, the Keepers just stared.

“The stolen celluloids…” Walt Disney said. It took him a moment to recover. “What you’re telling me makes more sense than you know. Amery is not to be trusted. I will take better care because of you all.”

“We’re so glad you understand!” Philby said.

“Isn’t it a shame that some people seem determined to turn good experiences bad? To me, it seems we are in a promising new time, an era of imagination and following one’s dreams. For people like Amery…Well, I pity their bitterness.

“Now,” Walt Disney said, “how else can I help you?”

“Actually, sir, I think we’ll be leaving soon.”

T
HE FOLLOWING NIGHT,
Jingles delivered a message to Jess and Amanda via the carousel.

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.

A
T 2 A.M.
A
MANDA 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.”